JP2002050431A - Holding structure of rubber stopper and metal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a rubber stopper from damage. SOLUTION: To a female terminal metal fitting 30, a wire barrel part 33 to be press welded to core wires 11 of an electric cable 10, and an insulation barrel part 35 fixed to a rubber stopper 20 which is fitted to the electric cable 10, are installed standing before and behind. A pair of fixing pieces 36 forming the insulation barrel part 35 are formed in the shape of arc, bending against the axial direction of the electric cable 10. When both fixing pieces 36 are caulked, a tubular part for mounting 22 of the rubber stopper 20 is held in a state of being clamped with pressure by the fixing pieces 36 at its middle part of longitudinal direction. On the other hand, end periphery parts 37 at front and rear part of the fixing pieces 36 are located at the position extruding from outer surface of the tubular part for mounting 22, without contacting with the tubular part for mounting 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a structure for holding a rubber stopper and a terminal fitting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an example of a terminal fitting used for a waterproof connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-29059. As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal fitting 1 includes a wire barrel portion 5 that is crimped and connected to a core wire 4 exposed at the end of the electric wire 3 on the rear side of the box-shaped main body portion 2 and an insulating coating 6 of the electric wire 3. An insulation barrel portion 8 fixed to the fitted rubber stopper 7 is provided side by side;
A pair of fixing pieces 9 forming the insulation barrel portion 8
Are bent inward to each other so that the rubber plug 7 is slightly crushed and caulked in a state of being in close contact with the outer peripheral surface thereof, whereby the terminal fitting 1 is held together with the rubber plug 7 with respect to the electric wire 3.

[0003]

The terminal fitting 1 is formed by pressing a metal plate.
Sharp edges are formed at the edges of both fixing pieces 9 as they are cut out from the metal plate. For this reason, both fixing pieces 9
Of the rubber plug 7 is likely to bite into the outer peripheral surface of the rubber plug 7, and the rubber plug 7 may be damaged. As a countermeasure, it is conceivable to round the edge portion by hitting the edge of the fixing piece 9 or the like, but it is necessary to newly add a rounding process to the manufacturing process of the terminal fitting 1, which is troublesome. Not only that, since the thickness of the metal plate is generally thin, it has not been possible to obtain a significant effect when the metal plate is rounded. The present invention has been completed in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to prevent a rubber stopper from being damaged.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a rubber plug is fitted to an end portion of an electric wire and a terminal is attached to the rubber plug. By fixing the terminal fitting together with the rubber stopper to the electric wire by being fixed by a pair of fixing pieces provided on the metal fitting, the pair of fixing pieces are the same as the rubber stopper. It is sandwiched from the direction intersecting with the axial direction of the electric wire, and the end portions of both fixing pieces are bent outward to be in non-contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rubber plug at the time of fixing. However, it has features.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the rubber stopper has a retaining portion which can be engaged with the pair of fixing pieces when the electric wire is pulled. It is characterized in that it is provided so as to protrude in the direction.

[0006]

<Operation and effect of the present invention><Invention of claim 1> When a pair of fixing pieces are fixed to the rubber stopper, the rubber stopper is pressed between the opposing surfaces of both fixing pieces. At this time, the rubber stoppers can be prevented from being damaged because the edge portions of both fixing pieces are arranged outward so as not to contact the outer peripheral surface of the rubber stopper.

<Invention of Claim 2> Even when a pulling force acts on the rubber plug, the rubber plug is sandwiched between the opposing surfaces of the two fixing pieces, and the retaining portion engages with the two fixing pieces. , The wire and the rubber plug can be prevented from being removed from the terminal fitting.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, an example in which a female terminal fitting 30 is connected to an electric wire 10 in which a rubber stopper 20 is fitted will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electric wire 10 is formed by covering a core wire 11 made of a thin metal wire with an insulating coating 12. In the electric wire 10, the core wire 11 is exposed for a predetermined length by cutting off the insulating coating 12 at the terminal portion, and the wire barrel portion 33 of the female terminal fitting 30 is crimp-connected to the exposed core wire 11. It has become so. Hereinafter, along the axial direction of the electric wire 10, the side where the core wire 11 is exposed will be referred to as the front, and the side of the insulating coating 12 will be referred to as the rear.

