JPH0713902B2 - Contact holding device for connector - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a contact holding device for a connector having male contacts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A connector assembly for interconnecting a large number of conductors or wires such as cables through a pair of connectors having male contacts and female contacts is widely used in various electronic devices and electronic application devices. . The use of such a connector facilitates the manufacture, assembly and holding services of the equipment.

In particular, many such connectors are used in automobiles and the like. In such a connector, in particular, a connector using a male contact, when the contact collides with the housing of another connector or the like during fitting with the mating connector or during transportation, the contact is deformed. Misalignment occurs during mating, resulting in inability to connect or incomplete contact, resulting in malfunction and reduced reliability.

In order to protect or retain the contact of such a connector, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-99979, a guide plate (guide plate) is slidably arranged in the connector housing and fitted with a mating connector. Prior to joining, it has been proposed to position such guide plates on the mating surface side to substantially cover the male contacts to prevent their deformation and to maintain proper alignment.

[0005]

However, such a conventional flat plate-shaped guide plate is not only difficult to fix at a predetermined position, but also difficult to slide smoothly when mated with a mating connector. Is. That is, the guide plate is temporarily fixed near the fitting surface before or after the mating with the mating connector, and it is difficult to smoothly move inward when mating with the mating connector. In particular, in the case of a large-sized connector having a large number of contacts, the fitting force between the contacts is also large, and therefore it is not preferable to increase the fitting force by the guide plate.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to be in a predetermined position near the mating surface before or after the mating, and when the mating connector is mated, the male contact is smoothly slid or slid inward. It is an object of the present invention to provide a contact holding device for a connector that maintains the protection and alignment of the connector.

[0007]

A contact holding device for a connector according to the present invention is a contact holding device slidably arranged on a fitting surface of a connector having a male contact connected to a female contact of a mating connector. A holding member having a substantially tubular portion that substantially corresponds to the inner surface of the connector housing and is slidable in the connector housing in the axial direction, and a hole that is formed in the tubular portion in a direction orthogonal to the axis and that corresponds to a male contact. It is characterized by comprising a plate and a latching arm which is integrally formed with the tubular portion and elastically engages with the housing of the mating connector.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a connector having a connector contact holding device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an electric connector assembly including a connector having a connector contact holding device according to the present invention and a mating connector before fitting.
The electrical connector assembly includes a first housing (10) integrally molded from an electrically insulative plastic material and a second housing (20) forming a complementary electrical connector. The first housing (10) has two through cavities (11) which are passages penetrating the inside of the first housing (10).
1) receives and holds a male contact (13) with an electrically insulated conductor (12) connected to the end. Second housing
Two through cavities (21) are formed in (20),
Each cavity (21) receives and holds a complementary contact, a female contact (23), which is insulated like the male contact (13) and terminated with a conductor (22).

As shown in FIG. 5B, the male contact (13) is stamped and formed into a body (1) having a box-shaped cross section.
31) and a double-thickness tab-shaped contact portion (132) extending from the body portion (131). The body portion (131) has a hole (133) for engaging a protrusion (15) protruding from the lance (14) in the first housing (10) to the cavity (11), and the male contact (13) is formed. ) Is inserted into the cavity (11), the male contact (13) is inserted into the cavity (11).
Fix inside to prevent retreat. In addition, a claw (134) is provided at a part of the edge of the hole (133) to prevent the contact (13) from being inserted into the cavity (11) upside down. The female contact 23 is stamped and has a box-shaped contact portion 231 as shown in FIG. 5A. Contact part (231)
Is a leaf (232) folded from the front end and two ridges (234)
When the contact part (132) of the male contact (13) is inserted into this contact part (231), the contact part (132) is formed by the elastic force of the leaf (232). 132) is pressed against the two ridges (234) to make an electrical connection. Upper wall
The extension (233) extends until the end contacts the side wall (235), and a projection is formed at the end. Side wall (235) is the top wall
There is a hole (236) at the position where the end of (233) contacts,
At this position, its end is bent until it contacts the upper surface of the upper wall. The end of the upper wall (233) is inserted into and hooked in the hole (236). Due to the structure of this contact part (231), the contact part (132) of the male contact (13) has a female contact (2
It is prevented that the upper wall (233) is opened outward and the force held by the contact part (132) is reduced when the contact part (231) of (3) is inserted. The conductors (12) and (22) connected to the contacts (13) and (23) respectively have seal rubbers (135) and (237).
Is mounted so as to seal the cavity when the contact is inserted into the cavity and prevent moisture from entering.

