JPH0157473B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device that reduces the size of a connector housing.

Conventionally, commonly used connector housings (hereinafter simply referred to as housings) include:
As shown in FIG. 1, a lance 3 with a locking step 4 at its tip protrudes from the inner surface of the upper wall 1 into the terminal accommodating chamber 2. A lock arm 6 is bent rearward from the lock arm 6 to protrude from the lock arm 6, a pressing part 7 is further protruded from the tip of the lock arm 6, and a lock piece 8 is protruded from the middle of the upper surface of the lock arm 6. The housing A is fitted into the fitting hole 9 of the female housing B shown in FIG. A locking piece 10 provided in
As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 3, the lock mechanism was engaged and locked. However, in the conventional male housing having such a locking mechanism, there is a space between the upper wall of the housing body and the lock arm 6 with a considerable width for deforming the lock arm 6 downward in order to unlock the female and male housings. 11
In addition, there is a considerable amount of space between the locking end of the lance 3 protruding from the upper wall of the housing main body into the terminal accommodating chamber and the inner surface of the upper wall so that the lance 3 can be lifted and the terminal removed. Since it is necessary to provide the space 12, the connector housing consisting of the male housing itself and the female housing that fits the male housing becomes large, increasing the space for installing the connector and restricting the space for installing in-vehicle electrical components. I had a problem with putting it away. Therefore, the present invention focuses on the above-mentioned space for deforming the lock arm and the space formed so that the lance can be lifted to remove the terminal.In order to miniaturize the connector housing, male and female The outer wall of the housing on which the locking protrusion of the housing is provided is formed to be flexible, and a flexible locking arm for locking a terminal is supported in a cantilever manner below the outer wall through a gap.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on drawings showing examples.

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of the male housing of the present invention, which has an opening 13 for inserting a male terminal electrical contact part at one end and an opening 14 for inserting a female terminal at the other end, and has a dual-supported structure that locks with the mating housing. A flexible locking arm 19 has a locking protrusion 18 protruding from the lower surface of its tip, with a small common space 16 separated from the inner surface of the upper wall, in a rectangular cylindrical housing C with a flexible upper wall 15 as a plane. horizontally extending from the intermediate fixed wall 20 located in the terminal accommodating chamber of the housing C, and a locking protrusion serving as a lock at a position on the upper wall corresponding to the front portion of the upper wall of the fitting hole 30 of the female housing, which will be described later. 21, also
Pressing pieces 22 are provided projecting slightly behind the protrusions 21, respectively. Therefore, it is desirable that the rear surface 23 of the projection 21 be inclined at an acute angle with respect to the upper wall surface.
Further, a female terminal is inserted and accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 17 defined by the flexible locking arm 19 and the bottom wall 24 as will be described later, and the female terminal is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 17 defined by the flexible locking arm 19 and the bottom wall 24 . It is locked by a locking protrusion 18 provided at.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of the female housing of the present invention, which has a male terminal insertion opening 25 at one end and has an upper wall 2.
A terminal housing chamber 29 in which a male terminal locking arm 27 having a locking step 28 formed at its tip protrudes from the inner surface of the terminal housing chamber 29.
The fitting hole 3 of the male housing C is expanded by bulging the other end.
0, and furthermore, the front edge of the upper wall 31 of the fitting hole 30 is made to protrude inward to form a protruding portion 32.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing the fitted state of the male housing C and female housing D of the present invention.
A female terminal electrical contact portion 3 is formed at the front end portion by bending both sides of the terminal board inward to form a frame shape or the like.
3. A female terminal 36 formed with a wire crimping part 34 at the middle part and a covered wire crimping part 35 at the rear end is attached to the locking arm 1
Terminal storage chamber 1 partitioned by 9 and bottom wall 24
7, the tip of the female terminal electrical contact section 33 contacts the opening front wall 37 of the male housing, and the upper edge of the rear end of the female terminal electrical contact section 33 contacts the locking arm 1.
9, the entire female terminal is locked.

