Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – With apparatus assembly or dismantling means or with idle part – For extrusion or injection type shaping means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-28
2001-02-27
Pyon, Harold (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
With apparatus assembly or dismantling means or with idle part
For extrusion or injection type shaping means
C425S183000, C425S574000, C249S102000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06193495
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector mold capable of molding a plurality of kinds of connectors by exchanging inserts and to a connector molding method for molding a plurality of kinds of connectors by exchanging inserts.
2. Description of the Related Art
A first male connector
10
shown in
FIG. 10A and a
second male connector
15
shown in
FIG. 10B
are the subject of copending Appl. No. 09/300,504. The connectors
10
,
15
have a common basic construction which is comprised of a housing main body
11
and a receptacle
12
. Each prior art connector
10
and
15
further has a rib
13
formed on the inner surface of the receptacle
12
for preventing an assembling error, and a rib
14
formed on the outer surfaces of the housing body
11
for identifying the connectors
10
and
15
. However the ribs
13
and
14
are different on the respective connectors
10
and
15
. Specifically, in the first prior art male connector
10
, the ribs
13
,
14
are aligned toward the left when viewed from the front of the connector
10
. In the second prior art male connector
15
, the ribs
13
,
14
are aligned toward the right.
Female connectors
16
,
17
can mate with male connectors
10
,
15
. The female connectors
16
,
17
have grooves
18
formed in positions to receive corresponding ribs
13
in the receptacle
12
of the male connectors
15
. Thus the male and female connectors cannot be connected unless properly combined. More particularly, ribs
13
on the inner surface of a receptacle
12
of a male connector
10
,
15
prevent assembling the male connectors
10
,
15
with wrong female connectors
16
,
17
. The ribs
14
which are provided exteriorly on the housing main bodies
11
of male connectors
10
,
15
are for identifying the male connectors
10
,
15
during a testing procedure. A corresponding electrical test set is generally provided with a corresponding groove which helps to separate connectors to be measured from other types of connectors.
One possible connector mold
1
for forming the first and second male connectors
10
,
15
is shown in
FIGS. 11 and 12
and employs conventional mold manufacturing theories. This connector mold
1
is comprised of a pair of openable mold main bodies
2
,
3
, and can form two kinds of connectors
10
,
15
by exchanging inserts
4
,
5
in the mold main bodies
2
,
3
. In the case of forming the first male connector
10
, an insert
5
A having a groove
6
for forming the error assembling preventing rib
13
formed in its position toward the bottom in
FIG. 11
is assembled into one mold main body
3
shown at the right side of FIG.
11
. An insert
4
A having a groove
7
for forming the identification rib
14
formed in its position toward the bottom in
FIG. 11
is assembled into the other mold main body
2
. Then, resin is injected into the mold. In the case of molding the second male connector
15
, an insert
5
B formed with the groove
6
and an insert
4
B formed with the groove
7
are assembled, as shown in
FIG. 12
in the respective mold main bodies
2
,
3
in positions toward the top of FIG.
12
and resin is injected into the mold.
Since the conventionally designed connector mold
1
is such that the inserts
4
,
5
are separately assembled into the respective mold main bodies
2
,
3
, there is an undesirable likelihood that a connector having a wrong mode in which the ribs
13
,
14
do not correspond to each other may be formed by, for example, mistakenly assembling the inserts
4
B,
5
A. Further, a long time is required to make a confirmation when the inserts
4
,
5
are assembled into the mold main bodies
2
,
3
in order to avoid such a situation, resulting in a poor connector molding efficiency.
In view of the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector mold and a connector molding method capable of improving a connector molding efficiency.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided a connector mold capable of molding a plurality of kinds of connectors. Each connector has a receptacle and an error assembling preventing portion provided in the receptacle. Selected error assembling preventing portions have different shapes or locations than others for making the connection with a mating connector impossible unless the connectors are properly combined. An identification projection is arranged on the outer surface of the connector at a location selected in accordance with the location of the error assembling preventing portion. The connectors are formed by a pair of mold main bodies and a selected one of a plurality of inserts. The insert is provided in only one of the mold main bodies, and is configured for the selected error assembling preventing portion. A plurality of recesses for forming identification projections of all kinds of connectors planned to be molded are formed on a surface of the other mold main body that faces the insert. The insert is provided with closing projections for closing all of the recesses except for the one for forming the identification projection that corresponds to the selected error assembling preventing portion to be formed by the insert.
Accordingly, the error assembling preventing portion is formed in the connector by the insert mounted in the one mold main body. Unnecessary recesses in the other mold main body are closed by the closing projections on the insert. Thus the identification projection corresponding to the error assembling preventing portion is formed in the connector by the remaining recess that has not been closed.
Since the insert is exchangeably mounted in only one mold main body in the present invention, there is no likelihood that a combination of inserts in the two mold main bodies is mistaken as with the prior art connector mold. Therefore, the insert assembling operation is simplified and the connector can be molded with improved efficiency.
According to a preferred embodiment, the identification projection of the connector is a rib on the outer surface of the connector at a location behind the receptacle. Additionally, the identification projection rib is on an extension line of the error assembling preventing portion provided in the inner surface of the receptacle. The insert is provided with a rib or groove for forming the error assembling preventing portion. The recess for forming the identification projection that corresponds to the rib or groove for forming the error assembling preventing portion is arranged on an extension line of the rib or groove in the other mold main body. The remaining recesses in the other mold main body are to be substantially closed by the closing projections provided on the insert.
Accordingly, since the recess for forming the identification projection is arranged on the extension line of the rib or groove for forming the error assembling preventing portion, the recesses for forming the identification projections can be closed only by extending the closing projections from the insert. As a result, the insert is allowed to have a small lateral dimension.
According to the invention, there is further provided a connector molding method for molding a plurality of kinds of connectors. The connectors have error assembling preventing portions that are of different shapes or arrangements provided in receptacles of each connector. Thus the error assembling preventing portion makes the connection with a mating connector impossible unless properly combined. An identification projection is arranged on the outer surface of the connector in accordance with the error assembling preventing portion. The method comprises exchangeably providing a plurality of kinds of inserts in a pair of mold main bodies for molding a connector provided with a receptacle. The method proceeds by arranging the insert in only one of the mold main bodies. The method continues by forming a plurality of recesses for forming identification projections of all kinds of connectors planned to be molded. The recesses preferably a
Sasai Osamu
Suzuki Izumi
Casella Anthony J.
Hespos Gerald E.
Luk Emmanuel S.
Porco Michael J.
Pyon Harold
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