Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6491536
-
Patent Number
6,491,536
-
Date Filed
Friday, March 31, 200024 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, December 10, 200222 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Bradley; P. Austin
- Nguyen; Truc
Agents
- Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P.
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 79
- 439 686
- 439 695
- 439 848
- 439 246
- 439 82
- 439 83
- 439 7331
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A connector has a housing mounted on a board, and a terminal retained within the terminal accommodation chamber. The housing has a terminal accommodation chamber. The terminal has a hollow-cylindrical connectable portion, into which a corresponding connection pin is inserted, and a leg plate extended from the connectable portion toward the board. The leg plate has a first plate portion extended from the connectable portion and a second plate portion substantially perpendicular to the first plate portion. The first and the second plate portion are partly connected to each other, and the second plate portion is connected to the board.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector for use on a board and, more particularly, to a connector that is mounted on, for example, a printed circuit board.
A conventional connector mounted on a board has a terminal fused to the board.
However, when the connector mounted as above is slightly moved relative to the board and the terminal within this connector is moved following this movement thereof, the following inconvenience occurs. Namely, there is the possibility that cracks or fractures will occur in the fused portion between the board and the terminal, with the result that a state of electrical connection therebetween becomes unstable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Not Applicable
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thereupon, it is an object of the present invention to provide a connector that is simple in structure and has a high reliability on the electrical connection.
To attain the above object, a connector according to a first aspect of the present invention has a housing mounted on a board and a terminal retained in a terminal accommodation chamber. The housing has the terminal accommodation chamber. The terminal has a hollow-cylindrical connectable portion, into which a corresponding connection pin is inserted, and a leg plate extending from the connectable portion toward the board. The leg-plate has a first plate portion extending from the connectable portion and a second plate portion substantially perpendicular to the first leg portion. The first plate portion and the second plate portion are partly connected to each other, and the second plate portion is connected to the board.
According to this construction, the leg plate of the terminal has the first plate portion and the second plate portion substantially perpendicular to the first plate portion, and the first and the second plate portion are partly connected to each other. And in addition the second plate portion is connected to the board. Therefore, when the terminal has received a stress acting thereon from a direction perpendicular to the first plate portion thereof, the first plate portion is deformed to thereby mitigate this stress. When the terminal has received a stress acting thereon from a direction perpendicular to the second plate portion thereof, the second plate portion is deformed to thereby mitigate this stress. In this way, the stresses acting at least from the two directions are mitigated by the first and the second plate portion. Accordingly, a stable state of electrical connection is obtained, whereby the reliability of this construction is enhanced.
A second aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the first aspect of connector the second plate portion is bent from the first plate portion.
According to this construction, the second plate portion is bent in a direction different from that in which the leg plate is extended. Therefore, the second plate portion is easily bent, whereby the workability of the terminal is enhanced.
A third aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the first aspect of connector the first plate portion has a stopper piece that externally protrudes and the housing has a slit into which the stopper piece is inserted.
According to this construction, the stopper piece of the first plate portion is inserted into the slit and is thereby retained. Therefore, the backlash of the terminal within the housing is suppressed. Therefore, the position of one of the housing and the terminal relative to the other is easily and reliably set, whereby the connector is easily connected to the board.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the first aspect of connector the second plate portion has a spring portion that is bent.
According to this construction, the spring portion mitigates the stress acting in the longitudinal direction (the direction in which the leg plate is extended) of the terminal. For this reason, when the terminal within the housing has received a stress acting in a direction perpendicular to the board in a state of its having been connected onto the board, the spring portion absorbs the stress and mitigates the same. Accordingly, the stress acting in the three directions are mitigated with the result that a more stable state of electrical connection is obtained, whereby the reliability on the connector is enhanced.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the fourth aspect of connector the second plate portion is bent from the first plate portion.
