Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-25
2002-11-05
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S108000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06475005
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card connector mounted onto a printed circuit board (PCB), and particularly to an electrical card connector having an improved shell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the popularity of notebook computers increases, integrated circuit (IC) cards are becoming more common for increasing storage capacity or for interfacing the notebook computers with other devices. Electrical card connectors are commonly used to connect motherboards of the computers with the cards. Most current IC cards and card connectors conform to the standard of Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). Usually, the electrical card connector includes a shell which can electrically connect with the outer face of the IC card and perform electrostatic discharge (ESD) function.
Referring to
FIG. 4
, a conventional electrical card connector
1
includes an insulative housing
2
, a plurality of terminals
3
received in the insulative housing
1
, a grounding
4
, a rejecter
5
and a shielding
6
. The shielding
6
includes a body
66
and a pair of sidewalls
60
extending vertically from opposite sides of the body
60
. The front of each side wall
60
defines an opening
62
and a spring arm
64
extending from a front peripheral edge of the opening
62
in a rearward direction into the opening
62
so that, when IC card is inserted into the electrical card connector
1
, the free end
68
of the spring arm
64
can electrically connect the outer face of IC card to effectuate electrostatic discharge (ESD) function.
However, a large gap is present between the free end
68
of the spring arm
64
and a rear peripheral edge of the opening
60
such that the free end
68
of the spring arm
64
is easily hitched by something extending into the opening occasionally and becomes deformed. In this situation, the deformed spring arm
64
will not be able to perform its intended function.
Hence, an improved electrical card connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art card connector.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector whose spring arm can electrically connect the outer face of IC card and perform ESD reliably.
An electrical card connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing having a base and a pair of side arms parallelly extending forward from two sides of the base, a plurality of terminals received in the base of the insulative housing, a shell covering the insulative housing and comprising a body and a pair of sidewalls extending vertically from opposite sides of the body, and an ejector mounted to one of the two sidewalls of the shell and a grounding plate. Each sidewallintegrally forms an opening and a stamped spring arm connected with two opposite peripheral edges of the opening and bent inward to extend as a crossbeam therebetween so as to electrically connect with IC card which inserts in the electrical card connector and perform ESD function.
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: 5725394 (1998-03-01), Banakis et al.
Bradley P. Austin
Chung Wei-Te
Gushi Ross
LandOfFree
Electrical card connector 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 card connector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electrical card connector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2917298