JPH10281373A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To connect two parts, quickly and surely without using a tool and obtain good workability even in a small work space. SOLUTION: In a connector, two parts 1, 2 are pipe connected to each other. The connector has a pipe member 3 mounted in one part 2 further with insertion possible to a connection port 1a of the other part 2 and a retainer 4 provided in the pipe member 3 to be mounted in the other part 1 through engaging means 11, 43 capable of engaging by utilizing elasticity. The pipe member 3 provided with the retainer 4 is mounted in one part 2, the pipe member 3 is inserted to the connection port 1a of the other part 1, also the retainer 4 is mounted in the other part 1 by engagement utilizing elasticity of the engaging means 11, 43, so as to pipe connect the two parts 1, 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for pipe-connecting two parts to each other, for example, for pipe connection of a hose for distribution of fuel or air to an engine block of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional example, a structure for connecting a hose to an engine block by a pipe will be described with reference to FIG.
8A is a perspective view showing a state before hose connection, and FIG. 8B is a perspective view showing a state after hose connection. FIG. 8 (a)
, A connection pipe 130 is attached to the connection port 101 of the engine block 100 by press fitting.
The upper half of the connection pipe 130 projects above the engine block 100 as a hose connection 131. In addition, a bulge portion 131a bulging to the outer periphery is formed at the tip of the hose connection portion 131 of the connection pipe 130.

[0003] The hose connection portion 13 of the connection pipe 130
The end of the hose 120 is fitted into the hose 1 by utilizing its elasticity, and the end of the hose 120 is fastened to the hose connection part 131 by the hose clip 140. As is well known, the hose clip 140 is formed of a metal spring plate material, and has knob pieces 142 projecting radially outward at both ends of an annular clip main portion 141. By gripping both knob pieces 142 with the tool 150, the clip main portion 141 is expanded in diameter (meaning that the caliber increases) by using elasticity, and by releasing the gripping force on the knob pieces 142, the clip main portion 141 is released. The portion 141 is elastically restored, and its diameter is reduced (it means that the diameter becomes smaller) by the restoring force.

[0004]

According to the conventional example,
At the time of assembly, the tool 150 is operated to
A large work space for expanding the diameter is required. Further, the space around the engine block 100 has many restrictions and is often narrow. For this reason, in the conventional example, since work in a restricted narrow work space is inevitable, there remains a problem that workability is poor and connection accuracy is impaired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to connect two parts quickly and reliably without using a tool. It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector capable of obtaining good workability even in a narrow work space.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector for pipe-connecting two components to each other, the connector being attached to one component and being insertable into a connection port of the other component. A connector comprising: a tubular member; and a retainer provided on the tubular member and attached to the other component via an engagement means capable of engaging with the other component by utilizing elasticity. According to the connector of claim 1, the pipe member provided with the retainer is attached to one of the parts,
While inserting the pipe member into the connection port of the other part,
By attaching the retainer to the other part by engagement utilizing the elasticity of the engagement means, the two parts are connected by pipe. Therefore, two parts can be quickly and reliably connected without using a tool, and good workability can be obtained even in a narrow work space.

A second aspect of the present invention is the connector according to the first aspect, wherein the retainer is formed of a leaf spring material. According to the connector of the second aspect, it is not necessary to provide an elastic material for obtaining the elasticity of the engaging means on the retainer as a separate component, so that the structure can be simplified.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention will be described. Embodiment 1 Embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a connector for connecting a hose to an engine block will be described.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state before the connection of the connector.
The connector includes a tube member 3 attached to the hose 2 and a retainer 4 provided on the tube member 3.

