JPS588111B2 - Method of manufacturing electrical equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to electric devices for automobiles, etc.
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing lharness.

In known methods of manufacturing electrical devices, the wires to be connected are usually individually terminated and then inserted into matable connector housings, after which these housings are mated to form a predetermined Connect the wires to each other.

However, errors often occur as a result of inserting wires into the connector housing in the wrong order, resulting in connecting the wrong wire pairs.

Also, forming individual terminations on the wires and then inserting them individually into the connector housing is time consuming and
Therefore, it is expensive.

The method according to the invention comprises two groups of electrical wires, one end of each wire of each group being terminated by a single unisex electrical connector common to the group, the two connectors being In the manufacture of electrical devices that are joined by a mating surface to allow each given wire of one group to be connected to a given wire of the other group, the wires are held within an insulative housing of each connector. Working with the two housings with the rear side of one housing facing the corresponding side of the other housing in a method that includes pushing the wire into the wire receiving slot of the electrical terminal, across the wire cutting edge. Place the wires across the bonding surface near the rear side of each housing so that each wire (FIG. 10) is aligned with the wire-receiving slot across the cut edge, and then insert the wires. , the wire is cut at a position inside from the rear side of each housing.

Thereafter, these electrical connectors can be fitted together, with their mating surfaces aligned with each other as required, to electrically connect the wires cut as described above to each other.

Thus, in a single step, a given pair of wires is placed in place and terminated within the connector, so that when the connector is mated, the cut wires will necessarily be interconnected. , which can prevent the possibility of incorrect wire combinations later on.

These advantages make the method of the invention suitable for mass production, in particular for the manufacture of vehicle electrical equipment.

An electrical connector that may be used in the method of manufacturing an electrical device of the present invention includes a housing of insulating material having an array of terminals held therein, each terminal having a wire open away from a first side of the housing. a wire connection plate with a receiving slot into which an insulated wire can be pushed transversely to its axis to create a permanent electrical connection between the plate and the wire; and the terminal is in the slot. an electrical connector having a wire cutting plate having a laterally extending wire cutting edge, the connector being unisex, wherein a first surface of the housing has a complementary wire cutting edge in a corresponding unisex connector when mated; the terminal has a resilient contact element upright from the mating surface for releasably electrically connecting the complementary element in the corresponding connector, and the terminal has a resilient contact element upright from the mating surface and adjacent to the mating surface; an electrical connector such that the second side of the housing defines an opening for leading out wires connected to terminals, each wire cutting plate being disposed on an adjacent side of the associated connecting plate from the leading out opening; There is.

Preferably, a row of cavities is formed in the coupling surface, each cavity being formed with a hole for receiving a terminal and defining an exit opening in the second surface for an individual wire connected to the terminal. There is.

Preferably, the mating surface is formed with upright wire guide lugs and recesses for aligning wires placed on the mating surface with the terminals to be connected thereto, these recesses being formed on the corresponding connector housing. Complementary recesses and projections are engaged to orient the housings upon mating.

The terminals used in the connectors described above are stamped and formed from sheet metal stock and have a wire connection plate extending upright from a web portion and having a wire receiving slot formed therein that opens away from the web portion. , the wire can be compressed transversely of its axis to make a permanent electrical connection between the plate and the wire, and a wire cutting plate is connected to the web spaced apart from and parallel to the wire connecting plate. upright from the wire cutting plate, the wire cutting plate having a wire cutting edge extending laterally of the slot; a second relatively short and rigid contact arm stands upright from one side edge of the web section between and upright from the opposite side edge of the web section, these contact arms extending from the complementary contact arm of the corresponding terminal; It is designed to make electrical contact in a releasable manner.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the connector assembly 2 includes a pair of matable connector housings 4, 4', which are identically shaped and have identical connector housings connected to electrical conductors or wires 6, 6'. It accommodates the terminals 14, 14'.

The housing 4 has an upper coupling surface 8 and a lower surface 10.