On the other hand, a male terminal 4 includes a tongue-shaped electrical contact part 40 with a locking step 39 formed at the front end, a wire crimping part 41 at the middle part, and a covered wire crimping part 42 at the rear end.
3 is inserted into the female housing terminal receiving chamber 29,
The tongue-like electrical contact portion 40 is inserted and fitted into the female terminal electrical contact portion 33, and the locking step portion 39 at the rear end of the tongue-like electrical contact portion engages with the tip step portion 28 of the locking arm 27. The entire male terminal is then locked within the female housing. Next, in order to lock the male housing C and the female housing D together, when the male housing is pushed into the female housing, the upper wall 15 is bent into the common space 16 that contacts the lower part of the upper wall, so the protrusion 21 is inserted into the female housing fitting hole. 19 can be easily pushed through the protrusion 32 formed on the front edge of the upper wall, and then when the pressure on the pressing piece is released, the rear surface 23 of the protrusion 21 engages with the protrusion 32, Further, the front wall 37 of the male housing comes into contact with the bulging wall surface 44 at the front of the female housing, and the locking is completed.

Conversely, in order to separate the female housing D from the locked male housing C, press the pressing piece 22 of the male housing upper wall 15 in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. Since it is bent by the shared space 16, the protrusion 21 can be removed by pulling out the male housing in the direction of the right arrow in this state.
can be removed from the protrusion 32 and easily unlocked.

Furthermore, in order to pull out the female terminal 36 from the engaged male housing C, as shown in FIG. By pushing up the female terminal 36, the locking with the female terminal can be easily released and the female terminal 36 can be pulled out from the male housing in the direction of the right arrow.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing another embodiment of the male housing of the present invention, showing the upper wall 15' of the male housing.
The space 1 is raised in an arch shape and formed as a beam supported at two points, and a space 1 is formed between the female terminal locking arm 19' extending horizontally from the upper part of the terminal insertion chamber end surface 14'.
6' is formed. In this embodiment, since the upper wall of the housing is formed into an arched shape to make it easy to bend, the pressing piece 2
There is an advantage that it is easy to press 2' to fit and remove the protrusion 21' into the female housing protrusion.

As described above, the present invention includes a flexible upper wall having a double-sided structure having a protrusion for coupling with a mating housing, and an inner side of the upper wall in which one end is fixed to the terminal insertion port side and the other is free. a flexible locking arm provided with a terminal locking portion at the end; and between the upper wall and the flexible locking arm, a coupling protrusion on the upper wall and a terminal locking portion on the flexible locking arm; Since it forms a common space that allows the displacement of the parts, the space that is conventionally required for locking or releasing a pair of housings and the space that is required for engaging or disengaging the terminals accommodated therein. This improves the size of the connector housing caused by separate parts, and makes it possible to downsize the connector housing.

In addition, in the present invention, since the flexible portion of the upper wall of the housing with a double-sided structure is used as a locking member with the opposing connector housing,
You can obtain a strong lock that is difficult to dislodge.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional male housing, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional female housing, and Fig. 3 is a section showing the fitted state of the female housing locking piece and the locking piece on the upper part of the male housing lock arm. An enlarged view, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the male housing of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the female housing of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing the state in which the female housing is removed from the male housing, FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the state in which the female terminal is removed from the male housing, and FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the state in which the female terminal is removed from the male housing. FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing another embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Upper wall, 3... Lance, 6... Lock arm, 7... Pressing piece, 8... Lock piece, 10... Locking piece, 11, 12... Space part, 15, 15'...
Upper wall, 16, 16'... Common space, 17, 29
...Terminal accommodation chamber, 19, 19'...Latching arm, 21,
21'... Protrusion, 22, 22'... Pressing piece, 27...
... Locking arm, 32 ... Projection part, 33 ... Female terminal electrical contact part, 34 ... Female terminal, 40 ... Male terminal electrical contact part, 43 ... Male terminal, A, C ... Male housing, B, D...Female housing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A flexible upper wall with a double-sided structure having a protrusion for coupling with a mating housing, one end of which is fixed to the terminal insertion opening side on the inside of the upper wall, and a terminal locking portion at the other free end. a common-use device having a flexible locking arm provided therein, and allowing displacement of the coupling protrusion of the top wall and the terminal locking portion of the flexible locking arm between the top wall and the flexible locking arm; A connector housing characterized by forming a space.