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United States Patent |
5,080,616
|
Tsuji
|
January 14, 1992
|
Connector housing assembly
Abstract
A connector housing assembly 2 comprises a plurality of housings 3 each
having a series of laterally arranged terminal accommodating chambers 4
and combined and united in a plurality of layers with the longitudinal
direction of the terminal accommodating chambers 4 being trued up, and has
a terminal locking mechanism comprising in turn locking ports 6 provided
in one of adjacent housings 3 in such a manner as to be situated at the
rear of the locking portions 8 of terminals 1 and locking projections 10
provided on the other housing 3 in such a manner as to project therefrom
so that the locking projections 10 are inserted through the locking ports
6 to be brought into engagement with the locking portions 8 of terminals
accommodated in the one of adjacent housings 3, and furthermore, a case
unit 12 is provided for securely covering and locking said housings in a
combined and united posture. The plurality of housings are preferably of
similar shape and size. A locking pawl 16 is preferably provided at the
top end of the respective locking projections 10.
Inventors:
|
Tsuji; Yoshitsugu (Mie, JP)
|
Assignee:
|
Sumitomo Wiring System, Ltd. (Mie, JP)
|
Appl. No.:
|
708600 |
Filed:
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May 31, 1991 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Jun 04, 1990[JP] | 2-58895[U] |
Intern'l Class: |
H01R 013/514 |
Field of Search: |
439/594,595,598,752,701
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
4046452 | Sep., 1977 | Cassarly.
| |
4368939 | Jan., 1983 | Foederer | 439/595.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
2223171 | Sep., 1990 | JP.
| |
Primary Examiner: Desmond; Eugene F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Sughrue, Mion, Zinn, Macpeak & Seas
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A connector housing assembly comprising a plurality of housings each
having a series of laterally arranged terminal accommodating chambers and
combined and united in a plurality of layers with the longitudinal
direction of said terminal accommodating chambers being trued up, and
having a terminal locking mechanism comprising in turn locking ports
provided in one of adjacent housings in such a manner as to be situated at
the rear of the locking portions of terminals and locking projections
provided on the other housing in such a manner as to project therefrom so
that said locking projections are inserted through said locking ports to
be brought into engagement with the locking portions of terminals
accommodated in said one of adjacent housings.
2. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein a case unit is provided for
securely covering and locking said housings in a combined and united
posture.
3. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein a locking pawl is provided
at the top end of said locking projections, respectively, so that said
locking pawls are brought into mesh engagement with the edge portions of
locking ports of associated housing, the posture of said plurality of
housings combined and connected to each other being thereby secured.
4. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein said assembly comprises a
plurality of housings of similar shape and size.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector housing assembly for use for
wiring harnesses or the like.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
A terminal locking mechanism is provided on a connector housing assembly
for preventing terminals inserted and secured in the connector housing
assembly from coming thereoff, and there are two types of terminal locking
mechanisms employed.
In one of the two terminal locking mechanisms, a locking piece construction
is used in which locking pieces are integrally provided on a connector
housing assembly via hinges so that the locking pieces are brought into
engagement with the locking portions of terminals for prevention of the
withdrawal of the terminals. In the other terminal locking mechanism, a
spacer construction is used in which separate spacers are inserted into a
connector housing assembly from the rear thereof and secured therein for
prevention of the withdrawal of terminals.
Recently, as more and more electric equipments are used in an automotive
vehicle, the number of circuits of a wiring harness for an automotive
vehicle is increasing, and the number of circuits used sometimes reaches
several hundreds. There is lots of difficulty from the viewpoint of
quality and operating efficiency in performing wiring harness fabricating
and forming operations in which groups of electric wires required to meet
that tremendous number of circuits are laid in certain configurations, and
connectors are connected thereto. In order to deal with this difficulty, a
single wiring harness is divided into groups each comprising several
divided wiring harnesses, and these groups of divided wiring harnesses are
then assembled and formed into one unit. Afterwards, half-type connector
housings each accommodating terminals of intergroup-connecting electric
wires drawn out of the respective divided wiring harnesses are combined
with half-type connector housings of the divided wiring harnesses, which
mate with the former half-type connector housings, to thereby form a
single connector housing assembly. Thus, a connector housing assembly
employing a combine-and-unite construction is now used in which divided
wiring harnesses are connected to each other to be united into one wiring
harness having a required number of circuits.
Of the above two terminal locking mechanisms having prior art means, the
former locking piece construction requires the operation of the locking
pieces in order to bring the same into engagement with terminals after the
terminals have been inserted. In addition, there is a risk of thin and
fragile hinge portions being damaged/broken during the relevant operation.
The latter spacer construction requires the preparation of separate
spacers to be inserted into the connector housing from the rear thereof to
be secured therein. The both constructions have a drawback in that they
are not suitable as a connector for a wiring harness for an automotive
vehicle that requires high operating efficiency.
In addition, since high operating efficiency is also inevitable even with
the above connector housing assembly employing the combine-and-unite
construction, as in the case of the above terminal locking piece
construction, a connector housing assembly capable of further improving
operating efficiency is still required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a connector housing
assembly that can solve the drawback inherent in the prior art, and which
can meet the technical requirements from the field to which the present
invention pertains.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a connector housing
assembly that is easy to be fabricated and reliable in operation.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a connector housing
assembly in which combination of a plurality of housings is effected in
synchronism with locking of terminals.
