Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Kazunori Yamashita

Yukinori Saka

Mitsuhiro Fujitani

Yasuo Matsushita

Masamitsu Chishima

Makoto Fukamachi

Koji Okutani

Hiroyuki Oka

Hiroki Osawa

Toshio Yamakado

Takashi Morikawa

A first housing () is provided with a tubular hood () and a rotatable lever (). A lock () on the lever () and a to-be-locked portion () provided on the hood () are locked to each other at an open end side of the hood () when the first and second housings () have been fit normally together. Thus, rotation of the lever is prevented. A hold-down portion () on the second housing () covers the open end of the hood () when the first and second housings () have been fit normally together and prevents the open end of the hood () from elastically deforming in a return direction of the lever () while unlocking the to-be-locked portion () and the lock () from each other.

Lever-type connector

A female terminal fitting has a rectangular tubular body () with opposed first and second walls () and an insertion opening () for receiving a tab (). An elastic contact piece () is inside the body () and extends obliquely from a support () on the second wall () of the body () towards both the first wall () and the insertion opening (). The elastic contact piece () then bends back towards the second wall () to define an apex (). A projection () projects toward the first wall () from a location on the elastic contact piece () between the support () and the apex (). The elastic contact piece () deforms flexibly about the support () when the tab () is inserted into the body (), thus sandwiching the tab () between a contact () of the projection () and the first wall ().

Female terminal fitting

A shielded terminal () is inserted into a cavity () of a female housing () while inserting stabilizers () bulging out to left and right sides therefrom along guide grooves (), and is partly locked by a locking portion (). A retainer () is inserted into a retainer mount hole () while inserting legs () at the opposite sides into insertion grooves (). When the retainer () is pushed to a full locking position, retaining portions () are engaged with the rear edges of the stabilizers () to doubly lock the shielded terminal (). The retainer () is locked at the full locking position by the resilient engagement of full locking claws () with full locking sections () as well as by the fitting engagement of elongated locking projections () formed on the inner surfaces of the leg pieces () with end portions of the guide grooves ().

Connector and method of assembling it

A connector has a housing () with cavities () for accommodating terminal fittings (). A retainer-mounting hole () is formed in a side of the housing () and communicates with the cavities (). A retainer () can be mounted in the retainer-mounting hole () at a predetermined normal depth to lock the terminal fittings () in the cavities (). The retainer () has side locks () at both sides of the retainer () that lock to a corresponding side to-be-locked surface () in the housing (). The retainer () also has an intermediate lock () at a central position of the retainer () that locks to an intermediate to-be-locked surface () in the housing (). The blocking strength of the intermediate lock () exceeds the locking strength of the side locks ().

Electrical connector with a terminal retainer with an intermediate lock

A connector () has auxiliary housings () that can be mounted in a housing main body () by a cam action generated by a slider () having sliding plates (). Locks () lock the properly mounted auxiliary housings () in the housing main body (). The locks () are deformed into movement paths for the sliding plates () when auxiliary housings () are mounted improperly, thereby preventing movement of the slider () to a connecting position. However, the locks () are retracted from the movement paths for the sliding plates () when the auxiliary housings () are mounted properly so that the slider () can move to the connecting position.

Connector, a connector assembly and an assembly method

A terminal fitting () has close-contact portions () that frictionally engage inner walls () of a press-in hole (), biting projections () behind the close-contact portions () for biting in the inner walls () of the press-in hole () and recesses () behind the biting projections (). The close-contact portions () are held in sliding contact with the inner walls () at an initial stage of the pressing operation. Thus, a resistance is smaller as compared to a case where projections are moved while biting in the inner walls ().

Connector and a terminal fitting

Resilient deformation of a rubber plug () can be absorbed by a housing-side groove (A) and a holder-side groove (B) formed to surround all wire insertion holes (), thereby preventing the displacements of the wire insertion holes (). Thus, a reduction in operability at the time of inserting female terminal fittings () and wires () through the rubber plug () can be avoided. Further, a housing-side pressing portion (A) and a holder-side pressing portion (B) are pressed into the housing-side groove (A) and the holder-side groove (B) over the entire periphery to press the rubber plug () into contact with the inner surface of an accommodation recess (), sealability between a housing () and the rubber plug () can be ensured.

