JP2596450Y2 - Lever temporary locking structure of lever type connector - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lever temporary locking structure for a lever-type connector, and more particularly, to a pair of mating connectors comprising a male connector and a female connector attached to one of the connectors. In the lever-type connector that is coupled using the lever, the lever is held in the temporary locking position when the unit is not yet connected to the connector, and the temporary locking is automatically released at the time of fitting so that the lever can be easily operated. It is to be.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when connecting a multi-pole connector having 20 poles or more, a large coupling force is required. Therefore, a relatively small force is easily applied by using a lever utilizing the leverage principle. A lever-type connector adapted to be coupled is provided.

In this type of lever-type connector, a lever is rotatably mounted on an outer surface of one of the connectors to be fitted with each other via a support shaft, and an engagement portion cooperating with the lever is mounted on the other connector. The connector is pulled and fitted by applying a force to the engaging portion by the rotation of the lever, and the lock portions provided on both connectors are mutually locked at the position where the fitting is completed so that they are firmly connected. ing.

[0004] In the rotation operation of the lever, the frictional resistance between the connection terminals to be fitted in the multipolar connector increases,
The coupling requires a large lever operating force. For this reason, a spring is attached to the support shaft of the lever to urge the lever in the rotation direction, so that the lever can be operated with a small operation force.

As described above, in many cases, the lever is urged in the rotational direction by the spring, and even when the lever is not urged by the spring, the lever is moved to the position before the operation before fitting the connector. It is necessary to keep stopping. For this reason, the lever-type connector is provided with a lever temporary locking mechanism for stopping and holding the lever so as not to rotate when the connector is connected alone before the connector is connected.

The above-mentioned temporary locking mechanism generally has a stopper 2 provided with a locking projection 2a at a tip end on the outer surface of a connector 1 as shown in FIG.
A V-shaped groove 3a is provided for locking the lever 3, and the projection 2a is engaged and held in the V-shaped groove 3a to temporarily lock the lever 3. In FIG. 8, 4 is the other connector, 5 is the engagement groove, 6 is the engagement pin,
Reference numeral 7 denotes a lock groove, 8 denotes a lock pin, and 9 denotes a support shaft of the lever 3.

[0007]

In the conventional lever described above, in order to release the temporarily locked state of the lever 3, it is necessary to release the lock between the V-shaped groove 3a and the projection 2a by operating the lever itself. That is, the lever is held in the provisionally locked state unless the lever is released, both when the connector is alone and when the connector is fitted. Therefore, when the lever type connector is fitted, the lever can only be rotated after the lever in the temporarily locked state is released from the temporarily locked state. In other words, there is a disadvantage that a large operation force is required at the beginning of the operation of the lever, and the operability is not very good.

The present invention is intended to solve the above-described drawbacks. In this configuration, the lever is held in a temporarily locked state when the connector is alone, and the temporary locking of the lever is automatically released by the insertion operation of the mating connector. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the operability of the lever.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, a lever having a recess and a through hole continuously provided in one of a pair of connectors fitted to each other is rotatably supported. In addition, a locking pin, which is guided to the through hole from the recess by the rotation of the lever, is provided on the other connector, and a lever is temporarily locked in which a part of the lever is inserted into the outer surface of the connector on the lever mounting side. A step is provided, and the amount of protrusion of the locking pin from the connector outer surface on the side of the locking pin protruding, the lever is pushed up from the lever temporary locking step when the locking pin is inserted into the recess. The temporary lock is set to be automatically released, and the connector on the lever mounting side is connected to the connector on the locking pin protruding side from the opening side to the other side, and A locking hole is provided to guide the locking pin to the recess. It is intended to provide a lever temporary locking structure of the lever-type connector according to claim.

[0010]

The lever can be automatically released from the temporary locking state at the stage where the connector does not require an operation force for slightly fitting the connector at the time of fitting, as described above. The released lever can be rotated without requiring any operating force, and the lever operability can be improved. Further, since the locking hole is provided, the locking pin is reliably guided into the concave portion, and there is no need to finely adjust the relative position of the connector.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. In the figure, 10 is a female connector, 11 is a male connector, and 12 is a lever attached to the female connector 10.
The female connector 10 and the male connector 11 are multipolar connectors having a large number of terminal accommodating chambers (not shown) arranged side by side. The male connector 11 is indicated by an arrow inside the opening 10a of the female connector 10 from its end edge. Insert from the direction and fit each other.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the lever 12 has a U-shape, is integrally formed of synthetic resin, and has a shape in which left and right side portions 12a and 12b are connected via a center connecting portion 12c. . The left and right side portions 12a and 12b are disposed outside the left and right side surfaces 10b and 10c of the female connector 10, respectively.
Support shafts 13 are formed in shaft holes 12d, 12e, 10d, and 10e formed in the left and right sides 12a, 12b and the left and right sides 10b, 10c, respectively.
And the lever 12 is rotatably supported by the connector 10.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, both sides 10b and 10c of the opening 10a of the female connector 10 are cut straight in the horizontal direction from the vertical center of the opening edge. A locking hole 15 is formed. The locking hole 15
Are formed bilaterally symmetrically, and the inner end thereof extends to the vicinity of the shaft holes 10d and 10e for penetrating the support shaft.

Further, the left and right side surfaces 1 of the connector 10
On the outer surfaces of Ob and 10c, a lever temporary locking step 16 is recessed from the edge and upper end of the opening 10a. The lever temporary locking step 16 has a horizontal length L1 which is equal to the opening 10a.
And the vertical length L2 is a length from the upper end to a position below the locking hole 15.

