Low insertion force connector assembly

In a low insertion force connector assembly in which cam pins protruded from upper and lower walls of a housing of a male connector are guided by cam grooves formed in upper and lower walls of a slider which are confronted with each other, so that the male connector is inserted into a female connector, the cam pins are provided in the housing of the male connector in such a manner that the cam pins are popped in and out of the housing freely and elastically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a low insertion force connector assembly which 
has a slider to connect male and female connectors to each other with a 
low insertion force, and more particularly to a low insertion force 
connector assembly in which a cam pin protruded from the housing side wall 
of a male connector is positively protected from external force. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
A multi-pole connector has a number of terminals, and therefore it is 
necessary to apply a great force to connect male and female connectors to 
each others; that is, it is rather difficult to connect them to each other 
and to disconnect them from each other. In view of the foregoing, a number 
of kinds of low insertion force connector assemblies have been proposed in 
the art which have low insertion force (LIF) mechanisms. 
In a typical example of those low insertion force connector assemblies, a 
slider is operated to perform the connection or disconnection thereof. 
A conventional low insertion force connector assembly of this type has been 
disclosed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 
Hei. 4-319271. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional 
low insertion force connector assembly. 
The low insertion force connector assembly comprises: male connectors 111 
and 112 each of which has a number of female terminal; a 
rectangular-frame-shaped holder 120 which accommodates the male connectors 
111 and 112; a female connector 130 into which the male connectors 111 and 
112 accommodated in the holder 120 are inserted; and a slider 140 which is 
used to achieve the connection and disconnection of the male connectors 
111 and 112 and the female connector 130. 
Four cam pins 121, 121, 121 and 121 are protruded from the upper and lower 
walls of the holder 120, and slider insertion holes 131, 131, 131 and 131 
are formed in both (right and left) side walls of the female connector 
130, and cam grooves 141, 141, 141 and 141 are formed in the upper and 
lower walls of the slider 140 in such a manner that they are engaged with 
the cam pins 121, 121, 121 and 121 of the holder 120, respectively. 
In the low insertion force connector assembly thus constructed, the slider 
140 is inserted into the female connector 130 to a predetermined position 
(depth), and the cam grooves 141 of the slider 140 and the cam pins 121 of 
the holder 120 are positioned. 
When, under this condition, the slide 140 is further inserted into the 
female connector 130, the cam pins 121 of the holder 120 are guided by the 
cam grooves 141 of the slider 140, respectively, so that the male 
connectors 111 and 112 accommodated in the holder 120 are inserted into 
the female connector 130. 
As is apparent from the above description, with the low insertion force 
connector assembly, the insertion of the slider 140 makes it possible to 
insert the male connectors 111 and 112 into the female connector 130 with 
low force. 
In contrast, when it is required to disconnect the male connectors 111 and 
112 from the female connector 130, the slider 140 is pulled out of the 
female connector 130. 
The above-described conventional low insertion force connector assembly 
suffers from the following difficulties: The small cam pins 121 and the 
upper and lower walls of the hole 120 are formed as one unit by molding 
synthetic resin. Hence, during transportation of the manufactured low 
insertion force connector assembly, the cam pins 121 may be crushed or 
bent by external force. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a low 
insertion force connector assembly which is simple in construction and 
positively protects the cam pins from being bent or broken. 
In order to achieve the foregoing object, the invention provides a low 
insertion force connector assembly in which cam pins protruded from upper 
and lower walls of a housing of a male connector are guided by cam grooves 
formed in upper and lower walls of a slider which are confronted with each 
other, so that the male connector is inserted into a female connector, 
wherein the cam pins are provided in the housing of the male connector in 
such a manner that the cam pins are popped in and out of the housing 
freely and elastically. 
Further, the invention provides a low insertion force connector assembly in 
which cam pins protruded from upper and lower walls of a housing of a male 
connector are guided by cam grooves formed in upper and lower walls of a 
slider which are confronted with each other, so that the male connector is 
inserted into a female connector, the connector assembly comprising: cam 
pins each of which comprises a cylindrical body, and a flange extended 
from a bottom of the cylindrical body; accommodating grooves which are 
formed in the upper and lower walls of the housing of the male connector, 
each of the accommodating grooves being open at one end thereof, with the 
other end thereof provided as a semi-circular receiving portion which is 
equal in external form to each of the cam pins; elastic members which 
elastically support the cam pins which are accommodated in the 
accommodating grooves; and stoppers each of which has a semi-circular 
receiving portion which is equal in external form to each of the cam pins, 
the stoppers being fitted in open ends of the accommodating grooves to 
hold the cam pins in the accommodating grooves.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A low insertion force connector assembly, which constitutes an embodiment 
of this invention, will be described with the accompanying drawings. 
