JPH0729759U - Female terminal fittings for connectors - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To prevent the locking lance from being erroneously locked or caught at a place where a stopper for preventing excessive bending of the elastic contact piece is formed. A stopper 15 for preventing excessive bending of the elastic contact piece 10 is formed by bending upward from the center of the lower wall portion 8 in the width direction, and is closer to the tip side than the second engaging portion 7 with which the lance 23 is engaged. Located in. The punching hole 16 vacated by the formation of the stopper 15 has a small opening in a narrow range extending from the center of the lower wall portion 8 to one side edge. Even when the stopper 15 reaches the lance 23 before the second locking portion 7 when the terminal fitting 1 is inserted, the punching port 16 is narrow and the lance 23 cannot be inserted. There is no erroneous locking or catching, and the stopper 15 smoothly passes through the lance 23.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention provides a connector in which an elastic contact piece is provided in a cylindrical fitting portion with an open end, and a male terminal fitting fitted in the cylindrical fitting portion is brought into contact with the elastic contact piece to make an electrical connection. The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 In a connector used to connect electric wires to each other in an automobile wire harness, etc., a male terminal fitting is installed in one of a pair of connector housings connected to each other and a female terminal fitting is installed in the other connector housing. The male and female terminal fittings are electrically connected by fitting the male terminal fittings into the cylindrical fitting part with the open ends of the fittings.

In such a connector connection structure, in order to ensure contact between the terminal fittings, an elastic contact piece is provided in the hollow of the tubular fitting portion of the female terminal fitting, and A stopper is provided to prevent excessive flexing of the resilient contact piece and to prevent loss of its proper spring properties. An example thereof is shown in FIGS. 9 to 11. The elastic contact piece 53 is formed by projecting an elongated portion extending from the front end of the wall portion 52 forming the tubular fitting portion 51 of the female terminal fitting 50 into the hollow of the tubular fitting portion 51 by folding back the portion. Has a curved shape. The elastic contact piece 53 securely presses the male and female terminal fittings by pinching the male terminal fitting (not shown) between the elastic contact piece 53 and the inner wall 54 of the tubular fitting portion 51.

On the other hand, the stopper 55 forms a pair of left and right protrusions by punching out a part of the wall portion 52 of the wall portion forming the tubular fitting portion 51 facing the back side of the elastic contact piece 53. The projecting pieces are bent so as to correspond to the back surface of the elastic contact piece 53. By providing the stopper 55, the elastic contact piece 53 can be prevented when a foreign object having a diameter larger than that of the male terminal fitting is inserted into the cylindrical fitting portion 51 or the male terminal fitting is obliquely fitted. The elastic contact piece 53 is prevented from excessively bending beyond its elastic limit, and the elastic contact piece 53 is prevented from being bent due to excessive bending and losing proper spring characteristics.

By the way, when the stopper 55 is formed in this way, the center portion between the stoppers 55, 55 is largely opened due to the trade-off between the width dimension of the wall portion 52 and the bending length dimension of the stopper 55. The punching port 56 thus formed is formed. For this reason, the punching hole 56 is used as a locking portion for inserting and fitting a lance 57 provided in a connector housing (not shown), and by locking the lance 57 to the punching hole 56, the female terminal is formed. The metal fitting 50 is held in a cavity (not shown) so that it cannot be pulled out.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 In the above-mentioned conventional example, the punching hole opened with the formation of the stopper is used as the locking portion with the lance, but the punching hole is located at a position rearward of the stopper provided in the same manner as above. If the locking portion for the lance is provided separately from the above, the following problems will occur. That is, when the female terminal fitting is inserted into the cavity, the punching hole between the stoppers reaches the lance before the locking portion, but at this time, the punching hole is opened to the large opening. May get caught and may be accidentally locked or caught.In such a case, the operator may mistakenly think that the female terminal fitting has been inserted to the proper position and finish the work, resulting in defective insertion. There is also a problem that the operation of pushing in the female terminal fitting is hindered and the efficiency of insertion work is reduced.