Further, a stopper 17 for restricting the rotation of the lever 12 in the direction of the arrow X is protrudingly provided at a position opposite to the temporary locking step 16 with respect to the shaft supporting portion. It is designed to engage and lock.

At the position where the lever 12 is locked by the stop 17, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 (a), the inner surface of the front portion 12x enters the lever temporary locking step portion 16, and The rotation of the lever 12 in the operation direction (the arrow Y direction in the figure) is stopped and held by the lower end surface 12g of the lever 12 being locked to the lower end edge 16a of the lever temporary locking step 16. I have.

A guide ridge 21 in the horizontal direction protrudes from the center of the left and right outer surfaces of the other connector 11, and a locking pin 18 protrudes from a fitting end of the guide ridge 21. In the connector 10, a recess 19 into which the locking pin 18 is inserted is formed by cutting out the inner surface from the edge 12 h, and a through hole 20 continuous with the recess 19 is formed. The through-hole 20 is set in a curved shape as shown in the figure, and the connector 11 is inserted along the curve of the through-hole 20 by the rotation of the lever 12 when the locking pin 18 inserted from the concave portion 19 is inserted. Opening 10 of connector 10
It is set to be inserted inside a.

The height of the guide ridge 21 and the locking pin 1
8 is set to be greater than the depth W which is the sum of the bottom thickness of the lever temporary locking step 16 of the connector 10 and the depth of the recess 19. (H> W)

In the lever type connector having the above structure,
In the case of a single connector before the connectors 10 and 11 are fitted together, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5 (a), the lever 12 stops the rotation in the operation direction to the lever temporary locking step. Part 1
6 and the end face 12g, and the rotation in the opposite direction is stopped by the stopper 17 and the end face 12f, thereby preventing the rotation and maintaining the provisionally locked state.

When the connectors 10 and 11 are connected, as shown in FIG. 6, the connector 11 is inserted into the opening 10a of the connector 10 from the opening end. First, the locking pin 18 of the connector 11 is inserted through the locking hole 15 of the connector 10 and then into the recess 19 of the lever 12.

At this time, since the height H of the guide ridge 21 is set to be larger than the bottom thickness W of the temporary locking step 16,
Locking pin 1 protruding from the upper surface of guide ridge 21
When the lever 8 is inserted into the recess 19 of the lever 12, the lever 12 is pushed up as shown in FIG.
The front part 12x of the lever 12 is automatically pushed out from 6.

Accordingly, the lower end surface 12g of the lever 12 is released from being locked by the lower end edge 16a of the lever temporary locking step 16 and can be rotated in the arrow Y direction. Lever 12
By rotating in the Y direction, the locking pin 18 enters the through hole 20 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7B, the connector 11 is pulled by the engagement of the through hole 20 and the locking pin 18 from the rotation of the lever 12, and the connector 11 is fitted to a predetermined position of the opening 10 a of the connector 10. .

When the connection between the connectors 10 and 11 is completed, a locking means (not shown) provided on the connectors 11 and 10 is provided.
Are locked and firmly connected in the fitted state.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a lever temporary engaging step portion into which the inner surface side of the lever is inserted is provided on the outer surface of the connector facing the lever, and the lever is provided before the connector is fitted. When the connector is alone, the lever is prevented from rotating by temporarily inserting it into the lever temporary locking step to temporarily lock and hold it. On the other hand, when the connector is fitted, the other connector is inserted into the locking hole formed in the connector on the lever mounting side. When the projecting locking pin is inserted, the inner surface of the lever inserted into the lever temporary locking step is pushed out by the locking pin, and the temporary locking of the lever can be automatically released.

That is, when the connector is a single connector, the lever is temporarily locked, but by inserting the mating connector,
Since the temporary lock of the lever is automatically released and the lever is rotated in this released state, there is an advantage that a large force is not required at the start of the operation and the operability is improved.
In addition, since the locking pin is guided to the recess by the locking hole,
There is no need to adjust the mutual position of the connectors.

Also, the present invention has a very simple structure and can be carried out without increasing the cost since it is only a slight improvement over the conventional product, and is of great practical value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a female connector and a male connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2;

4 is a perspective view of the connector 10. FIG.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic cross-sectional views showing a temporarily locked state of the lever and an operation of releasing the temporarily locked state.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a plan view and a front view showing a fitting operation of the connector.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are a plan view and a front view showing a fitting operation of the connector.

FIG. 8 is a front view of a lever type connector showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11 connector 12 lever 13 support shaft 15 locking hole 16 lever temporary locking step 17 stopper 18 locking pin 19 recess 20 through hole 21 guide ridge

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuo Fukuyama 3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture Inside Mazda Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-U 3-126379 (JP, U) JP-U 4-15178 ( JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 13/629

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A lever having a recess and a through hole continuously provided in one of a pair of connectors fitted to each other is rotatably supported, and the other connector is rotated by the lever to rotate the recess. A locking pin guided from the connector to the through hole is provided, and a lever temporary locking step for inserting a part of the lever is provided on the outer surface of the connector on the lever mounting side, and the connector outer surface on the locking pin protruding side is provided. The protrusion amount of the locking pin from is set such that when the locking pin is inserted into the concave portion, the lever is pushed up from the lever temporary locking step and the temporary locking is automatically released, And a locking hole for guiding the locking pin to the recess from the opening side in which the connector on the locking pin protruding side is fitted to the other side. Lever provisional locking of lever-type connector Elephants.