Waterlight connector

A frame () is formed with a slider accommodating space () and a housing accommodating space () that are partitioned by inner walls (). A slider () is formed with cam grooves () to face the housing accommodating space (), and a male housing () is pulled to a connection position by a movement of the slider () in a direction substantially normal to a connecting direction with cam pins () of the male housing () engaged with the cam grooves (). The inner walls () have thinned portions () reducing the thickness of the inner walls (). Surrounding walls () of receptacles () of auxiliary housings () enter the thinned portions () to arrange the surrounding walls () in proximity to main portions () of the slider ().

Connector with movable member for assisting connection with a mating connector

A positioning plate () is mounted to a circuit board connector (), and has insertion holes () into which jig contacts () of terminals () are insertable. A depth (D) of the insertion holes () exceeds a length (L) of the jig contact () of the terminal (). Thus, upon mounting the circuit board connector () on a circuit board (), the resilient contacts () of each terminal () are inserted into a corresponding through hole () until the positioning plate () comes contacts the circuit board (), whereby further insertion of the resilient contacts () is prevented. As a result, lower edges (B) of the jig contacts () are spaced from the circuit board (). Thus, the circuit board () cannot be damaged by the lower edges (B) of the jig contacts ().

Construction for mounting a terminal, a circuit board connector and method of mounting it

A PCB connector ( ) has a housing ( ) with a receptacle ( ) that has a rear wall ( ). The rear wall ( ) has through holes ( ) that provide communication between the inside and the outside of the receptacle ( ). Recesses ( ) are formed at receptacle ends of the through holes ( ). Terminal fittings ( ) are introduced through the through holes ( ) from the outside of the housing ( ). Chips ( ) produced by the abrasion of the terminal fittings ( ) and the inner walls of the through holes ( ) stay in the recesses ( ) and do not interfere with a mating connector.

Circuit board connector and method of assembling it

A connector ( ) has a lever ( ) to facilitate connection with a mating connector ( ). The lever ( ) has a detector ( ) normally held at a standby position. However, the detector ( ) can be displaced to a detecting position when the lever ( ) reaches a connection position, thereby detecting a properly connected state of the connectors ( ).

Connector having an operable member

A first connector ( ) has a lever ( ) that is rotatable in a rotation direction (RD) from an initial position to a connecting position. The lever ( ) displays a cam action for urging the first connector ( ) into connection with a second connector ( ). The first connector ( ) also has a detector ( ) that is moveable in a moving direction (MD) from a standby position to a detecting position. The moving direction (MD) is aligned at an angle to the rotating direction (RD). The lever ( ) and the detector ( ) are configured so that the lever ( ) interferes with the detector ( ) and prevents the detector ( ) from moving to the detecting position until the lever ( ) is in the connecting position. Thus the detector ( ) confirms that the lever ( ) is in the connecting position.

Lever-type connector, a lever-type connector assembly and a method of assembling a lever-type connector with a mating connector

A wire fixing portion ( ) with a substantially U-shaped cross section that projects from an edge section of a wire draw-out opening ( ) of a wire cover ( ). The wire fixing portion ( ) has a pair of bundling holes ( ) through which a bundling band ( ) can be introduced for bundling wires (W). In order to fix the wires (W) to the wire cover ( ), the bundling band ( ) is put on the wires (W) and the wire fixing portion ( ) to fasten the wires (W). At this time, the wires (W) can be firmly fixed to the wire fixing portion ( ) by suitably selecting a mounting path of the bundling band ( ) based on the number of the wires (W) to be fixed and the outer diameter thereof.

Wire cover and a connector provided therewith

A connector assembly has first and second connectors ( ). A slider ( ) can be slid on the first connector ( ) from an initial position to a connection position. Detectors ( ) are kept at a standby position before the slider ( ) reaches a proper connection position to leave the connectors ( ) only partly connected, whereas the displacement of the detectors ( ) to a detection position is permitted after the slider ( ) reaches the connection position to properly connect the connectors ( ). Thus, a moved position of the slider ( ) or the connected state of the connectors ( ) can be detected based on whether the detectors ( ) can be displaced to the detection position.

Connector assembly

When a connecting or separating operation with or from a mating connector M is interrupted, contact portions of a slider push a receptacle Ma by being subjected to biasing forces accumulated in biasing springs , thereby forcibly separating a housing from the mating connector F. This forcible separation shows that two connectors were left partly connected. Since a pair of left and right biasing springs and a pair of left and right contact portions are provided at the opposite sides of a lock arm along the upper surface of the housing , a width of the housing is smaller as compared to a connector in which the biasing springs and the contact portions are provided on the left and right side surfaces of the housing.

Growing community of inventors

Yokkaichi, Japan

Kazunori Yamashita