FIG. 1(a) is an exploded perspective view of a male connector which is a 
part of the low insertion force connector assembly according to the 
invention, and FIG. 1(b) is a perspective view of the male connector which 
has been assembled. 
A specific feature of the low insertion force connector assembly of the 
invention resides in the arrangement of cam pins of the male connector. 
The assembly has a female connector, and a slider which are equal in 
design to those of the above-described conventional low insertion force 
connector assembly. Hence, hereinafter, mainly, only the male connector 
(the specific feature of the invention) will be described. 
In FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b), reference numeral 10 designates the male connector. 
The male connector 10 has a housing 10a whose upper and lower walls have 
cam pins 11, 11, 11 and 11. 
Each of the cam pins 11 comprises: a cylindrical body 11a; and a 
disk-shaped flange 11b extended from the bottom of the cylindrical body 
11a. The cam pins 11 are elastically fitted in accommodating grooves 12 
formed in the upper and lower walls of the housing 10a through springs 13, 
respectively. 
Each of the accommodating grooves 12 is a groove inverted-T-shaped in 
section which has two widths in correspondence to the body 11a and the 
flange 11b of the cam pin 11, and has an opening 12a at one end. The other 
end of each of the accommodating grooves is formed into semi-circular 
receiving portions 12b and 12c which corresponds to the external forms of 
the body 11a and the flange 11b of the cam pin 11. 
Reference numeral 14 designates stoppers. Each of the stoppers 14 is equal 
in external form to the section of the accommodating groove 12, and is 
fitted in the groove 12 to hold the cam pin 11 therein. 
Similarly as in the receiving portions 12b and 12c of each of the 
accommodating grooves 12, the front end portion of each of the stoppers 14 
is formed into semi-circular receiving portions 14a and 14b which 
correspond in external form to the body 11a and the flange 11b of the cam 
pin 11. 
Those receiving portions 14a and 14b are confronted with the receiving 
portions 12b and 12c of the accommodating groove 12 when the stopper 14 is 
fitted in the groove 12, thus forming a circular in-and-out hole which is 
substantially equal in diameter to the body 11a of the cam pin 11 and a 
slide space which is substantially equal in diameter to the flange 11b of 
the cam pin 11. 
In the male connector thus constructed, the cam pins 11 are held protruded 
from the upper and lower walls of the housing 10a when no external force 
is applied thereto. 
When, as shown in FIG. 2, external force P is vertically applied to each of 
the cam pins 11, the latter 11 is elastically sunk in the accommodating 
groove 12 with the aid of the elastic force of the spring 13. In this 
operation, the vertical external force P applied thereto is moderated. 
Hence, the cam pins 11 are positively protected from the vertical external 
force P. 
When, as shown in FIG. 2, external force Q is horizontally applied to each 
of the cam pins 11, the latter 11 is held protruded as it is. Hence, the 
male connector is free from the difficulty that the cam pins 11 are sunk 
in the walls of the housing 10a by the horizontal external force Q which 
is applied thereto when the cam pins 11 are being guided by the cam 
grooves. That is, the connection of the male and female connectors with 
each other can be smoothly achieved. 
The low insertion force connector assembly has been described; however, the 
invention is not limited to the embodiment. For instance, the elastic 
elements supporting the cam pins 11 are not limited to the springs 13; 
that is, the springs 13 may be replaced with leaf springs or rubber 
members. In the case where, instead of the springs 13, the leaf springs 
are employed, the they may be integrated with the rear surfaces of the cam 
pins 11 when they are formed by molding synthetic resin. 
As is apparent from the above description, the low insertion force 
connector assembly of the invention is simple in structure, and its cam 
pins are positively protected from external force which may be applied 
thereto during transportation of the connector assembly. Besides, the 
connection of the male and female connectors with the slider can be 
achieved smoothly.