The present invention relates to a connector which includes a terminal having a square tubular portion at its front end, a connector housing to which the terminal is inserted and fixed, and a flexible lance which is provided inside a terminal accommodating chamber of the connector housing.
An example of this kind of terminals is disclosed in Patent Literature 1.
A terminal 120 as shown in
In a case of assembling the terminal 120 with a connector housing, thereby constructing a connector, the terminal 120 attached to the front end of the electric wire is inserted from the rear end of a terminal accommodating chamber 111 of a connector housing 110 into the terminal accommodating chamber, as shown in
Then, when the terminal 120 is inserted from the rear end of the terminal accommodating chamber 111, first, as shown in the lower stage of
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-2007-266011
However, in the above-mentioned connector according to an example of the related art, when the terminal 120 is inserted in the terminal accommodating chamber 111, the front end portion (the locking portion) of the lance 116 comes directly into sliding contact with the peripheral wall 121a of the box portion 121. For this reason, in a case where there is the protruding portion 125 or a recess (not shown) at the peripheral wall 121a, an insertion feeling gets worse and insertion resistance increases.
The present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned circumferences, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector capable of reducing a terminal inserting force while preventing a terminal inserting feeling from getting worse even in a case where there is irregularity at a peripheral wall of a box portion.
The above-mentioned object of the present invention is achievable by the following configurations.
(1) A connector, including: a terminal having a square tubular box portion which is provided at a front end of the terminal and is surrounded by a peripheral wall; and a connector housing to which the terminal is inserted and fixed, wherein a lance is provided inside a terminal accommodating chamber of the connector housing, the lance having a locking portion which is flexible in a direction intersecting with an insertion direction of the terminal to be engaged with an engaging portion provided at the peripheral wall or an extension part of the box portion, and when the terminal is inserted from a rear end of the terminal accommodating chamber, the lance comes into sliding contact with the inserted terminal, thereby being bent, and at a stage where the terminal is inserted up to a predetermined position, the locking portion of the lance returned from a bent state is engaged with the engaging portion of the terminal, whereby the terminal is prevented from falling out toward the rear side, wherein a protruding piece is provided at a lateral side of the lance, and a rib is provided at a side edge in a width direction of the peripheral wall of the box portion of the terminal, and when the terminal is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, the rib comes into sliding contact with the protruding piece, thereby bending the lance before the peripheral wall of the box portion comes into the sliding contact with the locking portion of the lance.
(2) The connector according to the above (1), wherein the rib is provided as an inverse-insertion preventing portion for being not interfered with the connector housing, thereby allowing the insertion of the terminal when the insertion direction of the terminal into the terminal accommodating chamber is proper, and for being interfered with the connector housing, thereby blocking the insertion of the terminal when the insertion direction of the terminal is improper.
(3) The connector according to the above (1) or (2), wherein the rib is provided continuously from a front end of the box portion of the terminal to a portion right before the engaging portion, and a guide portion is provided at a corner portion of the front end of the rib for making contact of the rib on the protruding piece smoothly, and a lead portion is provided at a corner portion of a rear end of the rib to smoothly release the sliding contact of the rib and the protruding piece and lead the locking portion of the lance toward the engaging portion, thereby making their engagement smooth.
According to the connector having the configuration of (1), when the terminal is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber, the protruding piece provided at the lateral side portion of the lance comes into sliding contact with the rib of the terminal, but the locking portion of the lance does not come into sliding contact with the peripheral wall of the box portion of the terminal. Therefore, even if there is irregularity at the peripheral wall of the box portion, it is possible to prevent a terminal inserting feeling from getting worse due to the influence of the irregularity, and to reduce an inserting force when the terminal is inserted.
According to the connector having the configuration of (2), the rib is provided as a piece for preventing the terminal from being inserted inversely. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the terminal from being inserted inversely (for example, upside down state).
According to the connector having the configuration of (3), the rib is provided continuously from the front end of the box portion to a portion right before the engaging portion, the guide portion is provided at the corner portion of the front end of the rib, and the lead portion is provided at the corner portion of the rear end of the rib. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the resistance when the rib starts to contact on the protruding piece of the lance, by the action of the guide portion, and the operation when the protruding piece of the lance finishes the sliding contact with the rib of the terminal and the locking portion of the lance is engaged with the engaging portion of the terminal is smoothly performed by the action of the lead portion, whereby the terminal inserting feeling is improved.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A connector according to the embodiment includes a terminal 20 and a connector housing 10. The terminal 20 includes a square tubular portion 21 which is provided at the front end of the terminal 20 and is surrounded by a peripheral wall 21a, and a conductor-connectable portion 22 and a cover-connectable portion 23 for an electric wire which are provided at the rear end of the terminal 20, as shown in
The box portion 21 at the front end of the terminal 20 is a portion for receiving a male terminal of a mating connector, and has a spring piece (not shown) which is provided therein and fixes the received male terminal in cooperation with the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21.
