JPH08148227A - Connector having lock - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a connector having a lock by which a mounting space can be restrained small when plural connectors are juxtaposed in the width direction. CONSTITUTION: A connector having a lock is provided with a connector main body 50, a hood 10 to cover the connector main body 10 and lock members 20 which are arranged between an outside side surface of the connector main body 50 and an inside side surface of the hood 10 so as to be freely rotatable as a shaft in parallel to the thickness direction of the connector main body 50 as a rotary shaft and engage with engaging parts of a mating side connector. Operation buttons 11 are arranged on thickness directional end surfaces of the hood 10 so as to be freely movable in the thickness direction, and the operation buttons 11 and the lock members 20 are connected to each other, and arms 21 are arranged to transmit a thickness directional movement of the operation buttons 11 to the lock members 20 by being converted into the direction for rotating the lock members 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lockable connector, and more particularly to a lockable connector used in an interface portion between various electronic devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a connector with a lock of this kind,
For example, there is one described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-94281. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, this connector includes a lock member 120 that engages with the mating connector and a hood 110 that covers the lock member 120.
The hood 110 includes a pair of hood elements 110a and 110b.
Are combined with each other. Hood element 110a,
Operation buttons 111a and 111b for disconnecting the mating connector are provided on the left and right side portions of 110b. The lock member 120 has a lock portion 122 that engages with the mating connector on one end side and a lock portion 122 on the other end side.
Each has a spring 124 for urging each of them in the locking direction. Further, the lock member 120 is rotatably attached to the hood 110 by engaging the protrusion 123 provided in the middle portion of the lock member 120 with the hood 110.

[0003] In this connector with lock, when the connector is detached in a state where it is fitted with the mating connector, the operator pinches the operation buttons 111a and 111b with, for example, the thumb and the index finger, and the width direction of the hood, That is, by pressing inward of the connector, the lock member 120 is rotated to disengage the lock portion 122 from the mating connector.

[0004]

By the way, in the conventional connector with lock, the detaching operation from the mating connector is performed in the width direction of the hood as described above. Then, in this detaching operation, the operator puts his / her finger in the width direction of the connector to operate.

Therefore, for example, when a plurality of connectors are arranged side by side in the width direction, it is necessary to leave a space for at least one finger between the connectors in order to perform such a detaching operation. As a result, there is a problem that the mounting space for the connector with lock is substantially increased by the amount of such space.

Further, when the connector has a large number of cores, there is a problem that the connector becomes large in the width direction and cannot be operated with one hand.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector with a lock that can reduce the mounting space when a plurality of connectors are arranged side by side in the width direction and can be operated with one hand. .

[0008]

According to the present invention, a connector main body, a hood covering the connector main body, and a thickness direction of the connector main body between an outer side surface of the connector main body and an inner side surface of the hood are provided. A lock including a lock member that is rotatably arranged about parallel shafts and has one end that engages with an engaging portion of a mating connector inserted between the outer side surface and the inner side surface. In the attached connector, an operation button is provided on the end face in the thickness direction of the hood so as to be movable along the thickness direction, the operation button and the lock member are connected to each other, and the movement of the operation button in the thickness direction is described above. A connector with a lock is provided, which is provided with a link for converting the movement of the locking member into a direction in which the locking member is rotated and transmitting the movement to the locking member.

Further, according to the present invention, the link has elasticity, one end of which is connected to the lock member at a portion deviated from the rotation shaft, and the other end of which is extended by the operation button in the thickness direction. A lockable connector is obtained which is an arm adapted to be pressed.

Further, according to the present invention, a pair of the lock members are provided, the link has elasticity, and the pair of lock members are connected to each other at a portion deviated from the rotating shaft, and a central portion thereof is provided. A lockable connector characterized in that is an arm which is pressed by the operation button along the thickness direction.

[0011]

In the connector with lock of the present invention, by operating the operation button provided on the end face in the thickness direction of the hood along the thickness direction of the hood, the lock member is rotated through the link, and the mating connector. Will be unlocked. By thus setting the operation direction of the operation button in the thickness direction of the hood, it is not necessary to provide a space for operation between adjacent connectors even when a plurality of connectors are arranged side by side in the width direction.

