AU2003200871B2 - Connector holder - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION NAME OF APPLICANT(S):: Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.

ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: DAVIES COLLISON CAVE Patent Attorneys 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

INVENTION TITLE: Connector holder The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5102 FP02-419AU This invention relates to a connector holder and more particularly relates to a connector holder in which a locking pawl formed integrally with a resin product can be prevented from being deflected and warped, thereby eliminating a problem of lowering an engaging force of the locking pawl with a vehicle body panel.

In many cases, many connectors are connected to a wire harness arranged in an automobile. The connectors are accommodated in a connector holder, which is attached to a vehicle body panel.

For convenience of explanation, a prior art connector holder will be described by referring to Figures 6 to 7. Figure 6 is a schematically perspective view of a conventional connector holder. Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of a main part of the conventional connector holder, illustrating a position of the connector holder after it is engaged with the vehicle body. Figure 7 is a schematically perspective view of the conventional connector holder, illustrating a problem in the holder.

For example, as shown in Figures 6 and 6 a connector holder 1 is a box-like resin product that is open at an upper side. The connector holder 1 is provided on an opening edge with a flange 2. The flange 2 includes la FP02-419AU opposed flange sections 2a and 2b to be fixed on a vehicle body panel 3. Each of the flange sections 2a and 2b is provided with a cut-off portion 2c. A locking section 4 is provided on a lower part of each cut-off portion 2c.

The locking section 4 includes a J-shaped locking piece 5 projecting from a peripheral wall 2d of the connector holder i. The locking piece 5 includes a flexible longitudinal piece portion 5a. A locking pawl 6 is provided on an intermediate position on an outer side surface of the portion The connector holder 1 is inserted into an opening 3a in the vehicle body panel 3 through an upper side, as shown in Figures 6 The connector holder 1 pushes the locking pawls 6 while deflecting the longitudinal piece portions 5a of the opposed locking sections 4 inwardly along the opening edge of the vehicle body panel 3. When the connector holder 1 overpasses the opening edge, the locking pawls 6 return outwardly to the original position and engage a lower end surface 3b of the vehicle body panel 3. On the other hand, the flange 2 is engaged with an upper end surface 3c of the vehicle body panel 3. The flange 2 and locking pawls 6 clamp the upper and lower surfaces of the vehicle body panel 3, thereby locking the connector holder 1 on the vehicle body panel 3.

Since the connector holder 1 is a resin product, a FP02-419AU peripheral wall 2d, particularly a long peripheral wall is likely to cause a warp and a deflection. For example, as shown in Figure 7, when the longitudinal piece portion of the locking section 4 is warped, if the locking pawl 6 is deflected toward the peripheral wall 2d, the end of which is coupled to the peripheral wall 2d, an area where each locking pawl 6 comes into contact with the lower end surface 3b of the vehicle body panel 3 decreases and an engaging projection decreases, thereby causing failure of engagement.

It will be possible to suppress the warp of the peripheral wall 2d by increasing a thickness of the longitudinal piece portion 5a as well as the peripheral wall 2d. In this case, however, there will cause another problem that a weight of the connector holder will increase and a large force for deforming the longitudinal piece portions 5a to engage the locking pawls with the panel will be required.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector holder that can prevent warp of longitudinal piece portions provided with locking pawls and can surely engage a vehicle body panel.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is directed to a connector holder that is open 3 FP02-419AU at an upper side, contains a plurality of connectors, is inserted into in a vehicle body opening at a bottom side, and is locked on an end edge around the vehicle body opening. The connector holder comprises: a flange extending from a periphery of the connector holder; locking sections formed by cutting off parts of the flange at a side fixed to the vehicle body; recesses provided on a peripheral wall of the connector holder in the locking section; J-shaped locking pieces projecting from bottom surfaces of the recesses in the locking sections; locking pawls projecting from intermediate positions of outer surfaces of longitudinal piece portions of the J-shaped locking pieces in the locking sections; and coupling frames for coupling integrally together opposite sides of upper ends of the longitudinal piece portions and opposite sides of the recesses in the locking sections. The locking section is engaged with a lower surface of an end edge of the vehicle body opening. The flange is mounted on an upper surface of the end edge of the vehicle body opening.

