JPH0433663Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Field of industrial application) This invention relates to the improvement of connectors, and more specifically, to improve the locking means for preventing the terminal fittings from coming out in the terminal housing chamber. This invention relates to a connector that facilitates the management of the parts that make up the connector.

(Prior art) Conventionally, a type of connector that uses a spacer to prevent the terminal metal fittings from coming out in the terminal housing chamber is as follows:
For example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-36860 is known.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show the above-mentioned conventional connector, in which a connector housing 100 has a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 110 arranged side by side, and a spacer accommodating chamber 12 is provided in the upper part of the terminal accommodating chamber 110 on the terminal insertion port side.
0 is provided, and a spacer 130 provided with a terminal locking part 131 and a housing locking part 132 is installed in this spacer housing chamber 120,
The terminal locking portion 131 locks onto the terminal fitting 140 in the terminal accommodating chamber 110, and the housing locking portion 132 locks onto the spacer locking portion 101 of the connector housing 100 to prevent the terminal fitting 140 from coming off. It is configured.

Note that a flexible locking arm 111 is provided in the terminal housing chamber 110, and this flexible locking arm 11
The locking protrusion 112 protruding from the free end of the spacer 1 locks into the locking hole 142 provided in the bottom wall of the connecting portion 141 of the terminal fitting 140.
In addition to the retaining action of 30, double retaining is achieved.

However, according to the conventional connector described above, after each terminal fitting 140 is inserted into each terminal accommodating chamber 110, the spacer 130 is inserted from the terminal insertion opening side of the connector housing 100 to be assembled. Since it is a separate part from the connector housing 100, it is troublesome to manage the parts, and the spacer 130 must be prepared until all the terminal fittings 140 are inserted, which can lead to assembly failures such as forgetting to insert the spacer 130. There was a risk that this would occur.

Additionally, since parts management is troublesome, there is a problem in that it is difficult to respond flexibly to process preparations and changes.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) This invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional connector. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector that is free from the risk of assembly defects such as forgetting to insert it, and that can flexibly respond to process preparations and changes.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the connector of this invention has a terminal fitting for the terminal accommodating chamber on the terminal insertion opening side of the connector housing having the terminal accommodating chamber. The connector is provided with a spacer accommodating part into which the spacer is inserted in the same direction as the insertion direction of the connector housing, and the spacer is locked to the terminal fitting housed in the terminal accommodating chamber to prevent the spacer from being removed. The spacer accommodating portion is formed by cutting out the wall surface on the spacer insertion side and communicating with the terminal accommodating chamber, and a spacer mounting portion for locking the support shaft of the spacer is provided on the side wall of the spacer accommodating portion, and further, The present invention is characterized in that a spacer temporary fixing portion is provided for temporarily fixing the support shaft of the spacer so as not to interfere with the insertion of the terminal fitting into the terminal accommodating chamber.

(Function) According to the connector of this invention, the support shaft of the spacer can be temporarily fixed to the spacer temporary fixing part of the spacer accommodating part and assembled into the connector housing, and in this state, the support shaft of the spacer can be temporarily fixed to the spacer temporary fixing part of the spacer accommodating part. There is no problem with insertion into the

After inserting the terminal fitting into the terminal housing chamber,
Assembly can be completed by locking the support shaft of the spacer to the spacer attachment part of the spacer housing part.

Therefore, the connector housing and the spacer can be managed as one component, which facilitates component management and eliminates the possibility of assembly failures such as forgetting to insert the spacer.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the connector of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Figures 1 to 3 show an example of the connector of this invention. Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view, Figures 2a and 2b are explanatory diagrams showing the spacer in a temporarily fixed state, and Figures 3a, b is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the spacer is actually attached.

Reference numeral 1 in the figure indicates a connector housing, and the connector housing 1 contains a plurality of connectors (three in the figure).
The terminal accommodating chambers 10 are arranged in parallel in two stages, upper and lower.

A spacer accommodating portion 20 is provided on the rear side of the connector housing 1, that is, on the side of the terminal insertion opening 10a of the terminal accommodating chamber 10, for accommodating a spacer 30 for preventing the terminal fitting 40 in the terminal accommodating chamber 10 from slipping out. It is being

That is, the spacer accommodating portion 20 connects the left and right side walls 1a, 1b of the connector housing 1 to the upper and lower walls 1c,
1d, and is formed by an opening formed by cutting out a portion of the protruding upper and lower walls 1c, 1d so as to project in the vertical direction and communicate with the terminal accommodating chamber 10.

The left and right side walls 1a of this terminal accommodation chamber 10,
1b portion is provided with spacer mounting portions 21 for supporting the spacer 30, two spacer mounting holes 21 in this embodiment, and furthermore, each of the spacer mounting holes 21 in the left and right side walls 1a and 1b portions is provided with two spacer mounting holes 21 in this embodiment. A spacer temporary fixing portion 50, in this embodiment a spacer temporary fixing hole 50, is provided at a nearby position away from the terminal accommodating chamber 10 and in communication with the spacer attachment hole 21.

Here, to explain in detail the positions where the spacer temporary fixing holes 50 are provided, the spacer attachment holes 21 are provided in the left and right side walls 1a and 1b that protrude upwardly from the top wall 1c so as to be separated from the terminal accommodating chamber 10. A spacer temporary fixing hole 50 is arranged diagonally above the spacer mounting hole 21, and the left and right side walls 1a, 1b that protrude downward from the bottom wall 1d are similarly spaced away from the terminal accommodating chamber 10, and are arranged diagonally above the spacer mounting hole 21. A spacer temporary fixing hole 50 is arranged below.

