Patent Application
20240162667
The present invention relates to an electronics jack, such as a phone connector, and more particularly to an electronics jack for connecting a signal and an electrical ground from an electrical plug that avoids grounding the signal prior to connection of the signal and the ground.
Electronics jacks are used in many consumer electronic devices, commercial audio components, and the like, including such things as headphones, modular synthesizers, etc. These generally comprise two or more electrical conductors, i.e., tip/sleeve (signal/ground), tip/ring/sleeve (left/right/ground), tip/ring/ring/sleeve, etc., for connecting one or more electrical signals and an electrical ground from an electronics plug. These jacks and plugs work together to provide a removable electrical connection.
In a usual embodiment, such as a 3.5 mm mini mono audio plug/jack, the plug includes a tip conductor for carrying a signal and a shaft conductor for an electrical ground and the jack includes a base conductor for carrying the signal and a sleeve conductor for the electrical ground. Upon full insertion of the plug into the jack, the tip conductor on the plug contacts the base conductor on the jack while the shaft conductor on the plug contacts the sleeve conductor on the jack, thereby completing the electrical connection between the plug and the jack.
However, prior art plugs/jacks permit the signal to be grounded prior to proper connection of the electrical signal between the plug and jack, generally when the tip conductor of the plug makes contact with the sleeve conductor of the jack before the plug is fully inserted into the jack. Connecting the signal at the time of or prior to connecting the ground, by contacting the tip and base conductors prior to contacting the shaft and sleeve conductors, results in a cleaner electrical connection.
More specifically, grounding the signal prior to the connection of the electrical signal and ground contacts in the plug and jack cause signal dropouts and excess current draw that create signal disruption and audio distortion. In most cases, signal dropouts are not considered a significant problem and excess current draw has been limited in circuit design. However, in some circumstances, such as in modular synthesizers, signals are passively multiplied to multiple destinations, so a signal dropout causes disruption. This makes it difficult to patch cables during a live performance, recording session or broadcast.
Therefore, there is a failure in the art to provide a solution for permitting a user to connect electronics plugs and jacks without signal grounding that creates dropouts and excess current draw, causing signal disruption and audio distortion.
The present invention is directed to an embodiment of an electronics jack comprising a jack for receiving a plug to make an electrical connection, said plug having a plug sleeve comprising a plug sleeve contact and a plug tip comprising a plug tip contact. Of course, the jack of the present invention can be configured with additional electrical conductors, i.e., tip/ring/sleeve (left/right/ground), tip/ring/ring/sleeve, etc., for use with a corresponding electronics plug to provide a removable electrical connection. However, the concept can be readily understood by reference to the tip/sleeve configuration, understanding that rings can be added without deviating from the present invention described here.
The jack comprises a jack sleeve contact configured to create an electrical connection with the plug sleeve contact when the plug is fully inserted into the jack, the jack sleeve contact comprising a first sleeve contact member and a second sleeve contact member having a gap therebetween, to prohibit an electrical connection when the plug is not fully inserted into the jack, and a jack tip contact configured to create an electrical connection with the plug tip contact when the plug is fully inserted into the jack. The jack further comprises a dog which acts on the first sleeve contact member, the dog being engaged by the tip of the plug when the plug is inserted into the jack to force the first sleeve contact member into electrical connection with the second sleeve contact member. In this way, the plug tip is electrically protected from completing an electrical connection with the jack sleeve contact.
As used here, a “dog” is defined as “a tool or part of a tool that prevents or imparts movement through physical engagement.” For the present embodiment, the dog imparts movement to the first sleeve contact member when physically engaged by the jack tip to push the first sleeve contact member into electrical engagement with the second sleeve contact member. In a preferred embodiment, the jack tip contact comprises the dog and the dog engages the first sleeve contact member with an insulator between the jack tip contact and the first sleeve contact member.
The insulator between the jack tip contact and the first sleeve contact member can be placed on either the jack tip contact or the first sleeve contact member, as long as the insulator prohibits electrical connection between these elements. The insulator is preferably configured from a slidable material, to allow movement of the jack tip contact on the first sleeve contact member during insertion of the plug into the jack, but can be one or more anodized surfaces that render a portion of at least one of the jack tip contact and the first sleeve contact member non-conductive in the area where they contact each other. In a most preferred embodiment, the insulator comprises a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or a similar material that has low electrical conductivity and a low coefficient of friction, an anodized, non-conductive surface on at least one of the jack tip contact and the first sleeve contact member, or combinations thereof.
In a preferred embodiment, the dog comprises an open, angled surface for aligning and directing the plug tip contact away from the jack sleeve contact while forcing the first sleeve contact toward the second sleeve contact during insertion of the plug into the jack. The angled surface also facilitates insertion of the plug into the jack where it gradually increases the force required to move the jack tip contact as the plug tip advances into the jack.
