Patent Publication Number: US-6655981-B2

Title: Joint connector assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to an insulation displacement joint connector and joint connector assembly, and more particularly, to a plurality of insulation displacement joint connectors stacked on each other. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Increasing variety of electrical loads in vehicles has been resulting in more complicated electrical systems. This requires increased efficiency in branching and connecting of wire harnesses to be connected to the respective loads. In a conventional wire harness connection, for example, two wire harnesses are connected by employing three joint connectors to establish circuitry. 
     Each wire harness in the connection includes two wires, for example, connected to each other with a joint connector. A wire in one wire harness and a wire in the other wire harness are connected with a joint connector to constitute circuitry in which all the four wires in the both wire harnesses are connected to each other. 
     The joint connector has a housing enclosing a contact with two insulation displacement claws. Two wires are press-fitted to the respective claws for connection. 
     With the above conventional joint connector, a further joint connector is used for connecting two different wire harnesses to each other, resulting in higher cost. 
     Further, in mounting the joint connector, it is required to spread the wires in the wire harnesses to recognize which wires to be connected, and to appropriately position the joint connector. This deteriorates workability in producing and mounting the wire harnesses. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an insulation-displacement joint connector with good productivity and workability in mounting wire harnesses at low cost. 
     According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided the following insulation displacement joint connector assembly. The assembly includes a plurality of stacked insulation displacement connectors. The connectors each includes a connector housing; and a contact terminal connected to a plurality of wires. The terminal has a plurality of first insulation displacing parts that are protruded from the connector housing and are pressed to wires in a neighboring connector for contact. 
     Preferably, the contact terminal further includes a plurality of second wire insulation displacing parts extending upright from the inner bottom wall of the connector housing. The first insulation displacing parts pass through the bottom wall and extend downward from the connector housing in the vertical direction. 
     Preferably, the contact terminal further includes a plurality of elongated plates each having the first insulation displacing part and the second insulation displacing part. The elongated plates being integrally connected with a connecting plate at a prescribed interval, the connecting plate being separable. 
     A second aspect of the invention provides the following wire harness. The wire harness includes a first insulated wire; and a second insulated wire. A conductive plate is interposed between the first insulated wire and the second insulated wire. The conductive plate has one side and another side. The connecting plate has the first insulated wire positioned on the one side. The conductive plate has the second insulated wire positioned on the another side. The conductive plate has a first end and a second end. The conductive plate includes a first displacing part of bent first end to extend to the first insulated wire to be pressed for contact; and a second displacing part of bent second end to extend to the second insulated wire to be pressed for contact. 
     Preferably, the conductive plate includes a base extending between the first displacing part and the second displacing part. The wire harness further includes: a connector housing accommodating the conductive plate, the connector housing including a first wall positioned between the first insulated wire and the second insulated wire. The first wall has the base positioned thereon. 
     Preferably, the second displacing part passes through the first wall. 
     Preferably, the connector housing further includes a cover made of a dielectric material. The base is fixed between the cover and the first wall. 
     Preferably, the connector housing further includes a second wall extending from the first wall toward the first insulated wire and over the first displacing part. 
     Preferably, the base and an end face of the second displacing part have a larger distance therebetween than an end face of the second wall and an end face of the first displacing part. 
     Preferably, the first displacing part has a cut at the first end. 
     Preferably, the second displacing part has a cut at the second end. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS 
     The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description when the same is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an insulation displacement joint connector assembly according to an embodiment of this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the assembled joint connectors according to the embodiment; 
     FIG. 3 is an equivalent circuit diagram of wire harnesses connected with the joint connectors according to the embodiment; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a joint connector separated according to a variant of the embodiment; and 
     FIG. 5 is an equivalent circuit diagram of wire harnesses connected with the separated joint connectors in FIG.  4 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the accompanying drawings, a preferred embodiment of this invention will now be described. In this embodiment, two insulation displacement joint connectors are used to connect wire harnesses. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a joint connector  10  consists generally of a connector housing  12  and an insulation displacement contact terminal  13 . 
     The connector housing  12  is made of an electrical insulating synthetic resin, having a rectangular bottom plate  14  and opposed rectangular side plates  15 ,  15  extending upward from laterally both sides of the bottom plate  14 . The bottom plate  14  is provided, at one side thereof, close to the edge, in the axis direction of a wire to be extended on the bottom plate  14 , with a prescribed number (two in this embodiment) of elongated holes  16  passing through the plate  14  in the vertical direction and spaced at a prescribed interval. 
     The terminal  13  is made of a conductive metal plate that is press-molded to have, as a single unit, a plurality of (two in this embodiment) elongated plates  17  and a conductive plate  18  connecting the plates  17  to each other. One end  17   a  of the plate  17  is bent upright (on a side  17   f )at a bending point  17   d  and is provided with a wire fitting part  20  with a notch  19  in U-shape that opens upward. The inner periphery  20   a  defining the notch  19  has a blade  20   a  formed thereto. 
