JP2500134C - - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly, to a connector provided with a rear holder for preventing a terminal accommodated in a terminal accommodating chamber of a housing from coming off. It relates to the improvement of electrical connectors. 2. Description of the Related Art Normally, a locking means called a terminal lance or a case lance is provided between a terminal and a terminal accommodating chamber to prevent the terminal lance from coming off. The former is a method in which a lance is cut and raised on a terminal to form a lance, and this is engaged with a locking groove recessed in a wall of the terminal accommodating chamber. It is a method of engaging with a shoulder or a locking hole. [0003] However, due to the increase in the number of poles of the connector and the miniaturization of the terminals, the cut-and-raised lance and the flexible locking arm have also been miniaturized, making it difficult to obtain sufficient strength and holding force. Therefore, recently, a method has been adopted in which a terminal locking member (rear holder), which is a member separate from the housing, is used in combination with the locking means to enhance the terminal holding force and improve the reliability of electrical connection. . 8 (A) and 8 (B) show an example of a conventional electric connector provided with a rear holder (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-43986). FIG. 8 (A) shows a state in which a rear holder b is temporarily locked to a housing a. Is in a fully locked state. In the electrical connector shown in FIG. 8, in the provisionally locked state, the terminal c is inserted into the terminal accommodating hole a ₁ , and the locking piece c ₁ and the terminal locking claw a ₂ engage with each other. Next, the rear holder b is shifted to the fully locked state, and the terminal c is connected to the edge b which is a part of the holder.
It locks at ₁ . In the electrical connector shown in FIG. 8, a space (gap) v is formed between the housing a and the rear holder b in the above-mentioned provisionally locked state, so that the terminal c is caught when the terminal c is inserted. Occurs and hinders smooth operation. Further, when the temporary locking of the rear holder b, suddenly to avoid becoming the full locking state, it is necessary to provide a part (step) b ₂ butting into the holder. Therefore, at the time of the final locking, the rear holder b is once shifted as indicated by an arrow p and then q, and then pushed forward, thereby increasing the number of working steps. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and there is no space between the rear holder and the housing when the rear holder is temporarily locked, so that the terminal insertion operation can be performed smoothly. It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which is capable of shifting the holder to a fully locked state in a single step. [0007] To achieve the above object, an electric connector according to the present invention comprises a housing in which a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers for accommodating terminals are arranged, and a rear opening of the terminal accommodating chamber. And a rear holder mounted between both side walls provided on the rear surface of the housing, and the terminal of the terminal is inserted between the housing and the rear holder.
Means for temporarily locking the rear holder at the insertion position when the front surface is in contact with the rear surface of the housing in parallel with the direction and the rear holder and the housing are substantially aligned with each other. When the rear holder is slid from the provisional locking position to the mounting end position in a direction perpendicular to the terminal insertion direction in the surface contact state,
A configuration is provided in which a means for fully locking the rear holder is provided at the mounting end position. In the electrical connector according to the present invention, at the position where the rear holder is temporarily inserted into the housing, the two are in surface contact with each other, and their openings substantially coincide with each other. Therefore, the terminal can be smoothly inserted without being caught when the terminal is inserted, and the terminal tip can be prevented from being bent. In addition, since the transition from the insertion temporary locking position to the full locking position is performed in a one-step process of sliding in one direction in the surface contact state, the number of work steps is reduced, and productivity is improved. 1 to 4, A denotes a female connector housing made of synthetic resin, B denotes a rear holder also made of synthetic resin, and C denotes a male terminal connected to an electric wire terminal. The housing A is composed of a housing body A ₁ in which a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 1 to accommodate locking the male terminal C is arranged and formed, hood A ₂ Metropolitan accept male connector housing (not shown) formed on its front face, the upper outer peripheral wall of the hood a _2-lock chamber 2 for the lock arm (not shown) of the male connector housing is formed, also on the surface on both sides of the housing body a ₁ extending sidewalls 3 for mounting lock the rear holder C It is formed. _On the rear surface side of the housing body A _1, a locking hole 4 is formed in front of an intermediate portion of the side wall 3, and a guide groove 5 and a holder locking projection 6 for the locking hole 4 are formed on the inner surface of the side wall 3.
