JPH097677A - Method of removing connector and its terminal metal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent terminal metal fittings from being damaged by the removing work of the terminal metal fittings. CONSTITUTION: A lance 12 is provided in cantilever state on the inner bottom part of a cavity 11, whereby terminal metal fittings 20 are locked. The terminal metal fittings 20 have a jig passing opening 25 in conformation to the just above part of a locking edge part 24 on the upper surface rear part of a box- like main body part 21. An opening part 15 is formed in the upper surface center part of a connector housing 10, and a retainer 16 is also mounted thereon in such a manner as to be capable of sliding between main locking position and temporary locking position to block the opening part 15. When the retainer 16 is moved to the temporary locking position, a locking projection 16c is retreated to release the secondary locking of the terminal metal fittings 20, the opening part 15 is partially opened to form a jig insert passage extending from the outside of the connector housing 10 to the lance 12 through the cavity 11, and a lance pushing jig 40 is inserted thereto to release the engagement of the lance 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector having a structure in which a terminal fitting is housed in a connector housing and is prevented from coming off by a lance, and the detachability of the terminal fitting is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The general structure of this type of connector is as follows. A plurality of cavities into which the terminal fittings are inserted are formed in the connector housing, and lances (elastic locking pieces) are formed inside the cavities so as to project into the insertion paths of the terminal fittings in the cavities. To attach the terminal fittings,
Insert the terminal fitting into the cavity of the connector housing from the tip. Then, the terminal fitting comes into contact with the lance and pushes it against the elastic force and pushes it down into the lance bending space.When the terminal fitting reaches the regular position, the lance encounters the locking hole of the terminal fitting and the elastic force is applied. It is displaced in the engaging direction, and this prevents the terminal fitting from coming off. In order to securely hold the terminal fitting, for example, a retainer is inserted into the lance bending space from the front side of the connector housing to prevent the lance from bending.

When it is necessary to remove the terminal fittings for maintenance or the like in this type of connector, the retainer is first removed, and a special driver-like jig is installed in the lance bending space from the front side of the connector housing. It is inserted and hooked on the lance, and the lance is elastically bent and deformed in the opposite engagement direction to pull out the terminal fitting.

[0004]

However, on the front surface side of the terminal fitting, there are a contact portion and a spring acting portion which have an important function for coming into contact with the counterpart terminal. Therefore, in the conventional method of removing the terminal fitting in which the jig is inserted from the front side of the connector housing, the tip of the jig may touch the tip of the terminal fitting and damage it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a connector and a method for removing a terminal fitting of a connector that does not damage the terminal fitting when it is removed.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector comprising:
A connector housing having a cavity, a terminal fitting to be inserted into the cavity, and a terminal fitting provided on the connector housing so as to project into the cavity and displaced in a predetermined engaging direction with respect to the terminal fitting in a normal position A lance that prevents the terminal fitting from coming off and a retainer that is attached to the connector housing and that interferes with and locks the terminal fitting in the normal position. The retainer is attached to the connector housing and the terminal fitting. A jig passage opening that forms a jig insertion path that penetrates the cavity from the outside of the connector housing and reaches the lance in a position where it does not interfere with the jig insertion path is provided in the engaging direction of the lance. The feature is that it is configured to extend along.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a retainer is provided in the connector housing on the side opposite to the lance, and a retainer position is provided in which the retainer interferes with the terminal fitting in the regular position to lock the retainer. , Provided so that it can be retained at the temporary locking position where it retracts from this and does not interfere with the terminal fittings, and when the retainer is displaced to the main locking position, the jig passage opening of the connector housing is closed and the temporary locking position is set. It is characterized in that the jig passage opening is opened when displaced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for removing a terminal fitting, wherein the terminal fitting inserted into the cavity of the connector housing is prevented from coming off by a lance provided in the connector housing. The feature is that the terminal fitting is removed by penetrating the cavity from the outside of the connector housing through the provided jig passage opening, contacting the lance with the lance, and bringing the jig into contact with the lance, and displacing the lance in the anti-engaging direction.

