Abstract:
The present invention provides a crimping apparatus that can adapt widely to various diameters of the insulating coatings of wires. The crimping apparatus has a crimp height adjustment mechanism for an insulating coating of a wire, the front of the crimping apparatus facing in a direction opposite to the direction of a core of the wire. The adjustment mechanism includes a shaft member having a regular polygon part and an eccentric shaft part that are connected thereto, and an adjustment dial which is disposed in the eccentric shaft part so as to face in the same direction as the front of the crimping apparatus. Therefore, this crimping apparatus can perform the crimping of terminals having various diameters of the insulating coatings of wires.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a crimping apparatus that has adjustment mechanisms that adjust the crimping heights for a core and an insulating coating, respectively, of a wire with a stripped end, when a terminal is crimped onto the core and the insulating coating.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     A conventional crimping apparatus that has mechanisms that adjust the crimp heights for a core and an insulating coating of a wire when a terminal is crimped onto the core and the insulating coating (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-6849, for example).  
         [0003]     However, the crimping apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-6849 has a problem. Specifically, operating the crimp height adjustment mechanism for a core and the crimp height adjustment mechanism for an insulating coating involves additional operations, such as loosening of a predetermined fastened part, so that it takes time to adjust the crimp heights.  
         [0004]     Thus, in order to solve this problem, a crimping apparatus has been proposed that has two dials for operating the two adjustment mechanisms (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-27086, for example).  
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a front view of the essential parts of the crimping apparatus described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-27086.  
         [0006]     A crimping apparatus  1  described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-27086 has, on the front thereof, dials  40 ,  50  for operating the crimp height adjustment mechanism for a core and the crimp height adjustment mechanism for an insulating coating and includes a prime mover section that produces a force required for crimping and an applicator  20  that achieves crimping of a terminal using the force produced by the prime mover section.  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  shows an applicator  20  and a press ram  11  that is a component of the prime mover section which transmits the force produced by the prime mover section to the applicator  20 .  
         [0008]     The applicator  20  is composed of a machine casing  21 , an anvil unit  22  and a base  23 . A pair of vertical rails  24  is fixed to the machine casing  21 , and an oscillation beam  26  is supported on the machine casing  21  by a shaft  26   a . A tool ram  25 , which crimps a terminal onto a stripped part  30   a  of a wire  30  (see  FIG. 2 ) in cooperation with the anvil unit  22 , is guided by the vertical rails  24  to move up and down.  
         [0009]     The tool ram  25  is connected to the press ram  11  described above and has a cam roller  25   b  supported on a side section  25   a  thereof by a shaft  25   c , and the cam roller  25   b  is fitted into a cam groove  26   b  formed in the oscillation beam  26 . Thus, when the tool ram  25  moves up and down, the oscillation beam  26  oscillates about the shaft  26   a . A plate  28  is attached to a lower part of the oscillation beam  26 , and a feeding claw  27 , whose tip end engages with chained terminals n placed behind a terminal guide rail  23   a , is supported on the plate  28  by a shaft  27   b.    
         [0010]     The press ram  11  has a standard dial  111  that adjusts the bottom dead center of a bottom end  11   a.    
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the essential parts of the crimping apparatus shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0012]     A terminal n 1  shown in  FIG. 2  is composed of a contact part n 11 , an insulation barrel n 12  for holding the coating  31  of the wire  30 , and a wire barrel n 13  for holding a core  32  of the wire  30 . Multiple terminals n 1  are connected to a carrier n 14  to constitute the chained terminals n. A crimper section  25   d  of the tool ram  25  shown also in  FIG. 1  is composed of a cut-off punch  251   d , an insulator crimper  252   d  for crimping the insulation barrel n 12 , and a wire crimper  253   d  for crimping the wire barrel n 13 .  
