JP2000150063A - Lever type connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector allowing selective mounting of a lever on and under a connector housing and capable of performing the lever turning operation smoothly. SOLUTION: A housing 11 has a symmetrical form up and down, and a gate-form lever 12 is installed in such a way as straddling the housing 11. A leg opening restricting part 20 for restricting leg opening deformation of the legs 15 of the lever 12 is provided on the axis of symmetry on each side face 11A of the housing 11. Thereby the lever 12 is mounted selectively in the over- form and under-form with respect to the housing 11, and because the part 20 restricts the leg opening deformation of the legs 15 of the lever 12, a cam pin installed on a mating connector is put in cam engagement with the legs 15 in regular condition, and the lever turning operation can be performed smoothly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a lever type connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 shows an example of a conventional lever type connector disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-79080. In this lever type connector, a gate-shaped lever 2 is provided so as to straddle the housing 3,
A pair of leg pieces 4 and 4 provided on the lever 2 are rotatably attached to a support shaft 3B formed on both side surfaces 3A and 3A of the housing 3. Then, the lever 2 is engaged with a cam pin formed on a mating connector (not shown) and rotated to connect the two connectors.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional lever-type connector, a leg-opening restricting portion 5 for restricting a leg-opening deformation of the leg pieces 4 and 4 of the lever 2 is provided in the housing 3.
Is provided below the side surface 3A. For this reason, the lever 2 can be attached to the housing 3 only in a form in which the operation unit 6 is disposed above the housing 3. Due to the space around the mating connector, the operation unit 6 of the lever 2 can be mounted.
Could not be arranged under the housing 3. On the other hand, in order to be able to arrange the operating portion 6 of the lever 2 below the housing 3, if the leg opening restricting portion 5 is removed, the leg piece 4 will be , 4 are deformed by open legs, and smooth rotation operation cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a lever can be selectively attached to an upper side and a lower side of a connector housing, and the lever can be smoothly rotated. The purpose is to provide a simple lever-type connector.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that each leg of a gate-shaped lever having a pair of leg members having an operating portion inserted therebetween is connected to a connector housing. By rotatably mounting on both sides and engaging the cam pins provided on the mating connector with the leg pieces to rotate the lever, a lever-type connector coupled to the mating connector is provided on both sides of the connector housing. By providing an open leg restricting portion that engages with the edge of the leg piece to restrict their open leg deformation, and by making the connector housing almost vertically symmetrical, and disposing the open leg restricting portion on the axis of symmetry. The lever is characterized in that the lever can be selectively attached to an upper configuration in which the operation portion is disposed above the connector housing and a lower configuration in which the operation portion is disposed below the connector housing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the lever type connector according to the first aspect, the leg opening restricting portion rises from a side surface of the connector housing and extends toward the rotation shaft, and a tip end portion thereof is formed around a leg piece. The feature is that it is housed in a concave groove formed along the surface.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the connector housing is formed in a substantially symmetrical shape in the up and down direction and the leg opening restricting portion is disposed on the axis of the symmetry, the lever is configured to be in the upper side with respect to the housing. And the lower configuration. And even if a large force is applied to the lever, the leg opening restricting portion regulates the leg opening deformation of the lever leg. The rotation operation of the lever becomes possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the distal end portion of the leg opening restricting portion is protected by being accommodated in the concave groove formed in the leg piece.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The lever-type connector according to the present embodiment has a connector housing 1 formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.
1 (hereinafter, referred to as “housing 11”), and a lever 12 is provided so as to straddle the housing 11 in the left-right direction.

A plurality of cavities 13 for receiving terminal fittings (not shown) are formed through the housing 11 in the front-rear direction. The cavity 13 is provided with two types corresponding to the size of the terminal fittings. A cavity 13A for accommodating a large terminal fitting is disposed on the right side in FIG. 1, and the rest is provided with a cavity 13B for a small terminal fitting. Has become. The housing 11 has a vertically symmetrical shape except for the cavity 13 as shown in FIG. 4, and a support shaft 14 projects laterally on a vertically symmetrical axis of both side surfaces 11A. ing. The support shaft 14 has a columnar shape as a whole, and has a pair of retaining projections 14A, 14A protruding from the peripheral surface of the distal end in the front-rear direction (see the left and right in FIG. 4).

