Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-30
2004-08-17
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Nonconducting pusher
C439S630000, C439S310000, C439S333000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776631
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card adapter for electrically connecting electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer or the like for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A card adapter has been conventionally used, for example, for electrically connecting contacts of a CF (Compact Flash) card which is a card-shaped electronic device smaller than a PC card to contacts in a slot provided in a personal computer for receiving a PC card.
FIG. 17
shows one example of this type of conventional card adapter disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 2000-259782.
The card adapter
80
shown in
FIG. 17
has a chassis
81
made of resin or the like, a circuit board assembly
82
mounted on the chassis
81
, and a pair of conducting plates
83
,
83
provided on the upper and lower sides of the chassis
81
, respectively.
The chassis
81
has a CF card receiving space
84
for receiving the CF card therein. The circuit board assembly
82
is provided with a first connector
85
to be electrically connected to the contacts (contact pins) provided in the slot for a PC card, a second connector
86
to be electrically connected to the contacts of the CF card, an eject button (eject lever)
87
and an eject arm
88
for ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space
84
.
The eject button
87
is disposed in the chassis
81
such that it can be moved along the longitudinal direction of the adapter. The eject arm
88
is pivotably mounted on the circuit board assembly
82
by means of a rotation axis
89
. Further, the tip portion of the eject button
87
is linked with one end of the eject arm
88
through a connection
90
.
When ejecting the CF card received in the CF card receiving space
84
, eject operation is carried out by pushing the eject button
87
into the chassis
81
. When the eject button
87
is pushed, the eject arm
88
is rotated about the rotation axis
89
, and the other end portion thereof (which is an end portion opposite to the end portion linked with the elect button
87
) is moved toward the inside of the CF card receiving space
84
, and as a result, the CF card is disconnected from the card adapter
80
by the eject arm
88
.
Further, the CF card is provided with grounding contact portions (not shown in the drawing) on the side surfaces thereof for discharging static electricity charged in the CF card, and the chassis
81
is also provided with an electrical path for discharging the static electricity from the grounding contact portion of the CF card to a grounding means of the slot for a PC card.
The electrical path is constructed from an elastic contacting part
91
which elastically contacts with the grounding contact portion of the CF card, a contact part
92
which electrically connects with the grounding means of the slot for a PC card, and the conducting plate
83
which electrically connects the elastic contacting part
91
and the contact part
92
.
In the conventional adapter
80
described above, when ejecting the CF card from the CF card receiving space
84
, the tip portion of the eject arm
88
pushes the end surface of the CF card as described above. However, since the tip portion of the eject arm
88
has a very small surface area, the eject arm
88
makes a point contact with the CF card, and as a result, the portion on the end surface of the CF card which makes a point contact with the eject arm
88
is easy to be abraded.
Further, the eject arm
88
is constructed so as to push only the left side portion on the end surface of the CF card in FIG.
17
. As a result, when an eject operation is carried out, the left side portion of the CF card undergoes a larger displacement than the right side portion. Due to such difference in displacement between the left and right sides, the CF card is inclined in the CF card receiving space
84
, and this may cause deformation in second connector terminals
93
connected to the CF card.
Furthermore, in the card adapter
80
having such a structure described above, in the case where the user pulls the CF card out of the card adapter
80
without using the eject button
87
, the eject button
87
remains protruded to the outside of the card adapter
80
, and this makes it easy for the eject button
87
to be broken by a lateral force.
Moreover, in the case where a Type II CF card is used, because the CF card and a card adapter to be inserted into the slot in a personal computer have the same thickness, it is not possible for the card adapter having such a structure described above to protect the eject arm
88
and the second connector
86
by covering them with the pair of conducting plates
83
, thus resulting in the case where the components will be deformed when handled by the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card adapter which can reliably and easily connect and disconnect a card-shaped electronic device.
In order to achieve the object mentioned above, the present invention is directed to a card adapter for electrically connecting a plurality of electrical connecting portions of a card-shaped electronic device to a plurality of contacts provided in a slot for receiving another card-shaped electronic device which is manufactured in accordance with a different standard, comprising
a first connector to be electrically connected to the contacts provided in the slot;
a second connector which is electrically connected to said first connector, said second connector being adapted to be connected to the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device;
a chassis in which said first and second connectors are disposed;
a push member disposed in said chassis, said push member being movable between a first position in which the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device can be connected to said second connector and a second position in which the electrical connecting portions of the card-shaped electronic device are disconnected from said second connector, and said push member being capable of pushing the card-shaped electronic device positioned at said first position toward said second position;
an eject lever movably mounted with respect to said chassis; and
transmission means for transmitting the movement of said eject lever to said push member.
In the present invention described above, it is preferred that said transmission means is rotatably mounted on said chassis by means of a rotation axis, said transmission means being formed into a link arm having one end which is linked with said push member through a first linking part and the other end which is linked with said eject lever through a second linking part so that said push member is interconnected with said eject lever.
As described above, in the card adapter of the present invention, because the push member for pushing a card-shaped electronic device, the transmission member and the eject lever are linked through the first linking part and the second linking part, when one of these three members is displaced, the other two members are also moved. As a result, the card adapter of the present invention makes it possible to easily and reliably connect and disconnect a card-shaped electronic device.
In the present invention, it is also preferred that said push member has both side portions along its width direction, and said card adapter further comprises a biasing means which always bias said side portions of the push member, respectively, from said first position toward said second position, and said push member being adapted to be displaced from said first position toward said second position by the biasing force of said biasing means.
Further, it is also preferred that said rotation axis is integrally formed with said chassis.
In this case, it is preferred that the card
Kawasaki Takashi
Nishio Atsushi
Okazaki Kazuhiro
Sakata Tsuguhide
Shimada Tsutomu
Bradley P. Austin
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd.
Leon Edwin A.
Patents+TMS P.C.
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