         [0013]     In this crimping apparatus  1 , operation of a feeding claw  27  causes the terminal n 1 , which is the closest to the anvil unit  22  of the plural chained terminals n, to be placed on the anvil unit  22 . Then, when the wire  30  with an end at which a stripped part  30   a  is previously formed is placed on the terminal n 1  on the anvil unit  22 , the press ram  11  moves downward, and the tool ram  25  connected to the press ram  11  is guided by the vertical rails  24  to move downward. Then, the tool ram  25  and the anvil unit  22  cooperate to cut a bridge part n 15 , which connects the terminal to the carrier n 14 , and crimp the terminal n 1 , separated from the chained terminals n, onto the stripped part  30   a . When the crimping is completed and the tool ram  25  begins to move upward, the cam roller  25   b  also moves upward along the cam groove  26   b  in the oscillation beam  26 , and thus, the oscillation beam  26  oscillates about the shaft  26   a  counterclockwise. This movement causes the feeding claw  27  to place a terminal, which is the closest to the anvil unit  22  of the chained terminals n, on the anvil unit  22  along the terminal guide rail  23   a.    
         [0014]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the anvil unit  22  is composed of a floating shear  221  having a groove cutting edge  221   a , an insulation anvil  222  and a wire anvil  223 . When the tool ram  25  moves downward guided by the vertical rails  24 , the bridge part n 15  of the terminal n 1  on the anvil unit  22  is cut by the cut-off punch  251   d  and the groove cutting edge  221   a  of the floating shear  221 , and the insulation barrel n  12  is crimped onto the coating  31  of the wire  30  by the insulation crimper  252   d  and the insulation anvil  222 . In addition, the wire barrel n 13  is crimped onto the stripped core  32  of the wire  30  by the wire crimper  253   d  and the wire anvil  223 .  
         [0015]     Here, in the crimping apparatus  1  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the crimp heights for the core and the coating are adjusted by changing the bottom dead centers of the wire crimper  253   d  and the insulation crimper  252   d , respectively, by use of a lower dial  40  and an upper dial  50  after the adjustment by the standard dial  111  provided in the press ram. In FIGS.  1  and  2 , the upper dial  50  is for the wire crimper and the lower dial  40  is for the insulator crimper.  
         [0016]     There are various types of wires according to their applications. For example, in the crimping apparatus described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-27086, when terminal crimping is to be performed for multiple kinds of wires the coating diameter of which differs greatly though the core diameter thereof is the same, it may sometimes become impossible to adapt to various kinds of wires if only the adjustment of the bottom dead center of the insulation crimper by the turning of the dial  40  for the insulation crimper is performed.  
         [0017]     In view of such circumstances, the present invention has as its object the provision of a crimping apparatus that can adapt widely to various diameters of the insulating coatings of wires.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]     In view of the above problems, the present, in an exemplary embodiment, provides a crimping apparatus that can adapt widely to various diameters of the insulating coatings of wires. The exemplary crimping apparatus has a crimp height adjustment mechanism for an insulating coating of a wire, the front of the crimping apparatus facing in a direction opposite to the direction of a core of the wire. The adjustment mechanism includes a shaft member having a regular polygon part and an eccentric shaft part that are connected thereto, and an adjustment dial which is disposed in the eccentric shaft part so as to face in the same direction as the front of the crimping apparatus. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a front view of the essential parts of a crimping apparatus described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 7-27086;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the essential parts of a crimping apparatus shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a crimping apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a front view of an applicator section of the crimping apparatus shown in  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of a tool ram;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a drawing which shows a main dial;  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the tool ram;  
         [0026]      FIG. 8  is a front view of the tool ram; and  
         [0027]      FIG. 9  is a sectional view of the tool ram taken along the line Q-Q′ of  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0028]     Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described below.  
         [0029]     A crimping apparatus  100  according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 3 . The crimping apparatus  100  has a housing section  101  that contains a prime mover that drives a press ram  11 , and an applicator section  102  that is attached to the housing section  101  and crimps a terminal onto a stripped end part of a wire using the force from the press ram  11 .  FIG. 3  also shows an insulation dial that is provided on the upper end of the applicator section  102  and performs the adjustment of the bottom dead center of an insulation crimper. Incidentally, a standard dial that adjusts the bottom dead center of the press ram  11  is provided within the housing section  101  above the press ram  11 .  
