JPH053059A - Connector with lever - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a connector with a lever able to connect and disconnect a pair of female and male connectors to each other by a small force by turning the lever. CONSTITUTION:A connection mechanism is constructed with a lever member C supported with a shaft in a female connector B rotatably, and an elastic lock member D provided with a spring locking portion 8, a lock releasing portion 19 and an elastic connecting portion 20 and attached to the lever member C and energizing the member C toward the lock releasing direction. At the time of initial connection of both connectors A,B to each other, a cam groove 14 and a cam pin 3 are engaged with each other, and in the last connection time of both connectors A,B after the turn of the lever member, a pair of respective terminals built in both connectors are connected to each other and the spring locking portion 18 is engaged with a lock portion 10 in the female connector B, and in the middle connection time of both connectors, the elastic connecting portion 20 in the elastic lock member D is crossed over a projecting spring guide, thereby the connection load for the terminals can be reduced by the recovery force of the elastic connection portion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a connector with a lever in which a pair of female and male connectors are fitted with each other by using an operating lever with a low insertion force.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of electrical connector, a structure shown in FIGS. 9 to 13 has been proposed (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-178469). This is provided with an operating lever b having a fulcrum O (fulcrum shaft a ₂ ) on both side surfaces a ₁ of a female (connector) housing a, and a tip acting portion b ₁ of the operating lever b on both side surfaces of a male housing c. And a lock means e or f for the operating lever b is provided on at least one of the housings a and c.

After the initial fitting of the two housings a and c, the operating portion b ₁ of the operating lever b is engaged with the receiving portion d as shown in FIG. 11, and the lever b is pushed and rotated as indicated by the arrow P. Thus, the male housing c is advanced to the female housing a side (FIG. 12), and the fitting is completed at the position where the lever b engages the locking claws e and f and locks (FIG. 13). Operating lever b
Since a large force is obtained by the lever action, the multipolar electric connector can be fitted with a small force.

[0004]

In the conventional electrical connector, before the use of both housings a and c or when they are not fitted yet, the operating lever b is locked by the locking claw e as shown by the phantom line in FIG. It can be temporarily locked, but since it protrudes from the front of the housing, it may be entangled with the electric wires or damaged by external force.

In use, the lock is unlocked and shown in FIG.
Although it is in a start-up state as indicated by a solid line at 0, in this state, in addition to being entangled with the electric wire as described above, there is no holding means for holding it, so there is a possibility that it may fall down again as indicated by arrow Q, and the initial fitting This had to be supported by hand until the end (Fig. 11) was completed, and the work was troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and there is no risk that the operating lever will jump out of the housing and become entangled with or damage to the electric wire. Moreover, the operating lever is unlocked during fitting work. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector with a lever that is easy to operate and that can be fitted with a small force without the trouble of supporting it.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, a male connector having a cam pin,
A female connector having a pin guide groove into which the cam pin enters, a lever member having a cam groove engaging with the cam pin and pivotally supported by the female connector, a spring lock portion and an unlock portion. An elastic lock member having an elastic engaging portion and assembled along the lever member and biasing the lever member in the unlocking direction, and the cam groove and the cam pin at the initial fitting of both connectors. Are engaged with each other, a pair of terminals built into both connectors are engaged with each other during later mating of both connectors by rotation of the lever member, and the spring lock portion engages with the lock portion of the female connector. A structure is adopted in which the elastic engaging portion of the elastic lock member rides over the mountain-shaped spring guide provided in the female connector when the connector is fitted in the middle stage.

[0008]

In the middle fitting, the elastic engagement portion of the elastic lock member moves over the mountain-shaped spring guide, and the restoring force of the elastic engagement portion acts to reduce the fitting load of the pair of terminals.

The spring lock portion of the elastic lock member engages with the lock portion of the female connector to hold the fitting state of the pair of connectors during the latter mating, and the spring lock portion is pressed by pressing the lock release portion. Displace and unlock.