According to this construction, the bending direction of the spring portion and the bending direction of the second plate portion relative to the first plate portion differ from each other. Therefore, it is possible to simultaneously perform the bending of the both without impairing the dimensional precision after the bending thereof. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the terminal that is easy to work and high in precision.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the first aspect of connector the housing is constructed of a housing main body and a spacer block. The terminal accommodation chamber is formed in the housing main body. With the terminal being inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber from a side opposite to that on which the connection pin is inserted into the connectable portion, the spacer block is assembled to the housing main body. As a result of this, the spacer block stops the draw-off of the terminal; the connectable portion is retained by the housing main body; and the leg plate is retained by the spacer block.
According to this construction, the connector is provided through the easy operation of the spacer block being assembled to the housing main body after the insertion of the terminal into the terminal accommodation chamber. Also, in this construction, the position at which the stress is generated in the terminal is dispersed into two positions, i.e., the interior of the housing and the interior of the spacer block. Therefore, compared to a case where the stress-generation position is concentrated on one member, the stress is unlikely to directly act on the second plate portion. Therefore, the durability of the portion of connection of the second plate portion and the board is further enhanced.
A seventh aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the sixth aspect of connector the first plate portion has an externally protruding stopper piece; and the spacer block has a slit having the stopper piece inserted therein.
According to this construction, the second plate portion is disposed at a proper position by inserting the stopper piece into the slit of the spacer block after the accommodating of the connectable portion of the terminal into the housing main body.
An eighth aspect of the present invention is the connector wherein in the third aspect of connector the housing has a rib protruding along the slit.
According to this construction, with the stopper piece of the first plate portion being inserted in the slit, the rib retains the first plate portion. Therefore, a backlash is prevented from occurring in the second plate portion, whereby a stable connection structure is provided.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a perspective view illustrating a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2
is a plan view illustrating a state where the terminal of
FIG. 1
is in the course of manufacture;
FIG. 3
is an exploded perspective view illustrating a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4
is a perspective view illustrating the entire connector of
FIG. 3
;
FIG. 5
is a front view illustrating the connector of
FIG. 3
;
FIG. 6
is a sectional view illustrating a main part of the connector of
FIG. 3
; and
FIG. 7
is a perspective view illustrating a main part of the connector of FIG.
3
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A detail of a connector
40
for use on connection thereof to a board according to the present invention will be explained on the basis of an embodiment illustrated in the drawings.
The connector
40
is equipped with a terminal
10
, a main body
20
of a housing, and a spacer block
30
.
FIG. 1
illustrates the terminal
10
that is accommodated and retained within the connector
40
. The terminal
10
has an angular-hollow-cylindrical connectable portion
11
, a first plate portion
12
that is downwardly extended from one side plate
11
A of the connectable portion
11
, and a second plate portion
13
that is orthogonally bent from one side edge at a lower end of the first plate portion
12
and that is downwardly extended.
Within the connectable portion
11
there is accommodated a connection piece
11
B that has been folded back from an upper end thereof. The connection piece
11
B is pressure-contacted with a connection pin
61
of a male connector
60
that has been inserted into the connectable portion
11
.
One side edge of the first plate portion
12
continues on the second plate portion
13
while the other side edge thereof has a stopper piece
12
A protruding laterally. The stopper piece
12
A is inserted into a slit
31
of the spacer block
30
as later described.
At an intermediate portion of the second plate portion
13
there is formed a spring portion
13
A that has been bent so as to protrude on one surface side thereof and that is substantially shaped like a character āVā. The spring portion
13
A performs its shock-absorbing function when a stress acting in the longitudinal direction has been applied to the terminal
10
.
The terminal
10
is formed in a multi-piece fashion on a frame
10
A as illustrated in
FIG. 2
by punching out a metal plate and then performing bending of the resulting metal plate. The terminal
10
is used by being separated from the frame
10
A by being cut along a broken line
10
B.
