Patent Publication Number: US-6669507-B2

Title: Connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a connector capable of doubly anchoring a terminal within a connector housing. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     FIG. 7 shows a conventional connector disclosed in JP-A-2000-58180 which is a prior art related to the connector. 
     A connector  101  includes a connector housing  102  of synthetic resin, a front holder  120  of synthetic resin which is fit in a front end opening  103  of the connector housing  102 , female terminals  125  each to be inserted in each of terminal chambers  105  of the connector housing  102 , and a terminal anchoring spacer  140  of synthetic resin which is inserted orthogonally to the terminal chamber  105  from an opening in a lower wall  102   b  of the connector housing  102 . 
     The connector  101  constitutes a male connector which is fit into the fitting space of a complementary female connector (not shown) and locked using a locking arm  107 . The female connector includes a connector housing with a fitting hood and a female terminal to be mated with the male terminal. 
     The connector housing  102  has three terminal chambers formed in a height direction. Each of the terminal chambers  105  is defined by left and right partition walls (side walls at the left and right ends) and upper and lower partition walls  106  (upper and lower walls at the upper and lower ends). The upper and lower partition walls  106  are communicated with sloping partition walls  141  which slope upwards in a forward direction of the terminal anchoring spacer  140 . 
     The upper and lower partition walls  106  are each provided with a flexible terminal anchoring lance  110  at the front through the sloping partition wall  141  of the terminal anchoring spacer  140 . The terminal anchoring lance  110  is formed to slope upward, and has a vertical anchoring face  110   a  (first anchoring portion) at the tip which cooperates with the first anchoring stage  129  at the front of the female terminal  125 . A space which permits the terminal anchoring lance  110  to deflect is formed beneath the terminal anchoring lance  110 . Incidentally, the expressions “upper and lower”, “left and right” and “front and rear” are defined for convenience of explanation. Therefore, they do not necessarily accord with the directions when the connector is actually used. The expression “upper” refers to the side where a locking arm  107  for cooperating with a complementary female connector is provided; the expression “front” refers to the side where the connector is coupled with the complementary connector, and the expression “left and right” refers to the direction orthogonal to both the “left and right” and the “front and rear”. 
     No upper and lower partition walls are formed in front of the terminal anchoring lance  110  to form an opening space passing vertically. At the front of the opening space, a square front opening  103  where the front holder  120  is mounted is formed. The front holder  120  is mounted in the front opening  103  using an anchoring means. 
     The front holder  120 , which is a body separate from the connector housing  102 , has four partition walls  121  which define the front side of the terminal chambers  105 . The uppermost partition wall  121  is located in flush with the horizontal plane of the upper wall  102   a  of the connector housing  102 . The lowermost partition wall  121  is located along the lower wall  102   b  of the connector housing  102 . The intermediate two partition walls  121  are located in alignment with upper and lower walls  106  of the connector housing  102 . 
     The partition walls  121  are provided perpendicularly to the wall  122  of the front holder  120 , and an electric contact portion  126  of the female terminal  125  is accommodated between the upper and lower partition walls  121 . In the wall  122  are formed a terminal insertion hole  123  corresponding to the electric contact of a complementary male terminal (not shown) and a jig insertion hole  124  for releasing the engagement between the terminal anchoring lance  110  and the female terminal  125 . 
     In the configuration described above, since the connector housing  102  is provided with the front opening  103 , the front opening  103  serves as a rapping hole or die-cutting hole. This facilitates the resin molding of the terminal anchoring lance  110  which is likely to generate insufficient filling because of its complicated shape, and improves the molding accuracy of the terminal anchoring lance  110 . 
     The terminal anchoring spacer  140  includes upper and lower inclined partition walls  141  which define the terminal chambers  105  of the connector housing  102 , another inclined partition wall  141  integral to the operation portion  142  at the lower end and side walls (not shown). The pitch between the partition walls  141  vertically arranged is equal to that between the upper and lower partition walls  106  of the terminal chamber  105 . The terminal anchoring spacer  140  is inserted in a spacer inserting hole  112  which passes vertically through the terminal chambers  105 . 
