Plastic housing structures for a board-to-board connector

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6220903
  • Patent Number
    6,220,903
  • Date Filed
    Monday, December 13, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, April 24, 2001
    23 years ago
Abstract
The present invention relates to a plastic housing structure of a board-to-board connector comprising a base seat and a top cap, wherein the base having a central protruded rib portion with a plurality of slots along the two lateral sides of the rib portion, a through hole being formed at the bottom portion of the slot and the external side of the slot being corresponding to a plurality of notches having a sloping guiding surface at the inner surface thereof, at the two ends of the rib portion, an engaging surface being provided for engagement with a top cap, and the top surface of the engaging surface being provided with a blocking block and a protrusion; and the top cap is provided with an engaging portion at the side thereof, and the bottom portion is provided with a plurality of protruded blocks having a wavelike surface at the inner side thereof, thereby, the base seat and the top cap are combined, and the protruded blocks are inserted into the notches. The guiding pins are urged by the recess and the wavelike surface such that the guiding pins will not dislocate in the soldering process to remove the plastic housing, the top cap is lifted up and the guiding pins are released, but the guiding pins are retained on the circuit board.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




(a) Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to the structure of a board-to-board connector, and in particular, to a plastic housing structure for a board-to-board connector.




(b) Description of the Prior Art




As shown in

FIGS. 1 and 3

, there is shown a conventional plastic housing


1


having a sliding recess


10


for the horizontal mounting of an angular board


11


. The inner wall at the two sides of the sliding recess


10


is provided with a protruded lug


14


, and the angular board


11


is provided with parallel rows of holes


12


for the mounting of the entire row of guiding pins


13


. The protruded lug


14


of the sliding recess


10


provides appropriate clipping to the gliding pins


13


. As shown in

FIG. 3

, the bottom surface of the plastic housing


1


of the connector is provided with three protruded boards


15


arranged in a row. There is a gap formed in between the individual protruded board


15


for the mounting of the guiding pins


13


.





FIGS. 2 and 4

show the application of the above structure. The connector is mounted onto a circuit board, and the guiding pins


13


and the circuit board are soldered together by soldering process. Next, a cleaning process is applied and the plastic housing


1


is removed. In view of the first structure, in the process of removing the plastic housing


1


, a force is exerted centrally onto the sides of the plastic housing


1


to cause the protruded lug


14


to release the urging force exerted onto the guiding pins


13


, and the plastic housing


1


is then smoothly lifted up. In the second structure, the removal of the plastic housing


1


is by the use of robotic arm or it is manually lifted up.




In application, the above conventional structures have the following drawbacks.




1) In the first structure, the angular board has to be mounted horizontally and this is difficult to attain and time-consuming for the reason that the plastic housing and the angular board are very small in size.




2) In the first structure, if the plastic housing is to be lifted up from the circuit board to separate from the guiding pins, a force has to be exerted to the sliding recess. This force is difficult to keep balance and the guiding pins cannot be smoothly separated.




3) In the second structure, the guiding pins are clipped by the force between the boards, if the clipping force is too great, the guiding pins and the plastic housing may not be smoothly separated. If the clipping force is too small, the guiding pins may be dislocated during the soldering process.




SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION




Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a plastic housing for board-to-board connector, which allows rapid and easy separation of the plastic housing and the entire row of the guiding pins, such that all the guiding pins remain onto the circuit board when the plastic housing is lifted up.




Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a conventional board-to-board connector.





FIG. 2

illustrates schematic views showing the implementation of the conventional plate-to-plate connector of FIG.


1


.





FIG. 3

is a perspective view of another conventional board-to-board connector.





FIG. 4

is a schematic view showing the implementation of the conventional board-to-board connector of FIG.


3


.





FIG. 5

is a perspective exploded view of the plastic housing of the present invention.





FIG. 6

is a sectional view of the structure of the base seat in accordance with the present invention.





FIG. 7

is the sectional view along line A—A of the top cap of the present invention.





FIG. 8

is a perspective view of the plastic housing of the present invention.





FIG. 9

shows the sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 10

is a schematic view showing the combination of the base seat and the top cap of the present invention.





FIG. 11

is a schematic view showing the detachment of the top cap from the base seat of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION




Referring to

FIG. 5

, there is shown the plastic housing


1


of the present invention essentially comprising a base seat


20


and a top cap


30


.




As shown in

FIGS. 5 and 6

, the central surface of the base seat


20


is provided with a protruded rib portion


21


, and a plurality of vertical slots


22


are provided to the left and right side of the rib


21


. A plurality of notches


23


are located and correspond to the vertical slots


22


. The inner wall of the notches


23


is provided with a sloping-shaped guiding surface


231


. The bottom portion of the slot


22


is formed into a through hole


24


for the insertion of guiding pins


25


. An engaging face


26


is provided to each of the ends of the rib portion


21


, and a pair of blocking blocks


27


and a protrusion


28


are provided to the surface of the engaging face


26


. The blocking blocks


27


are formed into a hole-like member and are provided with a sloping hook


271


. The protrusion


28


is provided with sloping faces


281


.




