IE50157B1

IE50157B1 - Housing for an electric plug-and-socket connection

Info

Publication number: IE50157B1
Application number: IE183380A
Authority: IE
Original assignee: Reinshagen Kabelwerk Gmbh
Priority date: 1979-09-01
Filing date: 1980-08-29
Publication date: 1986-02-19
Also published as: ES260319U; ES260319Y; EP0024773A1; IE801833L; EP0024773B1; DE2935370C2; DE2935370A1

Abstract

1. A housing of insulating material for an electric plug-and-socket connection comprising at least one through-hole (2-7) for receiving a plug contact (8) having a shoulder (34) or the like, the through-hole being provided with a radially resilient section of the housing with a projection (15) engaging behind the shoulder (34) of the inserted plug contact (8) and it being possible for the resilience of the section to be blocked by means of an insertable locking member (16-19), characterized in that the locking member (16-19) is an angular part which is formed integrally with the housing (1) and whose first limb (24-27) is connected to the housing (1) via a thin-portion hinge (20-23), whilst the second limb (28-31), in the blocking position, projects into the housing through a lateral slot (32) of the housing wall and engages behind the resilient section (9).

Description

The invention relates to a housing of insulating material for an electric plug-and-socket connection comprising at least one through-hole for receiving a plug contact having shoulder means, in which said throughhole is formed partly by a radially flexible section of the housing having a projection engaging behind the shoulder means of an inserted plug contact, the flexibility of said flexible section being blockable by an insertable locking member.

For plug contacts, for example plugs or sockets, having a central narrowed portion, a housing of the kind mentioned above is already known (German Published Patent Specification No. 20 05 783). This known housing has the advantage that the flexible projection, after the loose insertion of the plug contact into the through-hole of the housing, engages in the narrowed portion at the plug contact and holds it reliably in a predetermined position. The locking needs to ensure only that the plug contact is locked, not only flexibly, but fixedly as well. This is done in that the radial flexibility of the elastically engaging projection is removed.

Until the ultimate locking, the natural resilience of the projection is sufficient to hold the plug contact correctly in the through-hole; this is desired during the further processing of the plug-and-socket connection, for example, for checking the passage or polarity of electrical current.

The known housing either has a lockbolt which can be inserted at right angles to the direction of plugging, or a locking member which can be inserted into the housing axially from the end face of the plug and which can be locked. The construction of the locking member put forward, in the form of a disc or plate, could however, be used only for plugging devices in which the passages for the plug contacts were situated beside each other in one or two rows. Moreover, several such locking members were required.

It has therefore already been attempted to provide a housing which enables the locking of plug contacts arranged arbitrarily beside each other (German Utility Model No. 77 39 743). For this purpose locking catches were suggested which were formed on a separate connection plate extending over the end face of the housing. This arrangement enabled a locking of plug contacts which could be accommodated in arbitrary places of the cross-sectional face of the housing. However, in certain circumstances this arrangement may lead to an undesired lengthening of the plug housing; moreover the housing consists of at least two parts which are to be fixed together.

It is an object of the invention to provide a plug housing which is compact and versatile, that is to say, in particular, that it has the shortest possible building length, is constructed from one part and allows many possibilities for the designer to adapt it to individual applications.

According to the invention there is provided a housing of insulating material for an electric plug-and-socket connection comprising at least one through-hole for receiving a plug contact having shoulder means, in which said through-hole is formed partly by a radially flexible section of the housing having a projection engaging behind the shoulder means of an inserted 5015? plug contact, the flexibility of said flexible section being blockable by an insertable locking member, wherein the locking member is an angular member which is formed integrally with the housing and has a first limb and at least one second limb, said first limb being connected to the housing by an integral hinge of thin cross-section, and said second limb extending, in the blocking position of the locking member, into the housing through a slot in the housing wall to block said flexible section.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and will be described hereinafter.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a housing without contacts with turned-up locking members; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the housing shown in Fig. 1 with a partial sectional view taken on the line II-II of Fig. 1, as 'well as with an inserted contact bush; Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view through the housing with an inserted and locked contact bush taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a partial elevation of the housing in the direction of the arrow S in Fig. 2.

The housing 1 comprises six through-holes 2 to 7 for receiving plug 20 contacts 8 which may be in the form of contact bushes. The through-holes 2 to at the area of the plug contacts 8 are partly formed by radially flexible sections 9 to 14 of the housing 1. The sections 9 to 14 comprise projections 15 which engage behind the inserted plug contacts 8 in a flexibly locking manner (Fig. 3).

