JPS6244464Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention curves the left and right side edges of the bottom plate into a semicircular shape,
A female terminal with curled portions facing each other above the bottom plate,
In the connector housing inserted into the storage chamber,
The present invention relates to a novel locking mechanism that prevents the female terminal from coming off.

Conventionally, in order to prevent the female terminal from coming off when the female terminal having the curled portion is inserted into the housing chamber of the connector housing, a cantilever-shaped elastic locking piece is provided in the housing chamber to lock the female terminal. Locking mechanisms are known that engage the edges of the curl with the piece.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the female terminal 4 having the curled portion 3 is accommodated in the accommodation chamber 2 of the connector housing 1, and in order to prevent the female terminal 4 from retreating or coming off, the rear upper part of the accommodation chamber 2 is A cantilever-shaped elastic locking piece 5 having a base and extending toward the front of the storage chamber 2 is provided, and the tip of the elastic locking piece 5 and the curled portion 3 of the female terminal 4 accommodated are provided.
There is a locking mechanism that engages the trailing edge of the. However, in the conventional locking mechanism described above, the curl portion 3 and the elastic locking piece 5 interfere when the female terminal 4 is inserted, so the female terminal 4
A bending space Y for allowing the normal insertion of the elastic locking piece 5 is essential between the back surface of the elastic locking piece 5 and the inner wall of the storage chamber 2, which inevitably increases the size of the storage chamber 2.
Furthermore, since it is necessary to remove the mold for the elastic locking piece 5 from the front of the accommodation chamber 2 at the left end in FIG.
A mold with a wide width L and a height H reaching the inner wall of the storage chamber 2 is connected to the upper side of the male terminal insertion hole 6 (the part partially enclosed by a dotted line in FIG. 3) provided at the front end of the storage chamber 2. It is necessary to drill a punching hole 7, and when fitting the male terminal 8 to the inserted female terminal 4, the male terminal 8 is inserted into the wide opening including the punching hole 7 at an angle as shown by the dotted line in the figure. This may result in poor fitting. In addition, 9 in the figure is a crimp piece for crimping and connecting the electric wire 10, and 11 is a locking protrusion when coupled to another connector housing housing a male terminal.

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional difficulties and to further downsize the connector housing.

That is, the present invention is provided with a pair of cantilever-shaped elastic locking pieces that have a fixed end at the front end of the storage chamber and extend toward the rear of the storage chamber, and the elastic locking pieces lock the female terminals accommodated. Insert each into the hollow part of the curl part,
The present invention is characterized by a female terminal locking mechanism that engages a locking pawl formed at the free end of the elastic locking piece with a rear end edge of the curled portion. According to the locking mechanism of the present invention, each of the pair of elastic locking pieces can be inserted into the hollow part of the female terminal curl part and can be freely elastically deformed in the hollow part, so that the connector housing can be further downsized. At the same time, there is an advantage that the mold hole of the elastic locking piece is made smaller.

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8 showing one embodiment. In the figure, the connector housing 1 is provided with a storage chamber 2 into which a female terminal 4 having a pair of curled portions 3 is inserted and received from the rear end on the right side of the figure. A pair of elastic locking pieces 12A12B are formed which extend in the direction of the rear end and which are integrally connected with the fixed end. Elastic locking piece 1
2A12B has respective fixed ends 12' at the left and right edges of the front end of the storage chamber 2, and has a cantilever shape that extends symmetrically and parallelly with a slight distance between them, and each free end has fixed ends 12' in opposite directions. A locking claw 13A1 protruding from the
3B is provided. And elastic locking piece 12A,
12B are inserted into the hollow portions of the pair of curled portions 3A and 3B when the female terminal 4 is inserted, and are freed after the female terminal 4 is accommodated in the correct final position as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. End locking claw 13A13B
is engaged with the rear end edge of the curled portion 3A3B, and the female terminal 4
A locking mechanism is configured to accurately lock the vehicle so that it does not move backward. That is, when the female terminal 4 is inserted into the accommodation chamber 2, the elastic locking piece 12A12B has a locking claw 13A13B at the free end of the elastic locking piece 12A12B, as shown in FIG.
It comes into interference contact with the inner wall of A3B and is freely elastically deformed in the curled portion 3A3B in the left and right direction of the housing chamber 2 as indicated by the arrow F in the figure to allow insertion of the female terminal 4, and in the final position, as shown in FIG. The bending action of the elastic locking piece 12A12B is released and restored, and the locking claw 13A13B
is configured to engage with the rear end edge of the curled portion 3A3B. The tip of the locking pawl 13A13B has a sloped surface to smoothly guide the deflection of the elastic locking piece 12A12B in the left and right direction when the female terminal 4 interferes with the front edge of the curled portion 3A3B during insertion. 14
is formed. In addition, 15 in FIG. 8 is inserted into the storage chamber 2 to prevent incorrect insertion when the female terminal 4 is upside down.
This is a corner protrusion formed at the upper corner to prevent incorrect insertion.

When the locking mechanism with the above configuration is used, the elastic locking piece 12A12B is inserted into the hollow part of the curled part 3A3B, and can freely flex in the left-right direction by utilizing the space of the hollow part. Unlike the conventional locking mechanisms shown in Figures 1 to 3, there is no need to provide a bending space between the elastic locking piece 5 and the wall of the housing chamber, and the connector housing 1 is much smaller in size than conventional products. can be converted into Furthermore, the elastic locking piece 1
The punching hole for the mold 2A12B is sufficient if the inner distance L' between the elastic locking pieces 12A12B shown in FIG. 5 and the height to the upper edge of the elastic locking pieces 12A12B are satisfied, so As shown in FIG. 7, the front end opening has a width L' and a height H', which are substantially smaller than the conventional die-cut hole, at the center of the upper side of the male terminal insertion hole 6 into which the female terminal 4 is fitted. It has a shape in which a punching hole 7 is provided. Therefore, it becomes impossible to insert the male terminal at an angle into the opening including the die-cutting hole 7.
This has the effect of preventing the malfitting of the male terminals 8 (FIG. 3) that has conventionally occurred.

As described above, the present invention has the useful effect of further downsizing the connector housing and adapting to the need for downsizing of wiring locations in automobiles and the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1: Front view showing a conventional female terminal locking mechanism.
Figure 2: Enlarged view of AA cross section in Figure 1, Figure 3: Figure 1
Figure 4: A front view of one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5: A plan view of the CC cross section of the embodiment of Figure 4; Figure 6: Female terminal of the embodiment of Figure 4. Plan view showing insertion state, Fig. 7: Side view from D in Fig. 4 (excluding female terminal), Fig. 8: EE sectional view in Fig. 4 Main symbols, 1... Connector housing, 2...
Accommodation chamber, 3... Curled portion, 4... Female terminal, 5...
Elastic locking piece, 6...male terminal insertion hole, 7...mold hole, 8...male terminal, 12A12B...elastic locking piece (of the present invention), 13A13B...locking claw.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A pair of cantilever-shaped elastic locking pieces having a fixed end at the front end of the storage chamber and extending toward the rear of the storage chamber, and having locking claws formed at the free ends, the elastic locking pieces The female terminal of the connector housing is characterized in that the female terminals are inserted into the hollow portions of a pair of curled portions in which the female terminals are housed, and the locking pawl engages with the rear end edge of the curled portion. Stop mechanism.