The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 19, 2002
Filed:
May. 14, 2001
Joseph Donald Lytle, Jr., Youngstown, OH (US);
Donald John Mizner, Sharpsville, PA (US);
Delphi Technologies, Inc., Troy, MI (US);
Abstract
An electrical connector has a terminal position assurance and lock device that acts as both a stop behind receptacle portions of electrical terminals and to prevent flexing of a first and second set of cavity flex lock arms which retain the electrical terminals in the connector to positively position the electrical terminals and prevent their inadvertent withdrawal from the electrical connector. Insertion of an electrical terminal into a terminal cavity causes the cavity flex lock arm in the cavity to flex inwardly, permitting the electrical terminal to be received in the cavity. Once an electrical terminal is inserted past the cavity flex lock arm, the lock arm returns to its unflexed position to retain the electrical terminal. The terminal position assurance and lock device preferably has three fingers and is releasably inserted into a mating formation of passages that extend laterally through the length of the electrical connector generally transverse to the orientation of the electrical terminals positioned in the terminal cavities. Two of the fingers pass behind receptacle portions of the electrical terminals to act as stops, preventing the electrical terminals from being removed from the electrical connector, while the third finger passes between the first and second sets of cavity flex lock arms to prevent the lock arms from flexing inward significantly such that inadvertent withdrawal of the electrical terminals is prevented. When desired, the terminal position assurance and lock device can be removed to facilitate removal of the electrical terminal ends from the electrical connector.