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and even when a locking portion for locking the lance and retaining and holding the female end fitting is provided at a position rearward of the stopper. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a female terminal fitting for a connector, which can prevent the lance from being erroneously locked or caught at the stopper formation location.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The female terminal fitting for a connector according to the present invention is, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, provided with an elastic contact piece in a tubular fitting portion having an open tip as described in claim 1 to provide a tubular fitting. The male terminal fitting fitted in the mating part is electrically connected to the elastic contact piece by contacting the elastic contact piece, and the elastic contact piece faces the side opposite to the contact side with the male terminal fitting. A stopper is formed on the wall of the cylindrical fitting part by cutting and raising a part of the wall and raising it from the center part in the width direction to the side of the elastic contact piece, and this stopper elastically bends the elastic contact piece. This is characterized by the fact that it is configured to regulate the amount.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the device according to the first aspect, the stopper bends from a central position in the width direction of the wall portion along a fold line in the length direction of the female terminal fitting. It is characterized by being formed by raising it.

[0010]

[Action]

 In the present invention, since the stopper is formed so as to stand up from the central portion in the width direction of the wall portion, in order to support the rising base end portion of the stopper in the central portion in the width direction of the wall portion. There is a wall surface, and the opening of the punching hole that occurs when the stopper is cut and raised does not become large enough for the lance to enter. Therefore, when the locking part with the lance is provided behind the stopper, the place where the stopper is formed reaches the lance before the locking part when the female end fitting is inserted. Moreover, the lance does not fit into or get caught in the stopper punching hole, and the place where the stopper is formed passes the lance while the lance is in contact with the surface of the central portion of the wall.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the punching hole of the stopper only opens within a narrow range extending from the central position of the wall portion to one side edge side, and the stopper forming position is When passing through the lance, the lance comes into contact with the surface opposite to the punching hole from the center of the wall, and the lance does not fit into the punching hole.

[0012]

[Effect of device]

 As explained by the above operation, in the present invention, even when the locking portion with the lance is provided at the rear position of the stopper, the lance is generated due to the formation of the stopper during the insertion of the female terminal fitting. Since it does not fit into or get caught in the punching hole, the operator misunderstands that the female terminal fitting has been inserted to the proper position, and finishes the work, resulting in defective insertion and the female terminal fitting. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the pushing operation is hindered and the efficiency of the insertion work is reduced.

[0013]

【Example】

 Hereinafter, a first embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the overall structure of the female terminal fitting 1 of the first embodiment, the connector housing 20 in which the female terminal fitting 1 is mounted, and the mounting structure of the female terminal fitting 1 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connector housing 20 is provided therein with a cavity 21 into which the female terminal fitting 1 can be inserted from the rear surface side. The wall 22 that constitutes the cavity 21 is formed with a flexible deformable lance 23 provided with a protrusion 24 that projects from the lower surface side of FIG. The connector housing 20 is integrally provided with a retainer 25 having a shape that is gradually widened in the front downward direction and performing a double locking function together with the lance 23 via a flexible hinge piece (not shown). . The retainer 25 is inserted into the insertion opening 27 on the upper surface of the cavity 21 in FIG. 2 while being guided by the guide surface 26, and the widened tip of the retainer 25 penetrates into the cavity 21 and the protrusion 2 of the lance 23. It is designed to stop at the same position as 4.

On the other hand, the female terminal fitting 1 is formed by punching a conductive metal plate into a predetermined shape and bending a predetermined portion. The tip side portion is a tubular fitting portion 2 having a rectangular cross section as a whole, and the tip end thereof is opened to the outside to serve as an insertion port 3 for a male terminal fitting. Further, a portion continuous to the rear side of the tubular fitting portion 2 is a box portion 4 whose upper wall portion is cut off. A rear edge of the upper wall portion 9 of the tubular fitting portion 2 which is a boundary with the box portion 4 is a first locking portion 5, and a fitting hole 6 is formed in the lower wall portion of the box portion 4. It is opened, and its front edge serves as a second locking portion 7, and the first and second locking portions 5 and 7 are located at the same length position from the tip of the terminal fitting 1. Has been formed.

When the above-mentioned female terminal fitting 1 is inserted into the regular position in the cavity 21, the protrusion 24 of the lance 23 enters the fitting hole 6 of the lower wall portion due to the elastic restoration of the lance 23, and the second locking is performed. Primary locking is performed by locking the part 7. Subsequently, when the retainer 25 is attached to the connector housing 20, the tip of the retainer 25 is fitted into the box portion 4 so that the retainer 25 is locked to the first locking portion 5 and secondary locking is performed. As a result, the female terminal fitting 1 is held in a double-locked state so that it cannot be removed from the cavity 21.

