Connector and connector assembly having improved terminal insertion feature

Connector assembly comprises an outer housing and an inner housing which is inserted into the outer housing. The inner housing has terminal receiving cavities which extend between its ends and which open onto one of the sides of the inner housing along the full width thereof as measured between the ends. The terminals are inserted into the cavities by aligning the terminals with the cavities and moving them laterally of their axes into their cavities. After assembly of the terminals to the cavities, the inner housing is assembled to the outer housing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to electrical connectors and connector assemblies of 
the type in which terminals are inserted into the cavities in the 
connector housing. The invention is particularly concerned with the manner 
in which the terminals are assembled to the housing. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Description of the Prior Art 
A commonly used type of electrical connector comprises an insulating 
housing having a plurality of terminal receiving cavities extending 
therethrough from the rearward face to the mating face. Terminals crimped 
onto the ends of wires are assembled to the housing by simply inserting 
each terminal into one of the cavities until a retaining lance on the 
terminal moves beyond a shoulder on the housing so that the terminal 
cannot be withdrawn from the connector housing. 
Problems are sometimes encountered with connectors of the type described 
above in that the technician may fail to insert the terminal fully into 
the cavity in the housing so that the lance on the terminal does not move 
beyond the shoulder in the housing. The terminal may appear to be fully 
inserted and may appear to resist withdrawal, particularly, if the 
terminal is dimensioned such that it has a close fit in the cavity of the 
housing or if the insulation on the wire to which the terminal is crimped 
has a close fit in the housing cavity. The result is that when the 
connector is placed in service, that is, when it is mated with its 
complementary connector, the improperly inserted terminal will be pushed 
rearwardly from the housing and will not establish contact with a 
complementary terminal in the complementary connector. This problem can be 
partially overcome by good quality controls and careful inspection of the 
assembled connectors prior to their being placed in service. However, the 
possibility of improper insertion of the terminals into the housing cannot 
be completely eliminated. 
Another problem which sometimes arises with connectors of the type 
described above results from the fact that under some circumstances, it is 
required that the wires to which the terminals are crimped be contained in 
a cable having a jacket thereon. The jacket must be removed from an end 
portion of the cable so that the individual wires can be spread apart and 
inserted into the cavities of the connector housing. It is desirable, 
however, to remove only a minimum amount of the cable jacket so that it 
will extend to a location close to the connector. The technician faced 
with the task of inserting the terminals on the wires into the cavities in 
the connector will have only a very short length of wire between the 
terminal and the end of the jacket to work with when the terminals are 
inserted. The operation of inserting the terminals into the cavity is 
sometimes time consuming for the reason that the technician has only a 
short length of flexible wire to manipulate, particularly if the wire is 
of a relatively heavy gauge and is relatively stiff, for example, 
conductors in the range of 10-12 AWG for power useage. If the cable has 
six or more wires therein, insertion of the first and second terminals may 
be accomplished with relative ease, but the insertion operation becomes 
increasingly awkward and difficult as the remaining terminals are inserted 
into the cavities for the reason that the cable is held in a fixed 
position by the previously inserted terminals and cannot, therefore, be 
manipulated by the technician in inserting the remaining terminals. 
The present invention is directed to the achievement of a multi-contact 
electrical connector and a connector assembly having structural features 
which simplify the step of inserting terminals into the cavities in the 
connector housing and which obviate the problems discussed above. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
One aspect of the invention comprises an electrical connector housing 
having oppositely facing first and second faces, oppositely facing first 
and second major side surfaces, and oppositely facing end surfaces. The 
side surfaces and the end surfaces extend between the first and second 
faces. The first face is the mating face of the housing and a plurality of 
terminal receiving cavities extend through the housing from the second 
face to the first face. Each cavity is dimensioned to receive a terminal. 
The housing is characterized in that each of the cavities opens onto the 
first side surface over the entire width of the housing as measured 
between the first and second faces so that a terminal can be inserted into 
each of the cavities by aligning the terminal with the cavity and moving 
the terminal laterally of its axis and into the cavity. Terminal retaining 
means are provided in each cavity, each retaining means comprising 
interengaging means in the cavity which is interengageable with a terminal 
positioned in the cavity. The interengaging means is resiliently 
deflectable by the terminal upon movement of the terminal into the cavity. 