A connector housing assembly designed according to the present invention to
solve the above-mentioned technical problem comprises a plurality of
housings each having a series of laterally arranged terminal accommodating
chambers and combined and united in a plurality of layers with the
longitudinal direction of the terminal accommodating chambers being trued
up, and has a terminal locking mechanism comprising locking ports provided
in one of adjacent housings in such a manner as to be situated the rear of
the locking portions of terminals and locking projections provided on the
other housing in such a manner as to project therefrom so that the locking
projections are inserted through the locking ports to be brought into
engagement with the locking portions of terminals accommodated in the one
of adjacent housings.
Furthermore, the connector housing assembly according to the present
invention employs a construction in which a case unit is placed over the
plurality of housings to securely cover the same, or a locking pawl is
provided on the top end of the locking projection to thereby retaining the
plurality of housings in a combined and united posture.
In an embodiment of the above connector housing assembly, a plurality of
housings of similar shape and size are sometimes combined and united into
one connector housing assembly.
Since the connector housing assembly of the present invention combined and
united as described above has a terminal locking mechanism for connecting
vertically adjacent housings together in which, for instance, locking
projections provided on a lower housing in such a manner as to project
therefrom are brought into engagement with the rear of the locking
portions of terminals accommodated in an upper housing, and since those
locking projections are provided on the circumferential wall of the
housing in such a manner as to project therefrom, the connector housing
assembly can solidly be constructed, thereby allowing the connector
housing assembly to function as a terminal locking mechanism for
preventing the withdrawal of terminals, while providing remarkably high
locking force.
Moreover, the locking projections function as a projection for positioning
the plurality of combined and united housings, and the terminal locking
mechanisms are combined together immediately the housings are combined and
united together.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of a connector
housing assembly according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the housing shown in FIG. 1, and
FIGS. 3 and 4 are exploded perspective views of other embodiments of the
connector housing assembly according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be
described in detail below. Shown first as a first embodiment in FIG. 1 is
a connector housing assembly 2 for a wiring harness that accommodates
pressure-welded terminals 1 (FIG. 2). This connector housing assembly 2
comprises two housings 3 of similar shape and size that are constructed in
two layers. The housing 3 is formed into a flat shape in which a series of
terminal accommodating chambers 4 are laterally arranged in parallel to
each other. Locking ports 6 are formed in a circumferential wall 9
constituting the bottom of the respective terminal accommodating chambers
4 in such a manner as to penetrate therethrough, and these locking ports 6
are, respectively, situated at the rear of a plate-like locking portion 8
projecting sidewards at an intermediate position along the length of a
bottom plate 5 of the pressure-welded terminal 1 when the terminal 1 is
mounted in a proper posture.
A prism-like locking projection 10 is integrally provided on the
circumferential wall 9 of the housing at positions adjacent to the
respective locking ports 6 in such a manner as to project therefrom. When
a pair of housings 3 are combined together in a back-to-back fashion with
the longitudinal direction and longitudinal ends of the respective
terminal accommodating chambers 4 being trued up, the locking projections
10 of a lower housing 3" penetrate through the associated locking ports 6
of an upper housing 3' and are allowed to enter the associated terminal
accommodating chambers 4 to be brought into abutment with the rear of the
locking portions 8 of the pressure-welded terminals 1 accommodated in the
respective terminal accommodating chambers 4, whereby the terminals are
really locked. A terminal locking mechanism is thus constituted.
In addition, there is provided a case unit 12 functioning as a bottomed
cover unit for securely covering and accommodating therein an assembly
comprising the pair of housings 3 that are combined back to back, and the
combined and united posture of the connector housing assembly is fixed by
securely covering the assembly with this cover unit 12, the combined and
united housings being thus constructed so as to function as a single
connector housing assembly.
As shown in FIG. 2 when the pressure-welded terminal 1 is inserted into the
terminal accommodating chamber 4, a metal lance 13 on the terminal side
fits into a locking slot 14 on the terminal accommodating chamber side to
be secured therein, whereby the pressure-welded terminal 1 is primarily
locked in its inserted posture. In addition, insertion holes 15 for
associated terminals are formed in the bottom of the case unit 12.
Next, referring to FIGS. 3, 4, other embodiments of the present invention
will be described. Connector housing assemblies shown, respectively, in
FIGS. 3, 4 comprise a combination of housings 3 having locking projections
10 and locking ports 6 that are similar to those used in the embodiment
shown in FIGS. 1, 2. The connector housing assembly shown in FIG. 3
comprises a pair of housings 3 of similar shape and size that are combined
together in two layers in parallel with the vertical and longitudinal
directions thereof being trued up. The cover unit 12 for securely covering
the pair of housings 3 is formed into a shape in which it is provided with
walls on two sides thereof with the bottom being left open. Locking
projections 10' to be inserted into locking ports 6' of the upper housing
3 are provided on the inner side of a top wall so as to complement the
locking projections 10 on the upper housing 3.
Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, housings 3 similar to those
used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are used, and a locking pawl 16 is
provided on the top end of the respective locking projection 10. This
locking pawl 16 is then brought into mesh engagement with the edge portion
of the respective locking ports 6 of the associated housing 3, the
combined and connected posture of the housings 3 being thus secured.
As is described above, in the connector housing assembly according to the
present invention, a plurality of housings are combined and united into a
single connector assembly so as to improve its terminal locking
performance, and the terminal locking function is automatically secured
when the housings are combined and united together. Thus, since a superior
combining performance is provided by the connector housing assembly of the
present invention, the present invention is advantageous in that good
operability is provided in uniting the connector housings into the
connector housing assembly, and that the technical requirements from the
field to which the present invention pertains are met.
Furthermore, the present invention is advantageous in that the mass
production effects and the simplification of control is attained due to
the unification of housings used when a plurality of housings of similar
shape and size are combined together as in the case of the above
embodiments.
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