Low-operating-force connector

Claim 1

A low-operating-force connector comprising: a female housing and a corresponding male housing; driven pins provided on opposite sides of one of said housings; pin guide grooves formed on opposite sides of the other of said housings for guiding said driven pins; a cam member substantially in a gate-like configuration comprising a pair of levers each having a cam groove formed therein, and a lever handle interconnecting said levers, said levers movable mounted on a respective one of said opposite sides of said other housing with their cam grooves in alignment with said pin guide grooves so that through rotation of said cam member or levers, said driven pins are brought into and out of engagement with said levers to lock together or unlock said female and male housings; a pair of resilient locking pieces provided on said one housing, each having on its outer periphery an engagement projection and an outwardly presented grip at a free end thereof projecting beyond said lever handle when the female and male housings are locked, said locking pieces being resiliently displaceable toward each other in a direction parallel to a wall surface on which the pair of locking devices are provided; a pair of engagement portions provided on said lever handle of the cam member for engagement with said engagement projections of the resilient locking pieces; and spring means disposed between said levers of the cam member and said other housing for normally urging said cam member into an upright opened position, whereby when said female and male housing are completely fitted with each other through rotation of said cam member to a closed leaning position against said one housing, said engagement projections of the resilient locking pieces engage with said engagement portions to lock said cam member in the closed position, and whereby when said engagement portions are released from said engagement projections of the resilient locking pieces by manual displacement of the locking pieces toward each other, said cam member is opened by a resilient action of said spring means up to a starting position for separating said female and male housings.