JP3466366B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector which is used, for example, for electric wiring of an automobile or the like and has a locking portion for preventing a stored connection terminal from being pulled out backward. It is about. 2. Description of the Related Art A conventional connector of this type is usually provided with a flexible locking lance for locking a received connection terminal. The locking lance is often provided integrally, but may be provided on a separate rear holder. For example, a sectional view seen from the side of FIG. 6 and an exploded perspective view of FIG. 7 show the latter case. A rear holder 2 is engaged with a terminal accommodating chamber 1a of a housing 1 so as to be movable back and forth. The rear holder 2 is locked to the housing 1 at two positions by engaging means (not shown). The first position is a temporary engagement position where the rear holder 2 is partially inserted into the housing 1, and the second position is a full engagement position where the rear holder 2 is completely pushed into the housing 1. . As described above, the housing 1 and the rear holder 2 are temporarily engaged before the connection terminal 3 is accommodated by positioning the rear holder 2 at the two stages of the temporary engagement and the full engagement.
In this temporary engagement position, there is an advantage that the connection terminal 3 to which the electric wire 3a is attached can be inserted into the housing 1 through the rear holder 2. When the terminal is in the temporary engagement position, the connection terminal 3 is inserted into the terminal holding chamber 2a, and the projection 2c of the locking lance 2b is fitted into a fitting hole 3b provided at the bottom of the connection terminal 3. From this state, when the rear holder 2 is pushed into the housing 1 to be in the full engagement position, the tip 2d of the locking lance 2b rides on the guide 1b of the housing 1, and
The locking force of the locking lance 2b is reinforced. However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the connection terminal 3 is locked by the elastic force of the locking lance 2b, a die allowance for molding the locking lance 2b is required. In addition to the problem of bulkiness, the connection terminal 3
In the case where the connection lance 2b is pulled out, there is a problem that a jig for removing the locking lance 2b from the connection terminal 3 is required. In addition,
These problems also apply to the case where the locking lance is integrally provided in the housing. An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a connector capable of securely locking a connection terminal without using a locking lance. [0008] In order to achieve the above object, a connector according to the present invention has a rear holder for locking a connection terminal, which is fitted forwardly from the rear of a housing.
In the connector in which the rear holder and the housing are respectively engaged at a temporary engagement position where the rear holder is inserted to the middle and a full engagement position where the rear holder is sufficiently pressed, the connection terminal mounting portion of the rear holder has A rear locking portion for restricting the rearward movement of the connection terminal is provided, and a terminal accommodating chamber for accommodating the connection terminal is provided in the housing. When the connection terminal is in the position, the connection terminal is received in an inclined state, and the intermediate top wall of the terminal accommodating chamber has flexibility while elastically flexing outward when the rear holder is in the temporary engagement position. Along with receiving the connection terminal in an inclined state between the rear locking portion and the connection terminal, the connection terminal is restored after entering the predetermined position and biased so as to lock the intermediate portion of the connection terminal, Front ceiling wall of the child receiving chamber holds the intermediate portion of the connecting terminals in a horizontal position, characterized by fixing the connection terminals in the present engaged position by pushing the rear holder. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a housing 11 and a rear holder 12, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the rear holder 12 is temporarily engaged with the housing 11. A rear holder 12 made of a synthetic resin is engaged with a rear portion of the housing 11 made of a synthetic resin. The connection terminals 14 with the electric wires 13 are accommodated in the housing 11. Connection terminal 1
Numeral 4 is a rectangular tube-shaped terminal connecting portion 21 which is formed from a conductive metal plate and sequentially connects a mating connection terminal (not shown) from the front.
And a stabilizer piece 22 for stabilizing the connection terminal 14,
A core wire crimping portion 23 for crimping the core wire of the electric wire 13;
And a cover crimping section 24 for crimping the cover.
Further, a projection 25 and a rearward projection 26 are provided on the top surface of the terminal connection portion 21. The housing 11 is formed vertically and horizontally symmetrically, except for a locking mechanism 31 with the mating connector housing on the upper wall. The inside of the housing 11 is partitioned on the left and right by a large number of partition pieces 32, and a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 33 are provided.
Are formed in two upper and lower stages. A slit 34 is formed in the middle of the partition piece 32 in the upper and lower directions.
