GB2295731A

GB2295731A - Modular connector system

Info

Publication number: GB2295731A
Application number: GB9514263A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Magrina Francisco Nolla
Original assignee: Lear Automotive EEDS Spain SL
Current assignee: Lear Automotive EEDS Spain SL
Priority date: 1994-11-23
Filing date: 1995-07-12
Publication date: 1996-06-05
Anticipated expiration: 2015-07-12
Also published as: ES1029508U; GB9514263D0; SE9504160L; GB2295731B; FR2727253B3; ES1029508Y; SE9504160D0; SE9504160A0; DE29510503U1; ITUD950049V0; GB2295731A8; FR2727253A3; ITUD950049U1; IT239077Y1

Abstract

In order to provide a connector body housing a requisite number of electrical terminals, a set of bodies 19 are provided with different numbers of terminal receiving cavities 14, each body having means such as grooves 26 and projections 23 so that it can be coupled to any other body in modular fashion. The bodies may be locked by engagement of protuberances 29, carried by tongues 28, with projections 30. A set of bodies with two, four and eight terminal receiving cavities is suggested. <IMAGE>

Description

1 COUPLABLE CONNECTOR SYSTEM 2295731 This invention relates to couplable

connector systems intended mainly for the motor industry. These connectors whose purpose by virtue of both their internal and external configuration serve as a point of connection between female terminals attached to cables which enter through their lower part and male terminals which penetrate via their upper parts which are integral with or secured to the ends of other cables. The connectors then serve as a means for centralising the connection between the cables provided with the male and female terminals respectively in a wholly ordered manner, all within substantially prismatic cavities located within them.

Connectors available on the market basically meet the needs for centralising cables, and different types are available within the interior of which there are two, three and six cavities, while at the same time there are members for retaining the connectors in a box which contains them, as well as members for joining two connectors.' The diversity of the designs of connectors required in relation to the needs for centralising conductors makes it necessary to make a large investment in moulds, whose purpose is to create these types and models, and to enable different types and systems of these to be used for a specific electrical installation.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a system of interlocking connectors whose design is similar, and which only vary in the number of internal cavities, which are designed in 2 such a way that in order to house an even number of these cavities they can all be combined by means of three single types of connectors which are formed with two, four and eight cavities respectively.

In addition to containing the cavities described above within them for the purposes indicated, these connectors have a system for fitting together and immobilising the connectors and others which are already known for their insertion into the corresponding connector boxes where these are necessary.

According to the invention there is provided a connector body for housing within cavities in its body male and female terminals secured to the ends of conducting cables, the connector having a substantially parallelepiped configuration within which substantially parallelepiped cavities are provided from top to bottom and perpendicular to the upper and lower sides, engaging, or interlocking, members for joining and holding together two or more connectors being placed on the opposite side faces of the body.

To nest the connectors together, one of their opposing sides is provided with a linear channel and a linear projection which are parallel to each other and the edges or major sides of the said sides, which are complemented by members which immobilise the connectors together, comprising flexible tongues whose upper parts are provided with protuberances or ridges which act as retaining means in combination with the projections provided in one of the opposing faces.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a lateral perspective view of a system of connectors according to this invention designed to house 2, 4 and 8 cavities within them; and Figure 2 is a lateral perspective view of two of the connectors shown joined together.

A connector 10 according to this invention, as may be seen in the drawings, has a substantially prismatic or parallelepiped shaped body 11 on the lateral minor sides 25 of which is provided a dove-tail shaped longitudinal projection 23 and a corresponding longitudinal recess 26 which runs from the upper side 12 of the connector 10 to the vicinity of its lower side 15 and on whose minor frontal side 25 are located alternately a longitudinal projection 23 facing a longitudinal recess 26, and alternately a recess 26 facing a longitudinal projection 23.

As may be seen in Figure 2, two connectors 19 having different numbers of cavities 14 are connected and immobilised by tongues 28 which emerge in the intermediate portion of the smaller sides 25 and in the parts of which close to the upper side 12 there are protuberances 29 which engage with projections 30 provided in the said smaller sides 25 in the vicinity of the upper side 12.

Interlocking between two connectors 19 according to the system claimed is achieved as may be seen in Figure 2, when a longitudinal projection 23 present on a smaller side 25 penetrates a longitudinal recess 26 of the smaller side 25 of the connector to which it is to be coupled.

The special configuration of connectors 10 makes it possible to achieve an unspecified number of cavities 14 by combining the three different types of connectors 19 with two, four and eight cavities respectively, eliminating all the other connectors, thus saving large numbers of moulds for the manufacture of the connectors.

It will be understood from the drawings and the explanation which we have given for them that the invention offers a simple and effective means of construction which can be very easily implemented.

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Claims

1. A connector body for housing within cavities in its body male and female terminals secured to the ends of conducting cables, the connector having a substantially parallelepiped configuration within which substantially parallelepiped cavities are provided from top to bottom and perpendicular to the upper and lower sides, engaging or interlocking, members for joining and holding together two or more connectors being placed on the opposite side faces of the body.

2. A connector body as claimed in Claim 1 in which the interlocking members between two connectors comprise the combination of a longitudinal recess running perpendicular to the upper and lower sides and a corresponding longitudinal projection which runs perpendicular to the upper and lower sides, which are capable of engaging with a projection and recess of another connector.

3. A connector body as claimed in Claim 2 in which the longitudinal recess is' dove-tail shaped and the longitudinal projection is of corresponding shape and capable of engaging with the recess.

4. A connector body as claimed in any preceding claim in which the retaining members between two connectors comprise tongues which emerge f rom, the smaller sides and protuberances which emerge perpendicularly in the vicinity of the upper side and the vicinity thereof which are capable of engaging with protuberances provided in the opposite base of the same connector.

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5. A connector body substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

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