| US 7,485,012 B2 | ||
| Electrical connection system having wafer connectors | ||
| James D. Daugherty, Brookfield, Ohio (US); Christopher A. Margrave, Warren, Ohio (US); Thomas E. McLain, Warren, Ohio (US); John T. Kightlinger, Canfield, Ohio (US); and Theodore R. Schmidt, Kinsman, Ohio (US) | ||
| Assigned to Delphi Technologies, Inc., Troy, Mich. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jun. 28, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/823,687. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2009/0004922 A1, Jan. 01, 2009 | ||
| Int. Cl. H01R 13/502 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 439—701 [439/540.1; 439/680] | 12 Claims |
| 1. An electrical connection system comprising:
a connector shell and a plurality of wafer connectors holding a plurality of electric terminals that are attached to ends
of electric cables,
the connector shell having an upper wall, a lower wall and side walls that are spaced apart to define a stack of wafer compartments
that extends from the upper wall to the lower wall, an uppermost compartment being defined in part by the upper wall and an
lowermost compartment being defined in part by the lower wall, and
the side walls each have slots in their confronting surfaces for each wafer compartment in the stack of wafer compartments
for locating a wafer connector in each compartment, the slots being longitudinal and open ended so that a wafer connector
can be inserted longitudinally into each wafer compartment from an insertion end of the shell,
each wafer connector being insertable longitudinally into and withdrawable longitudinally from a wafer compartment individually
through an opening at an insertion end of the connector shell,
wherein the slots in the respective side walls for each compartment are different and wherein each wafer connector has a connector
body that has side ribs that are different on each side of the connector of the body that match the different slots in the
respective side walls of each wafer compartment,
wherein one side rib of the connector body is a depressible beam that carries a lock nib that cooperates with a lock shoulder
to latch the wafer connector in one of the wafer compartments,
wherein the lock shoulder is in an outer side wall of the connector shell and the one side rib that is the depressible beam
that carries the lock nib cooperates with the slot that is in the outer side wall, and
wherein another side of the connector body cooperates with a lateral protrusion at the end of the connector body to provide
a lock groove and wherein a lock bar that is attached to the connector shell passes through the lock groove to lock the connector
body to the connector shell.
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