Electrical connectors – With contact preventer or retractable cover part
Patent
1998-03-24
2000-08-01
Stephan, Steven L.
Electrical connectors
With contact preventer or retractable cover part
H01R 1344
Patent
active
060958324
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cap housing for electrical connectors to be used when transporting or mounting electrical connectors.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, electrical connectors are widely used to be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) for interconnecting the PCB and other electrical circuits. This type of electrical connector comprises contacts having tine portions to be inserted into throughholes or onto solder pads of a printed circuit board and contact portions engaging with contact of a matable connector, and a housing having the contacts disposed therein. In installing such electrical connectors on a circuit board, it is typical to pick up each electrical connector by a robot or the like for mounting it on the printed circuit board by inserting the tine portions into the throughholes or onto the solder pads of the printed circuit board before soldering thereto.
Flux is generally accompanied with the soldering operation, which may flow onto the contact portions of the contacts, thereby resulting in defective electrical engagement with the corresponding contact in the matable connector. This means that attention must be paid in soldering so that no foreign materials are located on the contact portions of the contacts.
European Publication No. 0 060 644 discloses a cover that is removably mounted on an electrical connector housing in which electrical contacts are retained, the cover includes a contact-engaging section that extends into a cavity of the connector housing and engages contact sections of the electrical contacts whereby the cover serves as a tool against which a force is applied to drive post sections of the electrical contacts into through holes of a circuit board.
European Publication No. 0 0548 583 discloses a cover for automatically mounting electrical connectors to a circuit board by a vacuum-suction nozzle wherein the cover includes a top plate to which the vacuum-suction nozzle can be applied, and flexible arms of the cover include hooks that engage opposing walls of a connector housing. The top plate extends over pin-like terminals projecting from an upper surface of the connector housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In consideration of the above situation, it is a feature of the present invention to provide a cap housing for electrical connectors capable of easily keeping any dust or foreign material away from the contact portions of the contacts during installation of the connectors on a printed circuit board or transportation of the electrical connectors. An additional feature of the present invention is to provide a cap housing for electrical connectors capable of accurately and simultaneously aligning a plurality of electrical connectors on a printed circuit board.
In order to achieve the above features, a first cap housing for an electrical connector according to the present invention comprises a connector housing having a bottom surface and a top surface located in opposed relation to the bottom surface, and contacts to be disposed in the connector housing and having tine portions located at the bottom surface to be mounted on a printed circuit board and contact portions adjacent to the top surface for engaging with contacts in a matable connector. The cap housing for the electrical connector has a plurality of integral cap portions for removably mounting on the connector housing and covering the top surface and the contact portions of the electrical connector to be disposed in the cap housing.
A second cap housing for an electrical connector to achieve the above features is a cap housing for an electrical connector having a mating portion near the top surface to mate with a matable connector, and contacts disposed in the mating portion for engagement with contacts in the matable connector, the cap housing for the electrical connector being mounted on the electrical connector to cover the mating portion with the bottom surface facing the circuit board. It features the provision of engaging projections to engage with the
REFERENCES:
patent: 3386071 (1968-05-01), Allen
patent: 3407264 (1968-10-01), Cull
patent: 4273400 (1981-06-01), Porsch et al.
patent: 4795354 (1989-01-01), Owen
patent: 5026295 (1991-06-01), Fong et al.
patent: 5242311 (1993-09-01), Seong
patent: 5249977 (1993-10-01), Tanaka et al.
patent: 5361492 (1994-11-01), Miyazawa
patent: 5507657 (1996-04-01), Seto et al.
patent: 5558540 (1996-09-01), Kato et al.
patent: 5651684 (1997-07-01), Northey et al.
patent: 5681174 (1997-10-01), Correll et al.
patent: 5688133 (1997-11-01), Ikesugi et al.
patent: 5746611 (1998-05-01), Brown et al.
patent: 5756937 (1998-05-01), Gleadall
patent: 5899760 (1999-05-01), Ho et al.
Kajinuma Shuji
Kusuhara Toshitaka
Prasad Chandrika
Stephan Steven L.
The Whitaker Corporation
LandOfFree
Cap housing for electrical connectors does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cap housing for electrical connectors, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cap housing for electrical connectors will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-658187