Are provided in parallel with the terminal insertion direction. The holder locking projection 6 is located below the guide groove 5, that is, on the free end side of the side wall 3. The upper ends of the side walls 3, 3 on both sides are connected by an upper wall 7, and two locking chambers 8 are formed on the upper wall 7 so as to protrude. Each locking chamber 8 is provided with a temporary locking projection 10 (see FIG. 7) together with a locking hole 9. Further, the rear surface of the housing body A _1, the guide tongue 11 to the lower end center is projected, the locking plates 12 are extended downward, inverted T-shape on both sides in the locking plate 12 Are formed. The locking hole 13 includes a horizontal hole 13a and a narrow vertical hole 13b continuous with the horizontal hole 13a. The rear holder B is a plate-like body having a plurality of openings 14 corresponding to the terminal accommodating chambers 1 of the housing A. The size of the opening 14 may be any size as long as the male terminal C can be inserted from the temporary holding position of the rear holder B from there, and can be formed smaller than the opening sectional area of the terminal accommodating chamber 1. On the left and right outer surfaces 15 of the rear holder B, there are provided locking grooves 17 that are guided and engaged with the holder locking projections 6 together with the locking projections 16 that engage with the locking holes 4. On the upper end surface 18 of the rear holder B, two locking rods 1 engaging with the locking chambers 8, 8 are provided.
9 is projected upward, and a lower end surface 20 is provided with an anti-rotation piece 22 through an L-shaped arm 21.
Are protruded toward the housing A side. The two locking rods 19 are connected to the locking chamber 8.
The upper free end is formed in a hook shape with locking claws 19a extending inwardly, and the rotation preventing piece 22 is substantially aligned with the horizontal hole 13a of the locking hole 13. With dimensions to be inserted. Further, each opening 14 of the rear holder B has a structure shown in FIG.
As shown in B), a tapered push-in engagement surface 23 is formed on one inner edge. The push-fitting surface 23 corrects incomplete insertion of the terminal as described later. Incidentally, the locking hole 4 of the housing body A ₁ to be engaged with the locking projection 16 of the rear holder B, when the upper edge 4a has moved to the full locking position rear holder B from the temporary locking position, the locking projection It is preferable to form the positioning so as to abut on and function as a stopper. The male terminal C is formed by connecting an electrical contact portion C _{1 in} front of a body portion 24 formed by bending a conductive metal plate into a rectangular cylindrical shape, and an electric wire connection portion C ₂ behind. Electrical contact portion C ₁ is formed as tabs folded double plate structure, the wire connecting portion C ₂ consists of a insulator clamping pieces 26. a pair of conductors clamping pieces 25, also engaging the bottom plate portion of the body 24 A hole 27 is provided. A male terminal C provided with a stabilizer (not shown) after the insulator holding piece 26 may be used. In the connector configured as described above, the male terminal C is accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber 1 in a state where the rear holder B is inserted into the rear surface of the housing A and temporarily locked, and then the rear holder B
And the male terminal C is prevented from coming off backward. In FIG. 2, the rear holder B is attached to both side walls 3 on the rear surface of the housing A as indicated by an arrow P.
, 3 The rear holder B enters the housing A with the locking projections 16 and the locking grooves 17 guided by the guide grooves 5 and the holder locking projections 6 on the side wall 3 of the housing A, respectively. At this time, the lower end surface 20 of the rear holder B is supported by the guide tongue piece 11, the two locking rods 19 enter the locking chamber 8, and the rotation preventing piece 22 is in the locking hole 13. It enters the lateral hole 13a. When the front surface B _{0 of the} rear holder B contacts the rear surface A ₀ of the housing A as shown in FIG. 6A, the locking projections 16 engage with the locking holes 4 and are temporarily locked. The rear holder B is prevented from falling backward. In this temporary locking position, the rear holder B
), The engagement between the holder locking projection 6 and the locking groove 17 and the engagement between the locking claw 19a of the locking rod 19 and the temporary locking projection 10 of the locking chamber 8 cause vertical movement. The rattling in the direction is prevented, and the axis of the opening 14 of the rear holder B and the axis of the terminal accommodating chamber 1 coincide. Further, as shown in the drawing, if the guide tongue piece 11 is provided, the rattling of the rear holder B, particularly in the downward direction, can be more reliably prevented. In the temporary locking position of the rear holder B, as shown in FIG.