The flexibility of the sections 9 to 14 of the housing 1 can be blocked by inserted locking members 16 to 19. The locking members 16 to 19 are angular and are formed as one assembly with the housing 1 and are connected thereto via integral hinges 20 to 23. The first limbs 24 to 27 are connected to the housing 1 via the integral hinges 20 to 23, while the - 5 5015? second limbs 28 to 31 extend into the housing 1 through slots 32 to radially lock the sections 9 to 14 (Fig. 3).

The locking members 16 and 19 each serve to lock a plug contact with their limbs 28 and 31. Two limbs 29 and 29', 30 and 30', respectively, are formed integral with the locking members 17 and 18. Each of the limbs 29, 29', 30, 30' serves to lock a plug contact (not shown).

How the locking is carried out is described in detail with reference to the locking member 16 and the plug contact 8 in connection with Figs. 2 to 4. Of course, what is described here also applies to all the other locking members.

A plug contact 8 is inserted from the rear into the through-hole 2 (Fig. 3). The plug contact 8 is connected to an electric lead (not shown), for example, by shrinkage. The plug contact 8, constructed in this case as a circular plug bush, during the insertion slides over an inclined surface 33 of the projection 15 until the projection 15 can spring back again radially behind the shoulder 34 of the plug contact 8 and pre-lock the plug contact 8, that is to say, fix it preliminarily. A shoulder 2a^ of the through-hole 2 forms the front abutment for the plug contact 8, After this preliminary locking the plug-and-socket connection is tested electrically for polarity, current passage and so on. Should a defect be found, the plug contact can easily be taken again out of the through-hole 2 of the housing 1 and the defect can be mitigated. After testing the plug-and-socket connection, the locking members 16 to 19 are placed in their final position; the second limb 28 of the locking member 16 is inserted into the slot 32 of the housing 1 by a flipping movement - see arrow K in Fig. 2 - so that in the housing 1 it becomes located between a section la of the housing and the flexible section 9 and as near as possible to the projection 15 (Figs. 2 to 4). This final position of the locking member 16 is shown in dot-and-dash lines in - 6 Figs. 2 and 4. By the choice of a suitable width of the slot 32, the limb 28 can initially be held in the housing 1 by friction contact. In addition, a barb 35 is formed on the limb 28. The barb 35 locks behind the slot 32 and after the final locking holds the limb 28 fixedly engaged in the housing 5 1 (Fig. 4).

The plug contact 8 is then fixed in the through-hole 2 of the housing 1 in such manner that it can be removed therefrom again unintentionally only by very high pulling forces.

The embodiment described always ensures a correct positioning of 10 the plug contact 8 in the through-hole 2: in case the plug contact 8 is not correctly pre-locked, for example, because it has not been inserted sufficiently far or because its shoulder has not passed the projection 15, it is not possible to insert the limb 28 in the housing 1 and to lock it.

In this case the laterally bent flexible section 9 with the projection 15 blocks the space present below the slot 32 for the limb 28, compare Fig. 3. Since the limb 28 projects it will be apparent that the plug contact 8 is not inserted correctly and the defect can be removed.

In addition to the plug contacts shown in the embodiment, other plug contacts, for example, the prior art contacts mentioned in the preamble, may also be used. The plug contacts require only a shoulder, a slot or the like behind which and in which, respectively, the flexible section to be locked of the housing can engage. 50137

Claims

1. A housing of insulating material for an electric plug-and-socket connection comprising at least one through-hole for receiving a plug contact having shoulder means, in which said through-hole is formed partly by a radially flexible section of the housing having a projection 5 engaging behind the shoulder means of an inserted plug contact, the flexibility of said flexible section being blockable by an insertable locking member, wherein the locking member is an angular member which is formed integrally with the housing and has a first limb and at least one second limb, said first limb being connected to the housing by an integral 10 hinge of thin cross-section, and said second limb extending, in the blocking position of the locking member, into the housing through a slot in the housing wall to block said flexible section.

2. A housing according to claim 1, wherein the locking member has a barb for fixedly engaging the locking member in the slot, 15

3. A housing according to claim 1 or claim 2, having at least two through-holes, wherein said locking member has at least two second limbs, and each second limb extends, in the blocking position of the locking member,into the housing through a slot in the housing wall to block a said flexible section. 20

4. A housing of insulating material for an electric plug-and-socket connection substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings. Dated this the 29th day of August 1980. BY: TOMKINS & CO., Applicants' Agents, (Signed)

5. , Dartmouth Road,