Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited

Satoru Majima

Katsumasa Okuda

Hidenori Aizawa

A combination of first and second connectors fittable with and detachable from each other is disclosed. The first connector comprises a first body, a guided portion and a stopper-releaser. The guided portion is held by the first body and is movable between a detachment position and a fit position via a preliminary-fit position when the first connector is fitted with or detached from the second connector. The fit position and the preliminary-fit position are within the second connector. The stopper-releaser accompanies the guided portion. The second connector comprises a second body, a lever and a lever stopper. The lever is provided with a guiding portion and is supported by the second body so that the lever is rotatable between first and second positions. The lever allows the guided portion to move between the detachment position and the preliminary-fit position when the lever is positioned at the first position. The guiding portion guides the guided portion to the fit position when the lever is rotated from the first position to the second position after the guided portion is positioned at the preliminary-fit position. The guiding portion guides the guided portion to the preliminary-fit position when the lever is rotated from the second position to the first position after the first connector is fitted with the second connector. The lever stopper stops rotation of the lever from the first position toward the second position when the lever is positioned at the first position. The stopping of the rotation is released by the stopper-releaser upon the guided portion is moved from the preliminary position toward the fit position.

Combination of lever connector and mating connector

In a connector including a housing to be fitted to a mating connector and a lever rotatable to the housing between a first and a second position, a main body of the lever has a generally flat shape and provided with a recess recessed from a principal surface of the main body in a thickness direction to have a bottom portion. A spring portion extends from the main body in the recess to have a free end and being elastically deformable in the thickness direction. A locking portion is formed to the spring portion at a first portion away from the free end and adapted to be locked with the housing when the lever is at the second position. The spring portion faces the bottom of the recess with a distance greater at a second portion between the free end and the first portion than that at the first portion.

Connector with a rotatable lever with a recess with a spring

The lever comprises a main plate portion, a supporter portion, and an arm. The main plate portion is laid in parallel with a predetermined plane. The supporter portion extends from the main plate portion. The arm is supported by the supporting portion and is bendable in a predetermined direction. The predetermined direction is not equal to a direction perpendicular to the predetermined plane. The arm is provided with a first engagement portion. The housing comprises an accommodation portion and a second engagement portion. The second engagement portion is formed in the accommodation portion. The housing accommodates and rotatably supports the main plate portion in the accommodation portion so that the lever is provided with rotary movement between a first position and a second position. The lever connector is connected to the mating connector and the first engagement portion is engaged with the second engagement portion upon rotation of the lever from the first position to the second position.

Lever connector

A connector includes an insulator having contact receiving portions and a retainer receiving portion that communicate with each other. The connector further includes conductive contacts inserted into the contact receiving portions from a first direction, respectively. The connector further includes a retainer inserted into the retainer receiving portion from the first direction for preventing the contacts from coming off in a direction opposite to the first direction. The retainer includes a body portion and a pair of elastic pieces each elastically deformable and joined to the body portion. The body portion has a pair of excessive deformation preventing portions each for preventing excessive deformation of the corresponding elastic piece toward the body portion. The elastic pieces each have a specific lock portion, and the insulator has a pair of specific lock receiving portions each for locking the corresponding specific lock portion when the retainer is inserted to a predetermined position of the retainer receiving portion.

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Tokyo, Japan

Satoru Majima