WO1997011515A1

WO1997011515A1 - Electrical connector having double-lock member

Info

Publication number: WO1997011515A1
Application number: PCT/US1996/015031
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kazuhisa Betsui
Original assignee: The Whitaker Corporation
Priority date: 1995-09-19
Filing date: 1996-09-19
Publication date: 1997-03-27
Also published as: TW298679B; CN1196835A; KR19990045777A; KR100406599B1; CN1108000C; JP3316116B2; JPH0992367A

Abstract

An electrical connector comprises an insulating housing (20, 40) having contact cavities (22, 29, 46, 48) for receiving signal and power electrical contacts therein, a double-lock member (60) movably in a guiding slot (50, 52) in the insulating housing (20, 40) so as to move in a transverse direction relative to the direction of contact insertion of the electrical contacts in the contact cavities, a plate component (68) of the double-lock member (60) extends in the direction of contact insertion and in a transverse direction relative to a contact-locking plate (64), the plate component (68) being disposed in guiding slot (52) whereas contact-locking plate (64) is located in guiding slot (50) whereby plate component (68) in guiding slot (52) prevents sidewise rocking of double-lock member (60) as it moves between a contact-insertion position and a contact-locking position.

Description

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HAVING DOUBLE-LOCK MEMBER This invention relates to electrical connectors equipped with a double-lock member for securing electrical contacts inserted in contact cavities of an insulating housing.

Electrical connectors comprising an insulating housing having a number of contact cavities into which electrical contacts are inserted at a predetermined direction and a flat double-lock member having contact- insertion openings corresponding to the contact cavities which is inserted in the insulating housing at a direction nearly perpendicular to the insertion direction are known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 94-74319, 94-36552 and 93-59375. In such electrical connectors, the double-lock member is first inserted in an insulating housing to a temporary- locked position at which the contact-insertion openings of the double-lock member are aligned with the contact cavities. In this position, contacts are inserced in the contact cavities, after which the double-lock member is inserted to the fully-locked position. This makes it possible to provide a reliable double-locking for the contacts by securing them in the contact cavities by their retaining members and by the double-lock member. In the electrical connectors of this type, the operation of the insertion of the contacts in the contact cavities when the double-lock member is in the temporary-locked position is usually performed by an automatic-insertion machine. This contac -insertion operation is carried out when the openings in the double-lock member and the contact cavities are precisely aligned.

However, the insulating housing and the double-lock member are usually fabricated from a resin material by injection molding, and because of some deviations in dimensions the double-lock member can lack steadiness when it is placed in the temporary-locked position. In such an event and in some cases, it becomes impossible to achieve exact alignment of the openings in the double-lock member and the contact cavities of the housing. As a result, the contacts being inserted in the contact cavities by an automatic contact insertion machine can abut against the double-lock member, thereby causing the insertion machine to stop operation or damage can occur to the housing or contacts or both. This problem is especially serious in connectors having a large number of contacts, resulting in larger overall dimensions of the connectors and larger dimensional errors leading to difficulties in precise alignment of the openings of the double-lock member and the contact cavities of the housing. It is also desirable to provide a highly-reliable locking member for large contacts.

Considering the above mentioned circumstances, the purpose of this invention is to provide an electrical connector in which the unsteadiness of the double-lock member is eliminated, thus providing for smooth insertion of the contacts, and which provides for a secure retention of large-size contacts within the contact cavities.

In order to achieve the purposes stated above, the electrical connector according to this invention comprises an insulating housing having contact cavities for the insertion of contacts in a predetermined direction and housing lances for the retention of the contacts inserted in the contact cavities, and of a double-lock member which can move in a transverse direction relative to the direction of contact insertion, thereby locking the contacts positioned in the contact cavities wherein the double-lock member has a plate component which extends in the direction of the contact insertion and in the direction of movement and prevents sidewise rocking in the transverse direction relative to the directions mentioned above, and also prevents some of the housing lances for the contacts from bending, and the insulating housing has guiding slots maintaining the plate component at the transverse direction.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the various elements of the electrical connector of the present invention. FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the assembled connector of Figure 1.

FIGURES 3a, 3b and 3c are front, bottom and side views respectively of the connector housing shown in Figure 1. FIGURE 4 is a back view of housing shown in Figure 3.

