Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Makoto Fukamachi

Satoru Nishide

Hajime Kawase

Osamu Ito

Hiroyuki Nakata

Osamu Taniuchi

Youichi Nankoh

Hitoshi Okumura

Naoya Kurimoto

Takatoshi Katsuma

Yoshito Oka

Kazunori Yamashita

Kenji Inoue

Matthew Grant

Yuichi Nankoh

Naoya Kurimito

Kazuhisa Kondo

A lever connector that exhibits excellent space efficiency is provided. The lever connector includes female and male housings that are engageable with each other. A lever is mounted displaceably on the male housing and can be moved between an initial position and a fitting position. A cam groove is formed on the lever, and a cam follower is formed on the female housing. An entrance of the cam groove is aligned in a direction that intersects the fitting direction of the housings when the lever is at the initial position, and the female housing is assembled into a hood along the same direction.

Space efficient lever connector

A connector has a retainer () mounted on a housing () for movement between a temporary locking position and a main locking position in a direction (Y) oblique to a fit-in direction (X) of the housing (). Terminal fittings () can be inserted into the housing () when the retainer () is at the temporary locking position and are locked in housing () when the retainer () is at the main locking position. The housing () has a locking part () and the retainer () has a to-be-locked portion () that can be locked together. Locking surfaces of the locking part () and the to-be-locked portion () are inclined to the movement direction (Y) of the retainer () and to the fit-in direction (X) of the housing ().

Connector with retainer and retainer locking surfaces aligned oblique to movement direction of retainer

Supporting shafts () are provided on a cover () of a housing (), and bearings () are provided in a lever (). Each supporting shaft () includes retaining pieces () around a recess () at an inner side, and the retaining pieces () are inserted into the bearings () and leading-end flanges () thereof are resiliently engageable with opening edges of the bearings (). Each bearing () includes a restriction () insertable into the recess () from a leading end of the supporting shaft (). The restrictions () are displaceable to deformation permitting areas where resilient deformations of the retaining pieces toward the recesses () are permitted when the lever () is assembled and to deformation preventing areas where the resilient deformations of the retaining pieces () toward the recesses () are prevented by interference of the restricts () with the retaining pieces () as the lever () is rotated.

Connector

A holding wall () of a connector housing () has terminal holding holes () for receiving terminal fittings. Two tight holding walls () are formed at opposite sides of each terminal holding hole () on the outer surface of the holding wall (). The terminal fitting is pressed into the terminal holding hole () and between the tight holding walls (). Further, the terminal holding holes () are formed by molding pins () having a length substantially equal to the thickness of the holding wall () and contact plates () that contact the leading ends of the molding pins (). Thus, the molding pins () can be short and are less likely to deform when subjected to pressure from resin during molding.

Connector, a forming mold therefor

A mold-removal hole () formed upon forming a locking portion () and communicating with a tab insertion hole () is formed before a locking portion () by partly cutting a wall of the tab insertion hole (). As this mold-removal hole () is formed, preventing portions () for preventing a displacement of the tab () inserted into the tab insertion hole () toward the mold-removal hole () are formed on the wall of the tab insertion hole () at the lateral sides of the mold-removal hole () and at the opposite widthwise outer sides of the locking portion (). By displacing the position of the locking portion () toward one widthwise side from the center of the cavity (), the preventing portion () provided at the other side is set to have an increased area of engagement with the tab ().

Connector and method of molding a connector

A female connector () is assembled with a holder () on a dashboard (A) and a male connector () is assembled with an instrument panel (B). The male connector () has a receptaclewith a cut-out () for receiving the female connector (). Guide pins () of the female connector () slide along guide grooves () of the holder () to displace the female connector () normal to an assembling direction and to connect the female connector () with the male connector (). A movable protecting portion () is displaced from a protecting position where the movable protecting portion () covers the cut-out () to a retracted position RP where the movable protecting portion () is retracted from the cut-out () by sliding movements of guide pins () of the movable protection portion () along guide grooves () of the holder ().

Connector connecting construction and a connector connecting method

An electric wire cover () is mounted on a lower portion of a housing () of a female connector (). The electric wire cover () is accommodated inside a rectangular box-shaped connector-holding part () formed on a bottom wall (A) of a lower cover (), and an elastic piece () is interposed between the female connector () and the connector-holding part (). Thus, the female connector () is supported for elastic displacement in a wait state. In consequence of mounting of the lower cover () on the body (), the female connector () is connected to a connector connection part () of the body () of an electrical connection box. Thus in the case where there is a dislocation between the female connector () and the connector connection part (), the female connector () shifts along the bottom wall (A) of the lower cover (), thus absorbing the dislocation.

Electrical connection box with a lower cover for holding and mounting a connector

A lever-type connector has two housings () and a lever () with a cam for facilitating the connection of the housings (). The connector is configured so that a connection resistance between the housings () and an operation resistance on the lever () reach their maximums at substantially the same time. Thus, a separate resistance generator is unnecessary, and an operator is less likely to erroneously stop the connecting operation upon an increase in the operation resistance caused by a separate resistance generator. Accordingly, the two housings () can be connected properly with high reliability.

