JP2929410B2 - 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 connector used for connecting a wire harness or the like so as to be able to conduct electricity, and more particularly to a waterproof male connector housing and a female connector housing which are integrally connected. And a lock mechanism for separating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A connector is frequently used for connecting an electronic device to a wire harness or a wire harness so as to be able to conduct electricity. FIGS. 7 and 8 show a connector for connecting the wire harness to each other. Some are configured as follows. That is, the male connector 1 has a connection terminal 4 embedded in a terminal housing chamber 3 formed in a connector housing 2, and a cylindrical outer housing 2 a constituting the connector housing 2 and a block 5 having the terminal housing chamber 3 formed therein. Between them, an annular gap 6 is formed. An annular packing 7 is fitted into the gap 6, and a connector housing 9 of a female connector is pushed into the space outside thereof as shown by imaginary lines in FIG. The connection terminal (not shown) is connected to the connection terminal 4 in the terminal accommodating chamber 3 so as to be able to conduct electricity.

When the connector housings 2 and 9 come out undesirably, the connection terminals also come out and come into non-contact. In this case, the power supply is cut off and an accident occurs. Therefore, a lock mechanism is provided at one end of the outer housing 2a to prevent the connector housings 2, 9 from undesirably coming out. That is, the lock mechanism is composed of the operation piece 11 and the operation piece 1.
A support portion 12 for supporting the first member rotatably in the directions of arrows A and B.
And an engaging portion 13 formed at the tip of the operation piece 11. When the connector housings 2 and 9 are connected, the connector housing 9 is pushed into the gap 6, whereby the locking portion 13 is pushed upward by the locking projection 9 a formed at the tip of the connector housing 9, and further pushed in. As a result, the locking portion 13 moves back and locks with the locking projection 9a as shown by the imaginary line, so that the locking projection 13 is inseparably coupled.

On the other hand, when pulling out the connector housing 9, one end of the operation piece 11 is urged in the direction of arrow A by a finger or the like, and the locking portion 13 is lifted upward to allow the locking portion 13 and the projection 9a to move together. With the lock released, the connector housing 9 is pulled out of the gap 6. Then, when the urging of the operation piece 11 is released after the removal, the operation piece 11 is moved back around the support portion 12 and returns to the state in which the operation piece 11 can be connected again, that is, the initial state. The connector provided with the lock mechanism as described above is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 61-60482,
It is also disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 37081 and the like.

[0005]

The connector having the above construction is provided as a molded product made of a synthetic resin material such as PBT. The thickness of the support portion 12 is substantially the same as the thickness of the outer housing 2a and the block 5. It is highly rigid. Therefore, when pushing in the connector housing 9 of the female connector or when urging the operation piece 11 in the direction of arrow A,
The support portion 12 is hardly bent. For this reason, when pushing in the connector housing 9 of the female connector, it is necessary to push it in strongly, and in order to release the lock, the operation piece 11 must be urged with a strong force, and there is a problem in workability. To solve this problem, it is sufficient to increase the height C of the support portion 12. However, increasing the height C, in other words, increasing the length of the support portion 12 increases the radial dimension. In this configuration, the entire connector becomes large. Further, when the fitting and disengagement of the connector housings 2 and 9 are repeatedly performed, the support portion 12 is likely to be damaged. Become incomplete. However, due to the restriction on the shape, the height of the support portion 12 cannot be increased, and the bending deformation cannot be facilitated. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a connector in which the connectors can be easily coupled and separated, and the damage to the lock mechanism is reduced.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a block having a terminal accommodating chamber in which connection terminals are buried, and a base integrated with the block and having an end portion corresponding to the block. A connector having a cylindrical outer connector housing formed with a gap, wherein a connector housing of another connector is inserted into the gap to be integrally connected , wherein a plate-shaped operation piece; Bro
With one end of the
A support for supporting the operation piece reciprocally in a seesaw shape.
Holding part, the connector housing of the other connector and the
It is formed between the operation piece and makes the other connector inseparable.
A locking mechanism comprising locking means for locking,
The holding part is formed in a thin plate shape, and is reciprocated with the operation piece.
Thus , the connector is easily bent and deformed in the thickness direction . Further, the object is to reduce the thickness of the base at the position where the support is formed by the thickness of another base .
With thicker than the partial rotates integrally with the operating piece
This can be achieved by a connector characterized in that the width of the connecting portion is widened .

