Connector

The present invention is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-157409, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a connector which is configured in a manner that one or plural stages of insulation housings are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal or a press contact terminal thereby to house the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner within the-connector.

2. Related Art

In recent years, in accordance with the increase of the number of electric devices and control circuits etc. mounted on an automobile, the number of electric wires to be housed in a wiring harness wired within a body of the automobile has been increased. In such a wire harness having many electric wires to be housed, such a connector has been increasingly employed that houses and holds press contact terminals which are excellent in workability of coupling the end portions of the electric wires.

The press contact terminal is configured in a manner that when a covered electric wire is inserted with pressure between a pair of press-contact blades disposed in an opposite manner, the press-contact blades cut the insulation cover of the covered wire and are made in contact with the inner conductor of the covered wire and so electrically coupled to the inner conductor of the covered wire. As compared with the conventionally spread crimped terminals, such a press contact terminal can eliminate a process of stripping off the cover of the end portion of the electric wire and a process of caulking the terminal, and hence the workability of coupling the electric wires can be improved to a large extent

However, the press contact terminal is restricted in the kinds of electric wires capable of being coupled thereto due to the configuration thereof. For example, the press contact terminal is not suitable for a covered electric wire in which the outer diameter of the inner conductor thereof is out of the prescribed range with respect to a gap size between the pair of the press-contact blades, for a shield electric wire in which a shield wire is disposed on the outer periphery of the inner conductor, and for an electric wire requiring a high coupling intensity.

In general, the wire harness for an automobile contains various kinds of cover electric wires and shield electric wires etc. having different sizes, and so it is required, in view of productivity, to use properly electric wires to be coupled to the press contact terminals and electric wires to be coupled to crimped terminals like the conventional technique.

In view of such a mixed usage of the press contact terminals and the crimped terminals, such a connector is proposed which is configured in a manner that one or plural stages of insulation housings are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal or a press contact terminal thereby to house the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner within the connector

FIGS. 9

to

11

show an example of conventional connector housing the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals in a mixed manner.

A connector

1

shown in the figures is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 189117/1998 and is configured in a manner that common terminal chambers

8

commonly usable for crimped terminals

5

and press contact terminals

6

are disposed in two lines of upper and lower stages in a mixed manner within an insulation housing

3

.

Each of the crimped terminals

5

and the press contact terminals

6

is a press molded part formed by a metal conductor plate.

As shown in

FIG. 10

, the press contact terminal

6

is configured in a manner that two pairs of press-contact blades

6

a

,

6

a

each pair of which cut the outer cover of a covered electric wire

13

and are made in contact with the inner conductor of the electric wire are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal in an opposite manner and a female terminal fitting portion

6

c

into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.

As shown in

FIG. 11

, the crimped terminal

5

is configured in a manner that a conductor caulking nail.

5

a

for making press-contact with the inner conductor of a covered electric wire

12

and a cover caulking nail

5

b

for pressing the covered electric wire

12

on the outer cover thereof are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal and a female terminal fitting portion

5

c

into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.

The common terminal chamber

8

is provided at the rear half portion thereof with an opening which makes a pair of the press-contact blades

6

a

,

6

a

of the rear end portion possible to press-contact with the covered electric wire

13

of the terminal after the press contact terminal

6

is housed within the common terminal chamber. Covers

9

,

10

for shielding the opening are integrally formed with the insulation housing

3

by thin-thickness hinges

11

at the front side from the opening, respectively.

The front half portion of the common terminal chamber

8

houses the terminal fitting portions

5

c

,

6

c

of the crimped terminal

5

and the press contact terminal

6

and has therein flexible lances

3

a

,

3

b

for provisionally engaging these terminals

5

,

6

.

The press contact terminal

6

and the crimped terminal

5

are inserted from the rear side of the common terminal chambers

8

toward the front side of the insulation housing

3

as shown by arrows A, B in

FIGS. 10 and 11

, respectively, and provisionally engaged with the flexible lances

3

a

,

3

b

within the common terminal chambers

8

.