         [0030]     A terminal (not shown) is fed into the applicator section  102  shown in  FIG. 4 , from the left in the drawing, and a wire (not shown) with an end stripped to expose the core is fed thereto from the front in the drawing. As described in detail later, in the applicator  102 , the crimp height of the core is adjusted by the above-described standard dial and the crimp height of the insulating coating is basically adjusted first by the above-described standard dial and then further adjusted by an insulation dial  140  shown in  FIG. 4 . This insulation dial  140  is composed of a main dial  142 , which is provided at the center and roughly adjusts the bottom dead center, and a sub dial  141 , which is provided along the peripheral part of the main dial  142  and finely adjusts the bottom dead center.  
         [0031]     The applicator section  102  shown in  FIG. 4  essentially has a machine casing  121 , a tool ram  125  that moves up and down with respect to the machine casing  121 , an anvil unit  122 , and a base  123 . The machine casing  121  has a vertical rail  124  attached thereto, along which the tool ram  125  moves up and down.  
         [0032]     In addition, the machine casing  121  has a side plate  130  with an elongated hole  130   a  formed therein. In addition, a shaft  132  is provided between the machine casing  121  and a supporting member  133  attached to the housing section  101  (see  FIG. 3 ) located to the left in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0033]     The shaft  132  has a cam follower (not shown) provided thereon, which engages with a cam groove formed in a predetermined surface of the tool ram  125  to allow the shaft  132  to reciprocate in a horizontal direction in  FIG. 4  in response to the tool ram  125  moving up and down.  
         [0034]     A claw section  127  feeds one of the chained terminals n which is the closest to the anvil unit  122  to the anvil unit  122 , and an arm  127   b  of the claw section  127  is connected to the shaft  132  and has a shaft  1271   b  passing through the elongated hole  130   a . The side plate  130  has a composite nut  131  having a center section  131   a  and a peripheral section  131   b  attached thereto at the center of the elongated hole  130   a . An end of the shaft  1271   b  of the arm  127   b  is press-fitted to the center section  131   a  of the composite nut  131 . The center section  131   a  of the composite nut  131  can rotate with respect to the peripheral section  131   b . Thus, when the shaft  132  moves in a horizontal direction in  FIG. 4  in response to the tool ram  125  moving up and down, the arm  127   b  rotates about the center section  131   a  of the composite nut  131  to move a claw  127   c  via a link section  127   a  connected thereto, and the claw  127   c  feeds a terminal to the anvil unit  122 .  
         [0035]     In addition,  FIG. 4  shows a crimper section  125   d  for achieving crimping in cooperation with the anvil unit  122  that is located directly below the insulation dial  140  shown near the upper end of the tool ram  125  and composed of a cut-off punch  1252  and an insulation crimper  1253  and the like.  
         [0036]     The anvil unit  122  has a floating shear  1221  that separates a leading one from the chained terminals in cooperation with the cut-off punch  1252 , as well as an insulation anvil that achieves crimping in cooperation with the insulation crimper  1253  or the like, although the insulation anvil is not shown in  FIG. 4 . Furthermore,  FIG. 4  shows an abutment plate  126  located above the anvil unit  122 , against which the tip end of the core of the stripped wire abuts for positioning of the wire.  
         [0037]      FIG. 5  shows components of the tool ram  125 . In the lower left area of  FIG. 5 , there are shown the cut-off punch  1252 , a flat washer  1256 , the insulation crimper  1253 , a spacer  1257  and a wire crimper  1254 , which are attached by a hexagonal screw  1251  to a lower part of a main section  1250  of the tool ram  125 .  FIG. 5  also shows a crimper support  1255  that is attached to the middle of the main section  1250  by a screw  1258 . In  FIG. 5  there is also shown a rotary shaft  1261  that passes through a spring  1260  and is fitted into a hole  1250   a  formed in the upper part of the main section  1250 . A leading end portion  1261   a  of the rotary shaft  1261  has a screw thread. This rotary shaft  1261  is fitted from the back side of the main section  1250  of the tool ram  125 , compressing the spring  1260 , and the leading end portion  1261   a  thereof is screwed into the main dial  142  of the insulation dial  140 . The sub dial  141  is fitted onto this main dial  142  that passes through a spring  150 , and the sub dial  141  is prevented from turning back by a pin  143 , which is attached to the leading end of the main dial  142 , with the spring  150  compressed. That is, the main dial  142  is held toward the main section  1250  and the sub dial  141  is prevented by the pin  143  from moving away from the main dial  142 . The pin  143  is fitted into a concavity  1411  provided between numeric figures (1 to 8) written on the front of the sub dial  141  (see  FIG. 8 ). As a result, the position of the sub dial  141  with respect to the main dial  142  is fixed.  