     The terminal anchoring spacer  140  is a body molded separately from the connector housing  102 , but is used in a state where it has been inserted in the connector housing  102 . The terminal anchoring spacer  140  is slidable vertically between a provisional anchoring position (state) and a final anchoring position (state). The provisional anchoring state refers to the state where the terminal anchoring spacer  140  has been pulled out downward so as to project from the lower wall  102   b  of the connector housing  102 . In this provisional anchoring state, the female terminals  125  are inserted into the terminal chambers  105 . Thereafter, the terminal anchoring spacer  140  is squeezed upward so that the female terminals  125  are completely anchored and preliminarily anchored. Thus, each of the female terminals  125  is anchored doubly by the terminal anchoring lance and the terminal anchoring spacer. 
     Some connectors do not employ the terminal anchoring spacer  140 . In this case, the female terminals  125  are anchored by primary anchoring by the terminal anchoring lance  110 . 
     The female terminal  125  includes an electric contact portion  126  at the front and a wire connecting portion  131  at the rear. The electric contact portion  126  is constructed of a box-shaped circumferential wall  127  and an elastic contact piece  128  located within the circumferential wall  127 . The electric contact portion  126  has a first anchoring stage  129  cooperating with the terminal anchoring lance  110  formed at the front and a second anchoring stage  130  cooperating with the terminal anchoring spacer  140  formed at the rear. The wire connecting portion  131  is constructed of a front crimping piece  132  electrically connected by crimping the core  146  of the wire  145  and a rear crimping piece  133  fixed by crimping the cladding  147 . 
     However, the above conventional connector provides the following problems to be solved. 
     One problem is that, since the connector  101  with the terminal anchoring spacer  140  inserted into the connector housing  102  requires a large number of components, the structure of the connector  101  becomes complicated and bulky. 
     Specifically, since there is a tendency for the number of electric components around the instrument panel of a motor vehicle to increase and for the space for arranging electric wires to decrease, it is desirable for the connectors to become compact. The above connector, which involves a large number of components, cannot satisfy such a requirement. 
     Another problem is that as the number of components increases, the production cost for the components increases. In addition, the operation of assembling the connector  101  requires a larger number of steps and the management of maintaining the accuracy of assembling the components becomes complicated. This is an obstacle of realizing the cost reduction. 
     However, if the terminal anchoring spacer  140  is abolished to miniaturize the connector  101 , the female terminal  125  may easily come off from the rear. Specifically, the female terminal  125  is anchored only by the terminal anchoring lance. In this case, since the engagement margin between the first anchoring stage of the female terminal  125  and the terminal anchoring lance  110  is small and the terminal anchoring lance  110  has flexibility in both vertical and horizontal directions, if the wire  145  connected to the female terminal  125  is inadvertently pulled, the engagement may be lost. 
     Since the terminal anchoring lance  110  has a thin, lengthy and complicated shape, filling of resin may become insufficient in resin molding. In this case, it is further difficult to assure the engagement margin. This may reduce the force for holding the female terminal  125 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the problems described above, an object of this invention is to provide a connector with no terminal anchoring spacer, and more particularly to a connector equipped with a terminal anchoring lance which can realize size and weight reduction and low cost based on the reduction in the number of components without reducing the holding force of a female terminal. 
     In order to attain the above object, there is provided a connector comprising: 
     a connector housing having a terminal chamber; 
     a terminal which is inserted into the terminal chamber from a rear opening of the connector housing; and 
     a flexible terminal anchoring lance which is projected from an inner wall of the connector housing to anchor the terminal so that the terminal does not come off from the rear of the terminal chamber, 
     wherein the terminal anchoring lance includes a first anchoring portion and a second anchoring portion arranged apart from each other in a direction of inserting the terminal, and the terminal includes a first engagement portion and a second engagement portion to be mated with the first anchoring portion and the second anchoring portion, respectively. 
