Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6296511
-
Patent Number
6,296,511
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, September 1, 199924 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, October 2, 200122 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 439 377
- 439 637
- 439 636
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International Classifications
-
Abstract
An electrical connector for electrically connecting a card to a printed circuit board comprises an insulative housing, a number of contacts and a pair of board locks received in the housing, and a pair of card ejector mechanisms pivotally mounted in opposite ends of the housing. The housing defines a slot which separates a middle section thereof into a first part and a second part. The first and second parts each define a number of cavities in which the contacts are received. The first and second parts each provides a number of projections extending beyond an inner wall thereof. The projections on the first part are spaced a distance equal to a thickness of a daughter card inserted in the slot from the projections on the second part. The projections on the first and second parts abut against opposite surfaces of the daughter card thereby securing the daughter card in the housing.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card edge connector, and especially to a card edge connector which forms a positioning mechanism for limiting transverse movement of an inserted card in the card edge connector.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,511,985; 5,676,555; and 5,690,499 and Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 81110052 and 84209392 disclose connectors each comprising an insulative housing defining a plurality of contact receiving cavities and a slot, a plurality of contacts, each having an engaging portion and a mounting portion, received in the cavities of the housing, and a pair of card ejector mechanisms. The housing is divided into a first part and a second part by the slot. Each part has a face from which the engaging portions of the contacts extend. The card ejector mechanisms are pivotally attached to opposite ends of the housing. When a card formed with a plurality of gold fingers on an edge thereof is inserted into the connector, the card ejector mechanisms retain the card in the slot such that the gold fingers connect with the engaging portions of the contacts. However, the slot usually has a greater dimension than a thickness of the card for facilitating insertion of the card. Thus, the edge with the gold fingers formed thereon is merely retained in the slot by the engaging portions of the contacts pressing against opposite surfaces thereof. The edge of the card is movable in the slot along a transverse direction of the housing because the contacts are made with different sizes and each contact exerts a different force on the edge of the card. The card tends to move within the slot due to shaking and vibration. Thus, the engaging portions of some of the contacts may temporarily disengaged from the gold fingers whereby intermittent signal transmission results. Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a connector comprising a housing having a retention mechanism in a periphery of a slot defined in the housing to securely retain an edge of a card in the slot and to ensure electrical connection between contacts of the connector and gold fingers formed on the edge of the card.
Accordingly, an electrical connector for electrically connecting a card to a printed circuit board in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing, a number of contacts and a pair of board locks received in the housing, and a pair of card ejector mechanisms pivotally mounted in opposite ends of the housing. The housing defines a slot which divides a middle section thereof into a first part and a second part. The first and second parts each defines a number of cavities in which the contacts are received. The first and second parts each provides a number of projections extending beyond an inner wall thereof. A gap equaling a thickness of a daughter card is defined between the projections of the first and second parts. Accordingly, the first and second projections on the first and second parts abut against opposite surfaces of the daughter card thereby securely positioning the daughter card in the housing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is an exploded view of an electrical connector of the present invention and a card to be electrically engaged with the connector;
FIG. 2
is a partial, enlarged view of a housing of the connector shown in
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is an assembled view of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 4
is a partial, top view of
FIG. 3
with a pair of card ejector mechanisms removed from the assembled connector; and
FIG. 5
is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line
5
—
5
of FIG.
4
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, an electrical connector
1
of the present invention configured to electrically connect a daughter card
5
to a printed circuit board (not shown) comprises an insulative housing
2
, a plurality of contacts
3
each comprising an engaging portion
31
and a mounting portion
32
, a pair of card ejector mechanisms
4
pivotally mounted in opposite ends of the housing
2
, and a pair of board locks
6
. The housing
2
comprises a middle section
20
and a pair of guiding projections
22
upwardly extending from opposite ends of the middle section
20
. A card receiving slot
23
, generally wider than a thickness of the daughter card
5
, is defined in the middle section
20
and divides the middle section
20
into first and second parts
21
,
21
′. Each part
21
(
21
′) has a sufficient thickness to define a plurality of cavities
211
for accommodating the contacts
3
therein. Each guiding projection
22
defines a guiding channel
221
communicating with the slot
23
for guiding and securely positioning opposite edges
52
of the daughter card
5
and a chamber
223
in an outer edge thereof for receiving the card ejector mechanism
4
. The guiding channel
221
is in communication with the chamber
223
through an opening formed in a bottom portion of the guiding projection
22
. The card ejector mechanism
4
comprises a main portion
40
, a flange
41
at one end of the main portion
40
and a tongue
42
, a handle
43
and a pair of tabs
44
at an opposite end of the main portion
40
.