5 is set. At the front end of the terminal accommodating chamber 33, a front projection 36 for restricting the forward movement of the connection terminal 14 is formed, and at the rear end of the upper and lower partition walls 35, a thin portion 35a is formed. The spacing between the partition pieces 32 is set to a size that prevents the connection terminal 14 from moving left and right, and the height of the front ceiling wall 37 is
It is sized to prevent the terminal connection portion 21 of the connection terminal 14 from moving up and down. Intermediate ceiling wall 3 extending from front ceiling wall 37
Reference numeral 8 denotes a flexible, elastic thin plate provided with a slit for each terminal accommodating chamber 33, and a rear portion thereof is curved outward. Note that the intermediate top wall 38 is easily bent by the slits for each terminal accommodating chamber 33. The height of the rear top wall 39 extending from the intermediate top wall 38 is made sufficiently larger than the front top wall 37, and a rearwardly inclined surface 39a is formed at the rear of the rear top wall 39. . A gap 41 is provided between the outermost partition piece 32a and the side wall 40, and the rear holder 12
A guide window 42 for guiding a later-described guide projection and a locking groove 43 for guiding a later-described locking projection of the rear holder 12 from the inside are formed. On the other hand, the rear holder 12 has a housing 11
And a connecting plate 52 that connects these side plates 51 and enters the slit 34 of the housing 11. At the front end of the connecting plate 52, an end face concave portion 52 into which the thin portion 35a of the upper and lower partition walls 35 is fitted.
a, upper surface concave portion 52 into which protrusion 25 of connection terminal 14 is fitted
b. On the outer surface of the side plate 51, a locking projection 53 that fits into the locking groove 43 of the housing 11 and a guide projection 54 that fits into the guide window 42 of the housing 11 are provided. On the upper and lower surfaces of the connecting plate 52, there are provided projecting rear locking portions 55 for entering the terminal accommodating chamber 33 of the housing 11 and locking the connection terminals 14. The front end surface of the rear locking portion 55 is a front locking surface 55a for locking the rear portion of the terminal connection portion 21 of the connection terminal 14. The front locking surface 55a has a groove for receiving the rearward projection 26 of the connection terminal 14. 55b are formed. A rear surface of the rear locking portion 55 has an inclined surface 55c, and guide grooves 55d for guiding the stabilizer pieces 22 are formed on both side surfaces of the rear portion of the rear locking portion 55, and a front wall of the guide groove 55d is formed. A rear locking surface 55e for locking the front edge of the stabilizer piece 22 is provided. Here, the inner surface of the intermediate top wall 38 in the free state,
The distance between the rear holder portion 55 and the rear locking portion 55 at the temporary engagement position of the rear holder 12 is determined while the intermediate top wall 38 is bent outward.
The fourth terminal connection portion 21 is received between the terminal connection portion 21 and the rear locking portion 55. The housing 11 and the rear holder 12 formed as described above are provided in a tentatively engaged position where the rear holder 12 is inserted halfway into the rear portion of the housing 11 and the rear holder 1
2 are engaged with the housing 11 at the fully engaged position. When housing the connection terminal 14 with the electric wire 13 in the housing 11, as shown in FIG.
2 is in the temporary engagement position with respect to the housing 11,
The connection terminal 14 is pressed into the terminal accommodating chamber 33 in an inclined state.
At this time, the side plate 51 of the rear holder 12 is
The locking projection 53 and the guide projection 54 of the rear holder 12 are fitted into the gap 41 of the housing 11 and the guide window 42.
Respectively. Then, at the full engagement position of the rear holder 12, the guide projection 54 comes into contact with the front wall of the guide window 42, and the locking projection 53 is fitted into the locking groove 43. With the insertion of the connection terminal 14, the intermediate top wall 3
Reference numeral 8 denotes a terminal connecting portion 21 which bends outward as shown in FIG.
Is received between the rear locking portion 55 and the front end of the connection terminal 14 abuts against the upper and lower partition walls 35, so that the connection terminal 14 stops moving forward. At the same time, the rearward projection 2 of the connection terminal 14
6 is in a state of getting over the rear locking portion 55. If the connection terminals 14 are left free in this state, the intermediate ceiling 3
8 is restored, and the rear part of the connection terminal 14 is moved in the direction B to bring the connection terminal 14 into a horizontal state. As a result, as shown in FIG.