     In the above configuration, since the terminal anchoring lance is provided with the first anchoring portion and the second anchoring portion to anchor the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion, respectively, the terminal is anchored at two points in a longitudinal direction. For this reason, the terminal once inserted into the terminal chamber of the connector housing does not come off from the rear. Since the terminal is doubly anchored without the terminal anchoring spacer which is a separate molded body, insufficiency of the holding force can be compensated for. 
     Preferably, the first anchoring portion is a tip of the terminal anchoring lance and the second anchoring portion is a projection formed at a side end of the terminal anchoring lance. 
     Preferably, the second anchoring portion is arranged at a base of the terminal anchoring lance. 
     In this configuration, since the second anchoring portion of the terminal anchoring lance is difficult to deflect in both vertical and lateral directions, the engagement margin between the second anchoring portion and the second engagement portion is assured to prevent the terminal from coming off from the rear. 
     Preferably, the second engagement portion is a projection formed at a rear end of a female electric contact of the terminal, and the first engagement portion is another projection formed at a front end of the electric contact. 
     Preferably, a pair of the second anchoring portions are formed at both side ends of the terminal anchoring lance. 
     In this configuration, if a pair of the second anchoring portions are formed at both side ends of the terminal anchoring lance, the pair of the second anchoring portions are engaged with the pair of the second engagement portions formed on both sides of the terminal so that even where the female terminal swings in the width direction, the loosening of engagement is prevented. 
     Preferably, the second anchoring portion is formed on the wall of the connector housing on an extending line of the terminal anchoring lance, the anchoring portion being flexible. 
     In this configuration, if the second anchoring portion is formed on the wall of the connector housing on an extending surface of the terminal anchoring lance, the engagement margin of the second anchoring portion can be assured without being affected by the swing of the terminal anchoring lance. Since the second anchoring lance is formed on the wall of fusible resin with good fluidity, poor molding such as insufficiency of filling is not generated in the second anchoring portion. 
    
    
     The above and other objects and features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the connector according to this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an entire appearance view shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main part of the terminal anchoring lance of the connector shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the female terminal accommodated in the connector; 
     FIG. 5 is a side view of a female terminal shown in FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining the anchored state of the terminal anchoring lance shown in FIG.  3  and the female terminal shown in FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a conventional connector. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Now referring to the drawings, a detailed explanation will be given of an embodiment of this invention. 
     FIGS. 1 to  6  shows an embodiment of a connector according to this invention. 
     As seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, a connector  10  includes a connector housing  11  which is made of synthetic resin and incorporates terminal chambers  14 , a front holder  24  which fits in a front opening  13  of the connector housing  11 , female connectors  30  each of which is inserted into the corresponding terminal chamber  14  from each of rear openings  18 , and terminal anchoring lances  20  each of which projects from the inner wall of the connector housing  11  to anchor an electric contact  31  of the female terminal  30  so that it does not come off from the rear. 
     The connector  10  serves as a male connector which fits into a complementary female connector (not shown). The connector  10  has substantially the same structure as that of the connector  101  but is different from the connector in that it is not provided with a terminal anchoring spacer  140 . 
     The terminal anchoring spacer  140  (FIG. 7) is previously molded as a component separated from the connector housing  102 . The terminal anchoring spacer  140  is inserted from the spacer inserting hole  112  in the upper wall  102   a  or lower wall  102   b  to anchor the female terminals  125  doubly. Therefore, the insertion of such a terminal anchoring spacer  140  increases the longitudinal length of the connector  101  so that the size of the connector is increased. The connector according to this invention does not require the terminal anchoring spacer  140  so that the connector  10  can be prevented from being enlarged and hence downsized. 