FIGURE 5a is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5a-5a of Figure 3a.

FIGURE 5b is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5b-5b of Figure 3a.

FIGURES 6a, 6b and 6c are front, side and bottom views respectively of the lance housing shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 7 is a back view of the lance housing shown in Figure 6.

FIGURE 8a is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8a-8a of Figure 6a.

FIGURE 8b is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8b-8b of Figure 6a. FIGURES 9a and 9b are front and side views respectively of the double-lock member of Figure 1.

FIGURE 10 is a top plan view of the double lock member of Figure 9.

FIGURE 11 is a front view of the cam slide shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 12-12 of Figure 11. Electrical connector 10 comprises a female insulating housing 20 having contact cavities 22 accommodating female electrical signal contacts 12 (see Fig. 2) inserted in the insertion direction shown by arrow 11 and contact cavities 29 (see Fig. 3) accommodating female electrical power supply contacts (not shown) ; a lance housing 40 fits inside reception cavities 24, 26 of the female housing 20; a double-lock member 60 for securing female contacts 12 inserted in the contact cavities 22; and a cam slide 80 which makes it possible to join female housing 20 and male housing 14 (Fig. 2) together using only slight effort. Electrical connector 10 also contains a waterproof gasket 100 placed on frame 33 of female housing 20 in cavity 26 between lance housing 40 and female housing 20 to prevent penetration of water inside the connector (see Fig. 2) , and a wire cover 110 protecting bunched wires 16 connected to female signal contacts 12 and to female power supply contacts. Rubber plugs 18 are placed around wires 16 for the purposes of water proofing (see Fig. 2) .

As can be seen from Figure 2, locking depressions 28 of female housing 20 and locking lugs 42 of lance housing 40 are provided for the purpose of securing the lance housing 40 in the female housing 20. In addition, female contacts 12 are secured in the contact cavities 46 by flexible housing lances 44 of the lance housing 40 and by the double-lock member 60, thus providing for a reliable retention of the contacts in the housing when double-lock member 60 has been moved to the fully-locked position.

Next, the female housing 20 using Figure 3 through 5 for reference will be explained. As mentioned above, female housing 20 has cavities 22 for signal contacts 12 and cavities 29 for power contacts (not shown in the drawings) . In addition, on the inner surfaces of upper and lower walls 30a, 30b of female housing 20, slots 32a, 32b are provided to accommodate arms 82a, 82b of the cam slide 80 (See Figure 1) . In the lengthwise direction of upper and lower walls 30a, 30b of female housing 20, confirmation indentations 34 are provided to accommodate confirmation lugs 84 of cam slide 80 (see Fig. 1) . When cam slide 80 is completely inserted in female housing 20, confirmation lugs 84 become fully inserted in confirmation indentations 34. Because of this, an operator can determine whether cam slide 80 is fully engaged with female housing 20 even if electrical connector 10 is out of sight, by feeling the position of the confirmation lugs 84 with his hand. Female housing 20 also has fastening bosses 36 which are fastened in latching slots 112 of wire cover 110 (see Figure 1) , thus securing wire cover 110 on female housing 20.

As mentioned above, female housing 20 has latching depressions 28 on frame 33 intended for engagement with latching lugs 42 of lance housing 40 (see Figure 2) . In the upper wall 39a of female housing 20, openings 31 are provided for the forming of latching depressions 28 (in the bottom wall 30b, there are similar openings 31') during the molding of housing 20. Usually locking arms are formed as an integral part of the frame 33. However, when this is done, mold marks remain on the outer surface of the frame 33. Since the outer surface of frame 33 is used for the purpose of placing gasket 100 thereon and of waterproofing, such mold marks will result in an inferior quality of waterproofing. In order to prevent deterioration of waterproofing characteristics, openings 31 are provided through which molding components are inserted to form latching depressions 28 on the outer surface of frame 33, and the latching arms intended for the engagement with latching depressions 28 are formed on lance housing 40. Lance housing 40 using Figure 6 through 8 for reference will now be explained. As was explained above, lance housing 40 is inserted in lance housing reception cavities 24, 26 of female housing 20 and it is secured to the latter by means of latching depressions 28 of female housing 20 and locking lugs 42 of lance housing 40. Similarly to female housing 20, lance housing 40 has contact cavities 46 for signal contacts and contact cavities 48 for power contacts. These contact cavities 46, 48 are aligned with contact cavities 22, 28 respectively when female housing 20 and lance housing 40 are latched together. In the lower part of contact cavities 46, holes 47 are formed for checker pins (see Fig. 6a) . By inserting checker pins (not shown in the drawing) in the checker pin holes 47, it is possible to verify whether female contacts 12 (see Figure 2) are fully inserted in the cavities. Inside contact cavities 48 intended for large power contacts, housing lances 49 are formed for the purpose of retention of the power contacts therein.