Next, an assembling method and a structure of the connector
40
will be explained using
FIGS. 3
to
7
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 3
, the housing main body
20
has a plurality of terminal accommodation chambers
21
that are arrayed in two rows. The connectable portion
11
of the terminal
10
is inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber
21
. The terminal accommodation chamber
21
passes through the housing main body
20
. Adjacent two of the terminal accommodation chambers
21
are electrically isolated from each other by a partitioning wall
22
. The terminal accommodation chamber
21
is set to have a dimension that prevents a backlash from occurring in the connectable portion
11
that has been inserted in and accommodated within the chamber
21
. The terminal
10
is disposed within the housing main body
20
so that the stopper piece
12
A in the first row and the stopper piece
12
A in the second row may oppose each other.
The spacer block
30
is contacted with one end surface of the housing main body
20
, at which the terminal accommodation chamber
21
is open. With the connectable portion
11
being accommodated in the housing main body
20
, the spacer block
30
retains the first plate portion
12
and second plate portion
13
of the terminal
10
. The spacer block
30
has the slit
31
formed at the position corresponding to the stopper piece
12
A of the terminal
10
within the housing
20
, the slit
31
having the stopper piece
12
A inserted therein. The spacer block
30
has a rib
32
linearly protruding from an edge of the slit
31
. The rib
32
contacts with a side surface of the first plate portion
12
and retains the posture of the first plate portion
12
as it is.
On respective side surfaces of the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
there are provided engaging portions
20
A and
30
A that are engaged with each other.
When mounting the terminal
10
to within the housing
1
composed of the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
, first, the connectable portion
11
of the terminal
10
is inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber
21
of the housing main body
20
. Then, the spacer block
30
is assembled to the housing main body
20
in such a way as to be pressed against the main body
20
thereof. At this time, as illustrated in
FIG. 7
, the stopper piece
12
A of each terminal
10
is inserted into its corresponding slit
31
of the spacer block
30
. Since the housing main body
20
accurately defines the position of the terminal, the positioning of the stopper piece
12
A with respect to the slit
31
is easy. By performing the assembling operation in this way, the connector
40
such as that illustrated in
FIGS. 4
or
5
is provided.
FIG. 6
illustrates a state where the connector
40
has been mounted on a printed circuit board
50
. The second plate portion
13
protruding from the spacer block
30
passes through the printed circuit board
50
to reach a reverse surface of the same. A forward end of the second plate portion
13
having reached the reverse surface of the printed circuit board
50
is electrically conduction-connected by solder to a wiring pattern formed on the printed circuit board
50
, electric parts on the printed circuit board
50
, etc.
Next, the function of the connector
40
of this embodiment will be explained.
When, a centering function (the position-adjusting function) working on the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
, the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
are moved in a direction indicated by an arrow X illustrated in
FIG. 6
, the terminal
10
also is moved in a way to follow that. At this time, if the first plate portion
12
and the second plate portion
13
exist substantially on the same plane, the portion corresponding to the second plate portion
13
is also moved in accordance with the stress acting in the X direction. As a result of this, there is the possibility that the soldered portion will be impaired. In contrast to this, in the case of the terminal
10
of this embodiment, one of the first plate portion
12
and the second plate portion
13
is bent so as to define an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the other. Therefore, when the terminal
10
has received the stress in the X direction, the first plate portion
12
is flexed whereby the stress is mitigated.
Especially, in this embodiment, the connectable portion
11
is received in and retained by the housing main body
20
, and the stopper piece
12
A is inserted in and retained by its corresponding slit
31
of the spacer block
30
. Therefore, even when relative positional displacement occurs between the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
in the X direction, the first plate portion
12
mitigates the stress acting following such positional displacement. For this reason, even when the terminal
10
has received the stress in the X direction, the.stress is greatly prevented from being extended to the second plate portion
13
. As a result of this, the occurrence of cracks or fractures in the solder portion between the second plate portion
13
and the printed circuit board
50
is suppressed.
In a case where the terminal
10
has received the stress acting in the Y direction in
FIG. 7
, this stress is mitigated by the second plate portion
13
being flexed. In a case where the terminal
10
has received the stress acting in the Z direction in
FIG. 7
, this stress is mitigated by the spring portion
13
A of the second plate portion
13
being expanded or contracted.
