JPH08293367A - Mutual connecting terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To protect an elastic contact piece and prevent its deformation in a mutual connecting terminal for bringing terminals into contact to each other. CONSTITUTION: A pair of side wall parts 22 raised opposite to each other are formed on a terminal body 20, and an elastic contact piece 25 is provided in a position lower than the top ends of the side wall parts 22 between the side wail parts 22. A common connecting projection part 28 is formed on a bottom wall part 21 of the terminal body 20 by cutting, and this makes contact with the elastic contact piece 25 of a terminal 10 situated on a lower stage. Each terminal is housed in a housing 30 and laid in the dropping-out prevented state, and makes contact to each other to commonly connect wires to each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an interconnection terminal for commonly connecting a plurality of electric wires.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wire harness for a vehicle, for example, a joint connector is used for commonly connecting earth lines from a plurality of electric components and connecting the earth lines to a vehicle body. As a conventional example of the terminal used for the joint connector, for example, the structure shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-120287 is known.

As shown in FIG. 10, this is a structure in which a wire barrel 2 for caulking and connecting an electric wire (not shown) and a terminal body 1 are integrally formed, and they are vertically stacked in a housing (not shown). Is inserted. The terminal body 1 is formed with side walls 3 that face each other and elastic contact pieces 4 that are located between the side walls 3. The elastic contact piece 4 is formed by bending in a chevron shape, and the top of the chevron shape projects upward from the upper end of the side wall portion 3 and comes into contact with the bottom portions of the other terminals arranged above it, so that the terminals are mutually connected. It comes into contact. In this type of terminal in which the terminals are brought into contact with each other, there is no need for a bus bar for commonly connecting the terminals, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[0004]

However, in the terminal having the above-mentioned structure, since the elastic contact piece 4 projects upward from the upper end of the side wall portion 3, the terminal is manufactured and then the electric wire is connected thereto to connect the connector housing. In each work step up to mounting on the elastic contact piece 4, foreign matter may touch the elastic contact piece 4 and deform it. If the elastic contact piece 4 is deformed so as to sink downward under the force of being pressed from above, sufficient contact pressure with other terminals cannot be obtained, and reliability of electrical contact is reduced. Cause the problem of lowering.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable mutual contact of terminals,
An object of the present invention is to provide an interconnection terminal capable of protecting the elastic contact piece and preventing its deformation.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interconnection terminal having a plurality of electric wires which are commonly connected to each other, wherein the terminal bodies are combined with each other and contact each other. Are opposed to each other in a pair of raised side walls, elastic contact pieces located between both side wall parts and lower than the tips of the both side wall parts, and the bottom part of the terminal body. And a common connection protrusion that comes into contact with the elastic contact piece by entering between the side wall portions of the other terminals that are protruded and combined downward.

Further, the interconnection terminal according to claim 2 is
The common connection protrusion is characterized in that it is formed in the shape of a protrusion that extends along the gap between the side wall portions by cutting and raising the bottom portion of the terminal body.

Further, in the interconnect terminal according to the third aspect, the terminal body is inserted into the housing, and the locking pieces engaging with the housing are cut and raised at the side wall portions of the terminal body. It is characterized by being formed by.

[0009]

According to the invention of claim 1, since the side wall portion is provided on the terminal main body in a rising shape and the elastic contact pieces are provided at positions lower than the tips of both side wall portions, the elastic contact piece is provided. It will be protected by the side walls on both sides,
There is no useless force acting here. Even if the elastic contact piece is hidden behind the side wall in this manner, the common connection protrusion is provided on the bottom of the terminal body, and the common contact protrusion is projected downward, and this is combined with the elastic contact piece of the terminal. Therefore, the common connection between the terminals is not hindered.

According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the above action,
Since the common connection protrusion is formed in the shape of a protrusion extending along the gap between the side wall portions, the tip contacts the elastic contact piece. According to the invention of claim 3, the locking piece formed on the terminal body is engaged with the housing, whereby the plurality of terminal bodies are stably accommodated in the housing.