The female terminal fitting 1 mounted in the cavity 21 is fitted and electrically connected to a male terminal fitting (not shown) mounted in the mating connector housing. The specific connection structure will be described below.

In the hollow of the tubular fitting portion 2 of the female terminal fitting 1, an elastic contact piece 10 extending from the lower wall portion 8 in FIG. 2 It is provided so as to be located closer to the tip side than the locking portion 7. The elastic contact piece 10 has a folded-back portion 11 that is folded back from the tip edge of the lower wall portion 8 and a contact portion 13 that extends backward from the folded-back portion 11 and is bent into a slight mountain shape. The extended portion 12 and the bent portion 14 formed by bending the tip of the extended portion 12 upward. When the elastic contact piece 10 is in the free state, the bending portion 14 abuts the upper wall portion 9 of the tubular fitting portion 2 due to its elasticity, so that the contact portion 13 of the elastic contact piece 10 and the upper wall portion 9 are separated from each other. There is a space between them that is slightly smaller than the thickness of the tabs on the male terminal fittings.

Further, the cylindrical fitting portion 2 is provided with a stopper 15 for preventing elastic deformation of the elastic contact piece 10 exceeding the elastic limit, which is located closer to the tip side than the second locking portion 7. It has been done. The stopper 15 is formed by bending a lateral projection piece formed by notching in a “U” shape from one side edge of the lower wall portion 8 to a center thereof and bending the projection piece upward. The stopper 15 rises from the central position in the width direction of the lower wall portion 8 at a substantially right angle with the lengthwise direction of the female terminal fitting 1 as a fold line, and when the elastic contact piece 10 is free, the tip of the stopper 15 is elastic. It faces the lower surface of the contact piece 10 with a predetermined gap. At the position where the stopper 15 is formed, the portion of the lower wall portion 8 punched out when the stopper 15 is formed has a small opening in a narrow range extending from the center in the width direction of the lower wall portion 8 to one side edge, and punched. It is mouth 16.

By providing the elastic contact piece 10 and the stopper 15 in this way, when the tab of the male terminal fitting is fitted into the tubular fitting portion 2, the extension portion 12 of the elastic contact piece 10 is replaced by the tab. The folded-back portion 11 bends within the range of its elastic limit by being pushed down by, and the elastic force causes the tab to contact the elastic contact piece 10 and the upper wall portion 9 with a predetermined contact pressure, so that the male terminal fitting and the female terminal fitting are connected. 1 is surely electrically connected. In addition, when the amount of bending of the elastic contact piece 10 becomes large due to the inclination of the male terminal fitting or the intrusion of foreign matter, the elastic contact piece is attached to the upper end of the stopper 15 while the amount of bending is within the elastic limit. The lower surface of the extending portion 12 of 10 abuts, so that excessive bending of the elastic contact piece 10 beyond the elastic limit is prevented. As a result, the elastic contact piece 10 is prevented from being bent due to excessive bending and losing proper spring characteristics.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described. When the female terminal fitting 1 is inserted into the cavity 21, the position where the stopper 15 is formed, which is located on the tip side of the second locking portion 7, reaches the lance 23 before the second locking portion 7. Will be done. Here, a small punching hole 16 formed by the formation of the stopper 15 is opened at the position where the stopper 15 is formed on the lower wall portion 8. The opening range of the punching hole 16 is As described above, the width of the lower wall portion 8 is narrow from approximately the center in the width direction to one side edge. Therefore, when the stopper 15 reaches the lance 23, the lance 23 does not enter the inside of the punching hole 16 or get caught on the edge of the punching hole 16, and as shown in FIG. The reference numeral 23 only contacts the outer surface of the lower wall portion 8. Therefore, the portion where the stopper 15 is formed can smoothly pass through the lance 23 without any trouble.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the locking portion 7 for engaging the lance 23 is provided at the rear position of the stopper 15, the stopper 15 is formed when the female terminal fitting 1 is inserted. The location reaches the lance 23 before the locking portion 7. However, when the female terminal fitting 1 is inserted, the location where the stopper 15 is formed can smoothly pass through the lance 23 as described above. Therefore, the female terminal fitting 1 can be smoothly inserted to the regular position where the lance 23 is locked to the second locking portion 7. Therefore, the lance 23 is locked in the punching hole 16, and the operator misunderstands that the lance 23 is locked in the second locking portion 7, and ends the work in a defectively inserted state. There is no possibility that the smooth insertion work of the female terminal fitting 1 will be hindered because 23 is caught in the punching port 16.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The female terminal fitting 30 of the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the stopper 31. The stopper 31 of the present embodiment is formed by bending upward a rearward protruding piece formed by notching the central portion in the width direction of the lower wall portion 32 in a "U" shape. The stopper 31 rises from the center position in the width direction of the lower wall portion 32 at a substantially right angle from the rear side to the tip side with the width direction of the female terminal fitting 30 as a fold, and when the elastic contact piece 33 is free. The tip of the stopper 31 faces the lower surface of the elastic contact piece 33 with a predetermined gap. At the position where the stopper 31 is formed, the cutout portion of the lower wall portion 32 when the stopper 31 is formed is opened in a "substantially U-shape" to form a punching hole 34. The width in the insertion direction is smaller than that of the second locking portion 35, and the width of the widest portion is smaller.

