Granted Patent B2

US 7,559,778 · App. 12/012,074 · Granted Jul 14, 2009

Abstract

Claims (34)

1. An electrical connector comprising:

a housing;

electrical contacts connected to the housing; and

a mate assist system for assisting in mating the electrical connector to a mating electrical connector, wherein the mate assist system comprises a slider slidably connected to the housing, and a system for preventing unintentional movement of the slider from an unlocked position, wherein the system for preventing unintentional movement of the slider comprises a first latch adapted to be manually actuated by a user and a separate second latch adapted to be automatically moved by the mating electrical connector when the housing is initially mounted on the mating electrical connector.

2. An electrical connector as in claim 1 further comprising a lever comprising an arm with two pivot pins, wherein the slider comprises a pivot hole having a first one of the pivot pins pivotably located in the pivot hole, and wherein the slider comprises an elongate pivot pin slot having a second one of the pivot pins located in the slot for pivotable and slidable movement of the second pivot pin in the slot.

3. An electrical connector as in claim 1 wherein the housing comprises:

a main section; and

a terminal position assurance (TPA) member movably connected to the main section at a bottom side of the main section, wherein the electrical contacts are adapted to be inserted into the main section in a first direction, and wherein the TPA member is adapted to be moved in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction from an open position to a locked position on the main section.

4. An electrical connector as in claim 1 wherein the housing comprises a resilient cantilevered lock finger which is configured to slide along a cage of a first one of the electrical contacts while the first electrical contact is being inserted into the housing and latch behind a rear edge of the cage to latch the first electrical contact to the housing, and wherein the lock finger is sized and shaped to slide over a latching hole on a side of the cage to prevent premature latching of the lock finger with the cage at the latching hole before the lock finger latches behind the rear edge of the cage.

5. An electrical connector as in claim 1 wherein the housing comprises:

a main housing member having a plurality of electrical contact receiving areas; and

a terminal position assurance (TPA) member movably mounted to the main housing member, wherein for each contact receiving area the TPA member comprises a male pin entry hole, a test probe entry hole, and a terminal service hole, wherein for each contact receiving area the respective male pin entry hole and the test probe entry hole are aligned in a first direction on the TPA member and the respective terminal service hole is at least partially offset from the male pin entry hole and the test probe entry hole in a second direction.

6. An electrical connector as in claim 1 further comprising a mating electrical connector initial connection retainer system, wherein the retainer system comprises the main housing member having an entry slot for receiving the cam pin, wherein the slider comprises a cam slot, wherein the cam slot and the entry slot are initially partially offset to form a restricted cam pin path, and wherein before actuation of the mate assist system when the electrical connector housing assembly is initially mounted on the mating electrical connector the retainer system is adapted to frictionally trap the cam pin of the mating electrical connector between portions of the entry slot and the cam slot to initially retain the electrical connector housing assembly on the mating electrical connector until the mate assist system is actuated by a user.

7. An electrical connector as in claim 1 wherein the mate assist system comprises a combined lever and latch subassembly comprising a lever and the first latch movably mounted on the lever.

8. An electrical connector as in claim 7 wherein the first latch comprises a combined latch and lock member comprising a spring section biasing the combined latch and lock member at a first position on the lever, a blocker section adapted to form a blocking engagement with the housing and a latch section.

9. An electrical connector as in claim 8 wherein the combined latch and lock member further comprises a flexible arm connecting the blocker section to the latch section.

10. An electrical connector as in claim 8 wherein the spring section comprises a closed spring loop.

11. An electrical connector as in claim 8 wherein the housing comprises a wire dress cover having a projection on an exterior lateral side adapted to engage the blocker section to prevent the lever from moving from the unlocked position until the blocker section is moved out of a path of the projection.

12. An electrical connector as in claim 8 wherein the housing comprises a wire dress cover having a latch surface adapted to engage the latch section.

13. An electrical connector as in claim 1 wherein the first latch comprises a lever having a telescoping member telescopically connected to a pivot lever member which is pivotably connected to the housing.

14. An electrical connector as in claim 13 wherein the housing comprises a wire dress cover with a projection on an exterior side, and wherein the lever is prevented from pivoting on the housing until the telescoping member is moved to an extended position.

15. An electrical connector comprising:

a housing;

electrical contacts connected to the housing; and

a lever and latch subassembly comprising a lever movably mounted to the housing and a combined latch and connector position assurance (CPA) lock movably mounted on the lever, wherein the combined latch and CPA lock comprises a movable latch portion and a movable blocking portion, wherein the blocking portion is adapted to engage a portion of the housing to block movement of the lever on the housing from an unlocked position, and wherein the latch portion is adapted to latch the lever on the housing at a locked position.

16. An electrical connector comprising:

a housing;

electrical contacts connected to the housing; and

a lever and latch subassembly connected to the housing, wherein the subassembly comprises a lever and a latch movably mounted on the lever, wherein the lever is movably mounted to the housing and adapted to be manually moved by a user, wherein the latch comprises a blocking portion, wherein the blocking portion has a first position on the lever which is adapted to engage a portion on an exterior side of the housing to block movement of the lever on the housing from an unlocked position, and wherein the blocking portion is adapted to be moved to a second position on the lever out of blocking engagement with the portion of the housing to thereby allow the lever to be moved away from the unlocked position.

17. An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the latch is slidably mounted on the lever.

18. An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the blocking portion is biased towards the first position on the lever.

19. An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the latch has a user depressible section which is adapted to be pressed into the lever to thereby move the blocking section from the first position to the second position.

20. An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the blocking portion comprises two spaced blocking portions extending in general cantilever fashion from the latch.

21. An electrical connector as in claim 16 wherein the blocking portion is connected to the rest of the latch by a flexible section, wherein the flexible section is adapted to resiliently bend when the blocking section is moved from the first position to the second position.

Assignments (10)