[0009]

According to the first and third aspects of the invention, the terminal fitting mounted in the cavity of the connector housing is locked by the lance. To remove this, the retainer is displaced to a position where it does not interfere with the terminal fitting, and the jig passage opening of the connector housing is opened to form the jig insertion path. Then, by inserting a jig into the jig insertion path and displacing the lance in the anti-engagement direction, the retaining state of the terminal fitting can be released, and this can be pulled out.

In the invention of claim 2, the jig passage opening is opened by displacing the retainer from the main locking position to the temporary locking position. Since the retainer is held at that position in the temporary locking position, the jig can be inserted by removing the hand from the retainer.

[0011]

According to the inventions of claims 1 and 3, since the engagement releasing operation can be performed by directly pushing the lance,
It is possible to prevent the terminal fitting from being damaged. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, there is an effect that the terminal metal fitting can be detached by removing the hand from the retainer and the workability is excellent.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a female connector according to this embodiment. A cavity 11 is formed in a connector housing 10 of the connector housing 10 extending in the left-right direction in the drawing and having both ends opened. The terminal fitting 20 is accommodated. At the center of the inner bottom of the cavity 11 of the connector housing 10, a lance 12 integrally formed on the left side with the inner wall of the cavity 11 is provided in a cantilever state, and a locking projection 13 projects into the cavity 11 at its tip. Is projected upward. At the lower end of the lance 12, a bending space 1 for allowing downward elastic deformation is provided.
4 are formed.

On the other hand, the terminal fitting 20 has a female terminal structure in which a box-shaped main body portion 21 and a barrel portion 22 for connecting the electric wire 30 are integrally provided, and the main body portion 21 has a mating male type not shown. An elastic tongue 23 that contacts the tab of the terminal is formed by folding back inside. Further, when the terminal fitting 20 reaches the proper position in the cavity 11 (the position where the main body portion 21 is inserted from the left side of the cavity 11 and pushed fully to the right side), the engagement of the lance 12 is at the rear end of the lower surface. Stop part 1
3 is formed with a locking edge portion 24, which prevents the terminal fitting 20 from coming off. The locking edge portion 2 is provided on the rear portion of the upper surface of the main body portion 21.
A jig passage opening 25 is formed so as to correspond to a portion directly above 4.

Further, the connector housing 10 includes
An opening 15 is formed in the center of the upper surface, and a retainer 16 is slidably attached so as to close the opening 15. The retainer 16 has a plate-like shape, and is retained on the connector housing 10 by locking the left and right sides of the retainer 16 to the connector housing 10. The first lower surface recessed portion 16a is engaged with the engaging projection 17 on the upper surface of the connector housing 10. Temporary locking position after locking (see Fig. 1)
Is slidable between the second lower surface recess 16b and the main locking position (see FIG. 2) in which the second lower surface recess 16b is locked to the engaging projection 17. Further, a locking projection 16c is provided at the tip of the retainer 16, and when the retainer 16 is pushed into the main locking position, the opening 15 of the connector housing 10 is opened.
Is closed, the locking projection 16c projects into the cavity 11 and engages with the opening edge of the jig passage opening 25 formed on the upper surface of the main body 21 of the terminal fitting 20,
Therefore, the terminal fitting 20 is secondarily locked. Further, when the retainer 16 moves to the temporary locking position, the locking projection 16c retracts from the inside of the cavity 11 to release the secondary locking of the terminal fitting 20, and the opening 15
Is opened about 1/3 to form a jig passage opening 18 on the upper surface of the connector housing 10 as well.
8 and the jig passage opening 25 of the terminal fitting 20 communicate with each other to form a jig insertion path from the outside of the connector housing 10 through the cavity 11 to the lance 12, and the jig insertion path is associated with the lance 12. It will extend along the mating direction (vertical direction).