As shown in

FIG. 10

, in the press contact terminals

6

, the covered electric wires

13

are made in contact with pressure to the press-contact blades

6

a

,

6

a

from direction shown by arrows C, D, respectively. As shown in

FIG. 11

, the covered electric wires

12

are made in contact with pressure to the crimped terminals

5

in advance.

Thereafter, the open/close covers

9

,

10

are closed and so both the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals

6

are placed in a formally engaged state, whereby the crimped terminals

5

and the press contact terminals

6

are prevented from coming out of the common terminal chambers.

As shown in

FIG. 9.

, the open/close covers

9

,

10

thus closed engage with engaging lock portions

3

c

,

3

d

protrusively provided at the outer side surface of the insulation housing

3

and so are locked in a closed state, respectively.

However, according to the aforesaid conventional connector

1

, the terminals

5

,

6

are attached to the common terminal chambers

8

by inserting the terminals from the rear side of the insulation housing

3

.

Thus, the terminals

5

,

6

which are inserted along the longitudinal direction of the terminals upon insertion are apt to vibrate, so that there is a possibility that the front end portions etc. of the terminals collide with the inner wall surfaces of the common terminal chambers

8

due to the vibration of the terminals and so the insertion operation of the terminals can not be performed smoothly.

Further, the insertion direction (the direction shown by the arrows A, B in

FIGS. 10

,

11

) of the crimped terminals

5

and the press contact terminals

6

with respect to the common terminal chambers

8

on the insulation housing

3

differs from the directions (the directions shown by the arrows C, D in

FIG. 10

) of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wires

13

with respect to the press contact terminals

6

. Thus, it is difficult to automate a mounting process of the crimped terminals

5

and the press contact terminals

6

on the insulation housing

3

and a press-contact process of the covered

6

electric wires

13

with respect to the press contact terminals

6

, whereby there arises a problem that the workability of the assembling process for the connector

1

is not good.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to obviate the aforesaid problems of the conventional technique, and to provide a connector which can house crimped terminals and press contact terminals in a mixed manner, and enhance the workability of the inserting operation of the respective terminals within common terminal chambers to improve the workability of the assembling operation of the connector thereby to reduce a cost of the connector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aforesaid object of the invention is attained by a connector comprising:

one or plural stages of insulation housings, each of which includes a base plate portion and partition walls which are erected from the base plate portion, thereby forming a plurality of common terminal chambers;

each of the common terminal chambers being configured to be capable of accommodating a crimped terminal or a press contact terminal;

crimped terminals and press contact terminals accommodated in a mixed manner within the insulating housings;

wherein openings of the common terminal chambers through which the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal is inserted are formed on one side surface of each insulating housing; and

the insulation housings are stacked and a cover is provided on one of the insulating housings at an end of stacking of the insulating housings so as to cover this insulating housing.

According to the aforesaid configuration, the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal is inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber.

Thus, when compared with the conventional connector in which the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal is inserted within the common terminal chamber from the rear side opening along the longitudinal direction of the terminal, according to the connector of the invention, the size of the opening is large and so the terminals can be inserted easily through the openings. Thus, there does not arise such a phenomenon that the front end portion of the terminal collides with the inner wall of the common terminal chamber due to the vibration of the terminal upon insertion thereof.

Further, the insertion direction of the crimped terminals or the press contact terminals with respect to the common terminal chambers coincides with the direction of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wires with respect to the press contact terminals. Thus, it is easy to automate the mounting process of the respective terminals on the insulation housing and the press-contact process of the covered electric wires with respect to the press contact terminals.

Preferably, each of the partition walls of the insulation housing is provided with a terminal engaging portion which engages with a housing engaging portion of the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal inserted from the upper opening of each of the common terminal chambers to position the terminal in an axis line direction.

In this case, since the press contact terminal inserted into the common terminal chamber is positioned in the axis line direction by the terminal engaging portion engaged with the housing engaging portion, the terminal is prevented from being deviated in its position at the time of the press-contact process. Further, the respective terminals are prevented from coming out until the terminals are covered by the other insulation housing or the cover member laminated on the insulation housing.

