Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Autonetworks Technologies, Limited

Tomohiko Kobayashi

Naomichi Kawashima

Takao Hata

Masaaki Tabata

Hirokazu Komori

Yutaro Yoshida

Masatoshi Itou

Masatoshi Ito

Hiroshi Kobayashi

Takeshi Tsuji

Tomoyuki Funayama

Yoshihiro Mizutani

Shigeki Nishiyama

Satoshi Morikawa

Takahiro Murata

Hiroyuki Hiramatsu

Tomoo Kakegawa

Shinji Hirano

Takehiro Nakata

Chikahiro Yoshioka

A connector (female connector) is provided with an inner housingfrom which wires W are pulled out to outside and which is connected to a mating housing, and a vibration transmitting memberincluding a mating contact portion (inner peripheral surfaceA) capable of coming into contact with the mating housing. The vibration transmitting memberincludes a wire fixing portionto which the wires W are fixed, and is capable of transmitting vibration from the wire fixing portionto the mating housingfrom the mating contact portionA. The inner housingis allowed to relatively move with respect to the vibration transmitting member

Connector

A connector () is provided with an inner housing () to be fit to an inner periphery of a mating housing (M) and an outer housing () fittable to an outer periphery of the mating housing (M). The outer housing () is held on the inner housing () by first locks () before connection to the mating housing (M), is held connected to the mating housing (M) by a second lock () at the time of connection to the mating housing M, and is separated from the inner housing () and held connected to the mating housing (M) by releasing the first locks () at the time of separation from the mating housing (M).

Connector with inner and outer housings and a cover, with the cover and the inner housing being independently separable from the outer housing while the connector is connected to a mating connector

A wire holding structure () for wires () includes wires (), a rubber plug () having wire through holes () having the wires () passed therethrough, a housing () externally fit to the rubber plug () and a wire cover () configured to cover the housing (). The wire cover () includes an opening (), and the housing () includes a lid () shaped to correspond to the opening () and configured to close the opening ().

Wire holding structure

A connector has a male housing () with a forwardly open receptacle () and a female housing () with a terminal accommodating portion () that fits into the receptacle (). A front wall () is mounted on a front of the terminal accommodating portion () and provides terminal insertion holes (). Fitting projections () are formed on an inner peripheral surface of the receptacle (), and fitting grooves () are formed on an outer peripheral surface of the terminal accommodating portion () for receiving the fitting projections (). Backlash preventing ribs () are formed on inner surfaces of the fitting grooves () and are squeezed between inner surfaces of the fitting grooves () and outer surfaces of the fitting projections (). The front wall () has escaping grooves () configured to allow the fitting projections () to be passed therethrough with a clearance and inserted into the fitting grooves ().

Connector having a housing with a backlash preventing rib

A lever () mounted on a cover () is held at a standby position and, in that state, the cover () is fitted to a housing () in a connecting direction to a position where the cover () is not aligned with the housing (). At this position, gear teeth of the lever () and rack teeth of sliders () do not interfere with each other and are not engaged. If the cover () is subsequently moved in a direction perpendicular to the connecting direction via a guiding action of the engagement of guide receiving portions () of the connector housing () and U-shaped guide portions () formed on the cover (), the cover () is smoothly mounted at a proper mounting position. At this time, since the guide portions () vertically sandwich the guide receiving portions (), upward detachment of the cover () is prevented.

Lever-type connector

A retainer (), a rubber plug () and a rubber plug pressing member () are mounted in a housing (). The retainer () is movable between a partial locking position and a full locking position, and the rubber plug pressing member () is movable between an initial position and a pushed-in position. The rubber plug pressing member () is formed with arm portions () projecting therefrom. The retainer () is formed with unlock linking portions () for linking a movement of this retainer () from the full locking position to the partial locking position and a movement of the rubber plug pressing member () from the pushed-in position to the initial position with each other by coming into sliding contact with the arm portions ().