[0010]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention.
Is a male connector, B is a female connector, C is a lever member, and D is an elastic locking member. The housing 1 made of synthetic resin of the male connector A has a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers 2 therein, and cam pins 3 are provided in front of both side walls so as to project therefrom.
Accommodates a female terminal (not shown). The female connector B is provided with a hood 5 for receiving the male connector A in front of a housing body 4 accommodating a male terminal corresponding to the female terminal. The hood 5 is provided with pin guide grooves 6 for the cam pins 3 and pins 7 for pivotally supporting the lever member C and the elastic lock member D on both side walls of the hood 5. Further, stoppers 8 for the elastic lock member D and front and rear directions are provided on both side walls. A mountain-shaped spring guide 9 having tapered surfaces 9a and 9b is provided. Further, a locking projection 10 for the elastic locking member D is provided at the front end of the upper front outer peripheral wall of the hood 5.

The lever member C is formed in a U-shaped cross section by connecting the shoulder portions of a pair of levers 11 facing each other with a connecting plate 12. Each lever 11 has a shaft hole 13 and a cam groove 14 whose one end is an open end, and further has a spring escape slit 15 for accommodating a part of the elastic lock member D. An operating portion 16 and a spring engaging portion 17 are formed on the connecting plate 12 (see FIG. 2).

The elastic lock member is formed symmetrically by bending one elastic metal wire, and the spring lock portion 18 also serving as a connecting portion has a lock releasing portion 19 and an elastic engaging portion which are curved outwardly on the left and right sides. The joining portion 20, the winding attachment portion 21, and the reversing spring portion 22 are continuously provided. The assembly of the connector with lever is performed as follows. In the hood 5 of the female connector B, the reversing spring portion 22 is engaged with the stopper 8 by engaging the winding attachment portion 21 with the pin 7 in a state where the spring lock portion 18 of the elastic lock member D is located on the front outer peripheral wall. At the same time, the elastic engagement portion 20 is positioned behind the spring guide 9.

Next, the pair of levers 1 of the lever member C
1 and 11 are temporarily expanded to the outside by utilizing their flexibility, and the shaft hole 13 is externally inserted to the pin 7. At this time, the lock release portion 19 of the elastic lock member D is the spring escape slit of the lever member C. The spring lock portion 18 abuts on the spring engagement portion 17 so that the elastic lock member D is incorporated into the lever member C.

Next, mating and unmating of the female and male connectors will be described. In the situation of FIG. 2, the lever member C
Is urged by the elastic lock member D toward the release position side indicated by the arrow P, and the elastic engaging portion 20 of the elastic lock member D is located behind the rear taper surface 9a of the chevron-shaped spring guide 9, and this release is performed. Position is held stably. In this released position, the open end 14a of the cam groove 14 is aligned with the guide groove 6 of the hood 5.

When the male connector A is inserted into the hood 5 of the female connector B in the state shown in FIG.
Thereby enters the cam groove 14 of the lever 11 and engages with it. At this time, the female and male terminals are not in contact with each other, and the male connector A is lightly fitted (initial fitting). Therefore, when the lever member C is rotated forward through the operation portion 16 in the direction opposite to the arrow P (point a in FIG. 8), the male connector A is moved to the female connector side by the cam groove 14 engaging with the cam pin 3. The elastic engaging portion 20 of the elastic lock member D is pulled up and abuts on the rear taper surface 9a of the spring guide 9 and is displaced outward while overcoming the top portion 9c (point b in FIG. 8) (see FIGS. 6 and 5). ), The elastic engagement portion 20 is restored by the front taper surface 9b to urge the fitting operation (mid-term fitting). When the elastic engagement portion 20 has passed over the spring guide 9, the fitting of the female and male terminals is started. In FIG. 8, in the lever operation according to the present invention shown by the solid line, the terminal insertion force shown by the dotted line is greatly reduced, and the lever operation load is larger than that of the conventional example (when the spring guide is not provided) shown by the chain double-dashed line. Indicates that the operation is smoothed out. The fitting operation can be easily performed with a smaller force due to the lever action of the lever member C. When the connecting plate 12 approaches the hood 5 side by the rotation of the lever member C, the spring lock portion 1 of the elastic lock member D
8 abuts on the tapered surface 10a of the projecting lock portion 10 and rides over the tapered surface 10a while being expanded outward, and the locking step portion 10b
To the late mating state where it is completely coupled (see FIG. 8c).
Points) (see Figure 3).

