Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Harness System Technologies Research, Ltd.

Masaji Suzuki

Osamu Sasai

Nori Inoue

Kiyofumi Ichida

Hitoshi Okumura

Shoichi Sugata

Kensaku Takata

Atsushi Sakatani

Kensaku Takada

Toshikazu Sakurai

Satoshi Takano

Akihito Maegawa

Shuji Kosuge

Mitsuru Itoh

Satoshi Tasano

Mitsuru Itou

The connector is structured such that a spring piece member 30 supported by a male side connector housing 10 can be compressed in the two directions of the sliding motion of the connector when the connector is mounted and removed, a seesaw type lever piece member 40 disposed so as to be seesawable in the sliding direction of a female connector housing 20 can be inclined forwardly and backwardly into engagement with the two end portions of the spring piece member 30, and the seesaw type lever piece member 40 can be inclined according to the fitted state of the connector by a waiting side guide projection piece 17 and a movable side guide 45 respectively provided in the male side and female side connector housings 10 and 20. Thanks to this structure, resilient forces respectively to pull back and push out the two connector housings in a half fitted state can be obtained from the same elastic member, that is, the spring piece member 30, and engagement and disengagement between the seesaw type lever piece member 40 and the spring piece member 30 can be achieved within a small operation range, which makes it possible to realize a compact and half fitted connector.

Connector device having spring mechanism

A divided connector is provided to reduce engaging forces and to enable a simplified engagement detection. The connector has male and female connector housings 1, 2; 51, 60 each carrying a group of terminal fittngs 7, 7a, 12. Either one of the connector housings 1, 2; 51, 60 is divided into a plurality of housing pieces 3, 4; 61, 62, 63 so as to be fittable and engageable with a plurality of corresponding accommodation positions in the other connector housing 1, 2; 51, 60. The connector has a controller 14-16; 18-25; 45, 47, 48; 65-74; 114-124 for controlling the fitting and/or engagement of a previously fitted and/or engaged housing piece 3, 4; 61, 62, 63, and engagement detector means 7a, 27-43 for detecting whether or not the last housing piece 3, 4; 61, 62, 63 was properly engaged.

Connector assembly with sequentially engageable housings

A connector assembly including a first connector having female terminals which are short-circuited through a short-circuiting terminal while the first connector is not connected to a second one. When the second connector is plugged into the first connector, an insulating piece of the second connector breaks the short-circuit connection between the female terminals. The short-circuiting terminal has contact portions. At least one of the short-circuiting terminal contact portions has a side extension. The second connector has a rib adapted to press the contact portions to form a gap between the short-circuiting terminals and the female terminals. The insulating piece is inserted between the gap thus formed, so that it encounters practically no resistance. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the thickness of the insulating piece and thus to improve the long-term reliability of the connector assembly.

Electric connector assembly

A connector assembly with a bad-connection-preventive function is disclosed. It is simple in structure, made up of a small number of parts, and has high long-term reliability. It has a second connector having an integral locking arm and a first connector. Protrusions A and B are formed on side faces of the locking arm and the side faces of the first connector, respectively. A spring is mounted in the first connector. By inserting the second connector into the first connector, the locking arm is pushed upward by the protrusions B, so that its shoulder portion abuts the spring. Thus, the spring is compressed when the second connector is further pushed into the first connector. The connectors are thus urged in a direction away from each other by the spring. The spring disengages when the connectors are completely coupled together. When pulling the second connector out of the first connector, the protrusions A pass under the protrusions B.

Connector assembly

A connector includes a retainer that can be provisionally retained by a connector positioning device. Each retainer is integrally molded on a connector housing through hinge pieces, and can be attached to the connector housing by fitting a guide slot of each of the retaining pieces on a guide projection. Therefore, the retainer can be attached by a pusher that pushes the retainer in a direction perpendicular to the connector housing. At this time, for attaching the retainer to a provisionally-retained position, there is provided a guide for holding the retainer in such a posture that the retainer can be attached in the provisionally-retained position.

Connector with integral retainer, connector conveying and positioning

A connector includes flexible hinge pieces molded of a synthetic resin, wherein each flexible hinge piece is caused to upwardly extend. When each side plate of a retainer is squeezed from above toward the rear end side of a recessed part formed on one side surface of a connector housing, a provisional engagement locking protuberance is fitted into the fore end side of an elongated hole, causing the fore edge of the side plate to be held between the provisional engagement locking protuberance and a normal engagement locking protuberance in the clamped state. The retainer is thus held in the provisionally engaged state. The hinge piece is folded in the connector housing, and the retainer positioned where each terminal piece can be inserted into and drawn from the corresponding terminal insert hole. When the retainer is further squeezed from above after the terminal piece is inserted into the terminal insert hole, a normal engagement locking protuberance is fitted into the fore end side of the elongated hole, causing the provisional engagement locking protuberance and the normal engagement locking protuberance to be engaged with the opposite ends of the elongated hole. The retainer is thus held in the normally engaged state.

Connector

A housing has guide holes that have stair-like surfaces constituted by horizontal wall surfaces and slanting surfaces that are continuously connected together. A retainer has guide pieces that have horizontal wall surfaces and a slanting surface that are continuously connected together. When the guide pieces are inserted into the guide holes, respectively, the slanting surfaces are abutted against each other to achieve a provisionally-locked condition. Thereafter, when the retainer is pushed forwardly, the guide piece moves obliquely in the guide hole along their slanting surfaces, and therefore moves downward and forward to reach a completely-locked position.

Connector with double-lock construction

To prevent disengagement of a connector from a predetermined position after installation, while ensuring an easy installation, arm stoppers are connected to a retainer by strap-like connection portions. An engagement hole is provided at each of opposite sides of a connector body, and a locking arm is provided outwardly of the engagement hole. When the retainer is to be attached to the connector body, each arm stopper is inserted slightly into the engagement hole. In this condition, the locking arm can be flexed inwardly, and therefore the removal of the connector is simplified. After the connector is attached to a panel, the arm stopper is inserted deep into the engagement hole, and therefore the locking arm cannot be flexed inwardly, and a retaining pawl cannot be moved and the connector cannot be removed from the panel.

Growing community of inventors

Yokkaichi, Japan

Masaji Suzuki