Keying system for electrical connectors

Claim 1

An electrical connector assembly comprising first and second rectangular connector housings, a plurality of keys and a plurality of keyway plugs, the housings having mating faces which are opposed to each other when the housings are coupled to each other, a plurality of keyways extending inwardly from the mating face of the first connector housing and a plurality of key mounting positions on the mating face of the second connector housing, the keys being dimensioned so that they can be slidably received in the keyways and being mountable at the mounting positions, the keyway plugs being permanently mountable in the keyways, the connector assembly being characterized in that: the keyways and the key mounting positions are arranged in rows with the keyways and the key mounting positions spaced apart at predetermined intervals, each of the keyways and each of the key mounting positions has a rib extending normally of the associated mating face, the keyway plugs and the keys are identical parts and are in the form of a strip, the strip comprising a continuous carrier strip from which the identical parts extend normally of the length of the carrier strip, the identical parts being spaced apart at the same predetermined intervals as are the keyways and the key mounting positions, the identical parts being removably connected to the carrier strip, each of the identical parts having an axially extending recess which conforms in cross section to the cross sections of the ribs, each of the identical parts having a proximate end which is proximate to the carrier strip and a remote end which is remote from the carrier strip, the recess in each identical part extending from the remote end towards the proximate end, whereby, the first connector housing can be keyed to the second connector housing by removing at least one of the identical parts from the strip and assembling the removed part or parts to one of the connector housings and thereafter assembling the remaining identical parts to the other connector housing, the carrier strip being used as a part holder when the identical parts are assembled to the other connector housing.