Further, preferably, the housing engaging portion includes an engagement opening formed at a side wall of each of the terminals respectively opposing to the partition walls and a flexible engagement piece formed on a terminal bottom wall side of the engagement opening, and the terminal engaging portion is formed by an engagement projection protrusively provided at each of the partition walls in correspondence to the engagement opening.

In this case, since the engagement projection protrusively provided at each of the partition walls engages with the engagement opening or the flexible engagement piece, the terminals can be positioned within the common terminal chambers respectively.

In the conventional connector, the housed terminal is engaged within the terminal housing portion in a manner that the engagement lance raised at the terminal is engaged with a recess portion formed at the inner wall surface of the terminal housing portion and the flexible lance formed at the inner wall surface of the terminal housing portion is engaged with the opening formed at the terminal. Thus, as compared with such a conventional connector, in the invention, it is possible to make the pitch of the arrangement of the common terminal chambers narrower by thinning the thickness of each of the partition walls defining and forming the respective common terminal chambers and so the connector can be miniaturized easily.

The tensile force acting through the covered electric wires coupled to the terminals can be received by the hooking portions between the engagement projections protrusively provided at the partition walls and the opening edges of the engagement openings into which the engagement projections are fitted. Thus, as compared with the conventional engagement lance and flexible lance, the sufficient terminal engagement force can be easily secured for the insulation housing.

Further, since the flexible engagement pieces do not protrude outside of the side walls of the terminals, there is no possibility that the flexible engagement pieces

43

are caught by other terminals or other members etc. and damaged during the transportation of the terminals. Thus, the connector according to the invention can be treated easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of the connector according to the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2

is a perspective view of the connector in an assembled state shown in

FIG. 1

;

FIG. 3A

is a perspective view of an entirety of a crimped terminal shown in

FIG. 1

seen from the upper surface side thereof, and

FIG. 3B

is a perspective view of the entirety of the crimped terminal shown in

FIG. 1

seen from the lower surface side thereof;

FIG. 4A

is a perspective view of an entirety of a press contact terminal shown in

FIG. 1

seen from the upper surface side thereof, and

FIG. 4B

is a perspective view of the entirety of the press contact terminal shown in.

FIG. 1

seen from the lower surface side thereof;

FIG. 5

is a longitudinal sectional view showing a common terminal chamber in a state that a cover member is attached to an insulation housing shown in

FIG. 1

;

FIGS. 6A and 6B

are transversal sectional views of main portions for explaining the attachment operation of the press contact terminal to the common terminal chamber of the connector shown in

FIG. 1

;

FIG. 7

is an exploded perspective view of the connector according to the second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8

is a perspective view of the connector in an assembled state shown in

FIG. 7

;

FIG. 9

is a perspective view showing an entirety of the insulation housing of a conventional connector in which crimped terminals and press contact terminals are housed in a mixed manner,

FIG. 10

is a longitudinal sectional view for explaining the attachment operation of the press contact terminal to the common terminal chamber of the insulation housing shown in

FIG. 9

;

FIG. 11

is a longitudinal sectional view for explaining the attachment operation of the press contact terminal to the common terminal chamber of the insulation housing shown in FIG.

9

.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The connector according to embodiments of the invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of the connector according to the first embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2

is a perspective view of the connector in an assembled state shown in

FIG. 1

,

FIGS. 3A and 3B

are perspective views of an entirety of a crimped terminal shown in

FIG. 1

seen from the upper and lower surface sides thereof, respectively,

FIGS. 4A and 4B

are perspective views of an entirety of a press contact terminal shown in

FIG. 1

seen from the upper and lower surface sides thereof, respectively,

FIG. 5

is a longitudinal sectional view showing a common terminal chamber in a state that a cover member is attached to an insulation housing shown in

FIG. 1

, and

FIGS. 6A and 6B

are transversal sectional views of main portions for explaining the attachment operation of the press contact terminal to the common terminal chamber of the connector shown in FIG.