In a most preferred embodiment, the dog includes a peak and oppositely angled surface as it extends farther into the jack, for example in an hourglass configuration. This configuration permits the peak of the dog to rest within the depression around a standard plug near the top of the plug tip connector, to assist in holding the plug in the jack.
The jack may also include a flange at the open end of the jack, comprising a surface for a user to engage during removal of the plug from the jack. The flange located on the jack creates a solid, fixed element that provides positive engagement by the user. The present invention can also comprise two jacks with plugs and a cable therebetween to create a cable assembly for creating a connection, where the jacks preferably include flanges to aid in the insertion/removal of the plugs.
Generally, the plug tip carries the signal and the plug sleeve creates the ground, however, it is understood that other types of electrical connections may be carried by these conductors. It is also understood that one or more rings can be added to the plug/jack connection, with proper insulation, to conduct other signals without deviating from the claimed invention.
The structure of the present invention overcomes the problems associated with signal grounding between the plug tip contact and the jack sleeve contact that creates dropouts and excess current draw and causes signal disruption and audio distortion during insertion and removal of an audio plug from a jack.
The attached drawings, in which like reference characters represent like parts, are intended to better illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention without limiting the invention in any manner whatsoever.
The following description of the preferred embodiment is presented to describe the present invention without limiting the scope of the appended claims in any manner whatsoever.
As best shown in
The jack 2 comprises a jack sleeve contact 100 configured to create an electrical connection with the plug sleeve contact 6 when the plug 4 is fully inserted into the jack 2. As shown in
The jack 2 further comprises a dog 109 which acts on the first sleeve contact member 102, the dog 109 being engaged by the tip of the plug 4 when the plug 4 is inserted into the jack 2 to force the first sleeve contact member 102 into electrical connection with the second sleeve contact member 104. In this way, the plug tip contact 8 is electrically protected from completing an electrical connection with the jack sleeve contact 104.
As used here, a “dog” is defined as “a tool or part of a tool that prevents or imparts movement through physical engagement.” For the present embodiment, the dog 109 imparts movement to the first sleeve contact member 102 when physically engaged by the jack tip to push the first sleeve contact member 102 into electrical engagement with the second sleeve contact member 104 (see
In a preferred embodiment shown in
The insulator 110 between the jack tip contact 108 and the first sleeve contact member 102 can be on either the jack tip contact 108 or the first sleeve contact member 102, as long as the insulator 110 prohibits electrical connection between these elements. The insulator 110 is preferably configured from a slidable material, to allow movement of the jack tip contact on the first sleeve contact member during insertion of the plug into the jack, or may be an anodized area on at least one of the dog 109 or the first sleeve contact member 102. In a most preferred embodiment, the insulator comprises a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or a similar material that has low electrical conductivity and a low coefficient of friction, an anodized area on one or both of the dog 109 and/or the first sleeve contact member 102, or a combination thereof.
A second insulator 114, as generally known, is placed between the jack tip contact 108 and the second sleeve contact member 104. Similarly, the jack 2 includes a standard housing sleeve pin 106 and a standard housing tip pin 112 for connecting to ground and signal conductors on a printed circuit board. See
In the preferred embodiment best shown in
In a most preferred embodiment, the dog 109 includes a peak and oppositely angled surface 111 as it extends farther into the jack 2, for example in an hourglass configuration. This configuration permits the peak of the dog 109 to rest within the depression around a standard plug near the top of the plug tip, to assist in holding the plug 4 securely within the jack 2, as shown in
As best shown in
The present invention can comprise a cable assembly 20 with one or more jacks 2, one or more plugs 4 and a cable 202 of any length therebetween. As shown in
The interior components of the cable assembly 20 of
In an alternative embodiment configured for use on a printed circuit board, shown in
For this embodiment, the space between the plug tip and sleeve contact is fairly small, i.e., only 0.7 mm, making it easy for the plug tip and plug sleeve to be electrically connected by the interior wall of the jack opening 100 during insertion, assuming the interior walls of the opening 100 are straight and conductive. In this embodiment, it is preferred that the interior walls of the jack opening 100 are recessed to prevent such a connection. Alternatively, the interior walls of the jack opening 100 can be configured as a non-conductive surface.
In this regard, it is typical that a front panel will lay down perpendicular to and rest on the top of this type of jack 2, so the bushing protrudes through a hole in the front panel. The raw machined sides of such holes are normally conductive and would connect the bushing, or jack sleeve contact, to the mounting chassis and defeat the goal of the present invention. A non-conductive barrier 124 between the conductive opening 100 and conductors, as shown in
Variations, modifications and alterations to the above detailed description will be apparent to those skilled in the art. All such variations, modifications and/or alternatives are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention, limited only by the claims. Any cited patents and/or publications are incorporated by reference.