The second housing (20) has an outer wall (25) and this outer wall.
It consists of an annular inner wall (24) surrounded by (25), and a cavity (26) is formed between the outer wall (25) and the inner wall (24),
A cavity (21) is formed in the inner wall (24). The cavity (21) has an elastic lance (27) extending forward in the insertion direction of the contact (23), and the lance (27) is provided on the upper wall (233) of the contact portion (231) of the contact (23). Protrusions (2
8) is provided. The front end of the cavity (21) has a through hole (29) large enough to insert the contact part (132) of the male contact (13).
Is formed and communicates with the outside, and a male contact (1
The contact portion (132) of 3) is inserted into the through hole (28) and comes into contact with the contact portion (231) of the female contact (23). The inner wall (24) has a groove (30) on the side facing the cavity (26), and the groove (3
The protrusion (52) of the holding device (40) described later is inserted in 0).
Further, the inner wall (24) has a gasket (31) attached to it,
The gasket (31) prevents moisture from entering the respective cavities (11), (21) when the first housing (10) and the second housing (20) are fitted together.

The first housing (10) has a contact (1
It has an elastic lance (14) that is a housing lance that extends in the insertion direction of 3), and the lance (14) is a contact.
It is a rod-shaped member which is arranged between the two reverse prevention claws (134) of (13), and the lance (14) has a hole (133) for the contact (13).
A protrusion (15) that engages with is formed. This prevents the contact (13) from retracting. Further, a wall (16) having a free end is extended parallel to the lower side of the lance (14), and the wall (16) serves as a guide when inserting the contact (13) and is movable as will be described later. Also functions as a guide for the holding device (40) corresponding to a simple contact guide. Further, the housing (10) is provided with a shroud (17) so as to surround the wall (16) and the lance (14), and the shroud (17) is provided.
Define a cavity (18), while both housings (1
When the (0) and (20) are fitted, they are formed so as to come into contact with the gasket (31) and the inner surface of the outer wall (25) at the same time when received in the cavity (26).

The cavity (18) receives a holding device (40) which is movable from the opening to the inside of the housing while being in contact with the inner surface of the shroud (17). 2A to 2C show a contact holding device (40) according to the present invention, and the holding device (40) includes a holding plate (41) which is a guide plate and a first guide (42). Holding plate
(41) is integrally molded with the first guide (42) and is formed so as to move in parallel in the cavity (18) while being held in a direction orthogonal to the fitting direction. In addition, the holding plate (41) is located near the center of the contact portion (13) of the male contact (13).
It has a hole (43) through which 2) is inserted. Guide (42) is wall (16)
The lance (14) is sandwiched between the lance and the lance (14) to keep the lance in that state.
It moves in the respective cavity (18) between the lance (14) or the wall (16) and the lance (14). A groove (19) is provided in the wall (16), and a projection (44) which is a latching arm provided in the guide (42) is inserted in the groove (19). Also, the wall (1
6) has an ungrooved end (19a) that allows the projection (42) to be pulled when the guide (42) is pulled forward in the fitting direction when the connector is disconnected. (Four
4) hooks on the end (19a) and the retainer (40)
It stops near the opening of 0). That is, the protrusion (44) and the end portion (19a) act as a stop device that prevents the holding device (40) from coming off the first housing (10). Meanwhile, holding plate
The pores (45) are provided in (41), and when a thin rod-shaped jig is inserted from the pores (45) and the end (19a) is lifted upward in FIG. 1, the end (19a) The engagement state between the protrusion and the protrusion (44) is released. Therefore, the end portion (19a) is formed in a tapered shape so that the jig can be easily inserted between the end portion (19a) and the guide (42). Further, since the inner surfaces of the two parts of the guide (42) sandwich the lance (14), the guide (42) presses the lance (14) and prevents the lance (14) from rising.