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
The support shaft 14 is passed through a hole 17 (see FIG. 6) formed in each leg piece 15 with an operating portion 16 extending between the pair of leg pieces 15, 15. 11 (see FIG. 7). Here, a pair of enlarged diameter portions 17A, 17A for passing the projections 14A, 14A of the support shaft 14 are formed in the hole 17 as shown in FIG. 6, and the lever 12 is operated as shown in FIG. Only when the portion 16 is in the receiving position in which it is arranged on the front end side of the housing 11, the enlarged diameter portion 17A faces the projection 14A of the support shaft 14, and the support shaft 14 can be inserted into and removed from the hole 17. And lever 12
Are selected and mounted in an upper configuration in which the operation unit 16 is disposed above the housing 11 (see FIG. 1) and a lower configuration in which the operation unit 16 is disposed below the housing 11 (see FIG. 3).

On the inner side of the leg 15 of the lever 12,
As shown in FIG. 6, a cam groove 18 is formed. One end of the cam groove 18 is open to the peripheral surface of the leg 15, and when the lever 12 is in the receiving position (see FIG. 7), the open end faces forward (to the left in FIG. 7). A cam pin provided on a mating connector (not shown) is received in the cam groove 18. Then, in this state, the lever 12 is
When the connector 1 is rotated to the rear side, the two connectors are attracted to each other by the cam engagement between the cam pin and the cam groove 18 and are joined together.

As shown in FIG. 4, on both sides of the housing 11, a leg opening restricting portion 20 is provided side by side with the support shaft 14, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 9, the leg opening restricting portion 20 includes a base 21 protruding laterally from a position near the rear end of the housing 11, and a column 22 extending from the base 21 to the support shaft 14 side. More specifically, the base 21 has a mountain shape in which the skirt is expanded in the vertical direction, and the column 22 extends on the extension of the ridge line.
The tip of the cylindrical portion 22 is the leg 1 of the lever 12.
5 is inserted into the groove 23 formed on the peripheral surface. The concave groove 23 extends along the peripheral surface 12 </ b> A of the lever 12, and has a receiving port 23 </ b> A opened at one end thereof toward the side surface 11 </ b> A of the housing 11. When the lever 12 is in the receiving position (see FIG. 7), the column portion 22 of the leg-opening restricting portion 20 faces the receiving port 23A.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the operating portion 16 of the lever 12 has a locking claw 25 at the center in the longitudinal direction.
Correspondingly, locking portions 26A, 26A are provided at the rear ends of the upper and lower surfaces of the housing 11.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. The mating connector is fixed to, for example, the inner wall of the body of the automobile, and the mounting form of the lever 12 of the present connector is determined in consideration of the space around the mating connector. Then, for example, the lever 12 is attached to an upper side in which the operation portion 16 of the lever 12 is arranged on the upper surface side of the housing 11. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the operating portion 16 of the lever 12 is arranged on the front end side of the upper surface of the housing 11, and FIG.
As shown in (2), the two legs 15, 15 of the lever 12 are opened, and when the hole 17 of the leg 15 and the support shaft 14 face each other, the two legs 15, 15 are closed. Then, the projection 14A provided on the support shaft 14 passes through the enlarged diameter portion 17A provided in the hole 17 so that the support shaft 14 enters the hole 17. At this time, the cylindrical portion 22 of the leg opening restricting portion 20 formed on both side surfaces 11A of the housing 11 is connected to the receiving port 23 of the concave groove 23 formed on the leg piece 15.
A enters the groove 23. Thus, the attachment of the lever 12 to the housing 11 is completed. And
A terminal fitting attached to the end of the electric wire is inserted into each cavity 13.

Next, the connector is pressed against the mating connector. Then, the cam pin provided on the mating connector is moved from the open end of the cam groove 18 formed in the lever 12 to the cam groove 18.
Get inside. In this state, the lever 12 is
When the connector is rotated rearward, the front end portions of both connectors are initially fitted with a small fitting resistance. Therefore, in the initial stage of the rotation of the lever 12, the lever 12 can be rotated without applying a force enough to bend the operation unit 16.