[0011]

As described above, according to the interconnection terminal of the present invention, the common connection projections bring the terminals into contact with each other, and the elastic contact pieces are hidden behind the side wall portions of the terminal body for protection. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the elastic contact piece from being deformed during the assembling process, and thus it is possible to maintain the reliability of the electrical contact with high effect. Further, particularly according to the invention of claim 2, when the two interconnection terminals are vertically combined, the common connection protrusion and the elastic contact piece are naturally in a reliable connection state, and the common connection protrusion is cut. The effect that it can be easily manufactured is obtained by raising. Furthermore, according to the invention of claim 3, since the terminal main body is stably housed in the housing, there is an advantage that a more stable common connection state can be obtained.

[0012]

【Example】

<First Embodiment> A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of an interconnecting terminal 10 according to the present embodiment, in which a wire barrel 13 for caulking a core wire 12 of an electric wire 11 is attached to a rear end of a box-shaped terminal body 20. Electric wire 11
Is integrally formed with an insulation barrel 15 for crimping the insulating coating 14. In the terminal body 20, opposite side wall portions 22 are formed in a rising shape on both sides of the rectangular bottom wall portion 21 in the longitudinal direction, and the upper ends of the side wall portions 22 are folded back in a U shape. A gap 23 having a predetermined width is formed between the side wall portions 22, 22. Further, a locking piece 24 having an open rear side (wire barrel 13 side) is formed on each of the side wall portions 22 by cutting and raising so as to engage with an engaging projection 31 of a housing 30 described later. It has become.

A long strip is cut out from the center of the front edge of the bottom wall 21, and is bent so that it is located between the side walls 22 to form an elastic contact piece 25.
The tip end side of the elastic contact piece 25 is folded back obliquely downward as shown in FIG. 2, and at the position where it comes into contact with the bottom wall portion 21, the support piece portion 26 is further folded back and extends vertically. The lower end of the supporting piece 26 is in contact with the bottom wall 21 of the terminal body 20, and the upper end of the supporting piece 26 has a predetermined gap between it and the back surface of the elastic contact piece 25. When it is largely bent and deformed, its back surface comes into contact with the upper end of the support piece portion 26 to prevent further deformation. A contact portion 27 is formed on the upper surface of the elastic contact piece 25 in a circular shape.

Then, in the bottom wall portion 21 below the elastic contact piece 25, two common connection protrusions 28 are formed in an opposed state by cutting and raising as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. There is. The common connection protrusion 28 has a trapezoidal shape,
It is cut and raised in a trapezoidal shape so as to open both side wall portions 22 side, and is formed in a protruding piece shape extending along the gap 23 between the both side wall portions 22 at substantially the center of the bottom wall portion 21.

On the other hand, the housing 30 has a rectangular box shape with one surface (right side in FIG. 5) opened, and a plurality of (here, four) interconnection terminals 10 can be inserted vertically. It is like this. For that purpose, a rib 32 extending in the left-right direction is formed inside, and thereby a terminal accommodating chamber 33 which is vertically stacked is formed. As shown in FIG. 6, engagement projections 31 are provided on both side walls of the terminal accommodating chamber 33 so as to project the interlocking terminals 10 inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 33. The terminal 10 is prevented from coming off by engaging with the piece 24. Further, a pressing projection 34 is provided on the lower surface of the ceiling of the housing 30 at a position corresponding to the elastic contact piece 25 of the uppermost interconnecting terminal 10.

In the above structure, the plurality of interconnection terminals 10 crimped to the electric wires 11 are inserted into the respective terminal accommodating chambers 33 of the housing 30. Each terminal 10 has a side wall 2
The engaging piece 24 formed in 2 is the engaging projection 3 of the housing 30.
By engaging with the housing 1, the housing 30 is prevented from coming off. In the mounted state of the interconnection terminal 10, the common connection protrusion 28 of the terminal 10 located in the upper stage comes into contact with the elastic contact piece 25 of the terminal 10 located in the lower stage, and is electrically connected. With this, the electric wires 11 of the terminals 10 are commonly connected. The pressing protrusion 34 of the housing 30 contacts with the elastic contact piece 25 of the uppermost terminal 10 so as to press the elastic projection piece 34 to hold the terminal 10.