In the preferred embodiment, the retaining means comprises a cantilever 
beam having a fixed end and a free end, the free end being proximate to 
the first side surface and the interengaging means is on the free end of 
the cantilever beam. The fixed end of the cantilever beam is proximate to 
the second side surface and the cantilever beam extends towards the first 
side surface. 
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the invention comprises 
an electrical connector assembly comprising a housing assembly and 
terminals in the housing assembly. The housing assembly comprises an inner 
housing and an outer housing which surrounds the inner housing. The inner 
housing is as described above and is inserted into the outer housing after 
terminals have been positioned in the cavities of the inner housing. The 
inner and outer housings each have a rectangular cross-section and the 
cavities are in a row which extends between the side surfaces of the inner 
housing. The outer housing comprises a hood which extends beyond the 
mating face which is on the inner housing and the terminals have contact 
blade portions which extend beyond the mating face and into the hood.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A connector assembly 2, FIGS. 1 and 2, in accordance with the invention 
comprises a housing assembly 4 which in turn comprises an outer housing 6, 
and an inner housing 8. The housing assembly has a mating face 10 (FIG. 
3), a rear face 12, first and second side walls 14, 16 and oppositely 
facing end walls 18. The side walls and the end walls of the assembly 
extend continuously from the mating face to the rear face and forwardly of 
the mating face to provide a hood as will be described below. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the inner housing 8 contains a plurality of terminals 
20 which are crimped at 24 onto conductors of insulated wires 22. Each 
terminal has a contact blade portion 26 and an intermediate plate-like 
portion 28 which is between the contact portion and the crimped portion 
24. The intermediate portion 28 has one edge 30 which is notched with a 
shallow notch 32 and another side edge 34 which has a blade-like 
projection 36 extending therefrom. The individual wires are contained in a 
cable which is surrounded by a cable jacket 38, as shown in FIG. 6A. In 
the finished assembly, it is desirable that this cable jacket extend as 
close as possible to the rear face 12 of the housing assembly so that only 
a short section of each insulated wire will be exposed. 
The inner housing 8 has a lower surface 40, as viewed in FIG. 3, which is 
part of the second side wall in the connector assembly, an upper side 42, 
and oppositely facing end walls 44 (FIG. 2) which are part of the side 
walls 18 (FIG. 1) of the connector assembly 2. One end 10 of the inner 
housing is the mating face of the connector assembly and the opposite end 
of the inner housing has a lip or flange 46, as shown in FIG. 5. Spaced 
apart, semi-cylindrical recesses 48 (FIG. 6) are provided in the flange 46 
and cooperate with similar recesses 80 (FIG. 10) in the outer housing to 
surround the individual wires as shown best in FIG. 5. 
The terminal receiving cavities 50, FIGS. 6 and 7, are defined by spaced 
apart cavity walls 52 which extend from the flange 46 to the mating face 
10. Each cavity has one portion 54 which is adjacent to, and extends 
rearwardly from, the mating face 10 and a rear portion 57 which extends 
forwardly from the flange 46. The two portions are separated from each 
other by a transverse wall 56 and a transverse wall 58 extends from the 
forward end of each wall 52 and defines the surface of the mating face 10. 
The transverse walls 56, 58 do not extend to the adjacent cavity wall 52 
but have their ends spaced from the surface of the adjacent wall so that 
the terminals can be inserted into the narrow space between the ends of 
the transverse walls 56, 58 and the surface of the adjacent wall 52. The 
crimped portions of the terminals are received in the enlarged sections 57 
of each cavity, as best shown in FIG. 6A. 
The cavities extend inwardly from the upper side 42 of the inner housing 
and from the mating face 10 to the rear face so that the terminals can be 
inserted by aligning them with their respective cavities and moving them 
downwardly as suggested in FIG. 3. 
Retaining means are provided in each cavity in the form of a cantilever 
beam 60 (FIGS. 6A and 7) which is spaced from the surface 53 of the 
adjacent cavity wall 52 and which has a fixed end 62 and a free end 64. 