     Although already defined in relation to the prior art, the expressions “upper/lower”, “left/right” and “front/rear” are defined here again. The “upper” in the “upper/lower” refers to the side where a locking arm  12  is provided for the complementary female connector (not shown), the “front” in the “front/rear” refers to the side where the connector fits in the complementary female connector, and the left/right refers to the direction orthogonal to the directions of the “upper/lower” and “front/rear”. 
     The connector housing  11  includes three or four terminal chambers formed in a height direction. The number of the terminal chambers  14  should not be limited to three or four in this embodiment, but may be two or less, or five or more. Each terminal chamber  14  is defined by upper and lower partitions  16  (upper and lower walls lid and lie at the upper and lower ends), and left and right (widthwise) partitions  17  (side walls  11   c  at the left and right ends). The upper/lower partitions  16  and the left/right partitions  17  are not broken off, but continuously extend from the rear wall lib of the connector housing  11  toward the front. 
     As seen from FIGS. 1 and 3, a flexible anchoring lance  20  is integrally formed with the front of each of the upper/lower partitions  16 . The front of the terminal anchoring lance  20  deflects inclinedly downwardly and its tip  20   a  serves as a first anchoring portion  21  for the front end portion  31  a of an electric contact  31  of the female terminal  30 . The tip portion  20   a  is provided with a vertical anchoring face  21  a on its one lateral side and a jig receiving face  21   b  for a terminal extracting jig  55  on its other lateral side. 
     The terminal anchoring lance  20  is provided with a pair of second anchoring portions  22  at both sides  20   c  of the base  20   b , which cooperate with the rear ends  31   b  of the electric contact  31  of the female terminal  30 . The second anchoring portions  22  are projections which project laterally outwardly of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . 
     The second anchoring portions  22  are provided as a pair on both sides for the reason that the two points on both lateral sides of the female terminal  30  are anchored to prevent the engagement from being lost when the female terminal  30  swings. 
     The first anchoring portion  21  and the second anchoring portions  22  are different from each other in their functions as well as the above structure. Specifically, the first anchoring portion  21  has a function of positioning the female terminal  30  in the longitudinal direction in addition to preventing the female terminal  30  from coming off from the rear. Namely, the first anchoring portion  21  is adapted so that it forward urges the female terminal  30  forward so as to be brought into contact with the wall  25  of the front holder  24 . 
     On the other hand, the second anchoring portions  22  are adapted so that they can be brought into contact with the rear ends  31   b  of the electric contact  31  of the female connector and provide a slight gap from the rear ends  31   b . Namely, the female terminal  30  is not positioned in the longitudinal direction. This is because the positioning in the longitudinal direction can be done by using either the first anchoring portion  21  or the second anchoring portions  22 . Namely, the second anchoring portions  22  serve to anchor the female terminal  30  secondarily. The second anchoring portions  22  are effectively used in the case where the female terminal and hence the wire suffers from inadvertent pulling force so that the primary anchoring has been released. 
     The second anchoring portions  22  may be provided on the inner wall of the connector housing  11  on the extending surface of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . This is because even when the terminal anchoring lance  20  deflects upward, the engagement margin between the second anchoring portions  22  and the second engaging portions  36  is not decreased and the reliability of anchoring is further improved, thereby preventing the female terminal  30  from coming off from the rear. 
     The structure wherein the terminal anchoring lance  20  is provided with the second anchoring portions  22  to anchor the female terminal  30  doubly is given in place of the terminal anchoring space  140  described in connection with the prior art. This structure prevents the connector  10  from being increased in size so that the connector  10  is miniaturized and prevents the number of components from being increased, thereby reducing the production cost of the connector  10 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 4,  5  and  6 , the female terminal  30  is equipped with an electric contact portion  31  at the front and a wire connecting portion  37  at the rear. The wire connecting portion  37  has a cladding connecting portion  37   b  connected to the cladding  52  of the wire  50  by swaging the cladding  52  and a core connecting portion  37   a  electrically connected to the core  51  within the wire  50  by swaging the core. The cladding connecting portion  37   b  and the core connecting portions  37   a  are provided at the front and the rear of the wire connecting portion  37 . The cladding connecting portion  37   b  and the core connecting portion  37   a  are constructed of a pair of swaging pieces  38   a  and  38   b.    