1

.

The connector

21

according to the first embodiment is developed for a wire harness of an automobile and is configured in a manner, as shown in

FIGS. 1 and 2

, that two stages of insulation housings

23

are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers

26

each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal

25

or a press contact terminal

26

thereby to house the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminals

26

in a mixed manner within the connector.

Each of the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminals

26

is a press molded part formed by a metal conductor plate.

As shown in

FIGS. 3A and 3B

, the crimped terminal

25

is configured in a manner that a conductor caulking nail

25

a

for making press-contact with the inner conductor of a covered electric wire

12

and a cover caulking nail

25

b

for pressing the covered electric wire

12

on the outer cover thereof are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal and a female terminal fitting portion

25

c

into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.

As shown in

FIGS. 4A and 4B

, the press contact terminal

26

is configured in a manner that two pairs of press-contact blades

26

a

,

26

a

each pair of which cut the outer cover

13

b

of a covered electric wire

13

and are made in contact with the inner conductor

13

a

of the covered electric wire are disposed at the rear end portion of the terminal in an opposite manner and a female terminal fitting portion

26

c

into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is fitted is disposed at the front end portion of the terminal.

The insulation housing

23

according to the first embodiment is configured in a manner that the common terminal chambers

28

are defined and formed by partition walls

29

which are erected with a predetermined interval on a lengthy base plate portion

27

and the crimped terminal

25

or the press contact terminal

26

is inserted from an upper opening of each of the common terminal chambers

28

. That is, the terminals

25

,

26

can be inserted into the common terminal chambers

28

from the same direction (the upper direction in

FIG. 1

) as that of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wire

13

to the press contact terminals

26

.

Incidentally, the insulation housing

23

is integrally formed continuously in a lengthy manner along the arrangement direction of the common terminal chambers

28

in advance and thereafter cut at use into a predetermined length in accordance with a required number of poles. A front wall

30

constituting a terminal insertion port into which a coupling male terminal of a partner side is inserted and guided is integrally formed at the front end side of the insulation housing

23

.

The upper openings of the common terminal chambers

28

of the insulation housing

23

at the lower stage are covered by the base plate portion

27

of the insulation housing

23

at the upper stage, and the upper openings of the common terminal chambers

28

of the insulation housing

23

at the upper stage are covered by the cover main body.

31

a

of a cover member

31

which is coupled in a laminated state. Cover lock portions

32

for holding the both side edges of the insulation housings

23

,

23

are provided at the both side ends of the cover main body

31

a

of an almost rectangular shape, respectively. A locking arm

34

for fitting to and locking with a partner side connector is provided at the upper surface of the cover main body

31

a.

The connector

21

according to the first embodiment is configured in a manner that the two insulation housings

23

are piled up in a laminated state thereby to provide the connector with the common terminal chambers

28

of multi-stages in the vertical direction. However, the connector may be configured in a manner that the single insulation housing

23

is arranged in a single stage or the insulation housings

23

are laminated in multi-stages of three stages or more. In this case, it is merely required to suitably change the length of the cover lock portion

32

of the cover member

31

and so the insulation housings

23

can be used commonly.

Further, at each of the both surfaces of each of the partition walls

29

defining and forming the common terminal chambers

28

of the insulation housing

23

, an engagement projection

33

serving as a terminal engaging portion is protrusively provided which engages with the housing engaging portion

41

of the crimped terminal

25

or the press contact terminal

26

inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber

28

thereby to position the terminal-in the axis line direction.

As shown in

FIGS. 5 and 6

, the engagement projection

33

has a slanted surface

33

a

for guiding at the upper surface side of the housing and also has a horizontal surface

33

b

for engagement at the lower surface side of the housing.