According to the embodiment of this structure, since the side wall portion 22 is provided in the terminal 10 in an upright shape and the elastic contact pieces 25 are provided so as to be hidden behind the side wall portions 22 of the terminal 10, the elastic contact piece 25 is provided. The piece 25 is protected by the side wall portions 22 on both sides. Therefore, in each work process from the manufacturing of the terminal 10 to the connection of the electric wire 11 to the mounting of the terminal 30 on the housing 30, unnecessary force is not applied to the elastic contact piece 25 from the outside, and its deformation is prevented. It can be surely prevented, and a reliable electrical connection state can be obtained. Of course, even if the elastic contact piece 25 is hidden behind the side wall portion 22 as described above, the bottom wall portion 2 of the terminal body 20 is
1 is provided with a common connection protrusion 28, which is connected to the lower terminal 1
Since it is made to contact the elastic contact piece 25 of 0,
The connection state between the terminals 10 is reliable. Rather, in this embodiment, in particular, the common connection protrusion 28 is formed in the shape of a protrusion extending along the gap 23 between the side wall portions 22, so that when the terminals 10 are sequentially inserted into the housing 30, they are inserted first. The terminal 10 to be inserted later into the common connection protrusion 28 of the terminal 10.
The elastic contact pieces 25 come into contact with each other smoothly, and the assembling work becomes extremely simple. Further, since each interconnection terminal 10 is housed in the housing 30 and the locking piece 24 engages with the engaging projection 31 of the housing 30, a stable retaining state is provided in the housing 30, so that it is more stable. Common connection state can be obtained.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The terminal body 2 is different from the first embodiment.
The side wall 22 has a shape of 0. Here, the upper end is bent in an arc shape and the tip is directed downward. Other structures are first
This embodiment is the same as the embodiment, and the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals to omit redundant description. It goes without saying that even with such a structure, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, which is also different from the first embodiment in the terminal body 20.
The side wall 22 has a different structure. Here, the side wall 22 on the right side is passed from the side wall 22 on the left side through the wire barrel 13 side.
The U-shaped extension piece 22a is formed so as to wrap around to the side,
The U-shaped extension piece 2 extends from the right side wall 22 through the wire barrel 13 side to the left side wall 22 side.
2b is formed, and the extension piece portions 22a and 22b overlap the side wall portion 22 of the other party. As a result,
The left and right side wall portions 22 are shaped so as to be continuous on the wire barrel 13 side, and a gap 23 is formed between the side wall portions 22 with the wire barrel 13 side closed.

Also in this embodiment, the elastic contact piece 25 is located between the side wall portions 22 and is provided at a position lower than the tips of the side wall portions 22 and is protected by the side wall portion 22. Becomes Moreover, in this embodiment, since the gap 23 has a closed shape on the wire barrel 13 side, contact of foreign matter from this direction can be reliably prevented, and the elastic contact piece 25 is protected more reliably.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings, and can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an interconnection terminal showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Similarly, a vertical cross-sectional view of the terminal body.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the interconnection terminal.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the bottom wall portion of the terminal body in a broken manner.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the terminal for interconnection similarly mounted on the housing.

6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the housing taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

7 is a sectional view of the housing taken along the line VII-VII in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional interconnection terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Interconnection terminal 11 ... Electric wire 20 ... Terminal body 22 ... Side wall part 23 ... Gap 24 ... Locking piece 28 ... Common connection projection 30 ... Housing 31 ... Engagement projection

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pair of side walls, which are respectively provided on a plurality of electric wires that are commonly connected to each other, and whose terminal bodies are combined with each other to make mutual contact, face up to the terminal bodies and are paired in a rising shape. An elastic contact piece located between both side wall parts and provided at a position lower than the tips of the both side wall parts, and another terminal projecting from the bottom of the terminal body and combined with another terminal below. An interconnection terminal comprising: a common connection protrusion that enters between the side wall portions and contacts the elastic contact piece. 2. The common connection protrusion is formed in the shape of a protrusion that extends along the gap between the side wall portions by cutting and raising the bottom portion of the terminal main body. Terminal for interconnection. 3. The terminal body is adapted to be inserted into a housing, and locking pieces that engage with the housing are formed by cutting and raising on side walls of the terminal body. Item 1. The interconnection terminal according to Item 1 or 2.