Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Courtney A Mansky

John H Bakker

Ronald A Puhl

George Raymond Herlinger

Craig J Coggins

An electrical connector assembly has a male connector which mates to a female connector thereby electrically engaging male terminal blades, locked to a male connector body, to female terminals locked to a female connector body. The blade of each male terminal extends into a blind bore defined by a shroud of the male connector body. Prior to mating of the electrical connector assembly, a self-aligning blade stabilizer is snap fitted into a blade alignment position with the male connector via a lock arm which prevents withdrawal of the stabilizer from the male connector and a flex arm which restricts insertion of the stabilizer into the male connector. When the stabilizer is in the blade alignment position, the tips of the blades are disposed within respective apertures of the stabilizer and aligned to their respective female terminals. Moreover, the terminal blades are protected from being inadvertently knocked and bent which would cause blade misalignment and hinder electrical continuity of the mated assembly. Furthermore, the stabilizer prevents entry of debris into the blind bore of the male connector which would hinder or prevent full mating of the electrical connector. During mating of the electrical connector assembly, the stabilizer is pushed out of the blade alignment position and into a seated position as the blades travel through the apertures and into the female terminals of the female connector.

Electrical connector assembly

An electrical connector assembly has a first connector with preferably two oppositely protruding cam followers and a second connector having a pivoting cam lever having preferably two lever arms. The two lever arms respectively engage the earn followers when the first connector is initially staged and locked partially into a cavity defined by the second connector, and as the cam lever pivots from an open position and towards a mated position. The first connector, once locked in the staged position within the forward cavity of the second connector, can not be easily or inadvertently withdrawn, thus, proper orientation of the cam followers to the cam lever is assured for initial cam engagement. The assembly is locked in the staged position by the snap fitting of a tab, which projects laterally from the first connector, into a close ended groove carried by a flex wall which is cantilevered from the second connector. Should the first connector be inadvertently pulled backward from the mating direction, a forward facing stop surface of the tab engages, and thereby prevents further withdrawal of the first connector, with a rearward facing lock seat of the flex wall. The stop surface of the tab is disposed substantially perpendicular to the mating direction preventing inadvertent flexing of the flex wall which would otherwise un-lock the first connector from the staged position.

Staged lock feature for an electrical connector assembly having a cam mating device

A tamper proof electrical connector has a plug which inserts into a receptacle housing. A leading portion of the plug resides within the receptacle housing and a unitary trailing portion of the plug projects outward from the housing. A tab projects laterally outward from the receptacle housing and snap locks to a cantilevered member engaged unitarily to the trailing portion of the plug. A barrier wall projects laterally outward from the receptacle housing and substantially surrounds the cantilevered member and tab. A hood has a perimeter wall and a resilient hinge engaged to a base of the cantilevered member. When assembled, the perimeter wall of the hood surrounds the barrier wall of the receptacle housing. Two prongs project downward from a top portion of the hood snap locking to opposing first and second walls of the barrier wall disposed on either side of the tab. The first and second walls are disposed between the perimeter wall and the respective first and second prongs of the hood.

Tamper proof electrical connector

A multi-blade electrical connector featuring a guidingly movable blade stabilizer which prevents blade misalignment and foreign article entry into the blade environment. A shroud provides a shroud cavity which communicates with terminal cavities. A bladed terminal is received in a respective terminal cavity, wherein the blade thereof projects into the shroud cavity. The shroud has a top wall and a bottom wall and have formed therein at least one pair of mutually opposed slot sets, each being composed of a prestage slot and a staging slot mutually aligned and separated by a prestage detent. The blade stabilizer has a plurality of blade apertures for snugly receiving a blade, respectively. Opposing edges of the blade stabilizer each have at least one staging nib for being respectively received into the at least one prestage and staging slots, wherein the blade stabilizer is at a prestage position when the staging nibs are at the prestaging slots, and at a sliding staging position when at the staging slots.

Growing community of inventors

Youngstown, OH, United States of America

Courtney A Mansky