Card adapter

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6824431
  • Patent Number
    6,824,431
  • Date Filed
    Monday, July 29, 2002
    21 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, November 30, 2004
    19 years ago
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a card adapter for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device such as a CF card to contacts in a slot for a PC card provided in a personal computer. The card adapter 1 includes a chassis 10, a pair of conducting plates 40 provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis 10, and a grounding member 20, and the like. The grounding member 20 is used to provide an electrical path for electrically connecting a grounding contact portion of the CF card to a grounding part of the slot without using the conducting plates 40 and it is formed into a single part. By using such a grounding member 20, the card adapter 1 can directly connect the grounding contact portion of the CF card to the grounding part of the slot to accomplish stable and reliable grounding.
Description




BACK GROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




This invention relates to a card adapter for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.




2. Description of the Prior Art




A card adapter has been conventionally used, for example, for electrically connecting contacts of a CF (Compact Flash) card which is a card-shaped electronic device smaller than a PC card to contacts (contact pins) in a slot provided in a personal computer for receiving a PC card.




An example of this kind of conventional card adapter is shown in

FIG. 5. A

card adapter


50


shown in

FIG. 5

is generally constructed from a chassis


51


formed of a resin or the like, a circuit board assembly


52


mounted on the chassis


51


, and a pair of conducting plates


53


,


53


provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis


51


, respectively.




The chassis


51


has a CF card receiving space


54


for receiving the CF card therein. The circuit board assembly


52


is provided with a first connector


55


to be electrically connected to the contacts (contact pins) provided in the slot for a PC card, a second connector


56


to be electrically connected to the contacts of the CF card an eject button (eject lever)


57


and an eject arm


58


used when ejecting the CF card received in the CP card receiving space


54


.




The eject button


57


is disposed in the chassis


51


such that it can be moved along the longitudinal direction of the adapter. The eject arm


58


is pivotably mounted on the circuit board assembly


52


by means of a rotation axle


59


. Further, the tip portion of the eject button


57


is linked with one end of the eject arm


58


through a connection


60


.




When ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space


54


, eject operation is carried out by pushing the eject button


57


into the chassis


51


. When the eject button


57


is pushed, the eject arm


58


is rotated about the rotation axle


59


, and the other end portion thereof (which is an end portion opposite to the end portion linked with the eject button


57


) is moved toward the inside of the CF card receiving space


54


, and as a result, the CF card is disconnected from the card adapter


1


by the eject arm


58


.




Further, the CF card is provided with grounding contact portions (not shown in the drawings) on the side surfaces thereof for discharging static electricity charged in the CF card, and the chassis


51


is also provided with an electrical path for discharging the static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to a grounding means of the slot for a PC card.




The electrical path is constructed from an elastic contacting part


61


which elastically contacts with the grounding contact portion of the CF card, a contact part


62


which electrically connects with the grounding means of the slot for a PC card, and the conducting plate


53


which electrically connects the elastic contacting part


61


and the contact part


62


.




As described above, in the conventional card adapter


50


, the electrical path for discharging static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card is constructed from the three parts including the elastic contacting part


61


, the contact part


62


, and the conducting plate


53


, and these three parts are electrically connected by merely contacting them with each other.




For this reason, when the card adapter


50


is used, there is the case that such an electrical path is interrupted or broken because poor contact occurs at any contact portion between the parts due to deformation of the parts by external forces or deterioration with the lapse of time such as the generation of rust on the contact surfaces of the parts.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




In view of the problem described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card adapter which can stably and reliably connect a grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to a grounding means of a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.




In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the present invention is directed to a card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard, the card-shaped electronic device having a grounding contact portion and the slot having a grounding means, said card adapter comprising:




a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot;




a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device;




a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed, said chassis having upper and lower sides;




a pair of conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis, respectively; and




an electrical path for electrically connecting the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot without using the conducting plates.




As described above, the card adapter according to the present invention has the electrical path for electrically connecting the grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot provided in a personal computer for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard without using the conducting plates. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a card adapter which can connect the grounding contact portion of a card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot in a personal computer stably and reliably irrespective of the condition of the conducting plates.




In the present invention described above, it is preferred that the electrical path includes a grounding member which is adapted to contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device and the grounding means of the slot, respectively.




