Electrical connector assembly
Assignee360 TWO Pty Ltd.
InventorsDan Zylinski, Bradley John McCloy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrical connector assembly is provided comprising a male connector having an insertion end with a latch-receiving channel and an electrical contact arrangement, and a female connector having an open receiving end housing a movable member. The movable member includes a forwardly projecting gate and a complementary electrical contact arrangement and is biased toward the receiving end by a biasing arrangement. A locking member having a latch portion cooperates with the gate to hold the latch captive in a forwardly biased state. Upon insertion of the male connector, continued movement retracts the movable member, freeing the latch to engage the latch-receiving channel and lock the connectors together.
Claims15
An electrical connector assembly, comprising:
- a male connector comprising an insertion end having a latch receiving channel disposed in a bottom wall thereof and an electrical contact arrangement disposed on an engagement face of the male connector;
- a female connector comprising:
- an open receiving end configured to receive the insertion end of the male connector;
- a movable member comprising an electrical contact arrangement disposed on an engagement face thereof and which is configured to move forwardly and rearwardly within the open receiving end, the movable member further comprising a gate that projects forwardly of the electrical contact arrangement and locates adjacent a bottom wall of the receiving end;
- a locking member having a latch portion locatable in a bottom latch channel disposed in the bottom wall of the receiving end;
- and
- wherein the movable member is biased toward the open receiving end of the female connector in a forwardly biased state by a movable member biasing arrangement and such that, in the forwardly biased state, the latch portion of the locking member is held captive in the bottom latch channel by the gate of the movable member;
- and
- wherein, for connection of the electrical connector assembly, the insertion end of the male connector is inserted into the open end of the female connector and such that, once the respective electrical contact arrangements have connected, continued insertion of the insertion end causes the movable member to move rearwardly away from the open receiving end of the female connector, in turn causing the gate to move out of engagement with the latch portion allowing it to travel upwardly, by force of a locking member biasing arrangement, into a locked state received within the latch receiving channel of the male connector, thus preventing disengagement of the male connector from the female connector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.