     The electric contact portion  31  is provided with a box like peripheral wall  32  and an elastic contact piece  39  located inside the peripheral wall  32 . The electric contact portion  31  is provided with a first engagement portion  33  formed at the front  31   a  for cooperating with the first anchoring portion  21  of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . The electric contact portion  31  is provided with second engagement portions  36  having rear edges  31   b  that cooperate with the second anchoring portions  22  of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . 
     The first engagement portion  33  is a box-like structure (projection)  34  which is formed by bending the extended portion of the peripheral wall  32  of the electric contact  31 . The first engagement portion  33  has a contact face formed at the rear which is to be brought into contact with the anchoring face  21   a  of the first anchoring portion  21 . 
     The second engagement portions  36  are upstanding pieces  35  which stand up from the peripheral wall  32  of the electric contact portion  31 . The second engagement portions  36  have contact faces formed at the rear ends which are to be brought into contact with the second anchoring portions  22 . The upstanding pieces  35  stand up along both side faces  32   c  of the peripheral wall  32  of the electric contact portion  31 . 
     As seen from FIG. 5, the first engagement portion  33  has a projecting length a from the upper face  32   a  of the peripheral wall  32  and the second engagement portion  36  has a projecting length b therefrom. The projecting lengths a and b are in the relationship: b&gt;a. The projecting length a includes an engagement margin for the first anchoring portion  21  of the terminal anchoring lance  20  represented by the vertical anchoring face  21   a  and the projecting length b includes an engagement margin for the second anchoring portion of the terminal anchoring lance  20  represented by the projections  22 . 
     The projecting length a is set for a value within the elastic limit of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . This is because the excessive deflection of the terminal anchoring lance  20  due to the insertion of the female terminal  30  is limited to prevent the plastic deformation of the terminal anchoring lance  20 . If the terminal anchoring lance  20  deflects upwards beyond the elastic limit, it cannot elastically return to the original position. 
     Since the second engagement portion  36  projects in a greater degree than the first engagement portion  33  does, when the female terminal  30  is inserted, the front end of the second engagement  36  may interfere with the rear end of the second anchoring portion  22  to impede the insertion of the female terminal  30 . However, the box-shape structure  34  of the first engagement portion  33  pushes up the terminal anchoring lance  20  to avoid the interference between the second engagement portion  36  and the second anchoring portion  22 . The box-shape structure  34  is formed to be rigid so as not to deform. 
     Again referring to FIG. 1, in front of and above the terminal anchoring lance  20 , a deflection space  15  is formed. The deflection space  15  extends vertically, laterally and longitudinally. The vertical and lateral deflection of the terminal anchoring lance  20  is permitted within the deflection space  15 . In the forward deflection space  15 , an opening space for the front holder  24  is formed to permit the front holder  24  to pass. 
     The front holder  24  serves to position the tip of the female terminal  30  to prevent the core from swinging and to guide the electric contact portion of the complementary male terminal (not shown) so that the female terminal  30  and the male terminal are accurately connected to each other. On the rear side of the front holder  24 , i.e. on the wall  25  on the fitting side opposite to the opening space of the connector housing  11 , four short partitions  26  are formed substantially vertically at regular intervals. The partitions  26  are located on the extended surfaces of the upper and lower partitions  16 . The electric contact portion  31  can be supported between the adjacent upper and lower partitions  16 . 
     On the wall  25  of the front holder  24 , a terminal insertion hole  28  corresponding to the male terminal (not shown) and a jig insertion hole  29  of the terminal extracting jig  55  are formed. A sloping guide face  27  is formed so that its diameter is gradually enlarged toward the front end face. The sloping guide face  27  guides the electrical contact of the male terminal to correct the core swing. The remaining structure of the front holder  24  is substantially the same as that of the prior art, and will not be further explained.