Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Alps Electric, Ltd.

Nobuo Matsuzaki

Hiroyuki Bannai

Kenichiro Nishikigi

Yuichi Ida

Yoshihiro Ohashi

Takehiko Ito

Mitsunori Matsumoto

Kenichi Saiso

Kazuya Kawamura

Hideshi Sasaki

Yoshiro Honda

There are provided a fixed side housing, a movable side housing pivotably mounted to the fixed side housing, a plurality of flexible cables contained in a space formed between the fixed side housing and the movable side housing in a laminated state and a single piece of lead block having a plurality of first connection terminals connected with at least ones of respective ends of the plurality of flexible cables.

Rotary connector using plurality of flexible cables

Since a rotary connector B in which lock operation is released is mounted onto a steering device, in this mounting operation, the neutral rotation positions of both housings are shifted, resulting in wrong mounting. Therefore, there is provided a rotary connector permitting reliable mounting. A lock member is integrally formed of an arm portion, a finger-hook portion, a coupling portion, and a fixing portion, the fixing portion having a thin portion and a fixing remaining portion wherein, in a locked state, the fixing remaining portion is held at a locking portion of a first housing, the coupling portion is engaged with a rotation restraint portion, the arm portion is provided along a top surface, and the finger-hook portion is protruded outwardly of an outer cylindrical portion, and in an unlocked state, the finger-hook portion is folded so as to be close to the outer cylindrical portion, thereby separating the arm portion from the thin portion while the fixing remaining portion remains held in the locking portion of the first housing.

Rotary connector having mechanism for locking pair of housings in relatively rotational relation

Lead blocks are connected to end portions of flexible cables and are held at predetermined positions of housings. The lead blocks are each composed of a body portion, an extending terminal portion, and a conductor extending portion. A connecting portion for the associated flexible cable is formed in only the body portion. A predetermined number of connecting terminals are distributed to the body portion and the extending terminal portion. According to this configuration, conductors carried in the flexible cables and conductors held in the lead blocks can be connected with each other without dividing end portions of the flexible cables. Besides, it is possible to increase the total number of connecting terminals without increasing the number of lead blocks. Thus, it is possible to realize a multi-circuit configuration of the rotary connector.

Rotary connector

A vehicle-mounted rotary connector includes rotatably coupled fixed and movable housings, first and second flexible cables accommodated in such a manner that they can be wound up and unwound in a ring-shaped cable-accommodating space formed between the housings, and a moving member for reversing the winding direction of the flexible cables. Openings formed in the moving member for passing the flexible cables therethrough are different in width, and the reversed section of the first flexible cable having carried therein the conductors for the air bag circuit is carried by the opening having a large width. The first flexible cable having carried therein the conductors for the air bag circuit does not abut against either of a first specific roller and a first fixed cylinder provided on the moving member during the rotation of the movable housing. Therefore, stress exerted on the conductors for the air bag circuit can be relieved, whereby disconnection and incomplete connection of the air bag circuit can be prevented.

Vehicle-mounted rotary connector

A rotatable connector in which a moving body provided with first and second openings are rotatably arranged within a storage section defined between a stationary housing having an outer cylindrical wall and a movable housing having an inner cylindrical wall; and the width W,of the first opening and the width W,of the second opening are set as W,<W,. The first and second flat cables with both ends thereof fixed on the peripheral surfaces of the outer cylindrical wall and the inner cylindrical wall are wound within the storage section. The turned-back portions of the flat cables are routed through the first and second openings, with the inner end of the first flat cable directly wound around the peripheral surface of the inner cylindrical portion and with the inner end of the second flat cable also wound on the inner cylindrical portion through about one turn of the flat cable, thereby changing the winding diameter of the flat cables in relation to the inner cylindrical portion.

Rotatable connector

A first groove and a second groove are formed deep in the top surface of a stationary housing; the second groove being extended by a given angle circumferentially from both ends of the first groove. A lock screw is threadedly installed to a screw receiving portion of the movable housing, and the movable housing is rotatably connected to the center of the stationary housing. In the housing space defined between the two housings, a flexible cable is wound and housed. The movable housing is positioned in the neutral position of rotation with respect to the stationary housing. This state is kept by engaging the tip of the lock screw with the first groove. To perform rotation tests of the movable housing, the lock screw is turned back up to the position in which the lock screw contacts both ends of the second groove, and the movable housing can be turned within a range of less than &plusmn;180 degrees from the neutral position of rotation. After completion of the tests, the lock screw is engaged with the first groove to re-lock the movable housing in the neutral position of rotation.

Rotary connector capable of easy and reliable re-locking of movable housing in neutral position of rotation after rotation test

A rotary connector is disclosed. In the rotary connector, a movable housing having a second top plate is rotatably connected to a fixed housing having a first top plate, and a part of the second top plate is overlapped on the first top plate. At the overlapping portion of the first and second top plates, a ring-shaped first projection projecting upward is formed on the inner periphery of the first top plate, and ring-shaped second and third projections each projecting downward are formed on the second top plate. The third projection is in abutment with the inner peripheral surface of the first top plate so as to serve as a rotary slide sections for the first and second housings, and the second projection is arranged outside of the third and first projections.

A rotary connector including a stationary housing, a rotating housing and a lock member. When the lock member is mounted on the rotary connector, both housings are reliably locked with no free rotation therebetween permitted. The lock member is easily broken at a thin portion to release the locked state. A holder having a slot is integrally formed with the outer cylindrical portion of the stationary housing, while a projection is formed on the top surface of the rotating housing. The lock member is integrally formed of a horizontally extending arm portion, a ring-shaped finger-hook portion integrally connected to one end of the arm portion, and a coupling portion that extends downward from the other end of the arm portion. Formed on the border between the arm portion and the coupling portion is a V-shaped groove, as the thin portion, which is mechanically weaker than the rest of the lock member. The coupling portion of the lock member is snapped in the slot while the hole formed in the arm portion receives the projection of the rotating housing, and thus a relative rotation between both housings is blocked. By pivoting upward the finger-hook portion and the arm portion about the thin portion as a fulcrum, the arm portion is broken at the thin portion away from the coupling portion, and the coupling portion remains snapped in the slot.

A lock for preventing free rotation of the movable member of a cable real relative to the stationary member includes a screw supported on a lock member in such a manner as to be screwable into either the movable member or the stationary member, and a stopper integrally formed on the lock member for preventing disengagement of the screw. The movable member can be securely locked with respect to the stationary member, and can be released from its locked position with good operational efficiency.

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Miyagi-ken, Japan

Nobuo Matsuzaki