The free end of each beam is proximate to the upper side 42 and the fixed 
end is integral with the forward portion of the lower surface 40 which is 
stepped from the rearward portion of the same surface, as shown in FIG. 3. 
Each cantilever beam has an ear 66 on its free end which extends laterally 
towards the surface of the adjacent cavity wall and is sloped downwardly 
so that it provides a downwardly facing shoulder as viewed in FIG. 7. 
These ears can be flexed laterally away from the surface 53 of the 
adjacent cavity wall to permit insertion of the terminals and after 
insertion, the ears 66 will enter the notches 32 of the terminals thereby 
retaining the terminals in the cavities. During downward movement, the 
blade-like projections 36 on the edges 34 of the terminals will cam the 
ears and deflect them so that the terminals can move past the ears. After 
the terminals have been fully inserted into the cavities, the blade-like 
projections are received in openings 68 in the lower surface 40 as viewed 
in FIG. 9. The presence of these projections in the openings 68 provides a 
convenient inspection means so that it can be readily determined if the 
terminals have been properly inserted into their respective cavities. The 
opening 68 is formed when the inner housing is produced by injection 
molding by a core pin which extends through the cavity and forms the 
downwardly facing shoulder on the projecting ear. 
The first side wall of the connector assembly 14 is one of the side walls 
of the outer housing and the other side wall 70 of the outer housing forms 
part of the second side wall 16 of the connector assembly as shown in FIG. 
5. The outer housing has end walls 72 which extend partially rearwardly 
past the mating face and have ends 84 which adjoin the end walls of the 
inner housing in the completed assembly to form the end walls of the 
completed assembly. Conventional latch ears 74, 76 are provided on the 
outer housing end walls and side walls for cooperation with latch arms on 
a complementary connecting device. A flange or lip 78 extends from the 
rearward end of the side wall 14 and complements the flange 46 on the 
inner housing. This flange has spaced apart semi-cylindrical recesses 80 
and both of the flanges are stepped as shown at 82 so that when the parts 
are assembled to each other, the edges of the flanges will fit closely 
together and surround the wires. 
A ledge or extension 86 projects from the outer housing side wall 70 beyond 
the ends 84 of the end walls 72 and this extension has teeth or keys 88 
integral with its internal surface. These keys are received in spaced 
apart slots 90 in the inner housing which extend rearwardly from the 
mating face thereof. The keys and keyways provide an immediate visual 
indication or aligning means to facilitate insertion of the inner housing 
into the outer housing. Additional aligning means are provided in the form 
of shallow grooves 92 which extend forwardly from a location adjacent to 
the lip 78 towards the forward end of the outer housing. These grooves are 
dimensioned to receive the ends of the contact portions 26 of the contact 
terminals. 
The steps which are followed to assemble the connector assembly are as 
follows. The individual terminals on the ends of the wires 22 are first 
aligned with the cavities in the inner housing as shown in FIG. 3 and are 
moved downwardly into their respective cavities. During such movement, the 
blade-like projection 36 of each terminal will flex the associated 
cantilever beam and permit movement of the terminal into the cavity. The 
terminals are inserted into the cavities one at a time and since there is 
only a short length of insulated wire 22 between each terminal and the end 
of the cable jacket, the technician has only a limited amount of slack 
wire to permit manipulation of the terminals. However, since the terminals 
are inserted laterally of their axis, the fact that there is only a short 
length of wire available is not an inconvenience. After the terminals have 
been placed in the cavities in the inner housing, the inner housing is 
aligned with the outer housing as shown in FIG. 4 with the axis of the 
inner housing inclined with respect to the axis of the outer housing. The 
ends of the terminals are positioned in the grooves or slots 92 and the 
inner housing is pushed forwardly until the teeth 88 enter the aligning 
slots 90. The inner housing is then forced past the lip 78 and some 
flexure takes place in the side wall 40. After the terminals have moved 
forwardly to a location beyond the mating face, the lip 78 returns to its 
normal position and the wires are completely surrounded by the lips 78 and 
partially sealed. In the finished assembly, the forward portion of the 
outer housing 94 functions as a hood which extends beyond the mating face 
10 and which surrounds the contact portions of the terminals. 
