Electrical connector having improved spring contact member

Details Electrical connector having improved spring contact member Electrical connector having improved spring contact member

2001-06-27

2002-06-11

Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With insulation other than conductor sheath

Plural-contact coupling part

C439S066000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06402567

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having an improved spring contact member and adapted for mating with computer peripheral devices.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
An electrical connector having spring contact combination has been widely used in computer peripheral devices (for example printers). Referring to
FIG. 7
, a conventional connector of this type comprises an insulative housing
6
and a plurality of spring contact combination
4
. The insulative housing
6
comprises a plurality of stepped receiving passageways
63
through a top face
61
and a bottom face
62
thereof. The receiving passageway
63
defines an internal threaded hole
630
at a bottom thereof. The bottom face
62
of the insulative housing
6
extends downward a plurality of supporting portions
64
. The spring contact combination
4
received in the receiving passageway
63
of the insulative housing
6
comprises a contact head
41
, a spring
42
and a sleeve
43
for fixing the contact head
41
and the spring
42
. The contact head
41
defines a first portion
410
. The first portion
410
defines a bottom face
4104
. The spring
42
biases against the bottom face
4104
of the first portion
41
. A second portion
412
extends downward from the first portion
410
and is received in the spring
42
. The first portion
410
comprises a recess
4102
in the middle thereof and a conical engage section
4100
for connecting with other complementary device, for example a printed circuit board (not shown). The sleeve
43
comprises a cylindrical receiving portion
430
receiving the contact head
41
and the spring
42
, and a cylindrical soldering leg
432
integrally extending downward from the receiving portion
430
. The soldering leg
432
defines an outer threaded portion
4320
to engage with the internal threaded hole
630
of the receiving passageways
63
of the insulative housing
6
. An inwardly projecting
434
extends from the receiving portion
430
to engage with the recess
4102
of the first portion
410
.
In assembly, the spring
42
and the contact head
41
are pressed into the receiving portion
430
of the sleeve
43
in turn. The projecting
434
engage with the recess
4102
so that the contact head
41
and the spring
42
will not separate from the sleeve
43
. Then, the spring contact combination
4
is rotated to threadedly engage the receiving passageways
63
from the top face
61
of the insulative housing
6
and fixed in the insulative housing
6
. The soldering leg
432
of the spring contact combination
4
is soldered onto a corresponding printed circuit board (PCB)
5
through the Surface Mount Technology (SMT). The supporting portions
64
are supported on the PCB
5
so as to make the electrical connector connect with the PCB
5
.
However, it is very difficult to assemble the spring contact combination
4
which is made of the contact head
41
, the spring
42
and the sleeve
43
. The contact head
41
, the spring
42
and the sleeve
43
are respectively made by special equipments and the overall cost is high. In addition, because the soldering leg
432
of the spring contact combination
4
is soldered onto a corresponding printed circuit board (PCB)
5
through SMT, the circular bottom face of the soldering leg
432
does not present a large soldering area such that the effect of soldering is not good.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art connector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to provide an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having an improved spring contact member having simple manufacture, easy assembly and low cost.
It is still an object of this invention to provide a spring contact member which its soldering leg has good effect of soldering and can connect with the PCB steadily.
It is another object of this invention to provide an electrical connector having a contact spring member which its receiving passageways of the insulative housing are slant so as to shorten the transverse dimension of the electrical connector and stint the space of the PCB.
In order to achieve the objective set forth, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing and a spring contact member. The insulative housing defines a plurality of receiving passageways arranged in a slant direction. The bottom wall of the insulative housing defines a plurality of rectangular protrusions communicating with a plurality of corresponding receiving passageways and two adjacent protrusions are separated by a groove therebetween. The spring contact members are inserted into the receiving passageways of the insulative housing through auto-assembling. Each spring contact member made of metal sheet and integer stroke out comprises an engaging portion electrically connecting with a complementary device, a spring body extended from the engaging portion and continuously folding, a fixing portion having a pair of barbs opposite and connected with the spring body and a Z-shape soldering portion which is connected with the fixing portion of the spring body, protrudes the protrusion of the insulative housing and solders onto the PCB. The spring contact member has simple manufacture and is easy to assemble and low cost. When the electrical connector connect with the complementary device, the engaging portion of the spring contact member can move and equalize the mating tolerance by the retractility function of the spring body so that the electrical connector can electrically connect with the complementary device steadily. The joint of the Z-shape soldering portion and the PCB forms two triangular soldering areas having better sorption and hold soldering tin so as to make the soldering portion have good soldering effect. In addition, the groove between two protrusions of the insulative housing can help to cool in the process of the soldering and cooling quickly after soldering and get more reliable connection so that the electrical connector can connect onto the PCB steadily.
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.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5427535 (1995-06-01), Sinclair
patent: 5667410 (1997-09-01), Johnston
patent: 5967856 (1999-10-01), Meller
patent: 6083059 (2000-07-01), Kuan
patent: 6095823 (2000-08-01), Banks

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Electrical connector having improved spring contact member does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Electrical connector having improved spring contact member, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electrical connector having improved spring contact member will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2915934