On the other hand, a second guide (46) integrally formed with the holding plate (41) is provided at a position from the holding plate toward the outside of the housing, and the second guide (46) is arranged in the fitting direction. An engaging portion (47), which is a latch arm that can be engaged, is provided at the end toward the end. The engaging portion (47) engages with the end of the recess (49) formed on the inner surface of the tip of the shroud (17) to hold the holding device.
Hold (40) in place. When the holding device (40) is held in a fixed position, the holding plate (41) holds the tip of the contact portion (132) of the male contact (13) in an appropriate position. As a result, the contact portion (132) of the contact (13) and the contact portion (231) of the contact (23) are properly aligned. The engaging part (47) is a recess (49)
When the end portion of the above is run over, the engaging portion (47) moves to the position shown by the broken line in FIG. 1 to form the concave portion (50). When the connector is fitted, the second housing (2
The projection (32) formed on the inner wall (24) of the (0) fits. Thus, the engaging part (47) works as an engaging device together with the protrusion (32). Further, a part of the second guide (46) is cut out, and an engaging portion (51) which is a parallel and flexible latch arm is provided so as to project from the holding plate (41) in correspondence with a position inside thereof. ing. That is, the engagement portion (51) is in a cantilevered support state. A protrusion (52) is provided at the tip of the engaging portion (51). The protrusion (52) is formed with an obtuse angle at the engaging portion, and is inserted into the groove (30) provided in the inner wall (24) of the second housing (20) at the time of fitting the connector to engage the end thereof. To do. The engaging portion (51) and the groove (30) work as an engaging device.

In assembling the first housing (10), first, the male contact (13) is inserted into the cavity (11) of the first housing (10) to make contact with the protrusion (15) of the lance (14). It engages with the edge of the hole (133) of 13) and then seals the cavity (11) with a seal rubber (135). At this time, mistakenly turn the contact (13) upside down and
Even if it is inserted into (11), the contact cannot be mounted because the claw (134) collides with the rear end of the wall (16). Next, the holding device (40) is inserted into the cavity (18) so that the first guide (42) sandwiches the lance (14) and the wall (16), and the protrusion (44) and the end (1) are inserted.
9a) engage with. Immediately after this, the engaging part (47) was
As it collides with the end of 9), the retaining device (40) will be anchored in a fixed position, i.e. near the opening of the housing (10), and the retaining plate (41) of the contact portion (132). It will hold the tip in place.

In assembling the second housing (20), the female contact (23) is inserted into the cavity (21) to engage the lance (28) with the end of the contact portion (231), and then, The cavity (21) is sealed with the seal rubber (237), and the gasket (31) is housed in the cavity (26).

3 and 4 show a procedure for fitting the connector. As shown in Figure 3, the shroud (17) is
6), the contact part (132) is held at a proper predetermined position by the holding plate (41), so that the contact part (132) does not collide with the surrounding wall surface. (2
Inserted in 9) and inserted exactly between the leaf (232) and the wall (234) of the female contact (23). At this time, the engaging part
Since the (47) is engaged with the recess (49) of the shroud (17), the holding device (40) does not immediately retract toward the inside of the first housing (10), but the engaging portion (51). The protrusion (52) stays in that position until the projection (52) rides over the inner wall (24) and is inserted into the groove (30), facilitating insertion of the contact portion (132) into the through hole (29).

When the projection (52) rides over the inner wall (24) and is inserted into the groove (30), the fitting side end of the inner wall (24) is held by the holding plate (41).
Abut. After that, when the housing (10) is further pushed into the housing (20), the shroud (17) is moved to the holding device (4).
(0) Sliding on the shroud (1) from the recess (49) by engaging the engaging part (47).
It rides on the inner surface of 7) and the holding device (40) is pushed into the inside of the housing (10). As the retainer (40) retracts inward, the contact (132) projects further out of the hole (43) in the retainer plate (41) and leaves (232) of the female contact (23).
Between the wall and the wall (234). Although the fitting state is shown in FIG. 4, it can be seen that the holding device (40) does not hinder the fitting at all.

