Abstract:
In a connector having a principal surface ( 44   a ) to be faced to an object in a first direction (A 1 ) and a guide portion ( 45 ) protruding from the principal surface in the first direction for guiding connection of the connector and the object, the guide portion has elasticity so as to be elastically bent in a second direction (A 2 ) transverse to the first direction. It is preferable that the guide portion has a slit ( 51 ) to provide the elasticity.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a connector having a guide portion for guiding connection of the connector and an object to be connected thereto.  
           [0002]    A connector of the type having a guide portion is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications (JP-A) Nos. H07-335296 and H09-320684. In the connector, the guide portion is formed as a part integral with an insulator made of a hard material and holding a contact.  
           [0003]    For example, a mobile telephone is provided with a connector to be used when a battery is charged. Typically, the contact used in the connector is of a butt-contact type in which the contact and a mating contact of a mating connector as an object are pressed against each other in a predetermined direction. The insulator is provided with a lock mechanism for stably holding the contact and the mating contact in a contacting state.  
           [0004]    It is assumed as a particular case that the connector of the above-mentioned structure is connected to the mating connector and thereafter disconnected therefrom without releasing the lock mechanism. In the particular case, an excessive force may be applied in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction, so that the insulator is damaged, for example, cracked. This is because the insulator is poor in flexibility.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a connector having a structure which is not subject to damage.  
           [0006]    According to this invention, there is provided a connector having a principal surface to be faced to an object in a first direction and a guide portion protruding from the principal surface in the first direction for guiding connection of the connector and the object, wherein the guide portion has elasticity so as to be elastically bent in a second direction transverse to the first direction.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0007]    [0007]FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a connector according to a related technique;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the connector illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a mating connector to be connected to the connector illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the mating connector illustrated in FIG. 3;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 5 is a partially-sectional side view showing the connector in FIG. 1 and the mating connector in FIG. 3 in a disconnected state;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but in a connected state;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but when an external force is applied to one of the connectors connected to each other;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of a connector according to one embodiment of this invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view of a characteristic part of the connector illustrated in FIG. 8;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the connector illustrated in FIG. 8;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 11 is an external perspective view of a mating connector to be connected to the connector illustrated in FIG. 8;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view of the mating connector illustrated in FIG. 11;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 13 is a partially-sectional side view showing the connector in FIG. 8 and the mating connector in FIG. 11 in a disconnected state;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 but in a connected state;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 15 is a view similar to FIG. 14 but when an external force is applied to the connector;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 16 is a perspective view for describing the use of the connector in FIG. 8 and the mating connector in FIG. 11 in a disconnected state; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 17 is a view similar to FIG. 16 but in a connected state.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0024]    Referring to FIGS. 1 through 7, description will at first be made of a related technique in order to facilitate an understanding of this invention.  
         [0025]    A connector illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a plug connector  21  comprising a plurality of electroconductive contacts  22 , an insulator  23  holding the contacts  22 , and a hood  24  covering the insulator  23 . The insulator  23  has a pair of guide portions  25  protruding from positions near to opposite ends thereof to be in parallel to each other. Each of the guide portions  25  is made of a heat-resistant hard material and formed as an integral part integral with the insulator  23 . The guide portions  25  serve to guide coupling of the plug connector  21  and a mating connector which will later be described. Each of the guide portions  25  is provided with a slide groove for receiving a locking claw  27  connected to a lock mechanism operating portion  26 .  
         [0026]    The hood  24  comprises a pair of hood components  28  butted to each other and fixed by a fixture such as a screw. The lock mechanism operating portion  26  is movably held by the hood  24 .  
         [0027]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the mating connector is a receptacle connector  31  to be coupled and connected to the plug connector  21  in FIGS. 1 and 2 in a first direction. The receptacle connector  31  comprises an insulator  32  and a plurality of electroconductive mating contacts  33  held between opposite ends  32   a  and  32   b  of the insulator  32 .  
         [0028]    The insulator  32  is provided with a pair of recessed portions  34  formed at the opposite ends  32   a  and  32   b  for receiving the guide portions  25 , respectively. To each of the recessed portions  34 , a lock plate  35  is fixed. The lock plate  35  has a locking hole  36  to be engaged with the locking claw  27  of the plug connector  21 .  
         [0029]    Referring to FIG. 5, the recessed portion  34  has an internal dimension H 1  greater than an external dimension H 2  of the guide portion  25 . Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 6, a gap is formed between the inner surface of the recessed portion  34  and the outer surface of the guide portion  25  when the plug connector  21  is coupled to the mating connector  31 . Due to the presence of the gap, mutual contact between the contacts  22  and the mating contacts  33  is unstable.  
         [0030]    Since the guide portion  25  is made of the heat-resistant hard material and formed as the integral part integral with the insulator  23 , the guide portion  25  is poor in flexibility. Therefore, if the plug connector  21  is subjected to an external force as depicted by a thick white arrow in FIG. 7, cracks may often be produced as depicted by reference numerals  37  and  38  in the figure.  