As described above, according to the connector
40
of the present invention, despite the terminal
10
having a relatively simple configuration, the stress that acts in two or three directions is mitigated. Namely, with the second plate portion
13
being soldered to the printed circuit board
50
, the stress acting in every direction, that is applied to the terminal
10
, is mitigated. Accordingly, the durability on soldering is enhanced with the result that the highly reliable connector
40
is provided.
As will be apparent from the foregoing description, although an explanation has been given of one embodiment of the present invention, this invention is not limited thereto and permits various changes or modifications incidental to the subject matter of the construction to be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an explanation has been given of the construction retaining the terminal
10
by the use of the housing main body
20
and the spacer block
30
. However, it is also possible to make up a construction wherein the terminal
10
is received only within the housing main body
20
to thereby omit the use of the spacer block
30
. In this case, the slit into which the stopper piece
12
A is inserted may be formed in the inner wall of the housing main body
20
.
Claims
- 1. A connector for use on board, comprising:a housing mounted on a board, the housing having a terminal accommodation chamber; and a terminal retained within the terminal accommodation chamber, the terminal having a hollow-cylindrical connectable portion into which a corresponding connection pin is inserted and a leg plate extended from the connectable portion toward the board, the leg plate having a first plate portion downwardly extended from the connectable portion and having a stopper piece extending therefrom, and a second plate portion downwardly extended from a lower end of the first plate portion, the first and the second plate portions being substantially perpendicular to each other, and the second plate to be connected to the board, wherein one end of the first plate portion is continued from the connectable portion; one end of the second plate portion is bent from an end of the first plate portion opposite the stopper piece; and the other end of the second plate portion is fused onto the board.
- 2. A connector according to claim 1, wherein the second plate portion is bent from the first plate portion.
- 3. A connector according to claim 1, wherein the second plate portion is fused onto the board.
- 4. A connector according to claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a housing main body and a spacer block; the terminal accommodation chamber is formed in the housing main body; the first plate portion has a stopper piece that protrudes externally; and the spacer block has a slit into which the stopper piece is inserted.
- 5. A connector according to claim 1, wherein the second plate portion has a bent spring portion.
- 6. A connector according to claim 5, wherein the second plate portion is bent from the first plate portion.
- 7. The connector according to claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a housing main body and a spacer block;the terminal accommodation chamber is formed in the housing main body; and with the terminal being inserted into the terminal accommodation chamber from a direction opposite to that in which the connection pin is inserted into the connectable portion, the spacer block is assembled to the housing main body, whereby a terminal stopper piece retains the terminal to the spacer block; the connectable portion is retained by the housing main body; and the leg plate is retained by the spacer block.
- 8. A connector according to claim 7, wherein the first plate portion has a stopper piece that protrudes externally; andthe spacer block has a slit into which said stopper piece is inserted.
- 9. A connector according to claim 4, wherein the spacer block has a rib that protrudes along the slit.
- 10. A terminal retained within a housing mounted on a board and conduction-connected to the board, the terminal comprising:a hollow-cylindrical connectable portion into which a corresponding pin is inserted; and a leg plate extended from the connectable portion toward the board, the leg plate having a first plate portion downwardly extended from the connectable portion and having a stopper piece extending therefrom, and a second plate portion downwardly extended from a lower end of the first plate portion, the first plate portion and the second plate portion being substantially perpendicular to each other, the second plate to be connected to the board, wherein one end of the first plate portion is continued from the connectable portion; one end of the second plate portion is bent from an end of the first plate portion opposite the stopper piece; and the other end of the second plate portion is fused onto the board.
- 11. A terminal according to claim 10, wherein the first plate portion has a stopper piece that protrudes externally; andthe stopper piece is inserted into a slit in the spacer block.
- 12. A terminal according to claim 10, wherein the second plate portion has a bent spring portion.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
11-122752 |
Apr 1999 |
JP |
|
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4007977 |
Bauerle |
Feb 1977 |
A |
4762500 |
Dola et al. |
Aug 1988 |
A |
5186633 |
Mosser, III |
Feb 1993 |
A |