The fitting is released by pulling the two housings (10), (20) in directions away from each other. At this time, since the engaging portion (47) is engaged with the protrusion (32), and the end of the groove (30) is engaged with the protrusion (52), the holding device (40) is Remains in the second housing (20).
As the retainer (40) is pulled so that it is pulled out of the housing (10), the protrusions (44) are aligned with the grooves (1) in the wall (16).
When moving along 9) and colliding with the end (19a) and engaging,
At this time, the engaging portion (47) falls into the concave portion (49) and the engagement with the protrusion (32) is released. Furthermore, both housings (10), (20)
When the projections (52) are pulled away from each other, the obtuse angle portions of the projections (52) are engaged with the ends of the grooves (30), so that the engagement is easily released. Therefore, the holding device (40) remains in the cavity (18), and only the second housing (20) is pulled out from the first housing (10). As described above, the end portions of the groove (30) and the protrusions (52) and the engagement portions (47) and the protrusions (32) are provided at the positions facing each other. The reason is that if only one of the holding plates is pulled, the holding device
This is because the (40) is tilted and the holding device cannot be moved smoothly. When the connector is disengaged, the retaining part (47) remains engaged with the end of the groove (49), so that the retaining device (40) retracts in the cavity (18). It is held in a fixed position near the opening of the housing (10) without doing so. As a result, the tip of the contact portion (132) is always held at an appropriate predetermined position (original position) by the holding plate (41) when not fitted.

6 and 7 show an embodiment of a connector having two rows of contacts. In the figure, the numbers with a prime mark (') refer to the same members as the numbers without a prime mark. This embodiment is different from the above-described embodiment in that the first guide (40 ') is divided into three parts, and the same structure as the engaging portion (51) and the groove (30) is used. In order to engage the housing with the holding device (40 '), the engaging portion (47') and the protrusion (32 ') are provided at two locations, and the engagement between the two is utilized to connect the connector. This is the point of returning the holding device (40 ') to the original position when releasing the fitting.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment in which the contacts are in one row, and in the drawing, the members similar to the members of the previous embodiment are indicated by the numbers with the prime mark ("). Further, reference numeral (80) indicates a lock plate, and the lock plate (80) includes a lance in the second housing (20 '') (the lance (27) in FIG. 1 corresponds to this) and an inner wall. (2
By being inserted into the gap (81) between (4 ''), it acts to press the lance and prevent lifting. A latch (82) is provided on the upper surface of the second housing (20 ″), and a notch (83) that engages with the latch (82) is provided on the upper surface of the first housing (10 ″). .

[0022]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the contact holding device for a connector of the present invention, the tubular body, the holding plate and the latching arm can be easily and inexpensively manufactured by the integral molding of the plastic material. Furthermore,
The tubular body has a size that matches the inner surface of the connector housing, and can be smoothly slid in the housing by guide rails (protrusions) or grooves as necessary. Further, since the contact holding device for a connector of the present invention can be engaged with the housing of the mating connector by the latching arm, the contact holding member can always automatically return to the initial position when the fitting is released, so that the contact holding member can be inserted and removed. It can be easily applied to many connectors. Furthermore, it is also possible to integrally form a rising prevention portion of the housing lance that engages with the contact, if necessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a connector having a connector contact holding device according to the present invention and a mating connector before mating.

2A to 2C are perspective views of a contact holding device for a connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view for explaining a fitting operation between a connector having the connector contact holding device according to the present invention and a mating connector.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view for explaining a fitting operation of a connector having the connector contact holding device according to the present invention and a mating connector.

5A and 5B are perspective views of a contact for a connector.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view for explaining a fitting operation of the connector having the connector contact holding device according to the present invention, which houses the contacts in two rows, and the mating connector.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view for explaining a fitting operation of the connector having the connector contact holding device according to the present invention, which houses the contacts in two rows, and the mating connector.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of a connector according to another embodiment having a connector contact holding device according to the present invention and accommodating two contacts in one row, and a mating connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 First housing 13 Male contact 17 Shroud 20 Second housing 23 Female contact 30 Groove 32 Protrusion 40 Retaining device 41 Retaining plate 42 First guide 43 Hole 47 Engaging portion 51 Engaging portion 52 Protrusion

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A contact holding device slidably disposed on a mating surface of a connector having a male contact connected to a female contact of a mating connector, the contact holding device substantially corresponding to an inner surface of the connector housing. A substantially tubular portion that is slidable in the axial direction, a holding plate that is formed in the tubular portion in a direction orthogonal to the axis and has a hole corresponding to the male contact, and integrally formed with the tubular portion. And a latching arm that elastically engages with the housing of the mating connector.