When the female terminal fitting 30 is inserted into the cavity not shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the formation location of the stopper 31 reaches the lance (not shown) before the second locking portion 35. The punching hole 34 at the location where the stopper 31 is formed is small, and the lance does not enter the punching hole 34. Therefore, the portion where the stopper 31 is formed can smoothly pass through the lance without any trouble.

7 and 8 show a third embodiment embodying the present invention. The female terminal fitting 40 of the third embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the stopper 41. The stopper 41 of the present embodiment is formed by bending a forward projecting piece formed by notching the central portion in the width direction of the lower wall portion 42 into a "U-shape" upward. The stopper 41 rises from the center position in the width direction of the lower wall portion 42 at a substantially right angle from the front side to the rear side with the width direction of the female terminal fitting 40 as a fold line. At the position where the stopper 41 is formed, the notched portion of the lower wall portion 42 at the time of forming the stopper 41 is opened in a "substantially U-shape" to form a punching hole 44. The width of the second locking portion 45 is smaller than that of the second locking portion 45, and the dimension in the insertion direction is small even in the widest portion thereof. When the female terminal fitting 40 is inserted into the cavity not shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the formation location of the stopper 41 reaches the lance before the second locking portion 45, but the formation location of the stopper 41. The punching hole 44 is small, and a lance (not shown) does not enter the punching hole 44. Therefore, the portion where the stopper 41 is formed can smoothly pass through the lance without any trouble.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be modified and implemented as follows, for example. (A) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the second locking portion provided behind the stopper forming portion is hole-shaped has been described. However, in the present invention, the second locking portion defines an inner wall. It can also be applied to the case where it is formed by forming a step. (B) In the above embodiment, the case where the first locking portion for performing the secondary locking and the second locking portion for performing the primary locking are provided so as to correspond to each other As described above, the present invention can also be applied to the case where the two locking portions are separately provided so as not to correspond to each other.

Besides, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the stopper according to the first embodiment in a functioning state.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a state where the stopper of the third embodiment functions.

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a conventional example.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of a conventional example.

11 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Female terminal metal fitting 2 ... Cylindrical fitting part 8 ... Wall part 10 ... Elastic contact piece 15 ... Stopper

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Creator Shoji Suzuki 1-14 Nishisuehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An elastic contact piece is provided in a cylindrical fitting part having an open end, and a male terminal fitting fitted in the cylindrical fitting part is brought into contact with the elastic contact piece to electrically connect to the male terminal fitting. In the wall portion of the cylindrical fitting portion facing the side opposite to the contact side of the elastic contact piece with the male terminal fitting, a part of the wall portion is cut and raised in the width direction. A female terminal fitting for a connector, characterized in that a stopper is formed by standing up from a central portion to the side of the elastic contact piece, and the stopper regulates an elastic bending amount of the elastic contact piece. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the stopper is formed by bending and rising from a central position in the width direction of the wall portion along a fold line in the lengthwise direction of the female terminal fitting. Female terminal fittings for.