JP3060898B2 - Female terminal fitting - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a female terminal fitting, and more particularly, to a female terminal fitting having a tongue for holding a male terminal fitting elastically in a connection portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a female terminal fitting of this type, FIG.
And those shown in FIG. This has a connecting portion 20 at the tip end side into which the male terminal fitting M is inserted, and a caulking portion (not shown) for connection to an electric wire is integrally and continuously connected to the rear portion side.

[0003] The connecting portion 20 is bent into a rectangular tube shape, and the tip of the bottom surface of the connecting portion 20 is bent inward.
The tongue piece 22 has flexibility. The tongue piece 22 has an upwardly inclined surface 22A that gradually forms an upward slope from the folded edge.
And a downwardly inclined surface 22B which forms a substantially symmetrical downward slope from the top edge of the upwardly inclined surface 22A, and is formed in a mountain shape as a whole. In addition, the rear end of the downwardly inclined surface 22B normally has a slight gap between itself and the bottom surface of the contact portion. The sliding edge 23 slides along.

However, in the case of such a female terminal fitting F, when the male terminal fitting M is inserted, the sliding edge 23 moves while rubbing against the bottom surface, and the frictional force at this time causes the insertion force of the male terminal fitting to be increased. And the operation becomes problematic.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. Hei 6-9069 has been proposed. In this device, two spherical convex portions are formed in parallel at the rear end of the tongue piece 22 (constituting the sliding portion) toward the bottom surface. That is, in the above, the slide edge 23 and the bottom surface were in line contact with each other,
Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-9069 focuses on this point and attempts to reduce the insertion force by changing to point contact, that is, by reducing the contact area.

Further, such a method can be set on the bottom side, that is, the same operation and effect can be obtained even if the projections are formed by hitting the projections from the bottom side. If only the insertion force is to be reduced, it is sufficient that the slide edge 23 and the bottom face are not in contact with each other even when the male terminal fitting M is inserted. However, in this case, the support of the tongue piece 22 is unstable. Therefore, the male terminal fitting M easily shakes in the height direction. For this reason, the sliding edge 23 and the bottom face have to be set to be in contact with each other.

[0007]

However, in this case, the following problems arise. In the above publications and the like, since the projection is formed on the slide edge 23 and the bottom surface toward the other side, the bending stroke in the height direction of the tongue piece 22 is smaller than the case where such a projection is not provided. Is limited accordingly. Therefore, when the projection is provided with the same setting as the conventional one, the timing of contact with the bottom surface when the male terminal fitting M is inserted is advanced.
Therefore, the operation time until the insertion is completed while receiving the frictional resistance becomes longer, and as a result, the insertability throughout the entire operation is reduced.

As a countermeasure against this, it is conceivable to shift the position where the projection is provided forward (toward the folded edge of the tongue piece 22). However, in this case, since the horizontal distance from the top of the tongue piece 22 to the protrusion is reduced, the deformation of the tongue piece 22 becomes difficult when the entire tongue piece 22 is deformed after the protrusion comes into contact with the bottom surface. That is, the insertion force increases accordingly.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a female terminal fitting which can be easily inserted into a male terminal fitting into a connecting portion. To provide.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector having a connecting portion into which a male terminal fitting can be inserted. A female terminal fitting provided with a tongue that is held between the inner surface and an elastic force, wherein the tip of the tongue is bent.
While it has a sliding edge, on the inner surface of the connecting part,
As the male terminal fitting is inserted, the slide edge is moved forward.
Corresponding to the retraction stroke after contacting the inner surface of the connection.
The recess is formed over the length range
During the stroke, the slide edge and the inner surface of the connection portion
It is characterized by being in a substantially point contact state .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the recess is formed so as to penetrate a connection portion.
It is characterized by having.