The rubber stopper 20 is formed in a cylindrical shape with silicon rubber or the like, and is fitted into the outer peripheral surface of the insulating coating 12 of the electric wire 10 in a state of being elastically adhered thereto. The rubber stopper 20 is provided with a retaining portion 21, a mounting tube portion 22, and a fold portion 23 in order from the front.
The mounting cylinder portion 22 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and has an outer peripheral surface on which the insulation barrel portion 3 of the female terminal fitting 30 is provided.
5 can be fixed. The folds 23 are formed so as to bulge outward at the rear part of the rubber plug 20, and are provided in a plurality (three) along the axial direction of the electric wire 10. The retaining portion 21 is formed in a flange shape projecting outward from the mounting cylinder portion 22, and has a diameter dimension of a fold portion 23.
It is set smaller than. In addition, this rubber stopper 20
Is mounted at a position where the front surface of the retaining portion 21 and the front surface of the insulating coating 12 are substantially aligned.

The female terminal fitting 30 is formed into a shape as shown in FIG. 1 by pressing a metal plate, and a wire barrel 33 and an insulation barrel 35 are provided behind a box-shaped main body 31. They are provided sequentially. The main body 31 is formed with an open front surface, so that a mating male terminal fitting can enter from the front. An elastic contact piece 32 is provided in the main body 31 by folding a tongue piece protruding from the bottom plate inward, so that it can elastically contact with a male terminal fitting that enters the main body 31. Have been.

The wire barrel portion 33 has a pair of left and right protruding pieces 34 standing upright from the bottom plate. The two projecting pieces 34 are formed substantially straight along the length direction of the electric wire 10. The two projecting pieces 34 are swaged so as to enclose the core wire 11 placed on the bottom plate.

The insulation barrel section 35 has a pair of left and right fixing pieces 36 raised from the rear end of the bottom plate. The two fixing pieces 36 are arranged at positions facing each other at a predetermined interval and stand upright. It is formed in a state. The two fixing pieces 36 are formed in a shape curved in an arc shape with respect to the axial direction of the electric wire 10, and the front and rear edge portions 37 protrude outward more than the central portion in the length direction. . In other words, the distance between the two fixing pieces 36 is the smallest at the central portion in the length direction, and the largest at the front and rear edge portions 37. The two fixing pieces 36 are attached to the rubber stopper 2 placed on the bottom plate.
The female terminal fitting 30 is held together with the rubber stopper 20 with respect to the electric wire 10 by being caulked so as to sandwich the mounting cylinder portion 22 of the zero from the direction intersecting the axial direction of the electric wire 10. In this fixed state, as shown in FIG. 3, the corner of the edge 37 of the fixed piece 36 is
0 is disposed at a position protruding outside the outer peripheral surface. At this time, the retaining portion 21 is arranged immediately before both the fixing pieces 36, and the retaining portion 2 is provided.
The rear surface of the fixing piece 36 can be engaged with the front portion of the fixing piece 36.
The height of both fixing pieces 36 is determined by the fold 2 of the rubber stopper 20.
3 is set to be smaller than the diameter.

The present embodiment has the above-described structure, and its operation will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, while forming the female terminal fitting 30 from a metal plate by press molding, the insulating coating 12 at the terminal portion of the electric wire 10 is peeled to expose the core wire 11 and the rubber plug 20 is covered with the insulating coating 12.
At the end. Then, the electric wire 10 and the rubber plug 20 are placed on the bottom plate of the female terminal fitting 30. At this time, the core wire 11 is arranged in the wire barrel portion 33, and the mounting cylinder portion 22 of the rubber plug 20 is arranged in the insulation barrel portion 35.

