Information
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Patent Grant
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6419513
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Patent Number
6,419,513
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Date Filed
Thursday, May 3, 200123 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, July 16, 200222 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
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CPC
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US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 92
- 439 108
- 439 64
- 439 630
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International Classifications
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Abstract
A card edge connector comprises an insulative housing defining a central slot with a plurality of contacts by two sides. A pair of latches are positioned at two opposite ends of the housing. Each latch includes a plastic portion and a metal portion. The plastic portion includes a locking lug. The metal portion is retained to the housing with a guidance/protection stud generally in alignment with the corresponding locking lug in a vertical direction so that the locking lug will not be damaged during downward rotational installation of the card module into the housing.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electrical connectors, and particularly to the card edge connector with the plastic/metal hybrid type latches thereof for retaining a card module therein.
2. The Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,069 having the same applicant and the same assignee with the invention, discloses the card edge connector with the plastic/metal hybrid type latches thereof for retaining a card module in the connector. In such a design, the hybrid type latch includes a plastic portion integrally formed with the housing with a locking lug thereon, and a metal portion positioned beside the plastic portion with the soldering portion for mounting to a printed circuit board, the grounding portions for electrical engagement with the grounding pads on the inserted card module, and restraint means for supportably restricting lateral movement of the plastic portion.
It is experienced that the locking lug of the plastic portion tends to be damaged by the side edge section of the inserted card module during downwardly rotational installation of the card module because the substrate of the card module is so rigid while the tiny locking lug is not relatively strong enough to endure/resist the scrapping effect during the downward movement of the card module and the associated outward movement of the plastic portion). Thus, it is desired to find the solution for preventing this shortcoming.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide means for protecting the locking lug of the plastic portion from being damaged during downwardly rotational installation of the card module with regard to the connector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an aspect of the invention, a card edge connector comprises an insulative housing defining a central slot therein for receiving a card module therein. A plurality of contacts are disposed by two sides of the central slot for electrical engagement with inserted card module. A pair of hybrid latches are positioned at two opposite ends of the housing. Each latch includes a plastic portion and a metal portion aside. The plastic portion integrally extends from the housing with a locking lug thereof. The metal portion includes a main body with retention means secured to the housing. The metal portion further includes a guidance/protection stud compliantly covering the locking lug so that when the card module is downwardly rotated from a slanted initial insertion position to a horizontal final reception position, the locking lug of the plastic portion does not directly confront the side edge section of the inserted card module and thus does not endure the significant downward force exerted by the downward moving card module. Instead, such force is imposed upon the guidance/protection stud of the metal portion. Accordingly, the locking lug of the plastic portion may only actively/strongly abut against the card module after the card module has passed and been located in its final horizontal reception position, while being insignificantly/smoothly outwardly deflected during rotational installation of the card module with regard to the connector because of existence of the guidance/protection stud.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of an embodiment of the card edge connector, according to the invention.
FIG. 2
is an exploded perspective view of the connector of
FIG. 1
with the metal portion of a hybrid type latch is disassembled from the housing.
FIG. 3
is an enlarged partial perspective view of the connector of
FIG. 1
to show the hybrid type latch thereof.
FIG. 4
is an exploded enlarged partial perspective view of the connector of
FIG. 3
to show the separate metal portion of the hybrid type latch.
FIG. 5
is an elevational view of the connector of FIG.
1
.
FIG. 6
is an enlarged partial elevational view of the connector of FIG.
5
.
FIG. 7
is a perspective view of the card module used within the connector of FIG.
1
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
References will now be in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention. While the present invention has been described in with reference to the specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by appended claims.
It will be noted here that for a better understanding, most of like components are designated by like reference numerals throughout the various figures in the embodiments. Attention is directed to
FIGS. 1-6
wherein a card edge connector
10
includes an insulative housing
12
. The housing
12
includes a base
13
defining a central slot
14
therein with a plurality of contacts
16
by two sides of the central slot
14
. A pair of hybrid type latches
18
are positioned at two opposite ends of the housing
12
.
Each hybrid type latch
18
includes a plastic portion
20
integrally formed with the base
13
and a metal portion
22
. The plastic portion
20
includes an arm
24
with a restraint head
26
at the distal free end and a locking lug
28
adjacent to the restraint head
26
. The metal portion
22
includes a main body
30
, a retention section
32
extending from the main body
30
with barbs
34
thereon for interferential engaged with the base
13
. A solder pad
36
is formed on the other end of the retention section
32
. Two restriction tags
38
,
40
extend downwardly from the main body
30
for restraining the left-to-right deflection of the plastic portion
20
. An abutment tag
42
extends from the other side of the main body
30
opposite to the restriction tags
30
,
40
for cooperating with the main body
30
to co-move with the plastic portion
20
. A guidance/protection stud
44
extends from an upper edge of the main body with a configuration in compliance with the locking lug
28
and covers, in a vertical direction thereof, the locking lug
28
from the top.
FIG. 7
shows the card module
100
used with the connector
10
, having a pair of notches
102
at two opposite side edge sections
104
.
