JP3473541B2 - Terminal fitting - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal fitting having an excessive bending preventing function. 2. Description of the Related Art As a terminal fitting having an excessive bending preventing function, there is a conventional one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-42005. As shown in FIG.
Is a square tube portion 10 into which the male terminal fitting 101 of the mating side is inserted.
2 and the bottom wall 10
3 is provided with an elastic contact piece 104 extending backward from the front end edge in a folded manner. When the male terminal fitting 101 is inserted, the elastic contact piece 104 elastically bends downward and presses the male terminal fitting 101 between the upper surface wall 105 with a predetermined contact pressure, so that the two terminal fittings 100 and 101 are connected. State. When the male terminal fitting 101 is obliquely inserted as shown in FIG. 8, the elastic contact piece 104 may be excessively bent beyond its elastic limit. As means for restricting excessive bending, the bottom wall 10
An excessive bending restricting piece 106 rising from 3 is provided. When the amount of deflection of the elastic contact piece 104 exceeds the normal range, the elastic contact piece 104 is prevented from further bending by contacting the upper edge of the excessive deflection restricting piece 106, and thus the elastic contact piece 104 is not excessively bent. Deflection is prevented. [0004] Since the above-mentioned excessive bending restricting piece 106 is formed by cutting and raising a part of the bottom wall 103, the formation position of the excessive bending restricting piece 106 is arranged on the rear side. What is required is that the excessive deflection restricting piece 10 on the bottom wall 103 is formed.
6 to the folded portion 107 of the elastic contact piece 104 in the front-rear direction, so that the bottom wall 10
3 is preferred from the viewpoint of improving strength. However, on the other hand, when the male terminal fitting 101 presses the elastic contact piece 104 obliquely, the distance between the two points supporting the elastic contact piece 104 on both sides of the pressed position, that is, to the folded portion 107 and the excessive bending restricting piece 106. Is longer, the elastic contact piece 104 easily bends between these two points, which is not preferable in preventing the elastic contact piece 104 from being deformed. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to improve the strength of both a bottom wall and an elastic contact piece. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an elastic contact piece extending backward from a front end of a bottom wall in a folded manner;
An excessive bending restricting piece formed by raising a part of the bottom wall at a position behind the folded portion of the elastic contact piece, and when the mating terminal presses the elastic contact piece in an incorrect posture. A terminal fitting whose elastic contact piece comes into contact with a rising end of the excessive bending restricting piece to restrict excessive bending, wherein the excessive bending restricting piece is folded back from the bottom wall. Part is tilted forward, and a part of the excessive bending restricting piece is
Forming a reinforcement part that is bent forward and abuts the bottom wall
It has a configuration that is. [0008] The excessive bending restricting piece rises from the bottom wall to the folded portion side in a forwardly inclined posture, so that the excessive bending restricting piece is excessively bent from the folded portion in the bottom wall. The distance between the folded portion of the elastic contact piece and the position of contact with the excessively bending restricting piece can be reduced while securing a large length dimension to the restricting piece. Therefore, the strength of both the bottom wall and the elastic contact piece can be improved. Further , by forming the reinforcing portion, the forward deformation of the excessive bending restricting piece is restricted, and the strength of the excessive bending restricting piece can be improved. [First Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The terminal fitting T of the present embodiment is formed by bending and cutting and raising a metal plate material (see FIG. 5) stamped into a predetermined shape. As shown in FIG. 1, a substantially front half portion is a connecting portion 1 with a male terminal fitting M on the mating side.
0, and the latter half is an electric wire crimping portion 23 to which an electric wire (not shown) is crimped. The connecting portion 10 includes a bottom wall 11 and the bottom wall 11.
And a pair of upper and lower upper walls 13 extending inward from the rising edges of the side walls 12 and overlapping each other, and the front and rear end faces as a whole are open. It has a square tubular shape. A male terminal fitting M is inserted into the connection portion 10 from the front, and the proper insertion direction thereof is such that the bottom wall 11, the side wall 12, and the top wall 1
3 is set in a direction parallel to each wall. An elastic contact piece 14 for contacting the male terminal fitting M with a predetermined contact pressure is provided inside the connecting portion 10. The elastic contact piece 14 is provided on the bottom wall 1.
1 is formed by bending a portion extending from the front end edge in a folded shape rearward, and has a mountain shape with a gentle inclination when viewed from the side. The rear end 15 (extended end) of the elastic contact piece 14 is connected to the receiving portion 1 of the bottom wall 11 at the rear end of the connecting portion 10.
6, and the elastic contact piece 14 is
It is configured to be elastically deformed vertically in a state where both ends are supported between the fifth member 5 and the folded portion 17. The vertical distance between the top 18 of the elastic contact piece 14 and the top wall 13 is:
The thickness of the male terminal fitting M is smaller than the thickness dimension of the male terminal fitting M by a predetermined dimension. When the male terminal fitting M is inserted into the connection part 10, the elastic contact piece 14 elastically bends by a predetermined amount, and the elastic restoring force causes a predetermined deformation. Is obtained. In the terminal fitting T of the present embodiment, when the male terminal fitting M is inserted in an incorrect direction, that is, obliquely downward so as to hit the upper surface of the elastic contact piece 14, the elastic contact piece 14 has its elasticity. As a means for preventing excessive bending beyond the limit, an excessive bending restricting piece 19 is formed. The excessive deflection restricting piece 19 is formed by cutting and raising a part of the bottom wall 11 upward (in a direction toward the lower surface of the elastic contact piece 14). The formation position is located behind the folded portion 17 at the front end of the elastic contact piece 14 and slightly ahead of the top 18 of the elastic contact piece 14. In addition, the excessive bending restricting piece 19 on the bottom wall 11
A region behind the lance is opened as a lance hole 20 for locking a lance (not shown). The position of the rear end of the lance hole 20 is set slightly forward of the receiving portion 16 of the bottom wall 11. The excessive bending restricting piece 19 has a flat plate shape, but its rising direction from the bottom wall 11 is not perpendicular to the bottom wall 11 but slightly inclined forward (toward the folded portion 17). ing. As shown in FIG. 2, the rising end 19 </ b> A of the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is slightly spaced from the lower surface of the elastic contact piece 14 in the free state, but when the male terminal fitting M is properly inserted. 3, when the elastic contact piece 14 is within the elastic limit range, as shown in FIG.
