Connector box and method of its assembly

A connector box comprising:

• a receptacle connector portion having a connector insertion opening into which a plug connector is inserted from the front side;
• a circuit board unit having the receptacle connector portion at a front end of a circuit board;
• a casing configured to accommodate the circuit board unit with the connector insertion opening being opened to the outside;
• a light guiding lens for guiding light to the outside of the casing;
• the light guiding lens including an annular portion fitted to an outer side of the receptacle connector portion and a pair of retaining portions extending rearwards from the annular portion;
• the circuit board unit including a light emitting portion disposed in an upper face portion of the circuit board and optically coupled with at least one of the pair of retaining portions;
• the casing including a lower casing for covering a lower face of the circuit board unit and an upper casing for covering an upper face of the circuit board unit and engaged with the lower casing, the circuit board unit being fixed to the upper casing;
• the upper casing having a front end wall and a retaining hole extending through the front end wall in a front/rear direction;
• and
• the light guiding lens being mounted to the upper casing with the retaining portions thereof being inserted in the retaining hole.

A connector box comprising:

• a receptacle connector portion having a connector insertion opening into which a plug connector is inserted from the front side;
• a circuit board unit having the receptacle connector portion at a front end of a circuit board;
• a casing configured to accommodate the circuit board unit with the connector insertion opening being opened to the outside;
• the casing including a lower casing for covering a lower face of the circuit board unit and an upper casing for covering an upper face of the circuit board unit and engaged with the lower casing, the circuit board unit being fixed to the upper casing;
• the upper casing having a receptacle connector accommodating portion for accommodating at least a portion of the receptacle connector portion;
• and
• the receptacle connector accommodating portion having a far-side wall portion which comes into abutment against a connector rear end face which is a rear face of the receptacle connector portion.

An assembly method of a connector box comprising:

• a receptacle connector portion having a connector insertion opening into which a plug connector is inserted from the front side;
• a circuit board unit having the receptacle connector portion at a front end of a circuit board;
• a casing configured to accommodate the circuit board unit with the connector insertion opening being opened to the outside;
• the casing including a lower casing for covering a lower face of the circuit board unit and an upper casing for covering an upper face of the circuit board unit and engaged with the lower casing;
• and
• the lower casing having a bottom plate portion opposed to the lower face of the circuit board unit, a pair of lower side wall portions formed vertically from the bottom plate portion and a pair of first engaging portions formed in the lower side wall portions on the side opposite to the bottom plate portion;
• the assembly method comprising the step of:
• sliding the upper casing to one side in the front/rear direction to fit into a space surrounded by the pair of first engaging portions, the lower side wall portions and the bottom plate portion, so that the lower casing holds the upper casing non-detachably in a vertical direction.