Each part
21
(
21
′) provides a plurality of equidistantly spaced projections
213
(
213
′) (
FIG. 4
) extending beyond an inner wall
212
(
212
′) thereof into the card receiving slot
23
. Each projection
213
(
213
′) downwardly extends a predetermined distance and is arranged between adjacent cavities
211
. A gap equaling a thickness of a daughter card
5
is defined between the projections
213
of the first and second parts
21
,
21
′. A chamfer
214
is formed on an upper end of each projection
213
(
213
′) for facilitating insertion of the daughter card
5
into the slot
23
.
Also referring to
FIGS. 3-5
, in assembly, the contacts
3
and the board locks
6
are reliably received in the cavities
211
and apertures (not shown) of the housing
2
, respectively, with the engaging portions
31
of the contacts
3
extending beyond the inner wall
212
(
212
′). Each card ejector mechanism
4
is accommodated in the chamber
223
of the corresponding guiding projection
22
. A pair of pivots
45
formed on opposite sides of each card ejector mechanism
4
is received in a corresponding pair of holes
224
defined in each guiding projection
22
to pivotally attach each card ejector mechanism
4
to the housing
2
. When the daughter card
5
is inserted into the connector
1
, the card ejector mechanisms
4
are pushed to pivot outwardly about the holes
224
due to an external force being exerted on the handles
43
. The daughter card
5
is guided into the slot
23
by the guiding channels
221
of the guiding projection
22
and the edge
50
of the daughter card
5
abuts against the engaging portions
31
of the contacts
3
. The daughter card
5
is further inserted into the slot
23
and is guided by the chamfers
214
of the projections
213
(
213
′) until the edge
50
is completely received in the slot
23
. The engaging portion
31
of each contact
3
reliably connects with the corresponding gold finger
51
of the daughter card
5
and each projection
213
(
213
′) slightly abuts against a dielectric area between adjacent gold fingers
51
. The flange
41
of each card ejector mechanism
4
is downwardly pressed by opposite ends of the edge
50
resulting in an inward pivotal movement of each card ejector mechanism
4
. The tabs
44
of each card ejector mechanism
4
engage opposite edges
52
of the daughter card
5
and the tongue
42
is received in a cutout
53
defined in each opposite edge
52
thereby securely retaining the daughter card
5
in the connector
1
.
As seen in
FIG. 5
, since opposite surfaces of the edge
50
firmly abut against the projections
213
, movement of the daughter card
5
in a transverse direction of the housing
2
is eliminated. Thus, the engaging portions
31
of the contacts
3
are reliably connected with the gold fingers
51
of the daughter card
5
whereby continuous transfer of electrical signals can be achieved even when the connector
1
is affected by external vibrations.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the fill extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
Claims
- 1. An electrical connector for interconnecting a daughter card to a printed circuit board, comprising:a dielectric housing including a first part, a second part, a card receiving slot defined between the first and second parts, and a plurality of contact receiving cavities defined in the first and second parts, the first and second parts each having an inner wall facing toward each other, said first inner wall and said second inner wall directly facing to and communicating with said card receiving slot and commonly defining exactly only said card receiving slot therebetween; a plurality of contacts received in the contact receiving cavities of the housing, each contact having an engaging portion and a mounting portion; a card ejector mechanism pivotally attached to the housing; and said inner walls of the first and second parts each forming a plurality of separate projections thereon extending into the card receiving slot of the housing for limiting transverse movement of the daughter card inserted in the card receiving slot, each projection being positioned between two adjacent contact receiving cavities of the housing, each projection on the inner wall of the first part being aligned with a corresponding projection on the inner wall of the second part, and a distance from each projection on the inner wall of the first part to the corresponding aligned projection on the inner wall of the second part being substantially equal to a thickness of an edge of the daughter card, a total number of said projections being less than that of the contacts; wherein the engaging portion of each contact and each projection respectively abut against a corresponding gold finger and a dielectric area between adjacent gold fingers of the daughter card; wherein each projection forms a chamfer at an upper end thereof for facilitating insertion of the daughter card into the card receiving slot.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
88207166 |
May 1999 |
TW |
|
US Referenced Citations (5)