The lower surface of the elastic contact piece 14 comes into contact with the rising end 19A of the excessive bending restricting piece 19, and further elastic bending to the terminal connecting portion 10 is restricted. At this time, the contact position of the elastic contact piece 14 with the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is between the folded portion 17 and the top 18. Further, this contact position is close to the position where the tip of the male terminal fitting M contacts the upper surface of the elastic contact piece 14 when the male terminal fitting M is inserted obliquely. Further, a receiving surface 19B which is almost parallel to the lower surface of the elastic contact piece 14 is formed at the rising end 19A. The receiving surface 19 </ b> B is oblique to the rising direction of the excessive deflection restricting piece 19. Further, the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is formed with a reinforcing portion 21 for restricting displacement in the direction of falling forward. The reinforcing portion 21 has a form in which the central portion in the width direction of the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is cut and raised forward and bent obliquely downward, and the tip of the bending is brought into contact with the upper surface of the bottom wall 11. Note that a pair of right and left regulating protrusions 22 is formed on the side wall 12 as a means for preventing excessive flexure different from the excessive flexure regulating piece 19 and protruding to a position almost directly below the top. In the terminal fitting T of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the excessive bending restricting piece 19 rises from the bottom wall 11 to the folded portion 17 in a forwardly inclined posture.
1 while ensuring a large length dimension Sa in the front-rear direction from the folded portion 17 to the base end of the excessive bending restricting piece 19, the rising end 19A of the excessive bending restricting piece 19 (= the elastic contact piece 14 It is possible to set a relatively small length Sb in the front-rear direction up to the position of contact with the excessive bending restricting piece 19 when the bending is restricted. The fact that the dimension Sa is large means that the strength of the bottom wall 11 is high, and that the strength of the entire connection portion 10 is improved. On the other hand, the dimension Sb means the distance (span length) between two points that support the elastic contact piece 14 on both sides of the pressed position when the male terminal fitting M presses the elastic contact piece 14 at an angle. The shorter this distance (dimension Sb), the higher the flexural rigidity of the elastic contact piece 14 between the folded portion 17 and the position of contact with the excessive flexure restricting piece 19. As described above, in the present embodiment, the bottom wall 1
It is realized that the strength of both the elastic contact piece 1 and the elastic contact piece 14 is improved. In addition, since the reinforcing portion 21 is formed on the excessive bending restricting piece 19, the forward deformation of the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is restricted, and the strength of the excessive bending restricting piece 19 is improved. Thereby, even if the contact force of the male terminal fitting M against the elastic contact piece 14 is large, the function of excessive bending by the excessive bending restricting piece 19 can be surely exerted. Reference Example Next, a reference example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present reference example , the excessive deflection restricting piece 24 is used in the first embodiment.
The configuration is different from that of FIG. Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus the same configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description of the structures, operations, and effects will be omitted. The excessive deflection restricting piece 24 of the present reference example has a form in which the center in the width direction is formed with a cutout portion 25 from the rising end side, but does not include the reinforcing portion 21. It is different from the piece 19. [Other Embodiments] The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above with reference to 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 first embodiment, the central portion in the width direction of the excessive deflection restricting piece is the reinforcing portion. However, according to the present invention, one or both ends in the width direction may be the reinforcing portion. (2) In the above-described reference example , the widthwise central portion of the excessive bending restricting piece is notched, but according to the present invention,
The excessive deflection restricting piece may have a rectangular plate shape without a notch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of Embodiment 1. FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view. FIG. 3 is a partial longitudinal sectional view showing a state where a mating terminal is inserted in an incorrect posture. Cross-sectional view [Fig. 5] Development view [Fig. 6] Partial vertical cross-sectional view of reference example [Fig. 7] Cross-sectional view [Fig. 8] Cross-sectional view of conventional example [Description of symbols] T: terminal fitting 11: bottom wall 14 ... Elastic contact piece 17 ... Folding portion 19 ... Excessive bending restricting piece 19A ... Rising end 21 ... Reinforcing section 24 ... Excessive bending restricting piece M ... Material terminal

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] An elastic contact piece extending backward from the front end of the bottom wall in a folded shape, and one of the bottom wall at a position behind the folded portion of the elastic contact piece. The elastic contact piece presses the elastic contact piece in an incorrect posture, and the elastic contact piece contacts the rising end of the excessive flexure restricting piece. in a terminal fitting that is adapted to be regulated deflection excessive, the excessive deformation preventing piece is said is from the bottom wall up in a posture tilted forward to the folded portion side, the excessive deformation preventing piece Bent a part of it to the front side,
A terminal fitting, wherein a reinforcing portion is formed in a form abutting on a bottom wall .