Further, it is also preferred that said chassis has a pair of arms which extend from portions of the chassis which are located at opposite sides of the second connector, respectively, with a space therebetween so as to define a receiving space for the card-shaped electronic device, and the card-shaped electronic device having a side surface which faces one of said arms when the card-shaped electronic device is received in the receiving space, and the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is provided on the side surface, and the grounding means of the slot is arranged at a position that is in contact with a part of a side surface of the card adapter when the card adapter is inserted into the slot in which the grounding member is arranged so that the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is electrically connected to the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter in which the card-shaped electronic device has been connected to the second connector is inserted into the slot.




Furthermore, it is also preferred that the grounding member includes an elastic contacting part which can elastically contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device when the device is connected to the second connector, a contact part which can electrically connect with the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, and a connecting part which connects the elastic contacting part and the contact part, and the elastic contacting part, the contact part and the connecting part are integrally formed into a single part.




In this case, it is also preferred that the elastic contacting part is arranged on an inner surface of the arm, and the contact part is arranged on an outer surface of the arm.




In the present invention, it is preferred that said grounding member is arranged with being isolated from the conducting plates.




Further, it is also preferred that the card-shaped electronic device is one selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor memory card, an interface card and a hard disk.




The above and other objects, structures and effects will be more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the appended drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING





FIG. 1

is a perspective view which shows the overall structure of a card adapter according to the present invention.





FIG. 2

shows the state in which conducting plates are removed from the card adapter according to the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a perspective view which shows a grounding member of the card adapter according to the present invention.





FIG. 4

is a perspective view which shows a CF card to be connected to the card adapter according to the present invention.





FIG. 5

is an exploded perspective view which shows the structure of a conventional card adapter.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




Hereinbelow, a preferred embodiment of a card adapter according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the appended drawings.





FIG. 1

is a perspective view which shows the overall structure of an embodiment of the card adapter according to the present invention;

FIG. 2

shows the state in which conducting plates are removed from the card adapter;

FIG. 3

is a perspective view which shows a grounding member of the card adapter; and

FIG. 4

is a perspective view which shows a CF card to be connected to the card adapter.




The card adapter according to the present invention is used for, for example, electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device such as a CF (Compact Flash (which is a trade mark of SanDisk Corporation)) card to a plurality of contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device such as a PC card which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard from the CF card. In this regard, it is to be noted that the following description for the embodiment will be made with regard to the case where the card adapter according to the present invention is used for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a CF card to contacts (contact pins) provided in a slot for a PC card.




As shown in FIG.


1


and

FIG. 2

, a card adapter


1


includes a first connector


11


to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot for a PC card (not shown in the drawings); a second connector


12


which is electrically connected to the first connector


11


and is adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of a CF card


2


; a chassis


10


in which the first and second connectors


11


,


12


are disposed; a pair of conducting plates


40


provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis


10


, respectively; and an ejecting mechanism used when the CF card


2


is ejected. The ejecting mechanism includes a push member


30


, an arm


32


and an eject lever


31


.




The chassis


10


is formed of an insulating material such as a resin or the like. As shown in

FIG. 2

, the chassis


10


is formed to have a roughly rectangular shape, and it includes a main body


14


provided with the first connector


11


on its one end and the second connector


12


on its another end, and a pair of arms


15


L and


15


R which extend from portions of the main body


14


of the chassis which are located at opposite sides of the second connector


12


, respectively, with a space therebetween so as to define a CF card receiving space


16


(which will be described later).




As shown in

FIG. 4

, the CF card


2


is a card-shaped electronic device having a roughly square shape. In one end surface of the CF card


2


which is positioned on the upper side in

FIG. 4

, there are formed with electrical connecting portions (not shown in drawings) to be electrically connected to contact pins of the second connector


12


of the card adapter


1


. Further, in the left and right side surfaces (which are positioned in the left and right sides in

FIG. 4

) of the CF card


2


, that is, in the side surfaces which are in contact with the arms


15


L and


15


R, respectively, when the CF card


2


is received in the CF card receiving space


16


of the chassis


10


, there are formed with grounding contact portions


3


. One of the grounding contact portions


3


is adapted to be electrically connected to a grounding member


20


(which will be described below) for discharging static electricity charged in the CF card


2


. Further, on the side surfaces of the CF card


2


, there are also formed with guiding grooves


4


for guiding the CF card


2


when inserting the CF card


2


into the CF card receiving space


16


.




The grounding member


20


is mounted on the arm


15


R of the chassis


10


so as to provide an electrical path for electrically connecting the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


to a grounding means (not shown in the drawings) provided in the slot for a PC card without using the conducting plates


40


.




