JPH0328789B2 - - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrical connector in which preselected terminals (16) are shunted. Contact portions (108) of the terminals (16) are aligned with a shunt bar (113, 113 min ) and are resiliently deformable from positions engaging the shunt bar (113, 113 min ) in an unmated condition of the connector to positions spaced from the shunt bar (113, 113 min ) in a mated condition of the connector by mating engagement with a complimentary connector. The shunt bar (113, 113 min ) comprises a bridge portion from which asymmetrically spaced contact lugs (116, 117, 116 min , 117 min ) depend. Two shunt bars (113, 113 min ) are located in tandem in back-to-back relation in a housing (15) so that alternate contact tongues (108) are aligned with respective contact lugs (116, 117 min , 116 min , 117) on respective shunt bars (113, 113 min ).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to electrical connectors for use in the data communications industry.

Open data link lines are used to prevent spurious and potentially destructive electrical signals from being transmitted over the link line to the equipment due to poor connections or electrical strays. Equipment must be protected to prevent spread.

Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a pair of connectors to be assembled (or fitted) is shunted between predetermined terminals. According to the conventionally proposed methods, in order to realize a data link by combining connectors, there was a drawback that the flow dividing mechanism had to be manually removed before combining the connectors. The construction of such devices must be simple, reliable in operation, and capable of mass production using mass production techniques.

According to the prior art described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,486, an insulating housing having a front mating surface, a rear wire connection surface, a wire connection portion disposed on the wire connection surface and a connection portion disposed on the combination surface, is provided inside the housing. An electrical connector is shown containing a plurality of terminals attached to the connector and an electrical diverter mounted within the housing in alignment with the connecting portion.

According to this connector, when the connectors are connected, the flow dividing device can be disengaged without any trouble due to the coupling action. Must be equipped with parts. This requires extra space in the connector assembly and
The structure becomes more complex, more expensive, and larger.

According to the present invention, there is provided a terminal housing having a bottom surface, both side walls, and a fitting surface, a wire receiving portion each connected to an electric wire, and a terminal housing connected to the wire receiving portion and disposed near the fitting surface. a plurality of terminals disposed substantially parallel to the bottom surface of the terminal housing, including a resilient contact tongue having a spring-biased free end behind the contact portion; at least one shunt bar disposed in a direction across the plurality of terminals, the end edge corresponding to the terminal being selectively formed with unevenness; There is provided an electrical connector characterized in that a shunt is provided between selected terminals among a plurality of terminals, and the shunt is released when mated.

According to the invention, the connecting portion is spaced apart from the flow diverter from a position in which it engages the flow diverter when the connectors are not mated, and in order to engage the contact portion of a complementary connector when the connectors are mated. It is designed to be able to elastically deform into position.

Therefore, there is no need to manipulate the flow divider in any way before assembling the connectors, and there is no need to complicate the overall assembly.

Preferably, the flow diverter device includes an integrally formed flow diverter rod with a bridging portion extending laterally with respect to the contact portion formed as a tongue, and contact lugs spaced apart from each other, the flow diverter having a predetermined contact portion. It extends laterally with respect to the bridging portion toward each contact tongue and is configured to engage the contact tongue when the connector is not assembled.

Therefore, it is only necessary to shunt the terminals that are scheduled to be spaced apart, and the intermediate terminals are not shunted.

More specifically, the contact lugs are asymmetrically located along the bridge section, with additional diverter bars similar to the first shunt bar juxtaposed with a 180° rotation with respect to the first shunt bar. be done. With such a structure, the contact lugs are aligned alternately with the contact lugs of each flow diverter rod. In this way, the contact tongues can be divided in various combinations.

The diverter rod can be formed with an identification device to ensure that the diverter rod is only received in a predetermined position direction when the diverter rod is received in the housing.

The contact tongue is preferably folded back so that its rearwardly extending free end is aligned with each contact lug.