In the above structure, the connector housing 1
In order to mount the terminal fitting 20 on the connector 0, the retainer 16 is held at the temporary locking position, and then the terminal fitting 20 to which the electric wire 30 is connected is inserted into the cavity 11 from the left side in the drawing.
Then, the lower surface portion of the main body portion 21 abuts on the lance 12 in the cavity 11, and the lance 12 is elastically deformed toward the bending space 14 side and pushed down to be inserted. And the terminal fitting 2
When 0 reaches the proper position in the cavity 11, the locking edge 24 on the lower surface passes the lance 12 and the lance 12
The tip of the elastic member returns elastically upward and is deformed, so that the lance 12 prevents the terminal fitting 20 from coming off. After this, retainer 16
When the slide is moved to the main locking position, the locking protrusion 1
6c engages with the jig passage opening 25 of the terminal fitting 20 to bring the terminal fitting 20 into the secondary locking state to complete the connector (see FIG. 2). In this state, the terminal fitting 20 can be removed by maintenance or the like as follows. First,
The retainer 16 is returned from the main locking position to the temporary locking position. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the jig passage opening 18 is opened on the upper surface of the connector housing 10 to form a jig insertion path toward the lance 12. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the pin portion 41 of the thin pin-shaped lance pushing jig 40 is inserted into the jig insertion path. The lance pushing jig 40 passes through the jig passing opening 18 on the upper surface of the connector housing 10 and the jig passing opening 25 on the upper surface of the terminal fitting 20, and its tip comes into contact with the locking projection 13 of the lance 12. Therefore, the lance pushing jig 40 is lightly pushed in, and the electric wire 30 is pulled out from the inside of the cavity 11 while flexing and deforming the lance 12 downward. By elastically deforming the lance 12 downward, the engagement with the terminal fitting 20 is released, so that the terminal fitting 20 moves in the direction of being pulled by the electric wire 30 and pulled out from the cavity 11, and the locking edge of the terminal fitting 20 is pulled. Part 24 is lance 12
It will keep holding down. After this, if the electric wire 30 is pulled out further, the terminal fitting 20 will be
Completely drawn from.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the retainer 1
6 is moved to the temporary locking position, and the lance pushing jig 40 is inserted into the jig insertion path to pull out the electric wire 30 while displacing the lance 12 in the anti-engaging direction, thereby removing the terminal fitting 20 from the cavity 11. There is no risk of damaging the terminal fitting 20. Further, in this embodiment, since the retainer 16 can be held in the temporary locking position and the jig passage opening 18 can be held in the opened state, the hand is released from the retainer 16 and the lance pushing jig 40 is released. There is an effect that the insertion work can be performed and the workability is excellent.

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 an exploded sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the retainer in a fully locked position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the retainer in a temporary locking position.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a process of removing the terminal fitting.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a process of removing the terminal fitting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Connector housing 11 ... Cavity 12 ... Lance 16 ... Retainer 18, 25 ... Jig passage opening 20 ... Terminal fitting

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A connector housing having a cavity, a terminal fitting to be inserted into the cavity, and a predetermined shape for the terminal fitting provided in the connector housing so as to project into the cavity and in a normal position. A lance that displaces in the engaging direction to prevent the terminal fitting from coming off, and a retainer that is mounted on the connector housing and interferes with the terminal fitting in the regular position to lock the terminal fitting. A jig for forming a jig insertion path through the cavity from the outside of the connector housing to the lance in the connector housing and the terminal fitting in a state where the retainer is displaced to a position where it does not interfere with the terminal fitting. A connection opening is provided, and the jig insertion path extends along the engaging direction of the lance. Kuta. 2. The retainer is provided in the connector housing on the side opposite to the lance, and is a main locking position where it interferes with a terminal metal fitting at a regular position to lock it, and a terminal retracted from this position. The jig passing opening of the connector housing is closed when the retainer is disengaged from the metal fittings and is temporarily held at a temporary locking position, and the jig is opened when the retainer is displaced to the main locking position. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the passage opening is opened. 3. A connector in which a terminal fitting inserted into a cavity of a connector housing is prevented from coming off by a lance provided in the connector housing, and the outside of the connector housing is passed through a jig passage opening provided in the connector housing and the terminal fitting. A terminal fitting removing method for a connector, characterized in that the terminal fitting is removed by penetrating the cavity through the cavity and contacting the lance with a lance removing jig, displacing the lance in an anti-engaging direction.