The grounding member


20


electrically connects the grounding contact portion


3


to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card when the card adapter


1


in which the CF card


2


has been connected to the second connector


12


is inserted into the slot.




The grounding member


20


is formed from a conductive material such as a metal plate or the like. More specifically, the grounding member


20


includes an elastic contacting part


21


which elastically contacts with the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


, a contact part


22


which electrically connects with the grounding means of the slot for a PC card, and a connecting part


23


which connects the elastic contacting part


21


and the contact part


22


. The elastic contacting part


21


, the contact part


22


, and the connecting part


23


are integrally formed into a single part by punching out a conductive material such as a metal plate or the like and then bending it into a predetermined shape as shown in FIG.


3


. Namely, the elastic contacting part


21


and the contact part


22


are respectively bent downwardly so as to be roughly perpendicular to the connecting part


23


.




The grounding member


20


having the above structure is mounted on the arm


15


R such that the elastic contacting part


21


is positioned on the inner surface of the arm


15


R (that is, on the surface which defines the CF card receiving space


16


), the contact part


22


is positioned on the outer surface of the arm


15


R and the connecting part


23


is positioned on the upper surface of the arm


15


R.




Further, as shown in

FIG. 2

, the elastic contacting part


21


is formed to have a curved portion which protrudes toward the CF card receiving space


16


from the inner surface of the arm


15


R to form an elastic electrical contact. Therefore, when the CF card


2


is received in the CF card receiving space


16


to electrically connect the electrical connecting portions of the CF card


2


to the second connector


12


of the card adapter


1


, the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


elastically contacts with the curved portion (electrical contact) of the elastic contacting part


21


.




As shown in

FIG. 3

, the contact part


22


is formed into a plate-like shape and its opposite longitudinal edges are bent so that it has a roughly C-shaped cross section. As described above, the grounding member


20


is mounted on the arm


15


R of the chassis


10


such that the contact part


22


is arranged on the outer surface of the arm


15


R, that is, the contact part


22


is arranged on the surface of the arm


15


R which faces with an inner side surface of the slot for a PC card. Further, the contact part


22


is arranged at a position that is in contact with the grounding means provided in the slot when the card adapter


1


is inserted into the slot to electrically connect the contacts of the first connector


11


of the card adapter


1


to the contact pins provided in the slot. In this regard, it is to be noted that the length of the contact part


22


is preferably set at a predetermined length (e.g., 1 cm). In order to accomplish a stable contact between the contact part


22


and the grounding means provided in the slot.




The grounding member


20


having the above structure functions to electrically connect the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card directly, when the card adapter


1


in which the CF card


2


has been connected to the second connector


12


is inserted into the slot.




As described above, in this embodiment, the connecting part


23


is arranged on the upper surface of the arm


15


R, when the grounding member


20


is mounted on the arm


15


R of the chassis


10


. Further, the upper conducting plate


40


is provided on the connecting part


23


. Therefore, the upper surface of the connecting part


23


is coated with an insulation material so that the grounding member


20


is isolated from the conducting plate


40


. By doing so, it is possible to prevent static electricity charged in the human body from running into the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


through the conducting plates


40


and the grounding member


20


of the card adapter


1


.




As described above, the card adapter


1


of the present embodiment has the electrical path for directly connecting the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card without using the conducting plates


40


. Therefore, the card adapter


1


of the present embodiment can stably and reliably connect the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


to the grounding means of the slot irrespective of the condition of the conducting plates


40


.




Further, as described above, in this embodiment, the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


is directly connected to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card through the grounding member


20


in the form of a single part when the card adapter


1


to which the CF card


2


has been connected is inserted into the slot. This makes it possible to avoid the problems which would be caused when the electrical path is formed from a plurality of parts like the prior art described above. Namely, it is possible to avoid the case that poor contact occurs due to deformation of the parts caused by external forces, or deterioration with the lapse of time or soiling at contact portions between the metallic parts constituting the electrical path. Therefore, according to the card adapter


1


of the present embodiment it is possible to reliably discharge static electricity from the grounding contact portion


3


of the CF card


2


to the grounding means of the slot for a PC card without such interruption or breakage of the electrical path as described above.




Finally, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications or changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, it goes without saying that the present Invention may be applied to card adapters other than the card adapter for CF card or PC card. Examples of card-shaped electronic devices that can be used for the card adapter of the present invention include a semiconductor memory card, an interface card and a hard disk and the like.