The pipe member 3 will be described with reference to the perspective view of FIG. The tube member 3 is made of a synthetic resin molded product, and has a substantially hollow cylindrical shape. The tube member 3 has a hose connection portion 31 at an upper half in the drawing and an insertion portion 32 at a lower half in the drawing.
And A bulge portion 31a bulging to the outer periphery is formed at the tip (the upper end in the figure) of the hose connection portion 31. On the other hand, the insertion portion 32 is formed in a substantially hollow cylindrical shape having an outer diameter that can be inserted into the connection port 1a (see FIG. 1) of the engine block 1. An O-ring groove 33 formed of an annular groove for fitting the O-ring 35 for sealing is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end portion (lower end portion in the figure) of the insertion portion 32. An annular upper and lower flanges 36 and 37 are formed in parallel on the outer peripheral surface of the base of the insertion portion 32.
The upper flange portion 36 and the lower flange portion 37 are mounting grooves 38 for the retainer 4 described later.

Next, the retainer 4 will be described with reference to a perspective view of FIG. The retainer 4 is formed by bending a strip-shaped leaf spring material, and includes a horizontal plate portion 41 and the horizontal plate portion 4.
1, a vertical plate portion 42 continuously connected in a substantially inverted L-shape so as to form an internal angle of 90 ° or less, for example, about 70 to 80 °, and substantially opposing the edge portions of the horizontal plate portion 41 and the vertical plate portion 42. And a pair of locking claws 43 provided continuously in the direction. The horizontal plate 4
The gap between the upper flange portion 36 and the lower flange portion 37 of the pipe member 3, that is, the groove width w of the mounting groove 38 (see FIG. 4) is set to be substantially equal to the plate thickness t of 1.

The retainer 4 has an elongated mounting hole 44 extending over the horizontal plate portion 41 and the vertical plate portion 42. The assembling hole 44 has a notch groove 44 a that is continuous on both sides in the upper part of the vertical plate portion 42. Notch groove 4
4a is formed so as to be able to pass through the lower flange portion 37 (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5) of the pipe member 3 in the radial direction. By sliding the pipe member 3 in the radial direction (see the arrow in FIG. 5), the mounting groove 3
8 can be engaged. In addition, the assembling hole 44 can receive the pipe member 3 at a substantially central portion of the horizontal plate portion 41.
Further, the mounting hole 44 has cut-and-raised claws 46 on both sides in the horizontal plate portion 41. The cut-and-raised claw 46 engages the upper flange portion 36 of the tube member 3 in a retaining shape by utilizing the elastic deformation of the cut-and-raised claw 46 itself when the tube member 3 is received in the substantially central portion of the horizontal plate portion 41. Then, the displacement of the pipe member 3 with respect to the retainer 4 is prevented.

As shown in FIG. 1, a groove-shaped engaging groove 11 corresponding to a pair of locking claws 43 of the retainer 4 is provided at a corner of the engine block 1. The two engaging grooves 11 are formed in such a manner that the respective engaging claws 43 of the retainer 4 can be engaged by utilizing the elasticity of the retainer 4.

A case where the hose 2 is pipe-connected to the engine block 1 using the above connector will be described.
By moving the pipe member 3 from the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the lower flange portion 37 passes through the notch groove 44 a of the mounting hole 44 of the retainer 4, and the mounting groove 38 It is engaged with the horizontal plate portion 41 and is attached to a substantially central portion of the horizontal plate portion 41. Then, the cut-and-raised claw 46 of the horizontal plate portion 41 of the retainer 4 engages with the upper flange portion 36 of the tubular member 3 by utilizing its elastic deformation, and the displacement of the tubular member 3 with respect to the retainer 4 is prevented (FIG. 1). The tube member 3 to which the retainer 4 is attached in this manner is called an assembly. An O-ring 35 for sealing is fitted in the O-ring groove 33 of the tube member 3 using elasticity. The end portion of the hose 2 is fitted to the hose connection portion 31 of the pipe member 3 by utilizing its elasticity, and the end portion of the hose 2 is fastened to the hose connection portion 31 by the well-known hose 2 clip 5.

Next, the insertion portion 3 of the assembly 3
2 into the connection port 1a of the engine block 1,
The retainer 4 is pressed against the corner of the engine block 1 using elasticity. Then, when each locking claw 43 of the retainer 4 corresponds to each engagement groove 11 of the engine block 1, each locking claw 43 engages with each engagement groove 11 by utilizing the elasticity of the retainer 4. Thus, the retainer 4 can be attached to the engine block 1 by a simple operation such as a pressing operation of the retainer 4 against the engine block 1.

