WO1999010952A1

WO1999010952A1 - Electrical connector, connector housing and method of introducing an electrical contact into a connector housing

Info

Publication number: WO1999010952A1
Application number: PCT/IB1998/001285
Authority: WO
Inventors: Horst Gehrke; Gunther Chritz
Original assignee: The Whitaker Corporation
Priority date: 1997-08-21
Filing date: 1998-08-19
Publication date: 1999-03-04
Also published as: AU8557198A; DE19736420A1; DE19736420B4

Abstract

An electrical connector is specified, with a connector housing (9) with at least one chamber (12) and with an electrical contact (7) for being received in this chamber (12), the electrical contact (7) having a locking shoulder (8) and the chamber (12) having a flexible locking finger (1), for locking the contact (7) in the chamber (12). The locking finger (1) comprises a long arm (2) and has, on the cable side, a free end (4), which bears an engaging protrusion (3) towards the chamber side. Towards the chamber wall, behind the free end (4) of the locking finger (1), there is provided a stop (5) and behind the arm (2) there is provided a cavity (6). The locking finger (1) and the stop (5) contact each other at a fixed or displaceable pivot point, about which the engaging protrusion (3) pivots, while the arm (2) is deflected when a contact (7) is introduced.

Description

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, CONNECTOR HOUSING AND METHOD OF INTRODUCING AN ELECTRICAL CONTACT INTO A CONNECTOR

HOUSING

The invention relates to an electrical connector having a connector housing with at least one chamber including a flexible locking finger, for locking the contact in the chamber.

US 4,343,523 discloses an electrical connector with a connector housing having at least one chamber and with an electrical contact for being received in this chamber, the electrical contact having a locking shoulder and the chamber having a flexible locking finger. The locking finger has an engaging protrusion and, on the plug-in face side, a free end. Behind the locking finger there is a cavity, which is accessible from the plug-in face. If a contact is pushed into the connector housing, the locking finger is deflected into the cavity and, as soon as the engaging protrusion is behind the locking shoulder, the locking finger will snap back into the unloaded position on account of its flexible behaviour. From the end on the plug-in face side, the locking finger can be disengaged. For securing the locking finger in its position, a further part is pushed into the housing from the end on the plug-in face side, this part prevent the locking finger from being able to be deflected, for example during tensile loading on the cable fastened to the contact, and filling at least certain regions of the cavity behind the locking finger. This arrangement has the disadvantage that the use of a securement of the locking finger is necessary. Thus, two housing parts must be provided. Similar arrangements are likewise known from US 4,973,268 and US 5,108,318. US RE.27, 63 likewise discloses an electrical connector. This connector has a connector housing with a plurality of chambers. In each chamber, one of the chamber walls is designed as a self-supporting web, the longitudinal sides of the web being respectively formed by slots and the web being connected at the upper and lower ends to the chamber wall. The web bears at least one engaging protrusion. If a contact is then introduced, the web deflects outwards and snaps back into position again as soon as the engaging protrusion has engaged behind a locking shoulder on the contact. What is disadvantageous about this design is that, on account of the web being joined on two sides, very high forces are required in order to insert the contact correspondingly into the housing. With the current requirements imposed on the housings and the small dimensions of the contacts, such an arrangement can therefore be realized only with difficulty.

It is the object of the invention to specify an electrical connector, a connector housing and a method of introducing an electrical contact into a connector housing in which the contact is secured in the chamber against high pull forces by means of a locking finger and which is of a simple construction. The object is achieved with respect to the plug-in connector by a plug-in connector having the features of Patent Claim 1; with respect to the connector housing by a connector housing having the features of Patent Claim 4; and, with respect to the method by a method having the features of Patent Claim 5. Advantageous developments of the plug-in connector are specified in the subclaims 2 to 4.

On account of the invention, it is no longer necessary when using a locking finger to provide an additional securement of the locking finger, which is correspondingly engaged with the connector housing and consequently represents a two-part housing construction. An electrical connector housing without such a securing module represents an enormous cost reduction over the prior art by saving material and also by lower expenditure on assembly, since the use of the securement is no longer necessary.

It is also of advantage that with the present invention, loading the locking finger with very high pull forces is made possible without the contact being extracted.

The general mode of operation and an exemplary embodiment of the invention are now to be explained with reference to the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a contact which is being pushed into a contact chamber according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows the deflection of the locking finger; Figure 3 shows the further introduction of the contact;

Figure 4 shows the completely introduced contact;

Figure 5 shows a representation of the locking finger under tensile loading; Figure 6 shows a view on the plug-in face side of a chamber according to the invention;

Figure 7 shows a cross-section along line B-B through the chamber according to Figure 6;

Figure 8 shows a cross-section along line C-C through the chamber according to Figure 7;

Figure 9 shows a cross-section along the line A-A through the chamber according to Figure 6;

Figure 10 shows a view on the cable side of a chamber according to the invention; Figure 11 shows a multiply sectioned chamber according to the invention, viewed from the plug-in face;

Figure 12 shows a multiply sectioned chamber, viewed from the cable side; Figure 13 shows a further sectioned chamber, viewed from the cable side; and

Figure 14 shows a further partially sectioned view of two chambers.

Diagrammatically represented in Figures 1 to 5 is the method of introducing an electrical contact into a connector housing. The following can be seen: a section through a chamber for receiving a contact having a locking finger 1 comprising an arm 2 and an engaging protrusion 3, which is added to the free end 4 of the locking finger 1, a stop 5 and a cavity 6 provided behind the locking finger 1. Furthermore, a representative part of the contact 7 with a locking shoulder 8 is represented.