Connector assemblies in accordance with the invention avoid the problems of 
inserting terminals into cavities, as explained above, when the jacket of 
a cable containing the wires must extend close to the rearward end of the 
connector. If the terminals are inserted axially in the conventional 
manner, the technician has considerable difficulty inserting the wires 
because of the very short length of free wire 22 between the terminal and 
the end of the jacket material. Since the terminals are inserted laterally 
of their axes, however, they need not be manipulated to a high degree 
during the terminal insertion operation. 
The completed connector assembly is relatively compact and its dimensions 
need be no greater than a similar connector of convention design; that is, 
a connector of the type in which the terminals are inserted axially from 
the rearward face of the connector housing. In fact, the connector 
assembly shown in the drawing has precisely the same dimensions as a 
convention connector which it replaces and is interchangeable with the 
previously existing conventional connector. 
Under some circumstances, the inner housing 8 might, itself, serve as a 
connector housing since the terminals are securely retained in their 
respective cavities by the cantilever beams and by the transverse barrier 
walls 56 which function as stops for the crimp portions of the terminals 
as shown in the drawing. The terminals need not necessarily be blade-type 
terminals as shown, but could be, alternatively, contact sockets 
appropriately dimensioned for the housing. 
Both the inner housing and the outer housing can be produced by injection 
molding processes involving only "straight draw" molds. Inspection of the 
housings will show that if the parting line of the molds in which they are 
produced is between the sides 14 and 70 of the outer housing or the sides 
40 and 42 of the inner housing, all of the core pins required can extend 
normally of these sides of the inner and outer housings. It is a distinct 
advantage in molding operations if a part can be made with a straight draw 
mold rather than a mold which requires core pins that extend parallel to 
the parting line and laterally of the direction of movement of the mold 
parts towards and away from each between their opened and closed 
positions. The latter molding technique requires an extremely complicated 
mold which contains mechanism which will move the core pins into the mold 
cavity after the mold parts are closed and withdraw the core pins before 
the mold parts are open. With a straight draw mold, on the other hand, the 
core pins can be fixed to the two mold parts and withdrawn from the cavity 
when the mold is opened since the core pins do not extend laterally of any 
of the portions of the molded article. 
As shown in FIG. 6, the cavities 50' and 50" differ from the other cavities 
in that the barrier walls 56 of these cavities are displaced towards the 
mating face 10 by a slight distance. The cavity 50' is intended to receive 
a terminal on an isolated ground wire and the cavity 50" is intended for a 
common ground. The terminals in these cavities will therefore "make first 
and break last" so that the ground circuits will be established before 
power circuits, or other active circuits, are established and these ground 
circuits will be maintained until after the other circuits are broken when 
the connector is coupled to, and disengaged from, a complementary 
connector. 
The cavity 50" differs from the other cavities in that a thin membrane-like 
wall 51 is provided at the entrance. Common ground wires are ordinarily 
uninsulated and may have a smaller diameter than the insulated wires in 
the connector. When the terminal on the common ground is inserted into 
cavity 50", this membrane 51 would be broken. 
The recesses 48 can serve as a strain relief means if they are dimensioned 
such that the insulation on the wires is tightly gripped by the surfaces 
of the recesses. Also, if a post molding operation is performed on the 
connector after assembly thereof, the recesses will prevent the flow of 
molding material into the cavities. The flow of molding material into the 
cavity 50" will be prevented by the membrane 51. 
An additional advantage realized by the practice of the invention lies in 
the fact that the intermediate portion 28 of the terminal 20 is a simple 
flat stamped plate-like portion and the retaining means on this portion is 
a notch 32 in one of the edges. The requirement of an obliquely extending 
retaining lance, as is common in conventional terminals, is avoided. Such 
lances require a forming step during manufacture of the terminal and are 
susceptible to damage during handling prior to insertion of the terminal 
into the cavity. 
The integrally molded cantilever beam 60 of the invention can be used under 
a variety of circumstances other than those described above; for example, 
in a conventional connector housing into which the terminals are inserted 
axially from the rear face towards the mating face. Under such 
circumstances, the beam would extend parallel to the direction of terminal 
insertion and towards the mating face or the rear face.