A row of contact-receiving cavities 12 is located at the ends 32 of the housing.
42 and extends into the housing from face 8.

Each cavity has a central laterally extending rib 13 (FIGS. 3 and 5) for positioning and supporting the contact terminal within the cavity.

An opening 16 for leading out the wire 6 is formed in the front side surface 18;
It communicates with the void 12.

The rear side 20 of the housing is formed with a step 22 and three teeth 24, 26, 28 extend upwardly from the coupling surface 8 near the rear side 20.

The teeth 28 are flush with the portion 23 of the side surface 20, and when the connector 4 is mated with a connector 4' of the same shape, the teeth 28 are flush with the portion 23 of the side surface 20.
, 28' abut against the portions 21, 21' of the side surfaces 20, 20'.

Elongated recesses 30, 30' extend inwardly from the mating surface of each housing to receive teeth 24, 24', 26, 26' during mating.

A hood portion 34 extends upwardly from one end 32 of the housing 4 and surrounds the latch opening 36 and extends downwardly from the shoulder 4 .
0 and a boss 38 for the latch with an inclined upper surface 39
projects into this latch opening 36.

A pair of spaced apart posts 44, 46 extend from the mating surface 8 near the opposite end 42 and fit snugly within the opening 36' of the other connector 4'. The size will be accepted as such.

The columns 44, 46 are spaced inwardly from the side surface 42 to form a shelf 48.

A flexible latch arm 50 extends between the posts 44, 46 and has a cam-shaped head 52 with a downwardly directed shoulder 54.

An access aperture 56 extends through the housing to provide access to the outwardly facing side 47 of the latch arm for releasing the latch arm when the connector is mated.

The housings may be joined by facing each other, aligning the housings with their ends in an inverted relationship, and pressing the housings together.

During this movement, the latch arms 50, 50' move to the boss 38,
38' so that the shoulders 54, 54' snap into engagement over the shoulders 40, 40' as shown in FIG.

Teeth 24, 24', 26, 26' enter recesses 30, 30', teeth 28, 28' enter portions 21, 20' of sides 20', 20'.
collides with 21'.

The housing can be separated by inserting a thin blade into the openings 56, 56' to disengage the latch arms from the shoulders 40, 40'.

To aid in this separation, it is advantageous to provide finger grips 55, 57 at the ends of the housing.

Each of the electrical contact terminals 14 is stamped and formed from a single piece of sheet metal stock with a central wire receiving portion formed therein having a pair of parallel plate portions 58, 60, the upper ends of which They are connected by mutually spaced straps 62.

A wire-receiving slot 64 extends inwardly from the upper end of the plate portion, into which the wire can be pushed transversely to its axis, the edges of the slot cutting into the insulation sheathing of the wire. makes electrical contact with the core wire.

One slot may be wider than the other slot to relieve stress deformation.

A flange 66 extends outwardly from the plate portion at a right angle, and an arm 68 extends upwardly from the end of the flange which is adapted to be crimped over the wire for stress relief.

A further flange 70 extends from the side of the plate part 60 remote from the flange 66 and has parallel contact arms 72,7.
4 extends upward from the side edge of this flange.

The contact arm 72 is relatively long and its upper end 78 projects above the upper ends of the plate portions 58, 60 of the terminal, which are formed inwardly to form a camming surface 80 and a post 82.

The shorter contact arm 74 is also formed inwardly to form a spherical boss 76 therein.

Upon engagement of the contact arm, the boss 76' slides over the cam surface 80, bending the arm 72 inwardly and causing the boss 76' to be moved past the contact boss 82.

As can be seen in FIG. 9, contact is made at four separate locations and continuous contact pressure is provided by the elasticity of the arms 72, 72'.

A shear plate 84 extends perpendicularly from the flange 70 and the upper edge 126 of the shear plate cooperates with the insertion device to cut the wire inserted into the slot 64.

When the terminal 14 is pressed into the recess, ears 67 extending laterally from the flange 66 and projections 86 on either side of the shear plate 84 engage the walls of the cavity to secure the contact within the recess.