     The other end  17   b  of the plate  17  is bent vertically downward (on the opposite side  17   g ) at a bending point  17   e  and is provided with a wire fitting part  21  with a notch  22  in U-shape that opens downward. A blade  20   a  is provided at a periphery that defines the notch  22 . The fitting part  21  of the terminal  13  has generally the same width as that of the elongated hole  16 . The space between the fitting parts  21  is set generally the same as the space between the elongated holes  16 . 
     The plate  17  has a base  17   c  extending between the bending points  17   d  and  17   e.    
     A distance between a top surface  14   a  of the bottom plate  14  and the top end of the fitting part  20  is set at D 1 . A distance between the top surface  14   a  and the top end of the side plate  15  is set at D 2 . D 1  is set smaller than D 2 . 
     A distance between the top end of the fitting part  20  and the top end of the side plate  15  is set at D 3 . A distance between a rear surface  14   b  of the bottom plate  14  and the top end of the fitting part  21  is set at D 4 . D 4  is set larger than D 3  and smaller than D 2 . 
     In the joint connector  10 , the fitting parts  21  of the terminal  13  are inserted downwardly into the elongated holes  16  formed in the bottom plate  14  of the housing  12  to be accommodated in the housing  12 . As shown in FIG. 2, an insulating plate  23  covering the terminal  13  is fixed to have the fitting parts  20  passing therethrough, laying along the bottom plate  14 . 
     Wires  24  and  25  are press-fitted into the notches  19 ,  19  of the fitting parts  20 ,  20  of the joint connector  10  as shown in FIG. 1 so that insulations of the wires are split off by the blades  20   a ,  20   a  and the cores thereof are connected to the fitting parts  20 . 
     The joint connector  11  has the same structure as that of the joint connector  10 , consisting of connector housing  26 , an insulation displacement contact terminal  27  and an insulating plate  28 . As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal  27  is provided with elongated plates  29 , a connecting plate  30 , wire fitting parts  31  and  32 . Wires  33  and  34  are connected to the fitting parts  31 ,  31 . 
     In this embodiment, the joint connectors  10  and  11  as shown in FIG. 1 are stacked as shown in FIG. 2, to have the fitting parts  21 ,  21  extending downwardly in the vertical direction from the bottom plate  14  of the joint connector  10  positioned above, connected to the wires  33  and  34  held in the joint connector  11  positioned below. This results in a wire harness assembly W having circuitry as shown in FIG. 3 with the wires  24 ,  25 ,  33  and  34  connected to each other. In FIG. 3, reference numeral  35  denotes a terminal connector. 
     In this state, since D 4  is larger than D 3  and smaller than D 2 , the fitting part  21  is connected to the wire  33  without contacting the bottom plate of the connector housing  26  (See FIG.  2 ). 
     This use of the joint connectors  10  and  11  in this embodiment allows establishing circuitry that had required three joint connectors, with two joint connectors  10  and  11 . This embodiment having the joint connectors  10  and  11  stacked on each other allows saving space for a joint connector. 
     It is also possible to use the contact terminals  13  and  27  with the connecting plates  18  and  30  cut. FIG. 4 shows the connecting plate  18  of the terminal  13  separated so as to isolate the two elongated plates  17 ,  17  from each other. The isolation of the plates  17 ,  17  of the joint connector  10  from each other and the isolation of the plates  29 ,  29  of the joint connector  11  from each other allow producing a wire harness assembly W as shown in FIG.  5 . It is also possible to produce circuitry in which the upper and lower joint connectors  10  and  11  are connected partially with each other by selectively bending or cutting off the fitting parts  21  and  32 . 
     The above-described embodiment is not meant to limit this invention thereto. Various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention. For example, various design modifications are possible, including changes in the number of the elongated plates of the contact terminals and the structure of the connector housings. 
     As apparent from the above description, another connecting means for wires other than stacked joint connectors is not required, which provides reduction in the number of parts and space saving. Further, the simple stacking of the joint connectors allows easy production of wire harness assembly. Furthermore, use of the prescribed terminals allows positive production of wire harness assembly with desired circuitry. 
     A fitting part of a connector between stacked connectors is automatically connected to a wire in another connector, which increases workability in mounting to allow efficient production of wire harness assembly. 
     A plurality of elongated plates of the connector can be separated with a connecting plate cut, which increases the degree of freedom of design in circuitry to be established with the joint connectors. 
     The entire content of Japanese Patent Applications P2000-222978 (filed Jul. 24, 2000) is incorporated herein by reference.