         [0031]    Referring to FIGS. 8 through 15, description will now be made of a connector according to one embodiment of this invention.  
         [0032]    The connector illustrated in FIGS. 8 through 10 is a plug connector  41  to be coupled and connected to a mating connector (which will later be described) in a first direction A 1 . The plug connector  41  comprises a plurality of electroconductive contacts  42 , an insulator  43  holding the contacts  42 , and a hood  44  covering the insulator  43 . Each of the contacts  42  is of a butt-contact type and has a part protruding in the first direction A 1  from the insulator  43  faced to the mating connector.  
         [0033]    The hood  44  has a principal surface  44   a  to be faced to the mating connector in the first direction A 1 . The hood  44  is provided with a pair of guide portions  45  protruding from the principal surface  44   a  in the first direction A 1  to guide connection of the plug connector  41  and the mating connector. As will hereinafter be described, the guide portion  45  has elasticity so as to be elastically bendable in a second direction A 2  perpendicular to the first direction A 1 .  
         [0034]    The hood  44  comprises a pair of hood components  48  butted to each other in the second direction A 2  and fixed by a fixture such as a screw. Each of the guide portions  45  comprises a combination of a pair of protruding portions  49  integral with the hood components  48 , respectively. The protruding portions  49  are faced to each other in the second direction A 2 . Each of the protruding portions  49  has elasticity to be elastically bendable in the second direction A 2 . Between the protruding portions  49 , a gap or a slit  51  is left to provide the elasticity.  
         [0035]    The hood  44  has a hood center portion  44   b  located at the center in a third direction A 3  perpendicular to the first and the second directions A 1  and A 2 , and a pair of hood end portions  44   c  located at opposite ends in the third direction A 3 . Between the hood center portion  44   b  and each of the hood end portions  44   c , a slit  44   d  is formed. The guide portion  45  protrudes from each of the hood end portions  44   c  in the first direction A 1 .  
         [0036]    The plug connector  41  further comprises a lock mechanism  52  for locking a connected state between the plug connector  41  and the mating connector. The lock mechanism  52  comprises an operating portion  53  formed on the hood  44  to be movable in the first direction A 1 , and a lock spring  54  located between the protruding portions  49  and cooperating with the operating portion  53 . The lock spring  54  has a locking claw  55  to be engaged with the mating connector in the first direction A 1 .  
         [0037]    Referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, the mating connector is a receptacle connector  61  to be coupled and connected to the plug connector  41  in FIGS. 8 through 10 in the first direction A 1 . The receptacle connector  61  comprises an insulator  62  and a plurality of electroconductive mating contacts  63  held between opposite ends  62   a  and  62   b  of the insulator  62 .  
         [0038]    The insulator  62  is provided with a pair of recessed portions  64  formed at opposite ends  62   a  and  62   b  to receive the guide portions  45 , respectively. To each of the recessed portions  64 , a lock plate  65  is fixed. Each of the lock plates  65  has a locking hole  66  to be engaged with the locking claw  54  of the plug connector  41 .  
         [0039]    As illustrated in FIG. 13, the recessed portion  64  has an internal dimension H 3  slightly smaller than an external dimension H 4  of the guide portion  45 . Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 14, no gap is produced between the inner surface of the recessed portion  64  and the outer surface of the guide portion  45  when the plug connector  41  is coupled to the receptacle connector  61 . Thus, it is possible to prevent mutual contact between the contacts  42  and the mating contacts  63  from being unstable due to presence of a gap therebetween.  
         [0040]    The guide portion  45  is rich in flexibility. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 15, the guide portion  45  is elastically bent if an external force is applied as depicted by a thick white arrow in the figure to cause relative vibration between the plug connector  41  and the receptacle connector  61 . It is therefore possible to prevent occurrence of local cracks.  
         [0041]    Referring to FIGS. 16 and 17, description will be made of an example of use of the plug connector  41  and the receptacle connector  61 . In the illustrated example, the receptacle connector  61  is assembled into a terminal apparatus  71  such as a mobile telephone. On the other hand, the plug connector  41  is connected to a cord  72 . As illustrated in FIG. 17, when the plug connector  41  is connected to the receptacle connector  61 , the terminal apparatus  71  can be supplied with an electric signal through the plug connector  41  and the receptacle connector  61 . Even if external force is applied to the cord  72  in various directions as depicted by thick white arrows in the figure, there is little possibility of causing the above-mentioned problems.  
         [0042]    Furthermore, the plug connector  41  and the receptacle connector  61  are connected to each other and locked by the lock mechanism  52  without operating the operating portion  53 . The operating portion  53  is operated only when the plug connector  41  is disconnected from the receptacle connector  61 . Specifically, the locking claw  55  is engaged with an edge of the locking hole  66  of the lock plate  65  with the lock spring  54  elastically deformed. Thus, a locked state is achieved.  
         [0043]    In the foregoing, the connector comprising the contacts of the butt-contact type is described. However, this invention is also applicable to a connector including a plurality of contacts of a different type.