Fluidproof connector

A wire fixing portion () is so formed with a slit () as to minimize a tightening diameter at the wire fixing portion () by narrowing the slit (). Thus, there is no likelihood of displacing a fixing band () fastened to a middle part of the wire fixing portion () toward a side where the tightening diameter is larger. Accordingly, displacements of the fixing band () relative to the wire fixing portion () are restricted, wherefore displacements of the wires (W) relative to the wire fixing portion () are suppressed.

Wire holder

A door handle device (S) has a handle-side connector () fixed to a door handle () that is hinged to a handle frame (). Thus, the door handle device (S) is displaceable as the door handle () is turned. A frame-side connector () is located in the handle frame () and is connectable with the handle-side connector () for displacement with the handle-side connector () as the door handle () is turned. A clamp () has a wire retaining portion () for retaining a wire group () drawn out through an end surface of the frame-side connector () and a handle attaching portion () continuous with the wire retaining portion () for attachment to the door handle (). Thus, a relative position of the wire retaining portion () to the door handle () is invariable.

Connector connecting construction, a clamping member and a method of mounting a connector connecting construction

A wire cover () has a connector-side fixing portion () to be fixed to a connector, a wire pressing portion () to be held in contact with wires (W), and a connecting portion () connecting the connector-side fixing portion () and wire pressing portion (). Resilient engaging pieces () project from the wire pressing portion () and are formed with engaging holes () that can engage engaging projections () of a mating member () to fix the wire pressing portion () to the mating member (). Catching holes () are formed at the leading ends of the resilient engaging pieces () and can be caught by a jig () inserted from the base side of the resilient engaging piece () to displace the resilient engaging piece () in a direction to disengage the engaging hole () and engaging projection ().

Wire cover and a locking construction therefor

An insertion area for an unlocking jig (D) differs depending on whether unlocking is effected using a first fulcrum portion () as a fulcrum or using a second fulcrum portion () as a fulcrum. Since this enables an unlocking operation to be carried out by inserting the unlocking jig (D) into the selected one of the different insertion areas, restriction on the insertion area for the unlocking jig (D) can be alleviated and consequently restriction in terms of the arrangement of parts can be alleviated as compared to the case where the insertion area is limited to one spot.

Locking construction and a connector provided therewith

Each of a plurality of auxiliary connector () includes an auxiliary housing (), a seal () attached to the rear of the auxiliary housing (), and a rear holder () mounted on the rear of the seal () to retain the seal (). Auxiliary connectors () that are adjacent in an arranging direction are united by the rear holders (). The united auxiliary connectors () are inserted into a frame () in the arranging direction through an insertion opening (A) of the frame (), and are retained in the frame () by engaging a lock (B) on the last auxiliary connector (A) and an interlocking portion () of the frame (). The frame () has no partition walls between the auxiliary connectors (). Thus, the connector is narrowed by a total thickness of the partition walls.

Connector and a connector assembly method

A rubber plug () has a main body () with opposite front and rear ends. A wire insertion hole () extends through the main body () from the rear end to the front end and has a wire-introducing opening () at the rear end. A forwardly and inwardly tapered portion () is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the main body () at the front end and a fastening portion () is rearward of the tapered portion (). Protrusions () project radially out at the front end of the main body (). The maximum outer diameter of the front end, including the protrusions (), exceeds the inner diameter of the wire-introducing opening () at the rear end of the main body () and is no greater than the minimum outer diameter of the fastening portion ().

Resilient plug

A rubber plug () is inserted into a cavity () of a connector housing () after an insulated wire () is inserted through a wire insertion hole () to provide a watertight seal between an inner wall of the cavity () and the insulated wire (). Frictional resistance between the inner wall of the cavity () and the rubber plug () is larger than the frictional resistance between the insulated wire () and the rubber plug (). The frictional resistance between the insulated wire () and the rubber plug () permits movement of the insulated wire () relative to the rubber plug () when the insulated wire () is caused to expand in longitudinal direction by heat.

Growing community of inventors

Yokkaichi, Japan

Tomohiko Kobayashi