[0012]

In the present invention, when the distal end of the male terminal fitting is inserted into the connecting portion, the tongue is bent to receive the male terminal fitting and hold the male terminal fitting with the inner surface of the connecting portion with elastic force. During this time, the tip of the tongue and the surface facing the inner surface of the connecting portion are in sliding contact with each other, but since the sliding contact portions are in point contact with each other, the frictional force is reduced and the male terminal fitting can be inserted with a light insertion force. Becomes

[0013]

The effects of the present invention are as follows. According to the present invention, when the tongue slides in the connection portion, the point contact state is established, so that the frictional force is reduced and the insertion force of the male terminal fitting can be reduced. In addition, since the sliding contact portion is flush with the surrounding surface, that is, it does not provide a projection or the like that reduces the height dimension between the tongue piece and the wall surface of the connecting portion, the tongue piece spring is not provided. Since the function is not impaired at all, a smooth insertion property can be obtained, for example, without changing the contact time between the tongue piece and the wall surface of the connection portion.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The female terminal fitting F is formed of a conductive metal thin plate. A connecting portion 1 for connection with the male terminal fitting M is disposed at the front portion, and a caulking for connection with an electric wire is provided at the rear portion. The sections (both not shown) are continuously arranged. Of these, the caulked portion is, as is well known, composed of an insulation barrel that is caulked to the outer periphery of the electric wire coating and a wire barrel that is caulked to a core wire obtained by peeling the end of the electric wire.

The connecting portion 1 is formed in a box shape as a whole from a substrate 5, a side wall 6, and an upper plate 7 formed by folding both ends of both side walls and then overlapping each other. An insertion opening 13 into which the fitting M is inserted is open. Further, at a position near the insertion port 13 on the substrate 5,
A lance hole 8 is formed to be open. The lance hole 8 is for engaging an elastic locking piece (lance) (not shown) formed in the cavity when the female terminal fitting F is fitted in the cavity of the corresponding connector housing in a retaining state. It is.

Further, the front edge of the substrate 5 is folded in a substantially U-shape toward the inside of the connecting portion 1 to form a tongue piece 9. The tongue piece 9 is formed so that the folded end side is a free end and can be bent and deformed toward the substrate 5 side, and serves to hold the male terminal fitting M with the upper plate 7 with elastic force. More specifically, after the tongue piece 9 is folded back from the front edge of the substrate 5, the tongue piece 9 has an upward slope to form an upwardly inclined portion 9A.
The setting is such that it matches the central part of. However, the size of the gap between the top of the tongue piece 9 and the upper plate 7 during normal operation is made smaller than the thickness of the male terminal fitting M.

After passing through the top of the upwardly inclined portion 9A, the rear half portion is a downwardly inclined portion 9B substantially symmetrical to the front half portion. Further, the rear end of the downwardly inclined portion 9B is bent upward in a state of having a predetermined gap between the substrate 5 and the substrate 5, and the bent edge at this time is relatively sharp. The sliding edge 11 is slidable with the sliding edge 10 (described below) on the fifth side. In addition, the slide edge 11
When the male terminal fitting M is inserted into the connection portion 1, the sliding edge 11 can come into contact with the substrate 5 when the male terminal fitting M is inserted into the connection portion 1.
The dimension is set so as to be displaced rearward (to the right in FIG. 2).

On the other hand, at the position facing the slide edge 11 on the substrate 5 side, two concave portions 12 are formed with a slight space therebetween as shown in FIG. This recess 12 is formed by beating from the slide edge 11 side, and by forming such two recesses 12, between the recesses 12 and outside portions of both recesses 12 (up to both side plates). In this case, a narrow sliding contact edge 10 in contact with the slide edge 11 remains, so that these sliding contact edges 10 are flush with the other surface of the substrate 5. More specifically, both recesses 12 have the same width and the length in the front-rear direction is set corresponding to the retreat stroke after the slide edge 11 contacts the substrate 5 side.

This embodiment is constructed as described above. Therefore, the male terminal fitting M is inserted into the insertion port 1 of the connection portion 1.
When the tongue piece 9 is inserted from the position 3, the entire tongue piece 9 is bent downward, and the slide edge 11 is pressed against the substrate 5 side. When the male terminal fitting M is inserted further deeply, the tongue piece 9 bends further downward and the slide edge 11 moves rearward on the sliding contact edge 10 and moves. In this case, the sliding edge 11 is substantially linear and the sliding edge 1
Since 0 is also formed to be extremely narrow, it can be considered that the point of contact between the two is substantially maintained during the retraction stroke. Therefore, the frictional force at the time of sliding is low, so that the insertion force required for inserting the male terminal fitting M is low.