Further, even if the width of the connector is increased, it can be operated with one hand.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. 1 and 2
The lockable connector of the embodiment is shown in FIG. This connector includes a connector main body 50 having a plurality of conductive contacts 52 arranged side by side, a conductive lower back shell 30 and an upper back shell 40 provided around the connector main body 50 as a countermeasure for EMI. It is configured by including an insulating hood 10 located on the outer periphery, a lock member (lock spring) 20 rotatably attached to the hood 10, and the like.

The hood 10 includes a pair of hood elements 10a,
It is configured by combining 10b. Each hood element 10a,
An operation button 11 is formed at the center of 10b.
A pressing portion 11b is provided on the end surface of the operation button 11 outside the connector in the thickness direction of the hood 10. One end of the operation button 11 is integrally formed with the hood elements 10a and 10b so that the operation button 11 can be elastically moved along the thickness direction. A protrusion 11a is formed at a position substantially centrally inside the connector of the operation button 11. Here, the operation button 11 is
In the illustrated example, the hood 10 is formed integrally, but it may be formed separately. Further, the projection 11a is for locking the contact portion of the arm 21 of the lock member 20 so as not to move inward as described later (see FIGS. 4 and 5), and may be configured to suppress the movement. However, other configurations are possible.

The lock members 20 are made by processing a thin metal plate having elasticity into a predetermined shape, and are provided at the left and right end portions inside the hood 10, respectively. Each locking member 2
0 has a notch-shaped engaging portion 22 that engages with the engaging portion of the mating connector at one end, and the lock member 20 at the other end.
A spring portion 24 is formed by cutting and raising a part of each. Further, a protrusion 23 that forms the rotation axis of the lock member 20 is formed at the center of the lock member 20 so as to vertically project. The lock member 20 is arranged between the outer side surface of the connector body 50 and the inner side surface of the hood 10. Then, in this state, the connector main body 50 is configured to be rotatable about the above-described rotating shaft that is parallel to the thickness direction of the connector main body 50.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a mating connector 70 which is connected to the lock connector of the embodiment.
The engaging portion 22 formed at one end of the lock member 20 is provided on the outer side surface of the connector body 50 and the hood 10.
Engages with the hook-shaped engaging portion 71 of the mating connector 70 inserted between the inner side surface of

Further, the lock member 20 is integrally formed with an arm 21 serving as a link connecting the lock member 20 and the operation button 11. The arm 21 has a function of converting the movement of the operation button 11 in the thickness direction into the movement in the direction of rotating the lock member 20 as described above and transmitting the movement to the lock member 20. In addition, the arm 21 is connected to the lock member at a portion where one end of the arm 21 is disengaged from the protrusion 23 that forms the rotating shaft. Further, the other end of the arm 21 is pressed by the operation button 11 along the thickness direction as described later.

Assembling of the lock connector of the embodiment is as follows.
The procedure is as follows. First, after passing a cable (not shown) through the bushing 60, the insulating coating on the tip of the cable is peeled off to expose the shield wire and the electric wire inside thereof by a predetermined length, and the end of the electric wire is pressure-bonded to the connector body 50. .

Next, the connector body 50 is sandwiched and fixed by the lower back shell 30 and the upper back shell 40. In this case, the engaging protrusions 51 of the connector body 50 are engaged with the engaging holes 3 of the lower back shell 30 and the upper back shell 40.
1 and 41 respectively. Also the upper back shell 4
By engaging the engaging piece 42 of 0 with the engaging hole 32 of the lower back shell 30, the upper back shell 40 and the lower back shell 30 are fixed to each other. Then, the shield wire portion of the cable is connected to the wire crimping portion 3 of the lower back shell 30.
Tighten with 1 to fix.

After that, the assembly of the connector body 50 and the lower back shell 30, the bushing 60, and the lock member 20 are placed in the inner recess of the hood element 10b. In this case, the tip of the lower arm 21 of the lock member 20 is brought into contact with the central protrusion 11a of the operation button 11, and the spring 24 of the lock member 20 is housed in the recess 12 formed in the hood element 10b. .