As shown in

FIGS. 5 and 7

, the top end of the top cap


30


is flat and the edge of the top cap


30


is provided with a center slot


32


having an engaging portion


31


. The slot


32


is used to hold the blocking block


27


and the protrusion


28


, and a sloping hook


33


is formed at the inner wall of the engaging portion


31


so that it can be engaged with the blocking block


27


. The bottom surface of the top cap


30


is provided with a plurality of protruded blocks


34


having wavelike surface


35


at the inner surface thereof The outer side of the protruded block


34


is the engaging surface


36


for the engagement with the notch


23


.




In accordance with the present invention, the gradient of the guiding surface


231


of the notch


23


is slightly larger than that of the engaging surface


36


, and the engaging surface


36


is firmly engaged with the notch


23


.




As shown in

FIG. 8

, the base seat


20


is combined with the top cap


30


such that the protruded blocks


34


are in engagement with the notches


23


and the sloping hook


33


of the engaging portion


31


is hooked at the sloping face


281


of the protrusion


28


, thereby a complete plastic housing


1


is obtained.




As shown in

FIG. 9

, the entire row of guiding pins


25


is mounted into the through hole


24


of the base seat


20


. As the insertion of the through hole


24


is outwardly extended, this structure facilitates smooth insertion of the guiding pins


25


. When the guiding pins


25


are inserted into the slots


22


, due to the larger slope of the guiding surface


231


, as compared to that of the engaging surface


36


of the protruded block


34


, the protruded block


34


is urged closely to the rib portion


21


, and the wavelike surface


35


provides a tight mounting. Thus, the guiding pins


25


will not dislocate during the process of soldering, and the guiding pins


25


are soldered together with the circuit. Finally, the top cap


30


is lifted, and due to the engaging surface


36


restores to its original state, it releases the tight urging of the guiding pins


25


, and the base seat


20


is lifted altogether. Thus, the plastic housing


1


is removed and the guiding pins


25


remain on the circuit board.




In accordance with the present invention, the base seat


20


and the top cap


30


can be rapidly mounted together, and when they are used on a connector, they are easily dislocated from the guiding pins


25


. This is due to the engaging structure of the base seat


20


and the top cap


30


. As shown in

FIG. 10

, in combination, the blocking block


27


at the sides of the base seat


20


, and the sloping hook


33


for the engaging portion


31


provided by the protrusion


28


have a sloping hook


271


and a sloping surface


281


. Thus, these structures can be easily mounted without applying much force. As shown in

FIG. 11

, when the top cap is to be lifted up, the engaging structure has a restriction effect. Due to the larger slope of the sloping surface


281


of the protrusion


28


, the engaging portion


31


will not be affected and can be easily disengaged. But the upward action is restricted by the blocking block


27


, and the sloping hook


271


of the blocking block


27


and the sloping hook


33


match with each other, an exact engagement is formed such that the base seat


20


is lifted up together with the top cap


30


.




While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. An improved structure of a plastic housing of a board-to-board connector for temporarily retaining guiding pins until the guiding pins are soldered to a circuit board, comprisinga) a base seat having two longitudinal walls and a central protruded rib portion extending parallel to the two longitudinal walls with a plurality of slots along the two lateral sides of the rib portion, a through hole being formed at a bottom portion of each slot for receiving the guiding pin and an external side of the slots being corresponding to a plurality of notches formed on an inner surface of each of the two longitudinal walls, each notch having a sloping guiding surface at the inner surface thereof, at each longitudinal end of the rib portion, an engaging surface being provided, and a top surface of the engaging surface being provided with a blocking block and a protrusion; and b) a top cap having a flat top end, and two longitudinal ends of the cap each provided with an engaging portion, having a hollow recess for engagement with the blocking block and the protrusion of the engaging surface of the base seat, a bottom portion of the top cap having a plurality of corresponding protruded blocks extending in two parallel rows in a longitudinal direction, the two rows forming a center slot for receiving he central protruded rib portion of the base seat, the corresponding inner surface of the protruded blocks being wavelike surface to form into a sloping-shape engaging surface, so that protruded block is smoothly inserted and clipped at each notch, wherein the wavelike surface of the protruded block provides a tight mounting of the guiding pin to the sloping guiding surface of the notch, thereby the lifting of the top cap from the base seat causes the protruded blocks to release the clipping of the guiding pins, and the engagement of the engaging portion and the blocking block is partially released so that the base seat and the top cap will be lifted together, and thus the plastic housing is removed while the guiding pins are retained on the circuit board.
  • 2. An improved structure of a plastic housing as set forth in claim 1, wherein the blocking block has a sloping hook.
  • 3. An improved structure of a plastic housing as set forth in claim 1, wherein the hollow recess provides engagement for the blocking block and the protrusion, and the inner wall at the bottom section of the hollow recess is a sloping hook.
  • 4. An improved structure of a plastic housing as set forth in claim 1, wherein the sloping of the guiding surface of the notch is slightly larger than that of the engaging surface of the protruded block.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Number Name Date Kind
4394795 Goss Jul 1983
4396245 Lane Aug 1983
5373626 Youngfleish Dec 1994
5439400 Kozel et al. Aug 1995