According to the above construction, the upper end of each of the longitudinal piece portions is fixedly held and the warp and deflection of the locking piece can be prevented, since the upper end of the longitudinal piece portion of each J-shaped locking piece is not set to be a free end but is coupled through the coupling frame to the opposite side surfaces of each recess.

4 FP02-419AU Accordingly, when the connector holder is inserted into the opening in the vehicle body panel and the locking piece is secured to the opening edge, the locking pawls on the outer surfaces of the longitudinal piece portions are completely engaged with the lower end surface of the vehicle body panel, thereby causing no failure of engagement.

The upper and lower ends of each locking piece are fixed, since the lower end of the locking piece is continued to the peripheral wall of the connector holder and the upper end of the locking piece is continued through the coupling frame to the opposite side surfaces of each recess. Accordingly, when the connector holder is inserted into the opening in the vehicle body panel, the opening edge pushes the locking pieces inwardly to deflect it in an arch shape, so that the locking pawls can overpass the opening edge.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a connector holder in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of a main part of the connector holder; FPO2-419AU Figure 3 is a plan view of a main part of the connector holder; Figure 4 is a side elevation view of a main part of the connector holder; Figures 5 and 5 are partial cross sectional views of the connector holder, illustrating a procedure for engaging the connector holder with a vehicle body; Figure 6 is a schematically perspective view of a conventional connector holder. Figure 6 is a cross sectional view of a main part of the conventional connector holder, illustrating a position of the connector holder after it is engaged with the vehicle body; and Figure 7 is a schematically perspective view of the conventional connector holder, illustrating a problem in the holder.

Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of a connector holder in accordance with the present invention will be described below.

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a connector holder 10 in an embodiment of the present invention. The connector holder 10 is a trough-like product made of a resin material and is open at an upper side. A flange 20 extends from an upper end of a peripheral wall lla of a trough section 11. The peripheral wall lla is provided on the inner surface with a locking portion 12 that locks connectors (not shown) 6

I

FP02-419AU contained in an inner space S in the connector holder The peripheral wall Ila of the trough section 11 is provided on a side surface opposed to the inner space S with three dish-like recesses llb. That is, a single recess llb is provided on the right side surface (in Figure 1) having a lower clamping plate 15 mentioned after and two recesses llb are provided on the left side surface (in Figure 1) opposite from the right side surface. The flange 20 is provided on the side of the recesses llb with cut-off portions 20c while the lower clamping plate 15 is provided with an opening As shown in Figures 2 to 4, a J-shaped locking piece 22 projects from the bottom of each recess llb to form a locking section 21. The locking section 21 provided at the flange side will be explained below as a representative example.

A locking pawl 23 is provided on an intermediate position of an outer surface of a longitudinal piece portion 22a of the locking piece 22. The opposite sides of an upper end 22b of the longitudinal piece portion 22a are integrally coupled through a coupling frame 24 to the flange 20 that defines the opposite side surfaces of the recesses llb.

An upper end (not shown) of the longitudinal piece 7 FP02-419AU portion 22a of the locking piece 22 at the side of the lower clamping plate 15 is similarly coupled through a coupling frame 24 to an edge of the opening 15c in the lower clamping plate The upper end 22b of the locking piece 22 of each locking section 21 is coupled to the coupling frame 24 and the lower end 22c is continued to the bottom of the recess llb. This makes the longitudinal piece portion 22a form a double-end support beam.

The lower clamping plate 15 extends laterally from an upper end of the peripheral wall 1la. Wire harnesses are drawn from the connectors contained in the inner space S in the connector holder 10. The wire harnesses are clamped between the lower clamping plate 15 and the upper clamping plate 14 connected through a hinge portion 16 to the lower clamping plate 15, thereby preventing the wire harnesses from being scattered.

A box section 17 that is open at the upper side is provided on each of the opposite ends of the upper surface of the lower clamping plate 15. Engaging pawls 17a are provided on the inner side surface of the box section 17 so that the pawls 17a are opposed to each other. A lid section 18 having a small height is provided on each of the opposite ends of the upper surface of the upper clamping plate 14 so that the lid can be fitted in each 8 FP02-419AU box section 17. Engaging frames 18a are provided on the inner side surface of each of the lids 18 so that the frames 18a are opposed to each other.