As also shown in

FIGS. 3 and 4

, the housing engaging portions

41

of each of the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminal

26

are formed so as to penetrate a pair of terminal side walls

25

d

,

25

d

(

26

d

,

26

d

) opposing to the partition walls

29

of the insulation housing

23

, and each of the housing engaging portions has an engaging opening

41

a

into which the engagement projection

33

can be inserted and a flexible engagement piece

43

cut and raised so as to erect from the terminal bottom wall

25

e

(

26

e

) side of the engagement opening

41

a

along the terminal side wall

25

d

(

26

d

).

First, as shown in

FIG. 6A

, for example, when the press contact terminal

26

is inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber

28

of the insulation housing

23

, the flexible engagement pieces

43

of the housing engaging portions

41

abut against the slanted surfaces

33

a

of the engagement projections

33

and are elastically deformed inside, so that the engagement projections

33

are allowed to be fit into the engagement openings

41

a

. In this case, since a guide slanted surface

43

a

is also formed at each of the abutment portions of the flexible engagement pieces

43

, the press contact terminals

26

can be inserted smoothly.

As shown in

FIG. 6B

, when the press contact terminal

26

is pushed into the common terminal chamber

28

and the flexible engagement pieces

43

move over the engagement projections

33

, the flexible engagement pieces

43

engage with the horizontal surfaces

33

b

of the engagement projections

33

due to the elastic restoring force and so the press contact terminal

26

is prevented from coming out upward.

The engagement projections

33

are fitted into the engagement openings

41

a

from the terminal bottom wall

25

e

side and caught at the opening edge, so that the press contact terminal

26

is positioned in the axis line direction.

In

FIG. 6

, although the explanation has been made as to the case where the press contact terminal

26

is inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber

28

of the insulation housing

23

, the configuration of the housing engaging portion

41

of the crimped terminal

25

is similar to that of the press contact terminal and the crimped terminal-can be housed and held in the similar manner as the press contact terminal.

That is, according to the connector

21

of the first embodiment, the crimped terminal

25

or the press contact terminal

26

is inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber

28

.

Thus, when compared with the conventional connector

1

as shown in

FIGS. 10 and 11

in which the crimped terminal

5

or the press contact terminal

6

is inserted within the common terminal chamber

8

from the rear side along the longitudinal direction of the terminal, according to the embodiment, the size of the opening is large and so the terminals

25

,

26

can be inserted easily through the openings. Thus, the insertion operation of the terminals can be completed quickly without causing collision etc. between the front end portions of the terminals and the partition walls

29

due to the vibration of the terminals

25

,

26

upon insertion thereof.

Further, the insertion direction of the crimped terminals

25

or the press contact terminals

26

with respect to the common terminal chambers

28

coincides with the direction of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wires

13

with respect to the press contact terminals

26

. Thus, it is easy to automate a mounting process of the terminals

25

,

26

on the insulation housing

23

and a press-contact process of the covered electric wires

13

with respect to the press contact terminals

26

.

Thus, according to the connector

21

of the first embodiment, the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminals

26

can be housed in a mixed state, and the workability of the inserting operation of the respective terminals

25

,

26

within the common terminal chambers

28

can be enhanced to improve the workability of the assembling operation of the connector

21

thereby to reduce a cost of the connector.

Further, at each of the both surfaces of each of the partition walls

29

defining and forming the common terminal chambers

28

of the insulation housing

23

, the engagement projection

33

serving as the terminal engaging portion is protrusively provided which engages with the housing engaging portion

41

of the crimped terminal

25

or the press contact terminal

26

inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber

28

thereby to position the terminal in the axis line direction.

Thus, after the press contact terminal

26

is housed within the common terminal chamber

28

, the terminal is prevented from being deviated in its position at the time of the press-contact process of contacting the covered electric wire

13

with a pressure between a pair of the press-contact blades

26

a

,

26

a

at the rear end portion of the terminal. Further, since the housing engaging portions

41

are provisionally engaged with the engagement projections

33

, the terminals

25

,

26

housed within the common terminal chambers

28

are prevented from coming out until the terminals are covered by the insulation housing

23

at the upper stage and the cover member

31

laminated on the insulation housing

23

at the lower stage.