Below, an explanation as to how plate component 68 of double-lock member 60 prevents housing lances 49 from being bent, thus providing for reliable retention of the power contacts. As can be seen in Figures 1 and 6-8, lance housing 40 has guiding slots 50, 52 formed in it for the guidance of double-lock member 60. Guiding slot 50 is intended for the guidance of the portion of double-lock member 60 representing contact-locking plate 64 in which contact-insertion openings 62 are located for the insertion of contacts 12. On the other hand, guiding slot 52 directs the plate component 68 of the double-lock member 60 which extends in the direction of the contact insertion (shown in Figure 1 by arrow 11} and in the direction of reciprocal movement of double- lock member 60 (shown by arrow 66) while its movement is restricted in the direction (shown by arrow 67) transverse in relation to the contact insertion direction and the direction of movement. As will be explained below, plate component 68 of double-lock member 60 is inserted in the guiding slot 52 even when it is in its temporary-locked position which means that sidewise rocking of double-lock member 60 in the transverse direction (shown by arrow 67) is eliminated even when double-lock member 60 is in the temporary- locked position. In addition, lance housing 40 has two latching arms 54 (Fig. 7) located near the inlet of the guiding slot 52 which are intended for the locking of double-lock member 60 when it is in a fully-locked position. Next, double-lock member 60 using Figures 9 and 10 for reference will be explained. Double-lock member 60 comprises contact-locking plate 64 having openings 62, 63 for the insertion of signal contacts 12 (see Figure 2) and the power contacts and plate component 68 which extends in the direction of the contact insertion (shown in Figure 1 by arrow 11) and in the direction of movement of double-lock member 60 (shown by arrow 66) . Contact-locking plate 64 and plate component 68 are located in mutually transverse planes, and, as noted above, contact-locking plate 64 is guided by guiding slot 50 of lance housing 40 (see Figure 8) , and plate component 68 is guided by guiding slot 52. When plate component 68 is inserted in guiding slot 52, it is supported on two sides by walls of the guiding slot 52. Since the thickness of plate component 68 is smaller than the length of the contact-locking plate 64 in the transverse direction, dimensional errors in the thickness of the plate component 68 made at the time of its fabrication are much smaller than dimensional errors of the length of the contact-locking plate 64 in the transverse direction (in the direction shown by arrow 67) . There is a risk that without plate component 68, unsteadiness of contact-locking plate 64 in the transverse direction due to dimensional errors would be too great. As a result, it would be impossible to precisely align contact insertion openings 62, 63 and contact cavities 22, 29 which can lead to the interruption of the contact insertion operation due to the fact that female contacts 12 (see Figure 2) and the power contacts inserted by an automatic contact insertion machine (not shown in the drawing) would engage against double-lock member 60 at the time of their insertion in contact cavities 22, 29. However, double-lock member 60 in addition to contact contact- locking plate 64 is also equipped with plate component 68 oriented in the transverse direction relative to contact-locking plate 64. Since, as indicated above, dimensional errors of plate component 68 are much smaller than those of contac -locking plate 64, and because plate component 68 is supported on both sides by the walls of guiding slot 52 in the temporary-locked position, double-lock member 60 is secured in a steady and stable position, therefore female contacts 12 (see Figure 2) and the power contacts can be smoothly inserted through contact cavities 22, 29, through openings 62, 63 in contact-locking plate 64 and then into contact cavities 46, 48.