[0007]

According to the connector having the above-mentioned structure, since the supporting portion is formed in a plate shape and is thinner than the base portion, the supporting portion is easily bent and deformed in the thickness direction. And since the operation part which comprises a lock mechanism is provided in the support part, it becomes easy for the operation part to reciprocate in a seesaw shape integrally with the support part. Therefore, the operability when connecting another connector or when separating the connected connector is improved, and the lock mechanism constituted by the operation piece, the support portion, and the like can be prevented from being damaged.

[0008]

Next, a preferred embodiment of a connector to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the connector, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the locking action, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the entire shape of the connector, FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a locked state. The external shape of the male connector 21 and the shape of the packing 7 in this embodiment are shown in FIG.
7 may be the same as that of FIG. 7, and an external view corresponding to FIG. 7 is omitted. The configuration of the connector housing 22 constituting the male connector 21 can be roughly classified into a cylindrical outer housing 2
2a and a block 25 integrally formed with the outer housing 22a. As shown in each drawing, three terminal accommodating chambers 23 are formed in the block 25, and the connection terminals 24 are provided in each terminal accommodating chamber 23 (see FIG. 6).
Is buried. Reference numeral 23a denotes a terminal insertion hole for inserting the connection terminal 24 from the rear end of the housing into the terminal accommodating chamber 23, and 29 denotes a guide hole for preventing erroneous insertion of the connection terminal when a female connector 41 described later is pushed in. It is. The state of embedding the connection terminals 24 is shown in detail in FIG.

A gap 26 is formed between the outer housing 22a and the block 25, and the packing 7 described with reference to FIG. The gap 26 is formed in an annular shape as shown in FIG. 3, and the outer surface of the fitted packing 7 and the outer housing 22 are
As shown in FIG.
Of the connector housing 42 is pushed in. At this time, since the connector housing 42 is pushed in by the packing 7 in a press-fit state, the male connector 21 and the female connector 41 are connected in a watertight state.

At this point, the rear end side of the outer housing 22a is shown in FIG.
A lock mechanism 30 is provided at an upper position of the lock. The lock mechanism 30 is connected to the block 25 with a plate-shaped operation piece 31 and one end of the block 25 as a fulcrum. The support portion 32 supports the operation piece 31 so as to be movable in a seesaw shape. It is constituted by locking means formed between the housing 42 and the operation piece 31. In the present embodiment, the locking means includes a locking projection 43 formed at the distal end of the housing 42 and a locking portion 33 provided at one end of the operation piece 31 and locked to the locking projection 43. However, the locking projection 43 and the locking portion 33 are relative to each other, and the locking projection 43 may be provided on the operation side and the locking portion 33 may be provided on the housing side. The support portion 32 is partially cut away from the front-rear direction when viewed from the insertion direction of the female connector 41 and is formed in a T-shaped thin shape when viewed from the side, as shown partially enlarged in FIG. Accordingly, the support portion 32 has low rigidity and improved flexibility, and when the rear end side of the operation piece 31 is urged in the direction of arrow A by a finger or the like as shown in FIG. And smoothly rotate in the direction of arrow A. When the urging in the direction of the arrow A is released, the support portion 32 returns in the direction of the arrow B due to the restoring force of the support portion 32, and moves in a seesaw shape.

Next, the operation when the male connector 21 and the female connector 41 are connected will be described. The packing 7 is fitted into the gap 26 prior to the connection. The packing 7 is connected to the outer housing 22 as shown in FIGS.
It is pushed in until it comes into contact with the base connecting the block a with the block 25. Next, when the connector housing 42 of the female connector 41 is pushed into the gap 26, the locking portion 33 is pushed upward by the tapered surface 43a of the locking projection 43 formed at the tip of the connector housing 42, and the operation piece 31 is shown in FIG. As shown in the arrow A direction. When the housing 41 is further pushed in, the locking projections 43 are locked.
As the force pushing upward is released, the operating piece 31 returns to the original position and is locked to the locking projection 43 as shown in FIG. At the same time, the connection terminal 44 provided on the female connector 41 enters the terminal accommodating chamber 23 and is further connected to the connection terminal 24 so as to be able to conduct electricity.