To disconnect the female and male connectors A and B,
By pressing the pair of lock release portions 19, the spring lock portion 18 expands outward as shown in FIG. 7 to disengage the locking projection 10, so that the lever member C is rotated in the arrow P direction. Elastic locking member D at this time.
Urges the returning operation of the lever member C to the release position.

[0017]

As described above, the present invention has a male connector having a cam pin, a female connector having a pin guide groove into which the cam pin enters, and a cam groove engaging with the cam pin. A lever member rotatably supported by a lever, a spring lock portion, a lock release portion, and an elastic engagement portion, which are assembled along the lever member and urge the lever member in the lock release direction. A lock member, the cam groove and the cam pin are engaged with each other at the initial fitting of both connectors, and a pair of terminals built into both connectors at the latter mating of both connectors by the rotation of the lever member. A mountain shape in which the spring lock portion engages with the lock portion of the female connector upon fitting and the elastic engaging portion of the elastic lock member is provided on the female connector during intermediate fitting of both connectors. Since the lever member is configured to get over the spring guide, the lever member is stably held in the lock release position by the elastic lock member and is prevented from being disorderly moved to the lock position by the chevron spring guide, so that the elastic lock member is prevented. Is assembled along the lever member, the entire structure is compact and the lever member prevents deformation of the elastic lock member.

Further, since the elastic lock member has passed over the chevron-shaped spring guide provided on the female connector in the previous stage at the time of the latter mating in which the pair of built-in terminals starts mating, the restoring force of the elastic lock member is overcome. Can be used for the fitting operation of the pair of terminals, and the load at the time of fitting can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a connector with a lever according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the connector with lever shown in FIG. 1 before fitting.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the connector with lever shown in FIG. 2 in a completely fitted state.

4 is a plan view of the female connector shown in FIG. 2. FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a spring guide and an elastic lock member.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the operation of the elastic lock member when the spring guide is passed over.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the operation of the elastic lock member when unlocking.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a lever operation angle and a fitting load of a connector.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a state before fitting a pair of connectors in a conventional example.

FIG. 11 is a side view showing a state in which a pair of connectors in a conventional example are in an initial mating state.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing a state in the middle of mating of a pair of connectors in a conventional example.

FIG. 13 is a side view showing a state after completion of fitting of a pair of connectors in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

A male connector B female connector C lever member D Elastic lock member 3 cam pins 6-pin guide groove 9 Spring guide 10 Lock part 14 Cam groove 18 Spring lock part 19 Lock release section 20 Elastic engagement part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A male connector having a cam pin, a female connector having a pin guide groove into which the cam pin enters, and a cam groove engaging with the cam pin, and being rotatably supported by the female connector. Connector, a spring lock portion, a lock release portion, and an elastic engagement portion, which are assembled along the lever member and urge the lever member in the lock release direction. The cam groove and the cam pin are engaged at the initial fitting of, and the pair of terminals built in both connectors are fitted at the later fitting of both connectors due to the rotation of the lever member, and the spring lock portion is Engages with the lock portion of the female connector so that the elastic engagement portion of the elastic lock member can ride over the chevron-shaped spring guide provided in the female connector during the middle fitting of both connectors. Connector with lever characterized by 2. The connector with lever according to claim 1, wherein the unlocking portion of the elastic lock member projects outward from the slit of the lever member.