Since the tongue pivots around the fold line during mating and engagement of the connectors, the advantage is that the degree to which the free end is separated from the contact lug of the flow diverter rod is greater than the degree of displacement of the contact portion. It will be done.

Embodiments of the connector according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Each connector has an identical structure of hermaphroditic type and has an insulating housing, or upper cover 11, and a base, or lower cover 12, each formed of an insulating plastic material, as shown in detail in FIG. A partial cover 10, an upper grounding shield 13 and a lower grounding shield 14 for fixing each cable, and a terminal 16 and a wire mounting body 17.
The housing 15 includes a housing 15 for accommodating the. If the cable does not need to be guided in its axial direction, the rear cap 18 is attached to the cover.

As shown in particular in FIGS. 3 and 4, upper cover 11 and lower cover 12 are each integrally molded from a plastic material. Each cover has 2 bottom walls
1, 22, a pair of opposing side walls 23, 24, and a rear wall 25, 26, knitting a box-like structure open at the front. The cover has locking arms 27 and 28 formed integrally with the cover, and the arm 2
7 and 28 are respectively connected to the outer surface of the side wall at a position intermediate the front and rear ends of the side wall by web-like hinges 29 and 30, as shown in detail in FIG. a panel mounting rib 31 having rear-facing shoulders 33, 34 and a front-facing inclined surface;
32 extends across the arm adjacent the mating end of the forward end of the arm. The mating ends are provided with complementary locking devices. That is, the locking device of one arm 27 includes a T-shaped slot 36 which is connected to a T-shaped slot formed in the other arm 28.
It is adapted to receive a mold projection 37. Each arm 27, 28 has an inclined introduction surface 39, 40. The side walls 23 of the upper cover 11 are reduced in height towards the front, thus providing a recess 41 for accommodating the terminal housing. A lateral rib 47 for locating the ground shield extends across the inside of the cover parallel to a locating lip 42 formed at a position slightly set back from the front end.

The side walls 24 of the lower cover 12 similarly decrease in height toward the front end and are provided with recesses 44 for receiving the terminal housings, and from the portion adjacent to the front end of the bottom wall there are recesses 44 for receiving the terminal housings. The pair of short axes 45 are upright. Frangible portions 46 are provided in the side walls of the top and bottom covers to allow the cable to be pulled out in any direction. Cable receiving recesses 49, 51 are provided in the rear walls of both covers, which make it possible to lead out the cables in the axial direction. The cap 18 has a locating boss 53 with a circumferential groove 54 which receives the lips of the recesses 49, 51 when the cable is not guided axially.

The upper shield 13 is stamped from a single sheet of metal and includes a veil panel 61 with flanges 62 depending from either side of the base panel 61. The flange 62 has locking openings 63 on both sides of the cable receiving recess 64 . A braided contact tab 65 depends from the rear of the panel 61, and a forward extension 66 extends from the front into a stepped, forked contact portion. The contact portion has a contact tab with an enlarged upward contact surface 67 at its front end.

The lower shield 14 is similarly formed by punching out a single metal plate, and includes flanges 69 standing upright from both sides of the base panel 71, a flange 70 standing upright from the rear, and cable receiving openings 73, 74.
including. Openings 73, 74 are formed in the flange;
Defined by inwardly curved cable gripping lips 75 on each side of each opening. A braided connection tab 76 is stamped from the base panel adjacent each opening. A locking material 77 is formed on the flange and is locked into the locking opening 63 in the top shield when the top shield is coupled to the bottom shield. A pair of short bearing receiving openings 78 are formed in the forwardly extending portion of the base panel 71, and the front portion of the panel is provided with a forked upper step to provide a contact surface 79. Contact surface 79 is electrically connected to contact surface 67 of the shield of the mating connector half, as shown in FIG.