An L-shaped engaging bar 13 extends from a side portion 20a of the flange 20, which is opposite from the lower clamping plate 15. The L-shaped engaging bar 13 is temporarily engaged with an engaging hole in a junction box, an instrument panel, or the like which is transported with the connector holder 10. The engaging bar 13 is provided near the distal end with an engaging ball 13a.

A plurality of brackets 19 each having a clamp hole 19a at the central portion are provided on desired positions of the upper end of the sidewall.

A procedure of containing the connector (not shown) in the connector holder 10 comprises the steps of: securing the locking sections of the connectors to the locking portions 12; passing wire harnesses (not shown) drawn from connectors contained in the inner space S between both box sections 17 on the lower clamping plate and folding the upper clamping plate 14 at a hinge portion 16 so that the engaging frames 18 are engaged with the engaging pawls 17a, thereby clamping the wire harnesses between the upper and lower clamping plates 14 and Next, a procedure for attaching the connector holder 9 FP02-419AU to a vehicle body panel 30 will be explained below. As shown by an arrow in Figure 5 the connector holder is inserted into an opening in the vehicle body panel from the bottom side of the trough section 11. When the locking pawl 23 projecting from the outer surface of the locking piece 22 reaches an opening edge 30a, the opening edge 30a pushes the locking piece 23 inwardly, thereby deflecting the entire part of the longitudinal piece portion 22a inwardly. Then, the upper end 22b of the locking piece 22 is secured to the opening edge 30a by the coupling frame 24 while the lower end 22c is deflected into an arch-shape since the lower end 22c is connected to the bottom of the recess llb.

When the locking pawl 23 overpasses the opening edge of the vehicle body panel 30, the longitudinal piece portion 22a returns from the deflected state to the original state, as shown in Figure 5 and the flange (and the lower clamping plate 15) is mounted on the upper surface 30b of the opening edge 30a of the vehicle body panel 30. When the locking pawl 23 engages the lower surface 30c of the opening edge 30a, the connector holder is locked on the vehicle body panel The upper end 22b of the longitudinal piece portion 22a is fixedly held according to the above construction, since the upper end 22b of the longitudinal piece portion 22a of the locking piece 22 is not set to be a free end FP02-419AU but is coupled through the coupling frame 24 to the flange Consequently, it is possible to prevent the locking piece 22 from being deflected and warped.

Accordingly, in the case of inserting the connector holder 10 into the opening in the vehicle body panel and engaging the locking pawl 23 with the opening edge the longitudinal piece portion 22a returns to the original state immediately after the locking pawl 23 overpasses the opening edge 30a and the locking pawl 23 on the outer surface of the longitudinal piece portion 22a engages the lower end surface 30c of the vehicle body panel completely, thereby causing no failure of engagement.

Although the upper end 22b of the longitudinal piece portion 22a is coupled through the coupling frame 24 to the flange 20 (and the lower clamping plate 15), the upper end 22b may be coupled through the coupling frame 24 to the opposite side surfaces of the recess llb, if the upper end 22b is disposed at a lower position.

The invention is not limited to this embodiment, but can be altered in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

Throughout this specification and the claims which follow, unless the context requires otherwise, the word "comprise", and variations such as "comprises" and "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps.

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that that prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia.

Claims (2)

1. A connector holder that is open at an upper side, contains a plurality of connectors, is inserted into in a vehicle body panel opening at a bottom side, and is locked on an end edge around said vehicle body panel opening, comprising: a flange extending from a periphery of said connector holder; locking sections formed by cutting off parts of said flange at a side fixed to said vehicle body panel; recesses provided on a peripheral wall of said connector holder in said locking sections; J-shaped locking pieces projecting from bottom surfaces of said recesses in said locking sections; locking pawls projecting from intermediate positions of outer surfaces of longitudinal piece portions of said J-shaped locking pieces in said locking sections; and coupling frames for coupling integrally together opposite sides of upper ends of said longitudinal piece portions and opposite sides of said recesses in said locking sections; said locking sections being engaged with a lower surface of an end edge of said vehicle body panel opening and said flange being mounted on an upper surface of said end edge of said vehicle body panel opening. P %oW\cp\-2O()2tBK7 ropnx Iv dm.K/0IUlx()7 -14-

2. A connector holder substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to 00Figures 1 to 5 of the drawings. 00 OC