The hollow ribs 13 are received between the plate portions 58, 60 to help support the plate portions and prevent them from becoming distorted during connection with the wires.

The wire insertion device 101 includes a connector holding jig 88 having a base 90 and a pair of L-shaped positioning plates 92, 92' spaced apart from each other. It has aligned recesses 94, 94' spaced apart from each other by a spacing corresponding to the spacing between adjacent cavities 12 in the connector housing.

The housings 4 and 4' are attached to plates 92 and 92 with their rear sides together.
' and corresponding terminals are placed in alignment within the two housings.

The base 90 has a rail 96 on the lower side, which is connected to the base 102.
It is designed to be able to slide within a slot 98 on the side of the fixed rail 100 mounted above.

The device has a generally U-shaped head frame 104 with a forwardly extending arm 106 formed therein.

Ram 108 is mounted in a suitable push within arm 106 and is resiliently biased upwardly against one end 130 of bell crank 128 by a suitable spring (not shown).

A plurality of wire cutting and insertion punches 110 are mounted on the lower end of the ram 108 and cut through the terminals 1 on the connector halves.
One punch is provided for each pair of 4,14'.

Each insertion/cutting punch 110 has a central recess 112 and identical depending legs 114, 114'.

The legs 114 have a central, relatively shallow recess 116 for receiving the plate portions 58, 60 of the terminal 14, and a die face 122 for wrapping the arms 68 of the terminal onto the conductor 6.

In use, the edge 124 of the leg is attached to the shear plate 8 of the terminal 14.
4 cut the wire in cooperation with the upper edge 126 of the recess 116.
The lower edges 118, 120 of the legs 114 proximate engage the conductor and force it down and into the conductor receiving slot 64 of the terminal.

The insertion punch includes a bell crank 12 which is pivotally connected to a pivot shaft 132 between ears 133 extending from the upper surface of the arm 106.
is moved downwardly by a linkage including 8.

Bell crank 128 is connected to lever arm 136 by a parallel link 134.

This lever arm 136 is pivotally mounted between the head frame 104 and an integral ear portion 139 with a pivot 138 .

Simply swinging the lever 136 downward from the position shown in FIG. 12 moves the ram 108 (and therefore the insertion punch 110) downwardly to insert and cut the wire into the terminal.

To electrically connect wires to terminals, two connector housings are first placed on jig 88 as described above.

Next, two separate wires 6 are cut as described below.
, 6' is placed in each of the pairs of aligned openings in the legs 94, 94' to connect the teeth 24 and 26.
and between 24' and 26', teeth 26 and 28 and 26'
and 28', between teeth 28, 28' and hood portions 34, 3
These parts act as guides to guide the terminals 1 in the two connector housings.
A single wire 6a is placed over each aligned pair of 4,14'.

Next, slide the jig 18 along the rail 100 until it hits a suitable stop (not shown), positioning the jig under the ram 108 and placing the insertion punch 110 over each single wire 6a. position.

The lever 136 is then swung downwardly, forcing the punch 110 against the single wire 6a, inserting the single wire 6a into the aligned terminals, and removing the edge of the punch 110 and shear plates 84, 84'. Sections 126, 124 and 126'
, 124'.

At this time, as best shown in FIG. 11, the single wire 6a is separated into separate wires 6 and 6'.
A portion 6 of a single wire 6a left on the bonding surfaces 8, 8'
b is discarded.

Thereupon, after returning the ram to its initial position and removing the connector housings 4, 4' from the jig, these connector housings 4, 4' are fitted against each other in the manner described above, as shown in FIG. be able to.

An important advantage of the present invention is that once the conductor is threaded through the jig, a given wire is positioned over a given terminal in the connector housing, without the need to reposition the wire or housing half. are all inserted and cut simultaneously.

When two connectors are coupled together, the cut wires are necessarily coupled together.

