Electrical connectors – With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in... – Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-24
2003-06-24
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...
Retaining means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06582243
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector provided with a lock ensuring mechanism which is used for connection of electric wires and the like.
A wire harness used in a moving body such as an automobile has connectors which are each obtained by connecting a male-type connector housing (hereafter referred to as a male housing) and a female-type connector housing (hereafter referred to as a female housing). Terminals fittings with electric wires are accommodated in the male housing and the female housing.
In such a connector in which the male housing and the female housing are connected to each other, various ensuring mechanisms have hitherto been proposed to ascertain whether the male housing and the female housing have been completely connected or are in a semiengaged state. As the connector having the just-mentioned ensuring mechanism, a connector disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-192808A shown in
FIGS. 7
to
10
is known.
As illustrated in
FIG. 21
, a connector
101
having the aforementioned lock ensuring mechanism is provided with a female housing
102
, a male housing
103
, and a lock ensuring member
104
. The female housing
102
has a main body
110
for accommodating a plurality of terminal fittings and a hood portion
111
for receiving the male housing
103
and is formed in a box shape.
A locking hole
105
is formed on an outer wall located on the upper side in the drawing among a plurality of outer walls for forming the hood portion
111
. This locking hole
105
extends through the outer wall. In addition, a pair of releasing rods
113
extending from the main body
110
toward an opening of the hood portion
111
are provided inside the hood portion
111
. Each of the releasing rods
113
has a projection
114
at its free end. A tapered face
115
is formed on an upper face of each projection
114
.
The male housing
103
has a main body
116
for accommodating a plurality of terminal fittings and a locking arm
117
. The locking arm
117
is formed in the shape of a strip, and one end portion thereof is integral with an outer wall of the main body
116
. The other end portion of the locking arm
117
is a free end portion so that the locking arm is held by the main body
116
in a cantilevered manner. It should be noted that the fixed end portion is located in the vicinity of the female housing
102
when the female housing
102
and the male housing
103
are engaged with each other. The longitudinal direction of the locking arm
117
extends in the direction in which the housings
102
and
103
approach each other when the housings
102
and
103
are engaged with each other (hereinafter, this direction will be referred as an engagement direction).
The locking arm
117
is provided with a locking projection
118
at its widthwise central portion, and is provided with a detecting portion
119
at its other end portion. The locking projection
118
projects from an outer face of the locking arm
117
outwardly of the male housing
103
. The locking projection
118
is to be engaged with the locking hole
105
.
The detecting portion
119
projects from the outer face of the locking arm
117
outwardly of the male housing
103
, The detecting portion
119
has an inclined face
120
on a side of which does not face the female housing
102
. The inclined face
120
extends in the engagement direction, so as to form an acute angle with the direction of extension of the locking arm
117
. In addition, an engaging projection
121
is provided at the fixed end portion of the locking arm
117
. The engaging projection
121
projects outwardly from the fixed end portion.
Further, the male housing
103
has a pair of protective walls
122
. These protective walls
122
are respectively provided uprightly on the outer wall of the main body
116
, and are parallel to the locking arm
117
. The protective walls
122
are respectively disposed on both sides of the locking arm
117
and distanced from the locking arm
117
.
When the female housing
102
and the male housing
103
are engaged, the locking projection
118
of the locking arm
107
is engaged with the locking hole
105
so that the engagement between the female and male housings
102
and
103
is locked.
The lock ensuring member
104
has an inverse U-shaped proximal portion and a pair of flexible retaining pieces
124
. One end portion of each of flexible retaining pieces
124
is integral with the proximal portion
123
so that the flexible retaining pieces
124
are respectively cantilevered by the proximal portion
123
. A tapered face
126
is formed on a lower face continuing to each free end
125
of the flexible retaining piece
124
.
The flexible retaining pieces
124
are respectively provided with detecting projections
127
. Each detecting projection
127
is provided between the free end
125
of the flexible retaining piece
124
and the proximal portion
123
. The lock ensuring member
104
is attached to the male housing
103
such that the locking arm
117
is sandwiched between the pair of flexible retaining pieces
124
, and the pair of flexible retaining pieces
124
are positioned between the pair of protective walls
122
.
As for the connector
101
constructed as described above, the lock ensuring member
104
is attached to the male housing
103
in advance in a state in which the free ends
125
of the flexible retaining pieces
124
respectively abut against the engaging projections
121
, as shown in FIG.
22
. At this state, the male housing
103
and the female housing
102
are engaged with each other. When the locking projection
118
is engaged with the locking hole
105
, the lock ensuring member
104
is pressed toward the female housing
102
. Then, as shown in
FIG. 23
, the free ends
125
tend to be displaced along the tapered faces
126
.
When the lock ensuring member
104
is further pressed toward the female housing
102
, the flexible retaining pieces
124
are retained by the engaging projections
121
, as shown in FIG.
24
. In addition, the detecting projections
127
is positioned between the detecting portion
119
and an edge portion of the outer wall of the female housing
102
for forming the hood portion
111
. The detecting projections
127
are engaged with the detecting portion
119
.
Meanwhile, when the connector
101
is in a state in which the locking projection
118
is not engaged with the locking hole
105
, i.e., in a state in which the male housing
103
and the female housing
102
are in a state of being semiengaged with each other, the free end portion of the locking arm
117
is urged toward the male housing
103
. For this reason, even if the lock ensuring member
104
is pressed toward the female housing
102
, the lock ensuring member
104
abuts against the inclined face
120
of the detecting portion
119
, so that the lock ensuring member
104
cannot be pressed toward the female housing
102
.
Thus, in the case of the connector
101
having the above-described related lock ensuring mechanism, whether or not the female housing
102
and the male housing
103
are completely engaged with each other is determined on the basis of whether or not the lock ensuring member
104
can be pressed toward the female housing
102
.
Moreover, some connectors provided with a lock ensuring mechanism comprises a female housing, a male housing and a, lock ensuring member which is slidably supported on one of the female housing and the male housing. One of the housings is provided with a locking arm which is once deformed elastically when the male housing is fitted in the female housing. The other housing is provided with an engaging portion to be engaged with the locking arm. The lock ensuring member slides between a locked position in which the elastic deformation of the locking arm is restricted and an unlocked position in which the elastic deformation of the locking arm is allowed.
The lock ensuring member is maintained in the unlocked position until the male housing is fitted in the female
Endo Tomomi
Fukuda Eiji
Bradley P. Austin
Nguyen Phuongchi
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
Yazaki -Corporation
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