As the fitting of the connectors progresses, the fitting resistance increases due to the friction between the terminal fittings of both connectors. In response to this, a large force is also applied to the operating portion 16 of the lever 12, and the operating portion 16 is bent and deformed toward the housing 11, and the two leg pieces 15, 15 are subjected to a force in the leg opening direction with the deformation. At this time, the projection 14A provided on the support shaft 14 is
5 is opposed to the edge of the hole 17 (see FIG. 8), so that the center of the leg piece 15 is regulated so as not to rise from the housing 11. By the way, when the fitting is advanced and the force applied to the lever 12 is further increased, the regulation of only the protrusion 14A becomes insufficient, and the leg 15
Is tilted, and the periphery of the leg piece 15 is
It is conceivable that it emerges from A. However, in the present connector, the leg opening restricting portion 20 formed on the housing 11 enters into the concave groove 23 formed on the peripheral surface of the leg piece 15,
The periphery of the leg piece 15 is regulated so as not to rise from the side surface 11A of the housing 11.

As a result, the legs 15 and 15 are prevented from being opened, and the lever 12 is smoothly rotated. Then, when the operation portion 16 of the lever 12 is moved to the rear portion of the housing 11 and the lock claw 25 is engaged with the locking portion 26A, the connectors are completely fitted.

Now, the mating connector is mounted on the inner wall of, for example, a vehicle of a different type from the above-described vehicle, and depending on the mounting situation, the operating portion 16 of the lever 12 may be disposed on the lower surface side of the housing 11. May be suitable. In this connector, since the lever 12 can be selectively attached to the housing 11 in an upper mode or a lower mode, the lever 12 is mounted in the same manner as when the lever 12 is mounted in the upper mode described above. Can be attached to the lower side form.

As described above, according to the lever-type connector of this embodiment, the housing 11 has a substantially symmetrical shape in the vertical direction, and the leg-opening restricting portion 20 is arranged on the axis of symmetry. Can be selectively attached to the upper form and the lower form. And
Even if a large force is applied to the lever 12,
Regulates the opening of the legs 15, 15 of the lever 12,
The cam pin provided on the mating connector can be cam-engaged with the leg piece 15 in a regular state, and the turning operation of the lever 12 can be performed smoothly. In addition, the tip of the leg opening restricting portion 20 is
The connector is easy to handle because it is housed and protected in the concave groove 23 formed in FIG.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
In addition to the following, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) The support shaft 14 of the above embodiment is provided with the protrusion 14A for restricting the opening of the leg piece 15, but the support shaft 14 may not be provided with the protrusion 14A. However, as in the above-described embodiment, the protrusion 14A of the support shaft 14 and the leg-opening restricting portion 2
If the configuration is such that the leg piece 15 is restricted by the two-point support of 0, the leg piece 15 can be effectively regulated. (2) The leg-opening restricting portion 20 of the embodiment is engaged with the concave groove 23 formed on the leg piece 15, but the leg-opening restricting portion faces, for example, the outer surface of the peripheral edge of the leg piece. A configuration that regulates the opening of the leg pieces may be employed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear view of a lever connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the lever-type connector in a state where a leg of the lever is opened.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of a state in which the lever is attached to a housing with a lower side configuration.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a housing.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a lever.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a lever.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the lever-type connector when the lever is in a receiving position.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the lever-type connector when the lever is rotating.

FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view showing a side portion of the lever connector.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional lever-type connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Housing 11A ... Side surface 12 ... Lever 12A ... Peripheral surface 14 ... Support shaft (rotation axis) 15 ... Leg piece 16 ... Operating part 20 ... Leg opening restriction part 23 ... Concave groove

Claims (2)

[Claims] A cam pin provided on a mating connector on each of legs of a gate-shaped lever having an operating portion extending between a pair of legs, the legs being rotatably mounted on both side surfaces of a connector housing. The lever type connector coupled to the mating connector by engaging with the lever connector, the both sides of the connector housing, the edges of the leg pieces are engaged to deform their open legs. A leg opening restricting portion for restricting the connector housing is provided, and the connector housing is formed substantially vertically symmetrical,
By arranging the leg control section on the axis of symmetry,
A lever-type connector, wherein the lever is selectively attached to an upper configuration in which the operating portion is disposed above the connector housing and a lower configuration in which the operating portion is disposed below the connector housing. 2. The leg-opening restricting portion rises from a side surface of the connector housing and extends toward the rotation shaft, and a distal end portion thereof fits in a concave groove formed along a peripheral surface of the leg piece. The lever-type connector according to claim 1, wherein