Claims
  • 1. A card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot, the card-shaped electronic device having a grounding contact portion and the slot having a grounding means, said card adapter comprising:a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot; a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device; a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed, said chassis having upper and lower sides; a pair of conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis, respectively; and a grounding member for electrically and directly connecting the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot wherein said grounding member includes parts which are adapted to contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shape electronic device and the grounding means of the slot, respectively, and said grounding member is isolated from the conducting plates.
  • 2. The card adapter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chassis has a pair of arms which extend from portions of said chassis which are located at opposite sides of said second connector, respectively, with a space therebetween so as to define a receiving space for receiving the card-shaped electronic device, and the card-shaped electronic device having a side surface which faces one of said arms when the card-shaped electronic device is connected to the second connector and the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is provided on the side surface thereof, and the grounding means of the slot is arranged at a position that is in contact with a part of the side surface of one of the arms of the card adapter when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, in which the grounding member is arranged on the arm so that the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is electrically connected to the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter in which the card-shaped electronic device has been connected to the second connector is inserted into the slot.
  • 3. The card adapter as claimed in claim 2, wherein the grounding member includes an elastic contacting part which can elastically contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device when the device is connected to the second connector, a contact part which can electrically connect with the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, and a connecting part which connects the elastic contacting part and the contact part, and the elastic contacting part, the contact part and the connecting part are integrally formed into a single part.
  • 4. The card adapter as claimed in claim 3, wherein said arm has an inner surface and an outer surface, and the elastic contacting part is arranged on the inner surface of the arm, and the contact part is arranged on the outer surface of the arm.
  • 5. The card adapter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the card-shaped electronic device is one selected from the group consisting of a semiconductor memory card, an interface card and a hard disk.
  • 6. The card adapter as claimed in claim 1, wherein the grounding member includes an elastic contacting part which can elastically contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device when the device is connected to the second connector, a contact part which can electrically connect with the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, and a connecting part which connects the elastic contacting part and the contact part, and the elastic contacting part, the contact part and the connecting part are integrally formed into a single part.
  • 7. The card adapter as claimed in claim 2, wherein said connecting part has an upper surface which faces one of the conducting plates, and the upper surface of the connecting part of the grounding member is coated with an insulation material so that the grounding member is isolated from the conducting plate.
  • 8. A card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot of a personal computer for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard from the card shaped electronic device, the card-shaped electronic device having a grounding contact portion and the slot having a grounding means, said card adapter comprising:a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot; a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device; a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed, said chassis having upper and lower sides, and said chassis having a pair of arms which extend from the opposite sides of said second connector with a space therebetween so as to define a receiving space for receiving the card-shaped electronic device; a pair of conducting plates provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis, respectively; and an electrical path for electrically and directly connecting the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device to the grounding means of the slot without using the conducting plates, wherein said electrical path includes a grounding member which is adapted to contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device and the grounding means of the slot, respectively, and said grounding member is arranged on one of the arms with being isolated from the conductive plates, wherein the grounding member includes an elastic contacting part which can elastically contact with the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device when the device is connected to the second connector, a contact part which can electrically connect with the grounding means of the slot when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, and a connecting part which connects the elastic contacting part and the contact part, and the elastic contacting part, the contact part and the connecting part are integrally formed into a single part, wherein the card-shaped electronic device has a side surface which faces said arm when the card-shaped electronic device is connected to the second connector and the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is provided on the side surface thereof, and the grounding means of the slot is arranged at a position that is in contact with the contact part of the grounding member of the card adapter when the card adapter is inserted into the slot, in which the grounding member is arranged on the arm so that the grounding contact portion of the card-shaped electronic device is electrically connected to the grounding means of the slot through the grounding member when the card adapter in which the card-shaped electronic device has been connected to the second connector is inserted into the slot.
  • 9. The card adapter in claim 8 wherein said connecting part has an upper surface which faces one of the conducting plates, and the upper surface of the connecting part of the grounding member is coated with an insulation material so that the grounding member is isolated from the conducting plate.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
2001-230069 Jul 2001 JP
US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
5846092 Feldman et al. Dec 1998 A
6109931 Yotsutani Aug 2000 A
6109940 Chad et al. Aug 2000 A
6139338 Hirai et al. Oct 2000 A
6149450 Gastineau Nov 2000 A
6231360 Horie May 2001 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number Date Country
11-251019 Feb 1998 JP