Thus, errors traditionally caused by incorrectly connecting wires or incorrectly mating connectors are prevented and
By simultaneous insertion and cutting of the wires, a set of terminals can be quickly formed.

This is of particular importance in the production of automotive electrical equipment.

In addition, in the conventional method, when connecting wires to terminals, it is necessary to individually position each wire with respect to each terminal, whereas the method of the present invention allows By simply positioning the single wire 6a, the wires can be cut into two separate wires 6, 6' and properly positioned and connected to their respective terminals, so that the connections can be made quickly.

The effects of the present invention are summarized as follows.

An important advantage of the method of manufacturing an electrical device according to the invention is that in a single step a given pair of wires is positioned and terminated in a given position within the connector, and when the connector is mated;
The cut wires are necessarily interconnected and therefore the electrical device can be connected by first individually terminating the wires to be connected in the electrical device and then inserting these wires into a matable connector housing. The possibility of wire combination errors that occur in known methods of fabrication can be avoided.

These advantages make the method of the invention suitable for mass production, particularly for the production of vehicle electrical equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a male and female electrical connector assembly made using the method of manufacturing an electrical device of the present invention. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the connector housing and terminals.
The terminal is shown lifted out of the housing cavity. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the housing. 4 is a sectional view of the housing taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 3. FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the housing taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the housing similar to FIG. 4, but
Shows the terminal adjacent to the wire installed within it. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the contact portion of two terminals aligned with each other for coupling. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 8, but showing the state in which the contact portions are joined. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing two housings placed side by side in a connector holding jig prior to connection to wires. FIG. 11 is a diagram similar to FIG. 10, but shows the positions of the parts and wires after connection. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an apparatus for connecting wires to connectors. 2... Connector assembly, 4, 4'...
Housing, 6a...Single wire, 6,6'...
...Wires cut separately, 8, 8'...
...Connection surface, 14,14'...Terminal, 20,2
0'...Rear side, 64...Slot,
90... Base.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 The insulating housing 4 of the first electrical connector is placed on the work surface 9
0 and a single wire 6a is laterally aligned with the receiving slot 64 of each electrical terminal 14 arranged in the insulating housing 4 and associated with the upper surface 8 of the insulating housing 4 and each electrical terminal 14. the single wire 6
a are pushed into said receiving slots 64 in a direction transverse to their longitudinal axes and mated with said first electrical connector in a method of manufacturing an electrical device such that said terminals 14 are electrically connected to said terminals 14; and terminals 14 and 1
The insulating housing 4' of a second similar electrical connector electrically connecting the 4' is initially arranged in a substantially mirror image relationship in one plane with the insulating housing 4 of the first electrical connector. on said working surface 90, with the side surface 20' of one insulating housing 4' facing towards the corresponding side surface 20 of the other insulating housing 4, and the two insulating housings 4 and 4' terminal 14 in
and 14' are parallel to each other, the receiving slots 64 of each terminal 14 of one row being parallel to each terminal 14 of the other row.
shear plates 84 and 84' associated with each terminal 14 and 14' are arranged to be aligned oppositely with the receiving slots 64' of the terminals 14 and 14', and between the opposing receiving slots 64 and the receiving slots 64'. each single wire 6a is then connected to said terminal 14 and 14.
a pair of aligned receiving slots 64 in two parallel rows of
64' of the upper surfaces 8 and 8' of said two insulating housings 4 and 4' and said shear plate 8.
4 and 84' to extend across the upper edges 126 and 126', each single wire 6a is then pushed in a direction transverse to its longitudinal axis so that its partial portion is aligned with each wire 6a. each receiving slot 64,
64', then each receiving slot 64,6
The edge of each wire 6a cuts into the insulation sheath of each wire and makes electrical contact with its core, with each single wire 6a extending between said sections at the upper edge 126, 126 of said shear plate 84, 84'.
electrical device, characterized in that the wires are cut at 1' to provide two separate wires 6 and 6' electrically connected to terminals 14 and 14' of each insulating housing 4 and 4', respectively. Production method.