Plate component 68 has lugs 70 (see Fig. 9) whose purpose is to lock double-lock member 60 in its fully- locked position at which time lugs 70 become engaged with latching arms 54 (Fig. 7) at the fully-locked position of double-lock member 60 (see Figure 6.), thereby locking double-lock member 60 in the fully- locked position. In addition, plate component 68 has two indentations 72 each on the front and back sides of plate component 68 oriented in the contact-insertion direction (shown by arrow 11) . In the position of temporary locking of double-lock member 60, housing lances 49 (see Figure 6) of lance housing 40 (see Figure 1) fit into these indentions 72. Housing lances 49 of lance housing 40 are bent when female contacts 12 (see Figure 2) are inserted within the double-lock member 60 in the temporary-locked position, thereby enabling the insertion of female contacts 12 to their fully-inserted position, indentations 72 and housing lances 49 disengage so that housing lances 49 cannot be bent any more. As a result, fully-inserted female contacts 12 become retained by housing lances 44 so that they cannot be withdrawn from the cavities. In addition, plate component 68 has cross-member 74 which prevents male housing 14 from being joined with female housing 20 (see Figure 2) at the time of contact insertion.

Cam slide 80 with reference to Figures 11 and 12 will now be described. Cam slide 80 has two flat arms 82a, 82b. On the surface of arms 82a, 82b facing each other, cam grooves 86a, 88a, 86b, 88b are formed which accommodate cam followers 14a located on an outer surface of male housing 14 (see Figure 2) . At the openings of cam grooves 86a, 86b, bosses 90 are formed for temporary locking the male housing 14 at the temporary-locked position to prevent its disengagement. On the sides of arms 82a, 82b facing wire cover 110 approximately at the centers of their long sides, latching arms 92 are provided which extend in the direction of cam slide 80 withdrawal (shown by arrow 94) . Tips of these latching arms 92 have a front face 92a disposed perpendicularly to the arm body. When cam slide 80 is in the temporary-locked position, front faces 92a snap into notches 38 of female housing 20 provided for the purpose of temporary engagement, thus preventing the cam slide 80 from being pulled out of female housing 20. When cam slide 80 is in its fully- inserted position, front faces 92a snap into notches 39 of female housing 20, thus preventing cam slide 80 being shifted from its fully-inserted position.

Since the plate component 68 of the double-lock member 60 of the electrical connector is retained in the guiding slot 52 of the lance housing 40, sidewise rocking of the double-lock member is eliminated, thus making it possible to smoothly insert female contacts in the contact cavities. In addition, the plate component prevents the bending of housing lances locking the contacts in the cavities, thereby preventing even large- size contacts from being pulled out.

Claims

ClaimsThe invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. An electrical connector comprises an insulating housing (20, 40) having contact cavities (22, 29, 46, 48) for receiving electrical contacts (12) therein, housing lances (44, 49) in said contact cavities for retaining the electrical contacts therein, and a double-lock member (60) movably mounted in a guiding slot (50, 52) in said insulating-housing so as to move in a transverse direction relative to the direction of contact insertion of the electrical contacts into the contact cavities, characterized in that said double-locked member (60) includes a plate component (68) and a contact-locking plate (64) , said plate component (68) extends in the direction of contact insertion and in the transverse direction relative to said contact-locking plate (64) ; said guiding slot (50, 52) having section (50) along which said contact-locking plate (64) extends and section (52) in which said plate component (68) is disposed and which holds the plate component (68) in the transverse direction thereby preventing sidewise rocking of the double-lock member (60) as it moves between a contact-insertion position and a contact-locking position.

2. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insulating housing includes a female insulating housing (20) to which is secured a lance housing (40) .

3. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein the housing lances (44, 49) are located on said lance housing (40) .

4. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 2, wherein said female insulating housing (20) includes a frame (33) along both sides of which sections of said lance housing (40) extends, and a sealing gasket (100) is located on said frame (33) between said female insulating housing (20) and said lance housing (40) .

5. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate component (68) includes indentations 72 for preventing the housing lances (49) from bending.

6. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insulating housing (20) includes slots

(32a, 32b) along which arms (82a, 82b) of a cam slide (80) move for connecting the electrical connector to a mating electrical connector (44) .

7. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein said insulating housing (20, 40) and said double-lock member (60) have latching members (54, 70) for latching the double-lock member (60) in the contac - locking position.