In the conventional connector, for example, in order to engage the housed terminal within the terminal housing portion, the engagement lance raised at the terminal is engaged with a recess portion formed at the inner wall surface of the terminal housing portion of the insulation housing and the flexible lance formed at the inner wall surface of the terminal housing portion is engaged with the opening formed at the terminal. In contrast, in the insulation housing

23

, the engagement projection

33

of a small size and simple shape is merely provided protrusively at each of the both surfaces of each of the partition walls

29

.

Thus, it is possible to make the pitch of the common terminal chambers

28

narrower by thinning the thickness of each of the partition walls

29

defining the respective common terminal chambers

28

and so the multi-pole connector can be miniaturized easily.

The tensile force acting through the covered electric wires

12

,

13

coupled to the terminals

25

,

26

can be received by the hooking portions between the engagement projections

33

protrusively provided at the partition walls

29

and the opening edges of the engagement openings

41

a

into which the engagement projections

33

are fitted.

Thus, as compared with the conventional engagement lance and flexible lance, the sufficient terminal engagement force can be easily secured for the insulation housing

23

and so the efficiency for housing and holding the terminals

25

,

26

at the common terminal chambers

28

can be improved.

Further, since the flexible engagement pieces

43

do not protrude outside of the terminal side walls

25

d

(

26

d

) of the terminals

25

,

26

, there is no possibility that the flexible engagement pieces

43

are caught by other terminals or other members etc. and damaged during the transportation of the terminals

25

,

26

. Thus, the connector according to the embodiment can be treated easily.

According to the connector of the invention, the configurations of the insulation housing

23

, the crimped terminal

25

, the press contact terminal

26

and the cover member

31

are not limited to those of the aforesaid embodiment, and, of course, may take various kinds of modification based on the gist of the invention.

For example, each of the crimped terminal

25

and the press contact terminal

26

of the aforesaid embodiment may be a female terminal or a male terminal.

FIGS. 7 and 8

is an exploded sectional view and an assembled sectional view of a connector according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Like the connector

21

according to the first embodiment, the connector

51

according to the second embodiment shown in

FIGS. 7 and 8

is configured in a manner that two stages of insulation housings

53

are disposed therein each of which is additionally provided with common terminal chambers

58

each capable of housing a crimp-style terminal or a crimped terminal

25

or a press contact terminal

26

thereby to house the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminals

26

in a mixed manner within the connector. Incidentally, like parts corresponding to those of the connector

21

of the first embodiment are marked with the same references and therefore detailed explanation thereof is omitted.

The insulation housing

53

according to the second embodiment is configured in a manner that the common terminal chambers

58

are defined and formed by partition walls

59

which are erected with a predetermined interval on a lengthy base plate portion

57

and the crimped terminal

25

or the press contact terminal

26

(not shown) is inserted from an upper opening of each of the common terminal chambers

58

.

At each of the both surfaces of each of the partition walls

59

of the insulation housing

53

, an engagement projection

33

serving as a terminal engaging portion is protrusively provided which acts to position the terminal in the axis line direction. An engagement convex portion

59

a

is provided so as to be extended from the rear end portion of each of the partition walls

59

of the insulation housing

53

.

Like the insulation housing

23

of the first embodiment, the insulation housing

53

is also integrally formed continuously in a lengthy manner along the arrangement direction of the common terminal chambers

58

in advance and thereafter cut at use into a predetermined length in accordance with a required number of poles.

A cover member

61

of the second embodiment is not configured to include the cover

main body

31

a

of an almost rectangular shape which only covers the upper openings of the common terminal chambers

28

of the insulation housing

23

at the upper stage, like the cover member

31

of the first embodiment, but is configured to include a cylindrical housing

62

which also covers the periphery of the insulation housings

53

piled up in a laminated state.

That is, as shown in

FIG. 7

, the cover member

61

includes the cylindrical housing

62

in which the insulation housings

53

are inserted from an opening at the rear end side (the right side in the figure) and a locking arm

34

provided at the upper surface of the cylindrical housing

62

. A partition wall

63

for restricting the elevational position of the insulation housings

53

housed within the cylindrical housing is provided within the cylindrical housing

62

.

