Connector With a Protective Cover

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a direct insertion type connector with a protective cover, which connector is fitted into an electrical circuit fabricated on a FPC in an electric apparatus such as a meter case for an automotive vehicle.

2. Prior Art

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional direct insertion type connector a. A housing 21 made of a synthetic resin is provided with an opening 22 on one side wall thereof through which resilient contacts 24 of terminals 23 are closed. A locking arm 25 (FIG. 4B) includes a projection 25a. FIG. 6 shows a cross section of the connector a in FIG. 5 when the connector a is fully fitted into a recess 27 of a meter case b. An FPC 28 is provided on the inner wall of the recess 27. When the connector a is fully inserted into the recess 27, the resilient contacts 24 become in contact with contacts 20 of the FPC 28 to make electrical contact. At this time, the locking arm 25 of the connector a engages a hook 30 on the inner wall of the recess 27, so that the connector a is locked in place. The connector a is inserted into a protective cover c as shown in FIG. 7 until the connector a is inserted into a mating case b as shown in FIG. 8, so that the electrical contacts 24 are protected from soiling and accidental contact with other electrically conductive elements. The protective cover c is disposable and therefore put aside after mounting the connector a into the meter case b. If the connector a is drawn at a later time from the meter case for inspection, the terminals 23 are exposed as shown in FIG. 5. This is dangerous because the contacts 24 may inadvertently contact the vehicle body or the metallic panel to cause short-circuit or mechanical damages to the terminals. Of course, the workman should follow the safety instructions, for example, disconnecting the battery from the electrical circuit when carrying out maintenance operations. If, however, the workman fails to follow such instructions, the connector a with the aforementioned construction is in potential danger.

FIG. 9 shows another conventional direct insertion type connector a' disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Preliminary Publication No. 53-163585. In FIG. 9, a housing 21' is provided with an opening 22' on each of the opposed sides of a front half thereof. Resilient contacts 24' of terminals 23' are exposed through the openings 21'. The opening 22' is provided with a cover 31. The cover 31 includes a locking latch 32 that serves to lock the connector a' to the meter case when inserted into the meter case. This construction necessitates a mating engagement on the meter case with which the locking latch 32 is engaged. Further, providing the mating engagement on the meter case places limitations on the FPC layout and therefore results in a larger meter case.

An object of the present invention is to provide a connector with an attached protective cover where the connector may be mounted to a meter case and the protective cover protects the connector from damage when disconnected from the meter case.

The connector includes a housing having an opening formed on one side thereof through which electrical contacts of terminals are exposed. The protective cover includes an insulating protector for covering the opening of the connector and a housing holder detachably assembled to the housing. The insulating protector has a protective plate and two arms extending in the same direction from the longitudinal ends of the protective plate. Each of the arms has a projection and is rotatably assembled at distal end thereof to the housing holder. The housing holder has a closed-position locking groove and an opened-position locking groove, which are provided about rotating axis of the arms and angularly spaced apart from each other. The protective plate closes the opening of the connector A when the projection is received in the closed-position locking groove, and opens the opening when the projection is received in the opened-position locking groove.

Features and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings in which:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are perspective views of a connector and a protective cover therefore according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the connector of FIGS. 1A-1B with the protective cover assembled to the connector, showing a cross section in part;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the connector and the meter case immediately before the connector is inserted into the meter case;

FIG. 4A shows the connector of FIG. 3 after the connector has been inserted into the meter case;

FIG. 4B shows the detail of a locking arm 25 and a projection 25a;

FIGS. 4C-4D show the different positions of a thick portion 4 on a hinge 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional director insertion type connector;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the connector of FIG. 5 fitted into the meter case;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a protective cover for a conventional connector;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the connector of FIG. 7 when fitted to the protective cover of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another conventional direct insertion type connector.

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a connector A. The connector A has a housing 21 having an opening 22 on one of opposed side walls and a locking arm 25 (FIG. 2) with a projection 25a (FIG. 3) on the other. The housing 21 houses terminals 23 crimped to wires 26. Resilient electrical contacts 24 of the terminals 23 are exposed through the opening 22 provided on one of the opposed side walls of the housing. The housing 21 is also provided with recesses 17 which engage projections 6 of the connector cover B. FIG. 1A shows one of the engaging recesses 17.

FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a protective cover made of a synthetic resin. The protective cover B includes an insulating protector 2 and a housing holder 1 which is mounted on the upper half portion of the housing 21 of the connector A. The housing holder 1 is integrally continuous with the insulating protector 2 via a hinge 3 having a thick portion 4 theft defines a desired curved shape of hinge 3 after connector A is assembled to the circuit. FIGS. 4C-4D show different positions of the thick portion 4 on the hinge 3. The housing holder 1 is a generally U-shaped frame having a longitudinal side wall 1a and short walls 1b at each of longitudinal ends of the side wall 1a. The short walls 1b each have a hook 1c at a free end thereof and a shaft 12 projecting outwardly from the short walls 1b. Each hook 1c has a tip end extending toward the longitudinal side wall 1a as shown in FIG. 1B. Below the shaft 12 are formed radially extending grooves 13 and 14 which are angularly spaced. The groove 13 serves as a closed-position locking groove while the groove 14 serves as an opened-position locking groove. At the lower ends of the longitudinal wall 1a and short walls 1b are provided with projections 5 and 6, respectively. The longitudinal side wall 1a is formed with two parallel slits 9 therein as shown in FIG. 1B. Parallel slits 9 define a resilient lock arm 8 therebetween for latching the housing of the connector A when the connector A is assembled to the protective cover B. The insulating protector 2 includes a protective plate 2a and two arms 2b formed on the longitudinal ends of the protective plate 2a. The two arms 2b extend transversely of the protective plate 2a in the same direction. The two arms 2b are assembled to the housing holder 1 such that the shaft 12 projecting outwardly from the walls 1b extends through holes 10 in the arms 2b. Thus, the two arms 2b become rotatable about the shaft 12. As shown in FIG. 1B, the arms 2b each have a projection 11 which drops into the closed-position locking groove 13 or into the opened-position locking groove 14 in a locking relation when rotated about the shaft 12. The closed-position locking groove 13 receives the projection 11 so that the protective plate 2a is positioned to close the opening 22 of the connector A when the connector A is not inserted into the meter case, The opened-position locking groove 14 receives the projection 11 so that the protective plate 2a is positioned to uncover the opening upon insertion of the connector A into the meter case.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the connector A is inserted into the housing holder 1 in the direction of arrow Q with the opening 22 facing the resilient lock arm 8 of the housing holder 1. When the connector A is further inserted into the housing holder 1, the upper edge of the housing 21 cams the projections 7 of the resilient lock arm 8 laterally out of the way so that the resilient lock arm 8 yieldably deflects. The resilient arm 8 returns to its normal position after the connector A has been fully inserted into the housing holder 1. At this time, the recesses 16 and 17 abut the projections 5 and 6 of the housing holder 1 and the projections latch the housing 21 so that the connector A fits the housing holder 1 in a locking relation.

Then, the arms 2b are journaled to the shafts 12 of the housing holder 1. Rotating the arms 2b toward the connector A causes the projection 11 to drop into the locking groove 13, so that the protective plate 2a covers the opening 22 with the arms 2b locked in the groove 13. In this manner, the protective plate 2a isolates the resilient electrical contacts 24 of the terminals 23 from the outside.

When the thus assembled connector A with the protective cover B is plugged into the recess 27 in the meter case b, a tip end P1 (FIG. 3) of the arm 2b abuts a surface P2 of the meter case b to produce an upward moment which releases the projection 11 from a locking relation with the locking groove 13. At this time, the insulating protector 2 rotates to open the opening 22. A further insertion of the connector A into the recess 27 accomplishes electrical contact between the resilient electrical contacts 24 of the connector A and terminals 29 of an FPC 28. Then, the projection 25a of the connector A engages the portion 30 of the recess 27 in a locking relation. FIG. 4B shows the detail of the locking arm 25 and the projection 25a. Meanwhile, the projection 11 engages the opened-position locking groove 14 so that the insulating protector 2 is locked in place.

When the thus inserted connector A is disconnected from the meter case for maintenance purpose, the insulating protector can be returned manually to its home position.

Since the insulating protector 2 is locked in place, there is little or no chance for the insulating protector to rattle while the vehicle is cruising. The repelling force of the hinge 3 urges the insulating protector 2 in the direction of arrow R against the meter case b, further preventing the insulating protector 2 from rattling.

Although the embodiment has been described with respect to the protective cover B having the housing holder 1 integrally continuous with the insulating protector 2 via the hinges 3, the hinges 3 may be omitted. The shafts 12 may be provided on the arms 2b and the holes 10 may be provided in the housing holder 1. A plurality of opened-position locking grooves 14 may be provided at different angular positions taking into account the opening angles of the protective plate 2a as well as different fitting depth between the connector A and the meter case b.