In Figure 2 it can be seen how the contact 7 is inserted into the chamber from the cable end side. The contact 7 pushes the engaging protrusion 3 of the locking finger 1 in the direction of the end of the connector on the plug-in face side (opposite the cable end side) . As a result, the arm 2 of the locking finger 1 is deflected into the cavity 6. The engaging protrusion 3 pivots about the point of contact with the stop 5 as the arm 2 deflects.

In Figure 3 it is shown that this pivoting of the engaging protrusion 3 and the bending of the arm 2 causes the chamber to be opened in such a way that the contact 7 can be inserted. When the contact 7 is far enough into the chamber, the engaging protrusion 3 can snap in behind the locking shoulder 8, whereby the locking finger 1 springs back into its unloaded position. The same arrangement under tensile loading is then represented in Figure 5. Thus, when a pulling or strain is exerted on the cable in the indicated direction of the arrow Z. This pulling transfers itself to the contact 7, which will correspondingly strike the engaging protrusion 3. Under the tensile loading Z, the engaging protrusion 3 at the free end 4 of the locking finger 1 attempts to escape from the chamber and, as represented in Figure 5, to pivot away downwards. This is prevented, however, by the stop 5, thereby retaining the contact 7.

In Figures 6 to 14, an exemplary electrical plug-in connector according to the invention is then represented in several views and sectional drawings. A connector housing 9 has a plug-in face 10 and a cable end side 11. Furthermore, the connector housing 9 has two chambers 12. The chambers 12 have in each case a tapered receptacle 13 for the insertion of a complementary contact pin or contact blade. Joined onto the end of the chamber 12 on the plug-in face 10 side there is in each chamber 12 a locking finger 1. The locking finger 1 comprises a long arm 2 and an engaging protrusion 3 similar to that described above. An engaging protrusion 3 is joined onto the free end 4 of the locking finger 1 and towards the cable end side 11 a run-up slope 14 and, towards the end on the plug-in face side 12 an engaging shoulder 15. Interacting with the engaging shoulder 15 of the engaging protrusion 3 is locking shoulder 8 of a contact 7. The arm 2 is designed to be narrower in the direction of deflection than perpendicular to the direction of deflection. As a result, easy deflection is made possible.

Away from the chamber and behind the locking finger 1, there is a cavity 6, into which the arm 2 moves during deflection. The locking fingers 1 may be arranged, for example, such that from neighbouring chambers they lie opposite one another and escape into a common cavity 6. The run-up slope 14 of the engaging protrusion 3 serves the purpose of causing the locking finger 1 to deflect and the engaging protrusion 3 to pivot in an appropriate manner when the electrical contact 7 is introduced. The stop 5, against which the free end 4 of the locking finger 1 runs, can be seen particularly clearly in Figure 9. The stop is likewise bevelled, in order to make possible the easy deflection of the locking finger 2. The bevel 14 runs away from the chamber towards the plug-in end face side 10. Next to the locking fingers 2, there is an abutment A, which absorbs forces on the contact 7 perpendicular to the plugging direction. Removal of the contact 7 is possible only when the locking finger 1 is appropriately unlocked. This can be made possible, for example, by inserting from the end on the cable side 11 a tool to deflect the locking finger 1 and consequently make unlocking possible. The tool may be inserted through a groove 16. When it is bent away laterally, a direction is enforced on the locking finger by the slopes S (figure 11), which are arranged to the right and to the left of the stop 5. Furthermore, slopes S have the function of preventing the deflected locking finger 1 from becoming jammed.

Claims

1. An electrical connector comprising a connector housing (9) with at least one chamber (12) for receiving an electrical contact (7) having a locking shoulder (8) where the chamber (12) has a flexible locking finger (1) for locking the contact (7) in the chamber (12), characterized in that the locking finger (1) includes an arm (2) having a free end (4) with an engaging protrusion (3) extending towards the chamber side, and behind the free end (4) of the locking finger (1), along the chamber wall there is provided a stop (5) and behind the arm (2) there is provided a cavity (6) .

2. The electrical connector according to Claim 1, characterized in that the stop (5) is bevelled and runs away from the chamber (12) in the plugging-in direction of the contact.

3. The electrical connector according to Claim 1, characterized in that the locking finger (1) and the stop

(5) contact each other at a fixed or displaceable pivot point, about which the engaging protrusion (3) pivots, while the arm (2) is deflected when a contact (7) is introduced.

4. The electrical connector according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the arm (2) is of a rectangular or trapezoidal design in cross-section, being widest perpendicularly to the direction of deflection.

5. A connector housing comprising at least one chamber (12) for receiving an electrical contact (7) with a locking shoulder (8), the chamber having a flexible locking finger (1) for locking the contact (7) in the chamber (12), characterized in that the locking finger (1) has a long arm (2) and has, on the cable side, a free end (4), which bears an engaging protrusion (3) towards the chamber side, and in that towards the chamber wall, behind the free end (4) of the locking finger (1), there is provided a stop (5) and behind the arm (2) there is provided a cavity (6) .

6. Method of introducing an electrical contact (7) with a locking shoulder (8) into a connector housing (9), the connector housing (9) having at least one chamber (12) with a locking finger (1) comprising a long arm (2) and with a free end (4), on the cable side, with an engaging protrusion (3), into which chamber the contact (7) is pushed from the end (11) on the cable side, during insertion of the contact (7) the latter initially runs against the engaging protrusion (3) , which is pressed against a stop (5) and pivots about the point of contact on the stop (5), the arm (2) of the locking finger (1) is deflected away from the chamber (12) and the chamber (12) is opened to the extent that the contact (7) can be inserted, the contact is inserted further and the engaging protrusion (3) is behind the locking shoulder (8), with the result that the locking finger (1) snaps back into the unloaded position again.