The projection 25 of the fourth fits into the upper surface concave portion 52b of the rear holder 12, the rearward projection 26 of the connection terminal 14 is located in front of the groove 55b, and the connection terminal 14 does not come out of the terminal accommodating chamber 33 backward. Further, since the intermediate top wall 38 is restored to the original position, the connection terminal 14 does not easily return to the inclined state. When the connection terminal 14 is pulled backward in this state, the rearward projection 26 is fitted into the groove 55b, and the connection terminal 14 does not return to the inclined state. Next, when the rear holder 12 is sufficiently pushed into the housing 11, the rear holder 12 moves to the full engagement position as shown in FIG. The front end of the terminal connection portion 21 abuts on the front protrusion 36 while being fitted in the gap. At this time, the thin portion 35a of the housing 11 fits into the end surface concave portion 52a of the rear holder 12. Then, the guide projection 54 of the rear holder 12 abuts on the front wall of the guide window 42, and the locking projection 53 of the rear holder 12 fits into the locking groove 43 of the housing 11. As described above, in the embodiment, the intermediate top wall 38 of the housing 11 is flexible, and the provisional engagement position of the rear holder 12 causes the intermediate top wall 38 to bend outward while the inclined connection terminal is bent. 14 terminal connecting portion 21 to the rear holder 12
After the connection terminal 14 has entered the predetermined position, the intermediate top wall 38 is restored and the connection terminal 14 is moved horizontally, so that the terminal connection portion 21 is moved to the rear engagement portion 55. Can be locked automatically. Therefore, it is not necessary to form a conventional locking lance on the housing 11, so that the shape and structure of the housing 11 can be simplified, and the cost of the mold can be reduced.
When the connection terminal 14 is pulled out of the terminal accommodating chamber 33, the connection terminal 14 is inclined against the urging force of the intermediate top wall 38, and the locked state of the connection terminal 14 and the rear locking portion 55 is changed. Since it can be released, the conventional locking lance can be connected to the connection terminal 14.
No jig is required to remove the jig. Furthermore, since the connection terminal 14 is urged in a horizontal state by the intermediate top wall 38 only by inserting the connection terminal 14 into the terminal accommodating chamber 33 at the temporary engagement position of the rear holder 12, the connection terminal 14 is inclined. , And the rear portion of the terminal connection portion 21 of the connection terminal 14 can be securely locked to the rear locking portion 55. As described above, in the connector according to the present invention, at the temporary engagement position of the rear holder, the intermediate top wall of the terminal accommodating chamber is inclined between the rear holding portion while bending outward. While accepting the connection terminal in the state, the connection terminal is restored after entering the predetermined position and is urged so as to lock the connection terminal to the rear locking portion, so connection can be performed simply by inserting the connection terminal into the terminal receiving chamber. The terminal can be in a horizontal state, the connection terminal can be prevented from returning to the inclined state, and the connection terminal can be securely locked to the rear locking portion. Further, since there is no need to form a conventional locking lance, the shape and structure can be simplified, and the cost of the mold can be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a housing and a rear holder. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a state where a rear holder is temporarily engaged with a housing. FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view when a connection terminal is inserted. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation when a connection terminal is inserted. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the rear holder is fully engaged with the housing. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional example. FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Housing 12 Rear holder 14 Connection terminal 21 Terminal connection part 22 Stabilizer piece 26 Backward projection 33 Terminal storage chamber 34 Slit 38 Intermediate top wall 52 Connecting plate 55 Rear locking part

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-8-273741 (JP, A) JP-A-58-162580 (JP, U) JP-A-2-71975 (JP, U) JP-A-5-61970 (JP) , U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01R 13/42

Claims (1)

(57) Claims 1. A rear holder for locking a connection terminal is fitted forwardly from the rear of a housing, and the rear holder and the housing are temporarily inserted with the rear holder inserted halfway. In a connector that is engaged at an engagement position and at a full engagement position where the rear holder is sufficiently pressed, a rear locking portion that restricts rearward movement of the connection terminal is provided on a connection terminal mounting portion of the rear holder. The housing is provided with a terminal accommodating chamber for accommodating the connection terminal, a rear top wall of the terminal accommodating chamber receives the connection terminal in an inclined state when the rear holder is at the temporary engagement position, The intermediate top wall of the terminal accommodating chamber is flexible, and when the rear holder is at the temporary engagement position, the connection terminal in an inclined state between the rear holding portion and the outside rearwardly elastically bends when the rear holder is at the temporary engagement position. Receiving With add, the connecting pin is biased to lock the intermediate portion of the connection terminal to restore after entering the predetermined position,
The front ceiling wall of the terminal accommodating chamber holds an intermediate portion of the connection terminal in a horizontal state, and pushes in the rear holder to fix the connection terminal in the full engagement position.