Yazaki North America, Inc.

Yazaki Corporation

Takeshi Takahashi

Kazuhiro Shimizu

Michael Anthony Manor

Brian L Wagner

Jeromy William Tomlin

Jerome Adam Duhr

Eric Scott Smolen

Nobuhiko Kotajima

Michael J Gniewek

Seiji Ito

John Michael Herald

A grommet for housing electrical wires constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure includes a mounting structure, a tube, and a plurality of stiffeners. The mounting structure is configured to mount to a panel of a vehicle, the mounting structure defining a first passage extending therethrough. The tube extends from the mounting structure and defines a second passage in communication with the first passage. The tube includes a corrugated portion having a plurality of ridges and a plurality of grooves interposed between the plurality of ridges. The stiffeners are interposed between those of the plurality of ridges that are disposed within a zone of the corrugated portion. The stiffeners extend partially around a circumference of the tube.

Accordion-style grommet with shape-influencing stiffeners

A bussed electrical center (BEC) has a lateral appendage for a positive battery terminal to be used for jump starting purposes. A cover for the terminal is hingedly attached to the lateral appendage of the BEC by way of a relatively rotatable axle and bearing combination as well as facially abutting complemental locking surfaces each having alternatively raised and unraised sectors which interfit in each of two locking positions 180 degrees apart so that the cover can be locked fully open or fully closed.

Terminal cover with hinge

A grommet fits around a wire harness and seats within and passes through an opening in a vehicle panel. The grommet has an internal tube section for snugly receiving the harness. At a first end of the grommet, a flange section is sized to seal against one side of the opening. A groove immediately adjacent the flange section receives an edge of the opening. From a side of the groove opposite the flange section, a tapered section converges to the tube section at a second end of the grommet. An engagement area of the tapered section immediately adjacent the groove is wider than a depth of the groove, so the engagement area rubs against the edge of the opening as the second end of the grommet and the tapered section are pulled through the opening. Multiple circumferential rows of depressions are provided around the tapered section within the boundaries of the engagement area. The depressions are circular in shape at an outer surface of the engagement area and bowl-shaped extending into the tapered section. The rows are offset so the depressions do not align along a longitudinal axis of the grommet. The depressions reduce frictional contact between the engagement area and the edge of the panel opening, and provide holding reservoirs for lubricant if used.

Grommet with reduced insertion force

An eyelet terminal for holding a bolt in a pre-set position relative to a mounting member wherein the threaded portion of the bolt is proximate a female threaded portion of the mounting member. In this pre-set position, the bolt is on the verge of engagement with the female threaded portion so that rotation of the bolt causes it to immediately begin to engage the female threaded portion. The terminal has two generally circular eyelets connected with one another by a spacing member which maintains the two eyelets in a spaced apart and generally parallel relationship. The first eyelet has a plurality of circumferentially spaced tabs projecting radially inward into its aperture to engage a bolt and maintain it in rotatable connection with the terminal such that the bolt shank passes through both eyelet apertures. The second eyelet has retainer prongs extending generally perpendicular therefrom. The retainer is inserted into engagement with a first hole in the mounting member so that the second eyelet is adjacent the mounting member and the bolt is aligned with a threaded hole in the mounting member. The first and second eyelets are spaced apart by a distance such that when the bolt is captive in the first eyelet and the retainer is engaged with the mounting member, the bolt is maintained in the pre-set position. As the bolt is driven into engagement with the mounting member, the spacing member deforms to allow the first eyelet to move toward the second eyelet.

Eyelet terminal with captive bolt

An eyelet terminal for use in a vehicle junction box or power center to connect a bus bar to an electrical wire or cable. The terminal assembly is formed as a flat metal blank with bendable portions defining a nut-trapping lock ring, an anti-rotation tab, and wire crimping tabs. One end of the terminal includes an eyelet portion having an aperture for a bolt or threaded stud, and a surface for rotatably supporting a flanged nut over the aperture. The lock ring is formed at the end of a leg or arm extending from the eyelet portion and adapted to be bent over a radius to a nut-trapping position over the nut flange and aligned with the eyelet portion. A bendable anti-rotation tab extending from the lock ring is bent from an initial flat position to a right-angled position in which it extends through a suitable aperture in the terminal when the lock ring is in the nut-trapping position. The portion of the anti-rotation tab extending through the terminal is adapted to engage a mating receptacle in a bus bar or junction box housing to prevent the eyelet terminal from rotating when the nut is tightened in one-handed fashion.

Anti-rotation terminal with captured nut

A tolerance-accommodating, flexible mounting pad formed integrally in the base point mounting portion of a bussed electrical center cover. The base point of the bussed electrical center is adapted to be secured directly to a vehicle mounting surface, the location of which may vary due to dimensional variations within an expected tolerance range. The cover is typically secured by one or two fixed mounting points at an upper portion thereof to mounting points in the vehicle, and the tolerance-accommodating mounting pad is then used to secure the base point of the cover directly to the final vehicle mounting surface. If a gap exists between the base point and the vehicle mounting surface due to variations within the expected tolerance of the vehicle mounting surface, a fastener inserted through the mounting pad and engaging the mounting surface is operable to flex the normally recessed mounting pad outwardly into direct, tensioned contact with the vehicle mounting surface. In a preferred form, the pad is formed integrally from an inwardly-bowed band of the cover wall material, defined by two slots in the wall material. In a most preferred form the band has a multi-planar configuration with flex arms and mounting pad portions defined by bend lines.

Tolerance accommodating mounting pad for junction box cover

A wire retaining clip for guiding bundled wires extending from an electrical connector mounted to a power distribution box and securing the wires to the box to prevent vibration of the wires from causing them to separate from their terminals. The wire retaining clip is molded in a single piece and comprises a connector cover which snaps into attachment with the electrical connector to secure the wire terminals therein and a wire guide member attached to the cover by a living hinge. The wire guide member encloses the wires and routes them around an edge of the power distribution box and along a second surface of the box. The wires are taped or otherwise secured to the wire guide member, and a lock mechanism on the wire guide member engages cooperating means on the power distribution box to secure the wires to the box.

Wire retaining clip

A battery connection comprises a battery post protruding from a battery and a battery cable terminal for clamping connection with the battery post. The battery post is an elliptical cylinder projecting perpendicularly from the surface of the battery, and the battery cable terminal has a mating elliptical clamping ring. When the clamping ring is fitted over the post and tightened therearound, the elliptical shapes of the post and terminal substantially prevent twisting of the terminal relative to the post and so inhibit loosening of the terminal. The smoothly curved, cornerless elliptical shape of the post allows the ring to slide around the perimeter of the post as the ring is tightened so that the normal contact force between the ring and the post is substantially constant around the perimeter thereof.

Growing community of inventors

Novi, MI, United States of America

Takeshi Takahashi