In particular, in the first embodiment, the sliding edge 10 is
Of the tongue piece 9
The gap between the substrate and the substrate 5 is not reduced. That is,
Since the same interval as in the case where such a measure for reducing friction is not taken can be ensured, the spring property of the tongue piece 9 is maintained as it is, and this also contributes to the reduction of the insertion force. Further, if the position of the slide edge 11 is shifted forward (to the left in FIG. 2), the problem of the interval dimension can be solved for a time. However, in this case, the slide edge 11 is in contact with the substrate 5 side. As described above, the deformation operation becomes difficult, and the insertion force increases.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the method of forming the sliding edge 10 is changed. That is, in the first embodiment, a part of the substrate 5 is punched out and the sliding contact edge 10 is formed at the edge thereof. However, in the second embodiment, it is formed by punching, that is, by penetrating the substrate 5. .

[0022] The first structure can also be used for the first embodiment.
Almost the same operation and effect as the embodiment can be exerted.
However, in the case of the penetrating method as in this example, the substrate 5
However, it can be said that the strength of the substrate 5 is maintained according to the method of the first embodiment in which no through hole is provided.

FIG. 6 shows a reference example of the present invention.
In this example, a sliding edge 10 is formed on the tongue piece 9 side. That is, in the first embodiment, the slide edge 1
1 (the downwardly inclined portion 9 in the tongue piece 9).
A concave portion 12 is formed by punching out (bent edge at the rear end of B) (may be penetrated) in the same manner as in both embodiments described above, thereby forming a sliding contact edge 10.

Also in such a reference example, the point of sliding contact between the substrate 5 side and the tongue piece 9 side can be substantially realized as point contact.
Furthermore, since the punching is performed from the direction facing the substrate 5, there is no change in the gap size between the tongue piece 9 and the substrate 5 side, and therefore, the spring function of the tongue piece 9 is not affected at all.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the sliding edge 10 is formed by cutting and raising. That is, the bent edge of the rear end of the downwardly inclined portion 9 </ b> B of the tongue piece 9 is cut and raised in a V-shape from the side facing the substrate 5. By doing so, both sides of the cut-and-raised portion become narrow sliding contact edges 10 so that point contact can be made with the substrate 5 side, which contributes to a reduction in the insertion force of the male terminal fitting M.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a female terminal fitting.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front sectional view showing a main part.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing an inserted state of a male terminal fitting.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged front sectional view showing a main part of the second embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged front sectional view showing a main part of the reference example ;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a main part of another reference example .

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a conventional female terminal fitting.

FIG. 9 is a side cross-sectional view showing the inserted state of the male terminal fitting.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Connection portion 5 ... Substrate 7 ... Top plate 9 ... Tongue piece 10 ... Sliding edge 11 ... Slide edge F ... Female terminal fitting

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kiyofumi Ichida 1-114, Nishisuehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-5-335044 (JP, A) JP-A-6-9069 (JP, U) JP-A 58-34368 (JP, U) JP-A 3-19264 (JP, U) Table 62-500694 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷⁾ , DB name) H01R 13/10-13/187

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A female terminal having a connecting part into which a male terminal fitting can be inserted, and a tongue piece provided with an elastic force between the connecting part and the inner surface of the connecting part. A metal fitting, wherein the tip of the tongue piece is bent to form a sliding edge.
On the other hand, the male terminal fitting is inserted into the inner surface of the connection part.
As a result, the slide edge came into contact with the inner surface of the connection portion.
The concave portion extends over the length range corresponding to the later retraction stroke.
Is formed during this retraction stroke.
A female terminal fitting , wherein a contact edge and an inner surface of the connection portion are substantially in point contact with each other. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recess is formed through a connection portion.
Female terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein the are.