As described above, the hose 2 is pipe-connected to the engine block 1. This state is shown in a perspective view in FIG. 2 and a sectional view in FIG. The locking claw 43 of the retainer 4 and the engaging groove 11 of the engine block 1 correspond to the engaging means in the present invention.

Therefore, according to the connector described above, the hose 2 can be quickly and reliably connected to the engine block 1 without using a tool, and good workability can be obtained even in a narrow work space. The attachment of the hose 2 to the tube member 3 and the attachment of the retainer 4 to the tube member 3 can be performed in a wide space without any restrictions.

Further, since the retainer 4 is formed of a leaf spring material, the retainer 4 does not need to be provided with an elastic material for obtaining the elasticity of the engaging means between the locking claw 43 and the engaging groove 11 as a separate component. As a result, the structure can be simplified.

Second Embodiment A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Since the second embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment, the modified portion will be described in detail, and the portions that are considered to be the same or substantially the same as those of the first embodiment will be assigned the same reference numerals. Duplicate description will be omitted. The pipe member (indicated by reference numeral 3A) shown in an exploded perspective view in FIG. 6 has a bush groove 34 formed of an annular groove for fitting a metal bush 39 instead of the lower flange 37. I have. In addition, a circular hole 45 through which the insertion portion 32 of the tube member 3 can be inserted into the horizontal plate portion 41 instead of the mounting hole 44 is formed in the retainer (designated by reference numeral 4A).

According to the connector, after inserting the insertion portion 32 of the tube member 3 into the circular hole 45 of the retainer 4, the tube member 3
The bush 39 is fitted into the bush groove 34 of the tube member 3 by a jig (not shown). Thereby, it is possible to assemble the pipe member 3 in a state where the retainer 4 is prevented from coming off. Bush 3
After the assembly of No. 9, the O-ring groove 33 is
Is fitted.

The hose 2 is pipe-connected to the engine block 1 by attaching the assembly to which the retainer 4 is assembled to the engine block 1 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. This state is shown in a sectional view in FIG.

According to the connector, the circular hole 45 of the retainer 4 can be provided with a smaller opening area than the mounting hole 44 of the first embodiment, so that the spring strength of the retainer 4 can be increased.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be modified without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the connector of the present invention can be used not only for connection between the engine block 1 and the hose 2 but also for connection between the device and the hose 2 and between devices and the like. It is also conceivable that the tube member 3 is formed integrally with the component itself. It is also conceivable to form the retainer 4 integrally with the tube member 3. The arrangement of the locking claw 43 and the engagement groove 11 is as follows.
It is also possible to provide a locking claw 43 in the engine block 1 and a locking groove in the retainer 4, which is opposite to the above embodiment. The shape of the engaging means is not limited as long as it can be engaged with at least the other part by using elasticity. The shape of the retainer 4 is appropriately designed according to the shape of the component. Further, the material of the retainer 4 may be a composite material partially having elasticity for engaging the engaging means, instead of the leaf spring material which is entirely elastic.

[0023]

According to the connector of the present invention, two parts can be connected quickly and reliably without using a tool, and good workability can be obtained even in a narrow work space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state before connection of a connector according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a connection state of a connector.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tube member.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a retainer.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the connector according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a connection state of the connector.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 engine block (parts) 2 hose (parts) 3 pipe member 4 retainer

Continued on the front page. (72) Inventor Tokuo Watanabe 1 Ochiai Nagahata, Kasuga-machi, Nishi-Kasugai-gun, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyoda Gosei. In company

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A connector for pipe-connecting two parts to each other, comprising: a pipe member attached to one part and insertable into a connection port of the other part; and a connector provided on the pipe member and the other part. And a retainer which is attached to the body via engagement means that can be engaged by utilizing elasticity. 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the retainer is made of a leaf spring material.