Lever-type connector and connector housing therefor

Male housings () have erroneous connection preventing structures (), and the connection of the housings () is prevented at a preventing position (PP) located before an initial connection position (ICP) if the housings () are connected erroneously. When a lever () is rotated in this state, push-back surfaces () formed at opening edges of cam grooves () push cam pins () back to separate the two housings (). Thus, the lever () can be prevented from damage.

Connector, set of connectors and method of connecting a connector

Ribs ( ) are formed on the outer surface of a female housing main body ( ) such that the front ends thereof are retracted from the front end of the female housing main body ( ). By setting this retracted distance (D) larger than a dimension (C) along depth of connection over which first guiding surfaces ( A) are formed, the ribs ( ) enter guide grooves ( ) after the female housing main body ( ) is guided to substantially correct its disalignment. Thus, second guiding surfaces ( B) can be smaller, thereby making the opening edges of the guide grooves ( ) smaller. This enables the miniaturization of a connector provided with the ribs ( ) for the twisting connection preventing purpose.

Connector with interengageable rib and groove for guiding connection and a method of assembling such a connector

A housing ( ) has a terminal accommodation part ( ) for accommodating a terminal ( ) and a circular arc wall ( ) constituting an insertion opening ( ) into which a socket ( ) can be inserted. Slits ( ) are formed on an upper end of the circular arc wall ( ) to form elastic pieces ( ). A protrusion ( ) projects inwardly on each elastic piece ( ) and is disposed to cover an upper portion of each contact piece ( ) of the terminal ( ). A guide surface ( ) inclines inward on each protrusion ( ). The lower end of the socket ( ) slides on the guide surface ( ) so that the socket ( ) becomes almost coaxial with the insertion opening ( ).

Coaxial connector

The invention provides a panel connector, permitted limited movement in an aperture while simultaneously preventing this connector from falling out. A female connector is supported in a waiting state within a panel by flanges which make contact with edges of an attachment hole ; contacting plates of upper and lower pairs of resilient contacts , and for engagement with retaining members ; and contacting plates which engage supplementary retaining members . If an axis of a corresponding male connector is misaligned relative to an axis of the female connector , some of the resilient contacts bend, this causing the female connector to move to align the axes of the two connectors and . As the female connector moves, the degree of engagement between some of the resilient contacts is reduced. However, the reduction in this degree of engagement is compensated for by opposite edges of supplementary retaining members entering, stopping grooves provided in opposite supporting plates

Supporting configuration for a connector

A connector has female and male housings ( ) that are connectable with one another. A recess ( ) is formed in an outer surface of the male housing ( ). A detector ( ) is mounted in an initial position in the recess ( ) before the housings ( ) are connected, and is moved to a detecting position after the housings ( ) are connected properly for preventing separation of the housings ( ). The detector ( ) has a disengaging hole ( ), a rotation permitting space ( ) that communicates with the disengaging hole ( ) and a catchable portion ( ) facing into the rotation permitting space ( ). A disengaging jig ( ) has a disengaging portion ( ) that can be inserted into the disengagement hole ( ), rotated and pulled against the catchable portion ( ) to move the detecting member ( ) to the initial position.

Connector locking member with disengagement feature

The invention provides a means of reducing the force required for fitting a lever connector. A connector is divided into partitioned housings L and R. The timing of the fitting operation differs for each of the partitioned housings L and R, thereby causing the time at which peak fitting resistance occurs to differ. The peak fitting resistance being dispersed over the period between the beginning and the ending of the fitting operations of the two partitioned housings L and R. As a result, the overall peak value of the fitting resistance (the force required for the fitting operation) is reduced for the connector as a whole.

A connector has means for preventing terminal fittings from being inserted in an inverted manner, and in which nothing protrudes from outer faces of these terminal fittings. Cut-away portions 17 are formed at a ceiling side of anterior ends of left and right side plates 11B of a box-shaped member 11 of a terminal fitting 10. Protrusions 34 are formed within a cavity 24 at anterior ends of left and right wall faces thereof, in locations somewhat removed from a wall face having a lance 26 formed thereon. These protrusions 34 are capable of fitting into the cut-away portions 17. When the terminal fitting 10 is correctly inserted, the protrusions 34 fit into the cut-away portions 17, and the terminal fitting 10 is pushed into a correct position and is retained by the lance 26. When the terminal fitting 10 is inserted in an inverted manner, the anterior end of the box-shaped member 11 strikes against the protrusions 34 before the terminal fitting 10 reaches the correct position. Consequently, the terminal fitting 10 is prevented from being inserted any further, and it is not retained by the lance 26.

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Yokkaichi, Japan

Makoto Fukamachi