Inside a terminal accommodating chamber 11 of the connector housing 10, a lance 16 which is flexible in a direction (a vertical direction in
Also, at a side portion of the lance 16, a blade-like protruding piece 16e is provided. Further, of side edges in the width direction of the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21 of the terminal 20, at a side edge corresponding to the protruding piece 16e of the lance 16 during insertion of the terminal 20, a rib 25 is provided to protrude. When the terminal 20 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11, before the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21 comes into sliding contact with the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16, the rib 25 comes into sliding contact with the protruding piece 16e provided at the side portion of the lance 16, thereby bending the lance 16.
The rib 25 is provided as a piece for preventing the terminal 20 from being inserted inversely, and is provided continuously from the front end of the box portion 21 to a portion right before the engaging recess 26. When the insertion direction of the terminal 20 into the terminal accommodating chamber 11 is proper, the rib 25 serving as an inverse-insertion preventing piece does not interfere with the connector housing 10, thereby allowing the insertion of the terminal 20. Meanwhile, when the insertion direction of the terminal 20 is improper, the rib 25 interferes with the connector housing 10, thereby blocking the insertion of the terminal 20.
At the front end corner portion of the rib 25, a guide portion 25a composed of a curved surface portion for making contact of the rib 25 on the protruding piece 16e smoothly is provided. Further, at the rear end corner portion of the rib 25, a lead portion 25b composed of a chamfered portion is provided to smoothly release the sliding contact with the protruding piece 16e of the lance 16 and lead the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16 toward the engaging recess 26, thereby making their engagement smooth.
In a case of assembling the terminal 20 with the connector housing 10, thereby constructing a connector, the terminal 20 attached to the front end of the electric wire is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11 of the connector housing 10 from its rear end, as shown in
In this case, before the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21 of the terminal 20 comes into contact with the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16, the rib 25 of the terminal 20 contacts on the protruding piece 16e of the lance 16, and in a state where a gap H between the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21 and the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16 is kept as shown in
Then, when the terminal 20 is inserted still further to reach the predetermined position, at this stage, as shown in
Like this, in the connector of the present embodiment, when the terminal 20 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 11, the protruding piece 16e provided at the side portion of the lance 16 comes into sliding contact with the rib 25 of the terminal 20, and the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16 does not come into sliding contact with the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21 of the terminal 20 with the gap H. Therefore, even in a case where there is irregularity at the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21, it possible to prevent the inserting feeling of the terminal 20 from getting worse due to the influence of the irregularity, and to reduce an inserting force when the terminal 20 is inserted.
Further, the rib 25 is provided continuously from the front end of the box portion 21 to a portion right before the engaging recess 26, the guide portion 25a is provided at the front end corner portion of the rib 25, and the lead portion 25b is provided at the rear end corner portion of the rib. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the resistance when the rib 25 starts to contact on the protruding piece 16e of the lance 16, by the action of the guide portion 25a, and the operation when the protruding piece 16e of the lance 16 finishes the sliding contact with the rib 25 of the terminal 20 and the locking protrusion 16c of the lance 16 is engaged with the engaging recess 26 of the terminal 20 is smoothly performed by the action of the lead portion 25b, whereby the inserting feeling of the terminal 20 is improved.
Also, according to the present embodiment, the rib 25 is provided as a piece for preventing the terminal from being inserted inversely. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the terminal 20 from being inserted inversely (for example, inversely in a vertical direction).
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be appropriately modified and improved. Further, the material, shape, dimensions, number, disposition place, and the like of each component of the above-mentioned embodiment are arbitrary as long as the present invention can be achieved, and are not limited.
For example, according to the above-mentioned embodiment, the engaging recess 26 is provided on the peripheral wall 21a of the box portion 21. However, a step portion at the rear end of the box portion 21 may be used as an engaging portion.
Although the present invention has been described in detail or with reference to a specific embodiment, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that it is possible to add various changes or modifications without departing from the sprit and scope of the present invention.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application (Patent Application No. 2010-151726) filed on Jul. 2, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
According to the present invention, even in a case where there is irregularity at the peripheral wall of a box portion of a terminal, it is possible to prevent a terminal inserting feeling from getting worse due to the influence of the irregularity, and to reduce an inserting force when the terminal is inserted.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-151726 | Jul 2010 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2011/064788 | 6/28/2011 | WO | 00 | 12/31/2012 |