Claims
- 1. A molded jack especially suitable for direct connection on its bottom side to a printed circuit board comprising an elongated molded nonconducting housing having an elongate axis and first and second generally parallel end surfaces generally perpendicular to the elongate axis at opposite ends of the housing, said surfaces connected together by elongated first and second generally parallel side walls extending therebetween, parallel to the elongate axis, said end surfaces also connected together by a third elongated side wall intermediate said first and second side walls, and said housing having an entrance hole in said first end surface to accept a plug along the elongate axis therethrough into the space between the side walls, and the end surfaces, with a plurality of spring metal contacts mounted in said housing by means of a plurality of vertical slots, said slots formed in the first and second side walls generally orthogonal to the elongate axis of said housing, said slots open at their ends remote from said third side wall so as to accept the spring contacts therein, said contacts having lugs extending therefrom which extend through the bottom of the housing to make contact with the circuit board, and said spring contacts including at least one pair of balanced spring contacts comprising a first spring contact extending from said first side wall to said second side wall proximate the first end surface and mounted in a vertical slot in the first side wall and a vertical slot in the second side wall so as to press against a plug inserted into the housing, and a second spring contact extending along the third side wall parallel to the elongate axis and mounted proximate the second end surface in vertical slots in the first and second side walls so as to press against the other side of the plug inserted into the housing to balance the force of said first spring contact and including a third spring contact mounted along said first side wall and in vertical slots in said first side wall so as to press against the side of a plug inserted into the housing.
- 2. The jack of claim 1 in which said third side is on the bottom and said vertical slots are substantially closed at their bottom ends, except for holes which pass said lugs, so as to segregate said spring contacts from the circuit board.
- 3. The jack of claim 2 in which said housing includes a riser molded therein on the opposite side of the plug from said third spring so as to resist the force from said third spring.
- 4. The jack of claim 3 in which said second and third spring contacts extend beyond their points of contact with an inserted plug to contact normal through spring contacts when no plug is inserted in the housing, said normal through contacts mounted in vertical slots in said second side wall.
- 5. The jack of claim 4 in which the said remote open ends of the slots for the spring contacts are at the tops of the side walls, which side wall tops are molded in a flat plane to allow many of the spring contacts to be pushed into the vertical slots flush with the side wall tops to insure uniform positioning.
- 6. The jack of claim 4 in which the spring contacts are formed with barbs on the portions that fit into the slots so as to lock said spring contacts therein, said barbs being shaped and angled steeply to grasp the slots but still enter the slots easily.
- 7. The jack of claim 4 in which said lugs extending from the spring metal contacts comprise a first lug connected to said first contact and extending through the bottom of the housing proximate the first end surface, a second lug connected to said third contact and extending through the bottom of the housing at a location more removed from the first end surface than the first lug and on the other side of the housing from said first lug, a third lug connected to a normal through contact and extending through the bottom of the housing at a location even more removed from the first end surface than the second lug and on the same side as the first lug, a fourth lug connected to another normal through contact and extending through the bottom of the housing at a location more removed from the first end surface than the third lug and on the other side from said second lug, and a fifth lug connected to the second contact and extending through the bottom of the housing at a location proximate the second end surface.
- 8. The jack of claim 1 in which said third side is on the top and said vertical slots are substantially closed at their top ends.
- 9. The jack of claim 8 in which the said open remote ends of the slots for the spring contacts are at the bottoms of the side walls, which side side wall bottoms are molded in a flat plane to allow many of the spring contacts to be pushed into the vertical slots flush with the side wall bottoms to insure uniform positioning.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of our copending patent application Ser. No. 549,731, filed Feb. 13, 1975 and titled Printed Circuit Jack, now abandoned.
In the prior art, jacks have generally comprised a lamination of a number of spring metal contacts separated by insulators and mounted on one end of a metal frame. The other end of the frame forms the entrance end and accepts a plug. The entrance end is then adapted to be mounted in a panel, the most common example of which can be found in the telephone industry. As the art has been refined, telephone jacks have been produced in smaller configurations, commonly called miniature jacks in the industry, which are mounted in quite close proximity on jack panels. With the introduction of printed circuitry it has been found most convenient to make the printed circuit board slide in and out of the jack panel from the access side or jack entrance side. Accordingly, one may find a number of circuit boards positioned immediately alongside and between rows of jacks in close proximity thereto. Since conventional jacks have contacts extending from the rear of the jack the wiring between the jacks and the circuit boards is accomplished by groups of small wires which must be soldered to the back of the jacks and then routed to connection points on the circuit boards. In order to make such connections it is obvious that a burdensome amount of labor is involved and that a lot of space must be provided for the wiring. The present invention avoids these problems by providing a miniature telephone jack wherein the electrical spring metal contacts themselves extend out not the rear, but rather the bottom of a molded housing to connect directly with the adjacent printed circuit board. However, because of the severe space limitations associated with miniature jacks, it is very difficult to design spring contacts which will grasp the inserted plug at the proper industry standardized locations along its length with sufficient force to firmly hold the plug and still fit in the available space. The present invention solves this problem with cleverly designed spring contacts which grasp the plug from different sides providing firm and balanced forces as described hereinafter.
Briefly, our invention contemplates a jack formed from a molded plastic housing which mounts directly to the adjacent circuit board. Small metal contacts or springs in the jack make firm circumferentially balanced contact with a plug inserted thereinto. These springs have lugs extending therefrom through holes in the jack housing directly into the appropriate circuit connection holes in the circuit boards. Thus, there is no need for separate wiring between the board and the jack.
The design of the jack is such that all of the springs can be inserted from one side of the jack, which side is opposite from the circuit board. Thus, the contacts are entirely inside an insulated housing where they are completely protected from short circuits and dirt. This is no small accomplishment in the size range of a miniature telephone jack where each jack must fit in a space only 1.2 inches long and 0.364 inches wide. In one embodiment the top surface of the jack is flat so the spring contacts can be pushed in together with a flat tool to a flush position thus simplifying the assembly procedure and insuring proper positioning.
The springs are held in place in the housing by slots formed on the side walls which accept barbed tabs formed on the springs in a locking relationship which holds the springs in the proper position to contact the plug. Each spring is uniquely designed to accomplish several design objectives including being mountable in slots in the side walls to permit a sliding entry from the top, contacting the plug at a standardized location, supplying sufficient spring force to retain the plug, being mountable in a very limited space, and being located on different sides of the plug so as to balance the forces thereon to avoid pushing the plug off center which would prevent proper electrical contact. Also the jack incorporates two normal through circuits and does not have to be manually adjusted after assembly to align the springs with the plug entrance hole.
It may therefore be seen that it is an object of our invention to provide an improved jack which can be mounted directly to a circuit board, which is easier and less expensive to assemble, and which holds the plug firmly with balanced forces. Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description and drawings.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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549731 |
Feb 1975 |
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Patent Grant
4037913