Incidentally, the wire harness 27 connected to the connection terminal 24 is pulled out from a terminal insertion hole 23a (FIG. 5) formed in a rear portion of the terminal accommodating chamber 23 with a rubber stopper 34 attached. The entire rear part of the connector housing 22 is covered with a cover 28. In addition, a locking projection 35 for locking the cover 28 and the like are provided at the rear portion of the connector housing 22 as shown in FIG. 5, but in FIG. 4, the overall shape is easily understood. Therefore, illustration of the locking projection and the like is omitted. On the other hand, male connector 21
When separating the female connector 41 from the female connector 41, the operation piece 31 is rotated as shown in FIG. 2 to release the locking between the locking portion 33 and the locking projection 43. As a result, the female connector 41 is pressed into the packing 7 and is separated from the connector housing 22 by strongly pulling it out.

As described above, according to the male connector 21 shown in the present embodiment, the support portion 32 of the lock mechanism 30 is easily bent and deformed mainly by forming the support portion 32 to be thin, and The connection and disconnection of the connector 41 can be easily performed. However, the strength may be reduced only by forming the support portion 32 thin. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the thickness of the base portion at the position where the support portion 32 is formed is thickened as shown by t, and the width W of the connecting portion 31a that rotates integrally with the operation piece 31 is also wide. Is formed.
Therefore, the strength of the base on which the support portion 32 is formed is improved, and even if the operation piece 31 is rotated in the directions of arrows A and B, the support portion 32
There is no cracking or chipping in the lock mechanism 30 and the entire lock mechanism 30 including the connecting portion 31a is strengthened, and the quality of the product is improved. In the above-described embodiment, the support portion is formed to have a thin-walled shape, but the base portion at the position where the support portion is formed may be formed as a cutout hole that is opened leaving a peripheral portion.

[0014]

As described above, in the connector according to the present invention, the cylindrical outer housing is integrally formed with a predetermined gap outside the block in which the connection terminals are embedded, and the block and the block are connected to each other. A support portion formed in a plate shape thinner than the base portion, an operation piece moving in a seesaw shape by bending deformation of the support portion in the thickness direction, and one end of the operation piece And a locking mechanism comprising a locking portion for locking to a projection of another connector. Therefore, when another connector is connected, the locking portion is smoothly bent and deformed integrally with the operation piece by the locking projection formed on the connector housing, and the connection is easily performed. Further, when the other connector once connected is separated, since the support portion is easily bent and deformed, the engagement between the engagement portion and the projection by the operation piece can be easily released. And since a support part is comprised so that bending deformation is easy, operability is favorable and damage by repetition of operation can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the operation of the connector of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an external shape of the connector of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a rear view showing the appearance of the connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an external shape of the connector of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a main part showing a locked state of the connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the shape of a conventional connector.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Male connector 22, 42 Connector housing 22a Outer housing 23 Terminal accommodating chamber 24, 44 Connection terminal 25 Block 26 Gap 30 Lock mechanism 31 Operation piece 32 Supporting part 33 Locking part 41 Female connector 43 Locking projection A, B Rotation direction

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01R 13/639

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A block having a terminal accommodating chamber in which connection terminals are buried therein, and a cylindrical outer portion having a base integrated with the block and an end formed with a desired gap with respect to the block. A connector housing, wherein a connector housing of another connector is inserted into the gap and integrally connected to the connector housing, wherein a plate-shaped operation piece and one end of the block as a fulcrum are connected to the block.
And the operation piece is supported so as to be able to reciprocate in a seesaw shape.
Holding part, the connector housing of the other connector, and the operation piece.
Formed between the other connectors to lock the other connector inseparably.
A lock mechanism comprising locking means, wherein the support portion is formed in a thin plate shape, and
A connector characterized by being easily bent and deformed in the thickness direction with movement . 2. A with thicker than the portion of the thickness of the other base of the base of the position for forming the supporting portion, the operation
2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein a width of the connecting portion which rotates integrally with the piece is formed wide .