Then, the wire barrel portion 33 and the insulation barrel portion 35 are caulked using a jig (not shown) or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the wire barrel 33 is swaged such that the distal ends of the both projecting pieces 34 bite into the center of the core wire 11. Thereby, the female terminal fitting 30 and the electric wire 10 are electrically connected.

On the other hand, as for the insulation barrel portion 35, the two fixing pieces 36 are tilted toward the mounting cylinder portion 22 of the rubber plug 20 so as to approach each other.
The zero mounting cylinder 22 is sandwiched between the curved opposing surfaces of the fixing pieces 36. The mounting cylinder portion 22 sandwiched between the fixing pieces 36 is elastically slightly crushed, whereby the female terminal fitting 30 is held together with the rubber plug 20 with respect to the electric wire 10.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the fixing piece 36 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the mounting cylinder portion 22, and the front and rear ends of the fixing piece 36 The edge portion 37 is disposed at a position protruding outside the outer peripheral surface of the mounting cylinder portion 22. That is, the edge portion 37 of the fixing piece 36
Is disposed at a position that is not in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the mounting cylinder portion 22, so that there is no risk that the corners of the edge portion 37 will bite into the rubber plug 20 and prevent the rubber plug 20 from being damaged. be able to.

The female terminal fitting 30 connected to the electric wire 10 in this manner is accommodated in the cavity of the connector housing, and each fold 23 of the rubber plug 20 is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cavity. As a result, the inside of the cavity is waterproofed. The female terminal fitting 30 housed in the cavity is kept in the cavity from the cavity by a predetermined retaining means. In this state,
Even if a tensile force acts on the electric wire 10, the rubber plug 20
Since the rear surface of the retaining portion 21 is engaged with the front portions of the fixing pieces 36, the electric wire 10 and the rubber plug 20 can be prevented from being detached from the female terminal fitting 30.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
Both fixing pieces 3 sandwiched between the mounting cylinder 22 of the rubber stopper 20
6 is disposed at a position protruding outside of the outer peripheral surface of the mounting cylinder 22, so that the edge 37 is
The rubber plug 20 can be prevented from being scratched because it is not in contact with the 0 mounting cylinder 22. In addition, since the step of bending the fixed piece 36 into a curved shape can be incorporated into the step of press molding, the fixed piece 36 can be easily processed.

<Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above-described embodiment, the fixing piece is shown as being curved in an arc shape, but the point is that the fixing piece only needs to be in non-contact with the rubber stopper at the time of fixing. As a V-shape or a channel shape, the shape may be such that an edge portion protrudes outward. At this time, even if the portion for pressing the rubber plug has a square shape, the corner portion is naturally rounded by bending, so that it is difficult to stab the rubber plug.

(2) In the embodiment described above, the rubber stopper is formed with the retaining portion, but the retaining portion can be omitted, and such a portion is also included in the present invention. (3) In the above-described embodiment, the female terminal fitting has been described. However, the present invention can of course be applied to a male terminal fitting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a female terminal fitting and an electric wire with a rubber stopper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a female terminal fitting is crimped to an electric wire with a rubber stopper.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Electric wire 20 ... Rubber stopper 21 ... Retaining part 30 ... Female terminal fitting (Terminal fitting) 36 ... Fixing piece 37 ... Edge part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rubber plug is fitted to an end portion of an electric wire, and the rubber plug is fixed to the rubber plug with a pair of fixing pieces provided on a terminal fitting. In the one in which the terminal fitting is held together with the rubber plug, the pair of fixing pieces are sandwiched with respect to the rubber plug from a direction intersecting the axial direction of the electric wire, and the edges of both fixing pieces are A structure for holding a rubber plug and a terminal fitting, wherein the rubber plug and the terminal fitting are formed by being bent outward so as not to be in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the rubber plug when fixed. 2. A rubber stopper according to claim 1, wherein said rubber stopper is provided with a retaining portion projecting outward so as to be engageable with said pair of fixing pieces when said electric wire is pulled. Item 2. A holding structure for a rubber stopper and a terminal fitting according to Item 1.