Then, the insulation housings

53

are sequentially inserted within the cylindrical housing

62

from the lower stage side insulation housing.

As shown in

FIG. 8

, first, when the insulation housing

53

is inserted at the lower stage of the cylindrical housing

62

, the rear end edge of the base plate portion

57

thereof is engaged with the engagement convex portion

59

a

of the insulation housing

53

inserted at the upper stage and so the insulation housing at the lower stage is prevented from coming out. Next, the insulation housing

53

inserted at the upper stage is engaged at the rear end edge of the base plate portion

57

thereof with an engagement projection

64

which is protrusively provided at the upper edge of an opening at the rear end side of the cylindrical housing

62

and so the insulation housing at the upper stage is prevented from coming out.

Thus, in the connector

51

of the second embodiment, the upper openings of the common terminal chambers

58

of the insulation housing

53

at the upper stage inserted within the cylindrical housing

62

of the cover member

61

are covered by the base plate portion

57

of the insulation housing

53

at the lower stage, and the upper openings of the common terminal chambers

58

of the insulation housing

53

at the lower stage are covered by the bottom wall

62

a

of the cylindrical housing

62

.

Thus, like the connector

21

of the first embodiment, according to the connector

51

of the second embodiment, also, the crimped terminals

25

and the press contact terminals

26

can be housed in a mixed state, and the workability of the inserting operation of the respective terminals

25

,

26

within the common terminal chambers

58

can be enhanced to improve the workability of the assembling operation of the connector

51

thereby to reduce a cost of the connector.

The connector

51

according to the second embodiment is configured in a manner that the two insulation housings

53

are piled up in a laminated state and housed within the cylindrical housing

62

thereby to provide the connector with the common terminal chambers

58

of multi-stages in the vertical direction. However, the connector may be configured in a manner that the single insulation housing

53

is arranged in a single stage or the insulation housings

53

are laminated in multi-stages of three stages or more.

According to the connector of the invention described above, the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal is inserted from the upper opening of the common terminal chamber.

Thus, when compared with the conventional connector in which the crimped terminal or the press contact terminal is inserted within the common terminal chamber from the rear side opening along the longitudinal direction of the terminal, according to the connector of the invention, the size of the opening is large and so the terminals can be inserted easily through the openings. Thus, there does not arise such a phenomenon that the front end portion of the terminal collides with the inner wall of the common terminal chamber due to the vibration of the terminal upon insertion thereof.

Further, the insertion direction of the crimped terminals or the press contact terminals with respect to the common terminal chambers coincides with the direction of the press-contact operation of the covered electric wires with respect to the press contact terminals. Thus, it is easy to automate the mounting process of the respective terminals on the insulation housing and the press-contact process of the covered electric wires with respect to the press contact terminals.

Thus, the crimped terminals and the press contact terminals can be housed in a mixed states and the workability of the inserting operation of the respective terminals within the common terminal chambers can be enhanced to improve the workability of the assembling operation of the connector thereby to reduce a cost of the connector.

Number	Name	Date	Kind
3474398	Piorruneck	Oct 1969	A
3544954	Yeager	Dec 1970	A
4717359	Rahrig et al.	Jan 1988	A
5888103	Norizuki et al.	Mar 1999	A
6179670	Sugiyama	Jan 2001	B1
6231398	Furutani et al.	May 2001	B1
6231400	Nagai	May 2001	B1
6358098	Wakata	Mar 2002	B1

Number	Date	Country
10-189117	Jul 1998	JP
11-144786	May 1999	JP

Information

Patent Number

Date Filed

Date Issued

Inventors

Original Assignees

Examiners

Agents

CPC

US Classifications

Field of Search

US

International Classifications

Abstract

Description

Claims

Priority Claims (1)

US Referenced Citations (8)

Foreign Referenced Citations (2)