         [0038]     In the tool ram  125 , an upper edge  1254   a  of the wire crimper  1254  abuts against the bottom of a jaw  1255   a  of the crimper support  1255 . The flat washer  1256  is thicker than the insulation crimper  1253  and is fitted into an elongated hole  1253   a  formed in the middle of the insulation crimper  1253 . Thus, the insulation crimper  1253  can move vertically with respect to the main section  1250 .  
         [0039]     The insulation dial  140  is, as described above, composed of the main dial  142  and the sub dial  141 , and the sub dial  141  is a short component having a substantially cylindrical shape and has a polygon outer circumference. While the distance between the center axis and the inner circumference of the sub dial  141  is constant, the distance between the center axis and the outer circumference varies with the position along the circumference. That is, the thickness of the sub dial  141  varies with the point along the circumference.  
         [0040]     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the main dial  142  is composed of an eccentric part (an eccentric shaft part)  1421 , a fitted part (a regular polygon part)  1422  and a flange  1423  sandwiched between them.  
         [0041]      FIG. 6  shows the main dial  142  in detail. Part (a) of  FIG. 6  is a front view of the main dial  142 , and the square-shaped fitted part  1422  on the back side is indicated by dotted lines. Part (b) of  FIG. 6  is a right side view of the main dial  142 , and there is shown a hole  1421   a , in which is provided a screw groove which engages with a screw thread provided in the leading end portion  1261   a  of the rotary shaft  1261  shown in  FIG. 5 .  
         [0042]     Part (c) of  FIG. 6  is a back surface view of the main dial  142  and shows the eccentric part  1421  by dotted lines. The center axis X of the eccentric part  1421  of the main dial  142  and the center axis X′ of the fitted part  1422  of the main dial  142  shift from each other, and this fitted part  1422  is fitted into a square concavity  1250   b , which is formed so as to surround a hole  1250   a , by the biasing force of the spring  1260  to the main section  1250  side. In this applicator section  102 , the main dial  142  to which the pin  143  is attached is also pulled together against the biasing force of the spring  1260  when the sub dial  141  is pulled so as to be away from the main section  1250  and, therefore, the fitted part  1422  comes free from the concavity  1250   b  to be rotatable with respect to the center axis X′. At this time, when the main dial  142  is rotated so that the letter “A” written on the main dial  142  comes to the lower side of Part (a) of  FIG. 6 , that is, to the lower side of the main section  1250  shown in  FIG. 5 , the main dial  142  comes to the lowest position with respect to the main section  1250 . Also, by counterclockwise rotation of the main dial by 90 degrees from this state so that the letter “B” comes to the lower side, it is possible to locate the main dial  142  with respect to the main section  1250  in a raised position compared to the case where the letter “A” comes to the lower side. When the letter “C” is caused to come to the lower side, the position of the main dial  142  rises more. When the letter “D” is caused to come to the lower side, the position of the main dial  142  with respect to the main section  1250  further rises.  
         [0043]     In Part (c) of  FIG. 6 , the distance from the center axis X′ of the fitted part  1422  to the lowest end of the eccentric part  1421  when each of the letters “A,” “B,” “C” and “D” comes to the lower side is indicated by “A′,” “B′,” “C′” and “D′,” respectively. The distance of “A′” is the longest and the distance of “D′” is the shortest.  
         [0044]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the tool ram  125  and  FIG. 8  is a front view of the tool ram  125 . Incidentally, in order to avoid the complication of illustration, the illustrations of the hexagonal screw  1251 , cut-off punch  1252 , flat washer  1256 , etc. shown in  FIG. 5  are omitted here.  