Finally, the hood element 10a is superposed on the hood element 10b, and the engaging projections 13a and the engaging recesses 13b formed on the hood element 10a and the engaging projection 13a are relatively engaged with each other to fix the both. Hood elements 10b and 10
Each part located between a and is fixed.

When the connector with lock of the embodiment is fitted and locked to the mating connector 70, the notch-shaped engaging portion 22 of the locking member 20 is formed into a hook shape of the mating connector 70 as in the conventional case. Of the engaging portion 71 spreads outward, that is, the left and right lock members 20 in FIG. 4 move in parallel to the left and right in the figure. And the engaging portion 7
1 is inserted to the cutout portion of the engaging portion 22, the lock member 20 returns to its original state due to its elasticity, the engaging portion 71 is locked by the engaging portion 22, and the lock connector and the mating connector 70 are connected. Is locked.

When the lockable connector of the embodiment is released from the mating connector 70 by unlocking it from the mating connector 70, for example, an operator pushes the upper and lower operation buttons 11 with his thumb and forefinger. While pressing, push inward in the thickness direction of the connector. That is, in FIG. 5, a force like the direction I is applied to the operation button 11. Thereby, the arm 21 is pushed inward by the operation button 11 to move inward in the thickness direction of the connector, and accordingly, the engaging portion 22 of the lock portion 20 is widened in the width direction of the hood 10, that is, left and right, The engagement of the engagement portion 71 by the engagement portion 22 is released.

FIG. 6 shows another example of the lock member 20. In the example described above, the pair of lock members 20 are separately provided on the left and right, but in the example of FIG. 6, these are integrated. That is, in the lock member 20 shown in FIG. 6, the pair of left and right main body portions and the arm 21 that is a link are integrally formed by a thin metal plate having elasticity. In addition,
In the example of FIG. 6, only one arm 21 serving as a link is provided on the upper side, but it may be provided on the lower side.

[0025]

As described above, in the connector with lock of the present invention, since the operation direction of the operation button is the thickness direction of the hood, even when a plurality of connectors are arranged side by side in the width direction, the adjacent connectors are connected to each other. There is no need to provide an operating space between them. Therefore, when a plurality of connectors are arranged side by side in the width direction, the mounting space can be reduced.

Further, even if the width of the connector is increased, the operation button can be operated with one hand.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a hooded connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the hooded connector of FIG.

3 is a perspective view showing a mating connector of the hooded connector of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a locked state of the hooded connector of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an unlocked state of the hooded connector of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a lock member used in another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of a connector with a lock.

8 is an exploded perspective view of the connector with lock of FIG. 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Hood 11 Operation Button 11a Protrusion 20 Lock Member 21 Arm 22 Engagement Part 30 Lower Backshell 40 Upper Backshell 50 Connector Body 60 Bushing 70 Mating Connector

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector main body, a hood covering the connector main body, and a shaft which is parallel to the thickness direction of the connector main body and rotatable between an outer side surface of the connector main body and an inner side surface of the hood. In the thickness direction of the hood, wherein the one end of the hood includes a lock member that engages with an engaging portion of a mating connector that is inserted between the outer side surface and the inner side surface. An operation button is provided on the end face so as to be movable along the thickness direction, the operation button and the lock member are connected to each other, and the movement of the operation button in the thickness direction is changed to the movement in the direction of rotating the lock member. A connector with a lock, characterized in that a link for converting and transmitting to the lock member is provided. 2. The link has elasticity, one end of which is connected to the lock member at a portion deviated from the rotation shaft, and the other end of which is pressed by the operation button along the thickness direction. 2. The connector with lock according to claim 1, wherein the connector is an arm. 3. A pair of the lock members are provided, the link has elasticity, and the pair of lock members are connected to each other at a portion deviated from the rotary shaft, and a central portion thereof is formed by the operation button. The connector with a lock according to claim 1, wherein the connector is an arm configured to be pressed along the thickness direction.