On the other hand, the spacer 30 installed in the spacer accommodating portion 20 has spacer mounting holes 21 at the front and rear positions of the left and right side surfaces of the step-shaped support portion 31.
and the support shaft 3 that locks into the spacer temporary fixing hole 50.
2 and 32, respectively, and a plurality of terminal locking parts 33 (3 in the drawing) are provided on the front end surface of the support part 31.
) are protrudingly installed in parallel.

According to the above configuration, as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, when the support shaft 32 is locked in the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 of the spacer accommodating portion 20, the spacer 30
spacer accommodating portion 2 in a horizontal position away from the terminal accommodating chamber 10 so as not to hinder the insertion of the terminal fitting 40.
Temporarily fixed at 0.

In this state, the terminal fitting 40 is inserted into the terminal housing chamber 10.
However, since the spacer 30 is temporarily fixed as described above, there is no problem in inserting the terminal fitting 40.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b, when the support shaft 32 of the spacer 30 is moved from the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 of the spacer housing part 20 to the spacer attachment hole 21 and locked, the spacer 30 is in the temporarily fixed state. The terminal accommodating chamber 10 approaches the terminal accommodating chamber 10 to enter the final mounting state, and the terminal locking portion 33 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 10, and the upper wall 4 constituting the connecting portion 41 of the terminal fitting 40 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 10.
It is locked to one end of 1a.

By providing the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 in the spacer accommodating portion 20 in this way, the spacer 30 can be assembled into the connector housing 1 in advance without being affected by being removed due to external force or the like. You can leave it there.

That is, after temporarily fixing and assembling the spacer 30, which is originally a separate part, into the connector housing 1,
The connector housing 1 can be managed as one component instead of two components, the connector housing 1 and the spacer 30.

Therefore, there is no need to prepare the spacer 30 before the insertion of the terminal fitting 40 is completed, and the spacer 30 is already assembled when the connector housing 1 is sent to the assembly line. Therefore, the possibility of assembly defects such as forgetting to insert the spacer 30 is effectively eliminated.

Note that a flexible locking arm 1 is provided in the terminal housing chamber 10.
1 is provided, and a locking protrusion 12 protruding from the free end of this flexible locking arm 11 is connected to the terminal fitting 4.
When inserting the spacer 3, the spacer 3 locks into the locking hole 41c provided in the bottom wall of the connecting portion 41 of the terminal fitting 40.
This is the same as in the prior art described above in that a double locking is performed in addition to the action of zero.

In the above embodiment, the case where the spacer attachment hole 21 and the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 are communicated with each other is shown.
They can also be provided independently without communicating with each other. However, if the spacer attachment hole 21 and the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 are to be communicated with each other as in the above embodiment, the support shaft 32 is first removed from the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 and then the support shaft 32 is not connected to the spacer attachment hole 21. There is no need to do anything to stop the support shaft 32.
from the spacer temporary fixing hole 50 to the spacer mounting hole 21
This is advantageous because it can improve assembly work efficiency.

In addition, in this embodiment, holes are formed as the spacer attachment part 21 and the spacer temporary fixing part 50 as described above, but if the structure can support the support shaft 32 of the spacer 30, for example, a recess or a step. Of course, it is also possible.

[Effects of the invention] As explained above, according to the connector of this invention, the spacer accommodating part is provided with a spacer temporary fixing part for temporarily fixing the spacer so that there is no problem in inserting the terminal fitting into the terminal accommodating chamber. Therefore, the spacer can be assembled into the connector housing in advance, making parts management easy, eliminating the risk of assembly defects such as forgetting to insert a spacer, and providing flexibility for process preparation and changes. It becomes possible to respond.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 3 show an example of the connector of this invention. Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view, Figures 2a and 2b are explanatory diagrams showing the spacer in a temporarily fixed state, and Figures 3a, b is an explanatory diagram showing the spacer in its fully installed state, and Figs. 4 and 5 show conventional connectors, where Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view, and Fig. 5 shows the spacer, terminal fittings, and terminal housing. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between rooms. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Connector housing, 10... Terminal accommodation chamber, 20... Spacer accommodation part, 21... Spacer attachment part (spacer attachment hole), 30... Spacer,
32... Support shaft, 33... Terminal locking part, 40...
Terminal fitting, 50... Spacer temporary fixing part (spacer temporary fixing hole).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A spacer accommodating portion for inserting a spacer in the same direction as the insertion direction of the terminal fitting into the terminal accommodating chamber is provided on the terminal insertion opening side of the connector housing having the terminal accommodating chamber, and the spacer is connected to the terminal fitting accommodated in the terminal accommodating chamber. In the connector, the spacer accommodating portion is formed by cutting out a wall surface on the spacer insertion side of the connector housing to communicate with the terminal accommodating chamber, and the spacer accommodating portion is A spacer mounting part for locking the spacer support shaft is provided on the side wall of the spacer,
The connector further includes a spacer temporary fixing portion for temporarily fixing the support shaft of the spacer so as not to cause any trouble when inserting the terminal fitting into the terminal housing chamber.