Terminal housing 15 is integrally molded from a plastic material and includes legs 80 that support platforms 82 for the terminals. Platform 82 extends between the front mating surface and the rear wire connection surface of the housing. At the wire connection plane, a series of parallel channels 83 extend forward across the platform.
A terminal support rib 84 is provided between the two channels 83.
is given. Rib 8 from the front of the platform
4, a parallel locking groove 87 extends rearwardly.
Side walls 88, 89 stand upright from opposite edges of the terminal support platform, and the front portions of both walls 88, 89 are joined by a hood 91. Both side walls are sloped and guide edges 92
The edge 92 extends from a location proximate the platform to a location proximate the front end of the hood 91. Pairs of slots 93, 95; 94, 96 are formed in alignment and extending downwardly in the side wall portion adjacent the hood. The lengths of slots 94, 95 are shorter than slots 93, 96 which are formed in alignment with these slots. Furthermore, slot 9
7 and 98 are aligned with respective slots in the side wall to form ribs 84.
formed across the

Vertical alignment ribs 99, 101 are formed in longitudinally extending portions of the side walls near the rear of the housing 14, and side wall portions 90, 90' extend laterally.
provides forward facing mounting shoulders 105, 105' which abut the edges of the panel openings. A vertically extending guide channel 102, 103 is formed in each side wall at a location intermediate the rib and rear portion of the terminal platform.

Each terminal 16 is formed by stamping a single sheet of metal;
A conductor connection similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,318, ie, a slotted upright wire receptacle 106, is connected to the body 107 by a neck. From the front end of the body portion 107, a contact portion having a step portion 109 at its free end, that is, a lower contact piece 108 is folded back in the opposite direction. A locking lance 110 is stamped from the base and locking ears 111 each stand upright from opposite edges of the base. When assembling the terminal into the housing, the terminal is inserted into the housing from the rear of the housing until the edges of the body reach the lower areas of the rear faces of two adjacent barriers and the locking lance 110 is inserted into the locking groove. Once springing into 87, the terminal can no longer move in either direction. At this point, contact tongue piece 1
08 will be exposed on the combination surface.

A diverter of the same type, i.e. a diverter rod 113,
113' is stamped from a single sheet of metal, and the bar has spaced apart recesses 114, 114', 115, 1
15', and these recesses allow contact projections,
That is, the contact lugs 116, 116', 117, 1
17' is constructed. A tab 118, 118' extends from one end of each rod 113, 113'. Bar 113,
113' are oriented 180° relative to each other so that the tabs 118, 118' are received in the shorter slots 95, 94, respectively.
5,97; 94,96,98. As shown in FIG. 7, the recesses in the rods are provided asymmetrically so that the recesses in one rod are aligned with the contact lugs in the other rod, so that the contact lugs 116, 117 are aligned with the contact lugs in the other rod. The contact lugs 116' and 117' engage the stepped ends of the first and third terminals to separate the terminals, and the contact lugs 116' and 117' engage the stepped ends of the second and fourth terminals. match.

The wire mounting body 17 is integrally molded from a slightly hard plastic material, and has a series of partition walls 123 on the inside.
has. The partition wall 123 forms a wire receiving passageway extending between the pair of outer and inner wire gripping lips 121, 124 and a cylindrical portion receiving portion having a cylindrical wire engaging protrusion 125. Engagement protrusion 125 is similar to the protrusion described in US Pat. No. 4,198,6984. Vertical guide ribs 126 extend at both ends.

When assembling the connector, the terminals 16 are inserted into the housing 15 as described above, and the flow diverter rods 113,
113' into the slots to alternately shunt the desired terminals.

A hinged rotatable bushing 127 is then attached to the cable 128 from which the shield at one end has been stripped. In this case, the shield braided portion 129 of the cable 128 is everted and extends rearwardly over the support ferrule, and the braided portion 129 is then gripped.
The wires of the individual insulated cables are placed in passageways within the wire mount as shown in FIG. Next, the wire mounting body includes ribs 126, guide channels 102, 10
It is pushed downward by the cooperative guide of No. 3, so that the wires in the wire receiving slot of the cylindrical portion are pushed in at the same time.

The lower ground shield may be secured to the lower cover, such as by heating, with opening 78 aligned with short axis 45. The terminal housing 15, in which the wire terminates, is then assembled to the lower ground shield, with the exposed braid supported by the ferrule and tucked between the resilient lips 75, so that the cable shield and A grounding shield is electrically connected. Tabs 76 also engage the braided portion. Next, connect the contact surface 67 of the upper ground shield 13 to the hood 9 on both sides of the axial ribs of the housing 15.
Ground shield 13 by inserting it under 1
is attached to the housing 15, and the ground shield 1
3 downwardly so that the locking member 77 is received within the opening 63. At this time, when the cable is led out in the axial direction, the tab 65 engages with the cable; otherwise, the lip of the cable receiving recess 74 engages with the cable.

The top cover is then attached to the housing 15 and to the bottom cover, where the locating ribs 99, 101 of the housing 15 are attached to the grooved lugs 47.
cooperate with When pulling out the electric wire in the axial direction, the rear cap 18 is removed.

When the connector is inserted into the opening in the panel, the shoulder 33 of the mounting rib 31 springs up over the rear edge of the opening on the front side of the panel, making it impossible to remove the connector from the panel; Since the shoulders 105, 105' abut against the
The connector does not insert properly into the panel. Change the position of the same connector by 180° and
Receiving the mold projection in the T-slot provides a significantly more stable structure. When the connectors are mated, the contact tongues 108 of the two connectors engage each other, separating the stepped ends 109 of the terminals from the contact lugs 116, 117 of the flow diverter rod, while simultaneously closing the ground shield of each connector. Since the contact surfaces 79 and 67 of the cable are engaged with each other, the exposed electric wire and contact are qualitatively surrounded by the shield regardless of the direction in which the cable is pulled out, and a braided shield with braid can be realized.

This connector assembly is relatively inexpensive to manufacture in terms of its operational versatility and reliability, has good electrical properties, and has mechanical features that allow it to be assembled and installed in a reliable manner. .

As is clear from the above description, the electrical connector of the present invention includes a plurality of terminals each having a spring-biased free end behind a contact portion, and at least one shunt bar having an uneven edge corresponding to the free end. I'm here. As a result, this electrical connector can automatically shunt between selected terminals among multiple terminals according to the unevenness formed on the shunt bar when unmated with a mating connector, and automatically release the shunt when mated. can do. Therefore,
When unmated in telephone or signal transmission electrical connectors, it is possible to connect signal wires, ground wires, or signal wires and ground wires to each other to form a closed loop or prevent noise from entering due to electromagnetic induction from the outside. become.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the electrical connector with the cable led out at right angles, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the connector with the cable led out in the axial direction of the connector, Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the connector, and Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of the connector. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1 of a pair of similar connectors arranged in alignment before assembly; FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the pair of connectors shown in FIG. 4 after assembly; 15. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing details of the terminal housing of the connector, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the terminal housing taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 3, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a bushing used in the connector. ... Housing, 108 ... Connection part, 1
6...Terminal, 113, 113'...Diversion device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A terminal housing having a bottom surface, both side walls, and a fitting surface, a wire receiving portion each connected to an electric wire, and a wire receiving portion connected to the wire receiving portion and disposed near the fitting surface. a plurality of terminals disposed substantially parallel to the bottom surface of the terminal housing, the terminals including a resilient contact tongue having a spring-biased free end behind the contact portion; At least one of the terminals is arranged in a direction crossing the plurality of terminals, and has an unevenness selectively formed on the edge corresponding to the terminal.
shunt bars, and when the connector is not mated with a mating connector, shunts between selected terminals among the plurality of terminals according to the unevenness of the shunt bar, and when mated, the shunt is released. electrical connector.