         [0045]      FIGS. 7 and 8  show how the lowest surface of the sub dial  141  that is fitted over the main dial  142  is opposed to an upper surface  1253   b  of the insulation crimper  1253 .  
         [0046]     Numeric figures “1” to “8” are written on the front of the sub dial  141  and, as described above, the sub dial  141  has a polygon outer circumference. While the distance between the center axis and the inner circumference of the sub dial  141  is constant, the distance between the center axis and the outer circumference varies with the position along the circumference. In the applicator section  102 , the thickness of the sub dial  141  varies with the point along the circumference. Therefore, when the numeric figure “8” on the sub dial  141  is brought to the lowest position after the letter “A” on the main dial  142  is brought to the lowest position, the lower edge of the sub dial  141  comes to the lowest position with respect to the main section  1250  of the tool ram  125 . And, when the numeric figure “1” on the sub dial  141  is brought to the lowest position after the letter “D” on the main dial  142  is brought to the lowest position, the lower edge of the sub dial  141  comes to the highest position with respect to the main section  1250  of the tool ram  125 . That is, in this applicator  102 , it is possible to change the bottom dead center of the insulation crimper  1253 , including the above-described highest and lowest positions, in 32 different ways.  
         [0047]     The rotation of the sub dial  141  is performed after disengagement from the fitting of the pin  143  attached to the main dial  142  into the concavity  1411  provided on the sub dial  141  while pressing this sub dial  141  to the main section  1250  side shown in  FIG. 8  against the biasing force of the spring  150  shown in  FIG. 9 .  
         [0048]     Next, the crimping action by the crimping apparatus  100  according to this embodiment will be described. In the crimping apparatus  100 , the tool ram  125  moves up and down in response to the press ram  11  (see  FIG. 3 ), which is movably provided in a space  1259  (see  FIG. 7 ) above the tool ram  125 , moving up and down. When the press ram  11  moves down, the insulation crimper  1253  and wire crimper  1254  of the tool ram  125  suspended from the press ram  11  come into contact with the terminal placed under the crimpers, and thus, the press ram  11  moving downward decelerates. Then, the press ram  11  continues to move downward until it reaches a predetermined bottom dead center, and thus, the tool ram  125  is pressed to the anvil unit  122  side according to a graduation selected by the standard dial. In this process, the terminal is crimped onto the stripped part of the wire. Thus, the crimp height for the coating of the wire and the crimp height for the core of the wire are adjusted by adjusting the bottom end dead centers of the insulation crimper  1253  and the wire crimper  1254 , respectively, that are responsible for crimping.  
         [0049]     The bottom dead center of the wire crimper  1254  for crimping of a wire barrel n 13  (see  FIG. 2 ) of the terminal is adjusted by the standard dial that adjusts the bottom dead center of the press ram, as described above.  
         [0050]     The bottom dead center of the insulation crimper  1253  for crimping of an insulation barrel n 12  (see  FIG. 2 ) of the terminal can be adjusted in a wider range than conventional techniques by adjusting the main dial  142  and the sub dial  141  that constitute the insulation dial  140 , as described above on the basis of the adjustment by the standard dial. In this way, the crimping apparatus  100  of this embodiment can be adapted to wires having substantially different diameters of insulating coatings.  
         [0051]     Also, in the crimping apparatus  100  according to this embodiment described above, the dial for adjusting the bottom dead center of the insulation crimper  1253  is disposed so as to face the operator and, therefore, the adjustment work of the crimp height of the insulating coating can be easily performed. In addition, the adjustment work can be easily performed by pulling out the sub dial  141  when the bottom dead center of the insulation crimper  1253  is to be greatly changed and by pushing the sub dial  141  in when a fine adjustment is to be made.  
         [0052]     Incidentally, in the above-described embodiment, the descriptions were made of the case where the fitted part  1422  is a square. In the present invention, however, it is acceptable so long as the fitted part  1422  is a regular polygon and, therefore, the fitted part  1422  may be an equilateral triangle, an equilateral pentagon or an equilateral octagon.