4 inserts the male terminal C connected to the electric wire W into the terminal accommodating chamber 1. In the terminal accommodating chamber 1, there is provided a flexible locking arm 28 which engages with the locking hole 27 of the male terminal C to prevent the male terminal C from slipping out. Is done. After inserting and locking the male terminal C, the rear holder B is slid in the direction of arrow Q in FIG. That is, when the rear holder B is strongly pressed upward in a state where the front surface B ₀ of the rear holder B and the rear surface A _{0 of the} housing A are in contact with each other, the engagement between the locking groove 17 and the holder locking projection 6 is released, and the rear holder B is released. B moves upward. Thereby, the locking rod 19
The locking claw 19a rides on the temporary locking projection 10 in the locking chamber 8 and reaches the upper side thereof and moves into the locking hole 9, and both corners 20a of the lower end surface 20 of the rear holder B are The main locking state is achieved in which the holder locking projections 6 on the inner surface of the side wall 3 respectively support the respective members. FIGS. 5 (B) and 6 (B) each show a state where the rear holder B is fully locked.
That is, in addition to engaging with the locking projection 16 or the locking hole 4, the locking claw 19 a of the locking rod 19 and the locking hole 9, the rotation preventing piece 22 and the vertical hole 13 b in the locking hole 13, The inner edge portion 7a of the upper wall 7 and the central concave portion 18a on the upper end surface 18 of the rear holder B are engaged with each other, so that the rear holder B is reliably prevented from slipping back. In the fully locked state, even if a tensile force acts on the male terminal C via the electric wire W, the rear holder B functions as a stopper for the rear end of the male terminal C (the insulator holding piece 26 in the illustrated example). Since it functions, it is possible to reliably prevent the subsequent detachment together with the primary locking. When the rear holder B slides from the temporary locking position to the final locking position, if any of the male terminals C is in an incompletely inserted state, a tapered push-in engagement of the opening 14 is required for sliding. Since the surface 23 engages with the insulator holding piece 26 to push the male terminal C forward of the terminal receiving chamber 1, incomplete insertion is also eliminated. Further, in FIG. 6B, even if a turning force as shown by an arrow R is applied to the rear holder B by, for example, the pulling force of the electric wire W, the rotation preventing piece 22 has the vertical hole as described above. Part 1
There is no worry that the final lock will be released due to the position 3b. In the above, an example in which the terminal accommodating chambers 1 in the housing A have a single-stage structure in a single horizontal row has been described. Further, since the rear holder B is independent of the locking means between the male terminal C and the terminal accommodating chamber 1, that is, the flexible locking arm 28 by the conventional case lance method, the rear holder B is also used in the case of the terminal lance method. The same can be applied. Similarly, the present invention can be applied to a male connector housing that accommodates a female terminal. As described above, according to the present invention, the rear holder and the housing at the temporary locking position are in surface contact with each other, there is no space between them, and the openings of the two are aligned. Therefore, there is no trouble such as snagging at the time of terminal insertion, and work can be performed smoothly. The rear holder can be shifted to the final locking position in one step, and when the primary locking means is provided between the rear holder and the terminal accommodating chamber, double locking of the terminal is achieved by the rear holder. can do. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric connector according to an embodiment of the present invention in a separated state. FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a rear view of the female connector housing of FIG. 1; 4A is a front view of the rear holder of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. FIGS. 5A and 5B are rear views of the female connector housing showing a provisionally locked state and a fully locked state of the rear holder, respectively. FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views of a main part of the electrical connector showing a provisionally locked state and a fully locked state of a rear holder, respectively, as in FIG. FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged explanatory view showing a temporarily locked state of a locking rod 19 in FIG. 5 (A). FIGS. 8A and 8B are cross-sectional views showing a conventional electrical connector in a provisionally locked state and a fully locked state, respectively. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS A female connector housing B rear holder C male terminal 1 terminal accommodating chamber 3 side wall 4 locking hole 6 holder locking projection 8 locking chamber 9 locking hole 13 locking hole 14 opening 16 locking projection 17 Locking groove 19 Locking rod 22 Rotation prevention piece

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A housing having a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers accommodating terminals therein, and an opening corresponding to a rear opening of the terminal accommodating chamber, wherein the housing is provided on a rear surface of the housing. A rear holder mounted between both side walls; and a direction in which the terminal is inserted between the housing and the rear holder.
Parallel when the front plugged to a position where both the openings of the contact and the rear holder and the housing and the rear surface of the housing substantially conforms, means for temporary locking the rear holder in its insertion position, the insertion and Means for fully locking the rear holder at the mounting end position when the rear holder is slid from the temporary locking position to the mounting end position in a direction orthogonal to the terminal insertion direction in the surface contact state is provided. An electrical connector, characterized in that: