Electrical connectors – With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint – Curved conductor path
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-06
2001-08-28
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint
Curved conductor path
C439S752000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280234
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of preventing the shaking of wires in a connector, in which a spacer is inserted into a connector housing to effect the retainment of terminals and the pressing of the wires simultaneously.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-102207, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 5 and 6
show a related wire shaking prevention structure of a connector disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho. 55-92285.
In this structure, female terminals
61
, each connected to a wire
62
, are inserted into a connector housing
60
of the male type, and the terminals
61
are retained at their rear ends by terminal double-retaining spacers
63
, and at the same time the wires
62
are pressed by the spacers
63
to be fixed.
The connector housing
60
is made of a synthetic resin, and has a plurality of terminal receiving chambers
64
arranged in two (upper and lower) rows. The terminals
61
are inserted respectively in the upper and lower terminal receiving chambers
64
, and the upper terminals
61
are disposed back to back with the lower terminals
61
, respectively. Each terminal
61
is retained relative to a step portion of a partition wall
66
of the connector housing
60
through an elastic retaining piece portion
65
(FIG.
6
).
Spacer insertion openings
68
are. formed respectively in upper and lower walls
67
of the connector housing
60
, and are disposed intermediate opposite ends of the connector housing
60
. The spacers
63
are inserted respectively into the openings
68
in a direction perpendicular to the terminal-inserting direction, and are retained at retaining projections
69
to the edges of the openings
68
, respectively.
The spacer
63
is made of a synthetic resin, and has terminal-retaining/wire-pressing wall portions
70
for projecting into the terminal receiving chambers
64
. The rear end of the terminal
61
is abutted against a vertical front end surface
70
a
of the wall portion
70
, and the wire
62
is pressed in a radial direction by a horizontal surface
70
b
of the wall portion
70
. The rear end of the terminal
61
defines rear ends of pressclamping piece portions
71
pressed to clamp an insulating sheath of the wire
62
. A conductor of the wire
62
is press-clamped by press-clamping piece portions
72
.
The purpose of pressing the wire
62
by the spacer
63
is to prevent the shaking of the wire
62
due to vibrations of a vehicle and so on so as to prevent the terminal
61
and the wire
62
from finely shaking in unison or being displaced in the longitudinal and radial directions and also to prevent the female terminal
61
of the connector
73
(
FIG. 6
) from moving in sliding contact with a male terminal in a mating connector (not shown) so as to prevent wear of these terminals and also to prevent the contact between the terminals from being adversely affected. Particularly, recently, the number of circuits, used in a vehicle, has increased, and also connectors and terminals have small-size designs, and as a result the load of contact between terminals tends to be reduced, and therefore there is a possibility that the contact between the terminals is rendered unstable by vibrations of the vehicle and so on. In order to overcome this problem, the wires
62
need to be positively pressed to be fixed.
In the above structure, however, the wall portion
70
of the spacer
63
serves to retain the terminal
61
and also to press the wire
62
, and therefore the front and rear ends of the wall portion
70
have sharp edges, respectively, and there has been a possibility that the wire
62
is damaged by these edges. If the edge of the front end of the wall portion
70
is removed by chamfering or the like, damage to the wire
62
is prevented, but the area of contact of this front end with the rear end of the terminal
61
is reduced, thus inviting a problem that the force to retain the terminal
61
decreases. And besides, the flat surface
70
b
of the wall portion
70
of the spacer
63
is held in surface contact or line contact with the surface of the wire
62
along the length of the wire, and therefore pressing force is small, thus inviting a problem that the wire
62
is not sufficiently fixed against intense vibrations and the pulling and bending of the wire
62
.
Furthermore, the spacer
63
is needed for each of the upper and lower rows of terminals
61
in the connector housing
60
, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that the number of the spacers
63
, as well as the time and labor for the assembling operation, increases. And besides, the upper row of terminals
61
and the lower row of terminals
61
must be arranged back to back with each other, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that this structure is not suited for the type of connector in which the upper and lower rows of terminals
61
are arranged to face in the same direction, that is, the upper and lower rows of terminals are arranged to face upwardly or downwardly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With the above problems in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wire shaking prevention structure of a connector in which wires, connected respectively to terminals arranged in a plurality of rows (stages) within a connector housing, are positively pressed by a spacer without being damaged, thereby positively preventing the shaking of the wires and terminals due to vibrations of a vehicle and so on, and the number of the spacer, as well as the time and labor for the assembling operation, is reduced, and besides the upper and lower terminals within the connector housing are arranged to face in the same direction.
To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wire shaking prevention structure of a connector in which terminals, respectively connected to wires, are inserted in a plurality of rows into a connector housing of the connector, and a spacer is inserted into the connector housing to effect retainment of the terminals and pressing of the wires simultaneously, the structure which comprises a plurality of rows of wire receiving portions formed in the connector housing, the wire receiving portions being arranged in a stepped manner in a direction of length of the wires, a plurality of rows of wire-pressing projections formed on the spacer, the wire-pressing projections being offset from each other in the direction of the length of the wires, and a corresponding wall portion extending from a corresponding row of the wire receiving portions, wherein each row of the wires is pressed against the corresponding wall portion by a corresponding row of the projections.
Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that a first row of the wire receiving portions is provided at an inlet side of a spacer receiving portion formed in the connector housing, and a second row of the wire receiving portions is provided at an inner side of the spacer receiving portion, and is longer than the first row of the wire receiving portions, and a first row of the projections is opposed to a step wall portion formed between the first and second rows of the wire receiving portions, and a second row of the projections is opposed to the wall portion extending from the second row of the wire receiving portions.
Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the first row of the projections is formed on a base wall portion of the spacer, and a plurality of terminal receiving portions are formed in the spacer, and are offset from the first row of the projections in the direction of the length of the wires, and the second row of the projections is formed on an outer wall portion of the terminal receiving portions.
Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that a plurality of terminal-re
Suzuki Kenji
Yamada Satoshi
Yamamoto Masaya
Paumen Gary
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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