Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Yoshio Takenami

Eiji Fudoo

Takashi Kobayashi

Masayuki Kawamura

Teiji Sakuma

Yutaka Nishide

Fujio Ogawa

Koichi Ueda

Akira Gotoh

Tomokazu Itoh

There is provided a terminal crimping apparatus for moving a plurality of crimp terminals respectively contained in a plurality of connector housings to a crimping position in a desired order to caulk the crimp terminal on an end of an electric wire. The terminal crimping apparatus includes one turntable for holding a plurality of types of pressure receiving members for receiving the crimp terminals and another turntable for holding a plurality of types of caulking members for caulking the crimp terminals between the turntable and the various types of pressure receiving members. A desired pressure receiving member alternatively selected by the rotation of one turntable is moved to a pressure receiving position. A desired caulking member alternatively selected by the rotation of the other turntable is moved to a caulking waiting position opposed to the crimp terminal in the crimping position. The caulking member in the caulking waiting position is pressed to the caulking position by a pressing mechanism, so that the crimp terminal is caulked on the end of the electric wire.

Terminal crimping apparatus

The present invention is directed to a terminal crimping apparatus comprising a pressure receiving member having a pressure receiving surface receiving a crimped terminal loaded in a connector housing, a caulking member having a crimping surface, for caulking the crimped terminal in the connector housing between the caulking member and the pressure receiving member, a surrounding member integrally extending from the caulking member and adapted to pass through the connector housing toward the pressure receiving member, for surrounding the pressure receiving member with little clearance, and a regulating member for preventing the surrounding member from being deformed at the time of caulking the crimped terminal.

The fabrication of wiring harnesses requires many steps, such as a wire laying out step of laying out electric wires coated with insulative sheaths in a laying out array and cutting with measured length, a stripping step of the insulative sheaths at the ends of the electric wires, a crimping step of pressing terminals together with the bared ends of the electric wires in crimp contact, an inserting step of inserting into connectors the terminals pressed in crimp contact, etc. This system has an apparatus for each step modularized, and a module incorporated in the system can be increased or decreased in number depending upon a type of the desired wiring harness. For example, it is assumed now that a wiring harness fabrication line consists of an automated wire laying out module (1), a stripping module (3), two terminal-crimping modules (5), and a terminal-inserting module (7). When the type of the desired wiring harness is changed, additional automated wire laying out module (1) and terminal-inserting module (7) are provided in this fabrication line, and eventually, there can be incorporated two of the automated wire laying out modules (1) and two of the terminal-inserting modules (7) in this fabrication line. Thus, the automated fabricating system according to the present invention is a system pliably adjustable to the change of a design of the wiring harness.

Wiring harness fabricating system

Growing community of inventors

Yokkaichi, Japan

Yoshio Takenami