During installation of the card module
100
into the connector
10
, the card module
100
is first inserted, at an initial slanted position, into the central slot
14
with its bottom edge. Afterwards, the card module
100
is downwardly rotated to have the two opposite side edge sections
104
outwardly push away the corresponding latches
18
and to reach its final horizontal position. During this downward rotational movement of the card module
100
, the side edge sections
104
of the card module
100
directly engage and impose the forces upon the guidance/protection stud
44
of the metal portion
22
of the latches
18
while without direct/significant improper scrapping/deflecting force imposed upon the locking lug
28
. When the card module
100
is moved to its final horizontal position, the restraint head
26
is received within the notch
102
of the card module
100
for restraining movement of the card module
100
relative to the connector
10
along the front-to-back direction thereof, and the locking lug
28
abuts against the top surface
106
around two side edge sections
104
for preventing inverse rotation derived from the spring forces of the contacts
16
. Understandably, similar to the traditional way, the card module
100
can be released from the connector
10
by outwardly deflecting the latches
18
to have the locking lugs
28
disengaged from the two side edge sections
104
of the card module
100
.
Under this configuration, the locking lug
28
may still actively function as the locking means to efficiently retain the card module
100
in position in the connector
10
for resisting the inverse rotation due to the spring forces of the contact
16
, while will no longer endure the direct/significant forces from the card module during the downward rotational installation period. Rather, the guidance/protection stud
44
absorbs the imposed forces and transmitted to the metal portion
22
instead. Thus, the locking lug
28
and the corresponding plastic portion
20
can smoothly outwardly deflected without damages thereof to allow passage of the downward movement of the card module
100
.
While the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, the guidance/protection stud may not need to be exactly compliantly same as the locking lug. The key point to configure the guidance/protection stud in proper shape and dimension so as to have the card module optimally first contact and successively substantially outwardly push the guidance/protection stud instead of the locking lug during rotational installation of the card module.
Therefore, person of ordinary skill in this field are to understand that all such equivalent structures are to be included in the scope of the following claims.
Claims
- 1. A card edge connector for use with a card module, comprising:an insulative housing having a base defining an elongated central slot therein; a plurality of contacts positioned beside said central slot; a pair of hybrid type latches disposed at two opposite ends of the base; each of said latches including a plastic portion and a metal portion beside said plastic portion, said plastic portion integrally formed on the housing with a restraint head around the distal end and a locking lug beside said restraint head; said metal portion including a main body with retention means for retaining the metal portion to the housing, said metal portion being arranged to co-move with the plastic portion; wherein said metal portion includes a guidance/protection stud generally in alignment with the locking lug in a vertical direction thereof, said guidance/protection stud covering said locking lug in said vertical direction for preventing the locking lug from being damaged during downwardly rotational installation of the card module into the connector; wherein said guidance/protection stud is configured in compliance with the locking lug; wherein said metal portion further includes an abutment tab positioned above the restraint head.
- 2. The connector as described in claim 1, wherein said retention means of the metal portion further includes a solder pad for mounting to a printed circuit board on which the connector is seated.
- 3. A card edge connector for use with a card module, comprising:an insulative housing having a base defining an elongated central slot therein; a plurality of contacts positioned beside said central slot; a pair of hybrid type latches disposed at two opposite ends of the base, each of said latches including a plastic portion and a metal portion beside said plastic portion, said plastic portion integrally formed on the housing with a locking lug around the distal end portion; said metal portion including a main body directly secured to the housing, said metal portion being arranged to co-move with the plastic portion; wherein said metal portion includes a guidance/protection stud which is dimensioned and configured relative to the locking lug in a way so that the guidance/protection stud directly confronts and engages two side sections of the card module and substantially endure forces exerted by said card module in place of the locking lug for preventing the locking lug from being damaged during downwardly rotational installation of the card module into the connector, wherein said guidance/protection stud is generally aligned with the locking lug in a vertical direction, wherein said plastic portion further includes a restraint head on an outer side relative to said locking lug.
- 4. The connector as described in claim 3, wherein said guidance/protection stud is configured to conform to the locking stud.
- 5. The connector as described in claim 3, wherein said locking lug is configured not to directly engage the card module during downwardly rotational installation of the card module into the connector.
- 6. A connector assembly comprising;a card edge connector and a card module therein, said connector comprising: an insulative housing having a base defining an elongated central slot therein; a plurality of contacts positioned beside said central slot; a pair of hybrid type latches disposed at two opposite ends of the base; each of said latches including a plastic portion and a metal portion beside said plastic portion, said plastic portion integrally formed on the housing with a locking lug around the distal end portion; said metal portion including a main body positioned beside the plastic portion, said metal portion being arranged to co-move with the plastic portion; wherein said metal portion includes a guidance/protection stud which is dimensioned and configured relative to the locking lug in a way that the guidance/protection stud directly confronts and engages two side sections of the card module and substantially endure forces exerted by said card module in place of the locking lug for preventing the locking lug from being damaged during downwardly rotational installation of the card module into the connector, wherein said guidance/protection stud is generally aligned with the locking lug in a vertical direction, wherein said plastic portion further includes a restraint head on an outer side of said locking lug to be received within a corresponding notch formed in a side edge section of the card module.
- 7. The connector as described in claim 6, wherein said guidance/protection stud is configured to conform with the locking stud.
- 8. The connector as described in claim 6, wherein said locking lug is configured not to directly engage the card module during downwardly rotational installation of the card module into the connector.
US Referenced Citations (4)