Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Including retainer or joiner
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-19
2001-12-25
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Including retainer or joiner
C439S159000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332790
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 11-370397 filed on Dec. 27, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card connector, and more particularly to a card connector consisting of a card member having terminals on the leading edge thereof and a card holding member that has connecting terminals on the leading edge thereof, and holds the card member such that the card member can be inserted in and withdrawn from the card holding member, and the card connector is constructed such that it holds the card member when the card member is inserted into the card holding member with the connecting terminals being in contact with the aforementioned terminals, establishing an electrical connection between the connecting terminals and the card member.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Card connectors in which a card member such as memory card having card-side terminals at the leading edge thereof is inserted in a card holding member having mother-apparatus-side terminals so that the card member is held by the card holding device with the card-side terminals being in contact with the mother-apparatus-side terminals have been previously disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No.11-135192 for example. The card connector disclosed therein consists of a plate-like card member, a card holding member having mother-apparatus-side terminals on one edge and an opening on the other edge to provide a bottomed rectangular space, and a slider that is situated on one of side walls in the width-wise direction within the card holding member and slides along with the insertion and withdrawal of the card member into and out of the card holding member.
The slider, having a right-angled parallelepiped shape, is equipped with engaging protrusions on the card member side face thereof which engage with the engaging indention formed on the side of the card member. For this configuration, when the card member is inserted into the card holding member, the protrusions on the slider and the indention on the card member engage with one another and the card member thereby can be engaged with the slider.
Moreover, the slider is provided with a cam groove in the side face opposite the side face on the card member side. The cam groove constitutes a cam mechanism together with the cam protrusions formed on the internal wall of the card holding member opposing the slider's side face on which the came groove is formed. The cam mechanism has a function of positioning and holding the card member, according to the push-in operation of the card member, either in a contact position where the card member held by the card holding member with the card-side terminals being in contact with the mother-apparatus-side terminals or in a insertion/extraction position where the card member can be inserted in or extracted from the card holding member.
Therefore, when pushing the card member into the card holding member in order to seat the card member in the card holding member, the card member is retained in the contact position by the cam mechanism, or the card member is held by the card holding member with the card-side terminals being in contact with the mother-apparatus-side terminals. Furthermore, when the card member in the contact position is pushed inside the card holding member in order to extract the card member from the card holding member, the cam mechanism moves the card member to the insertion/extraction allowing position and holds it there to establish a situation under which the card member can be extracted from the card holding member.
With this construction, as the cam protrusions of the cam mechanism are provided on the internal wall of the card holding member opposing the side face of the slider, the width of the card connector determined to accommodate the width of the card member is enlarged and the number of assembly steps are also increased.
In this construction, to facilitate the insertion of the card member in the slider, the engaging protrusions provided on the slider are formed in the semicircular shape (round shape) and the slider is pushed against the card holding member by a spring biased to the side of the opening of the card holding member. Therefore, when the card member is pushed in and then the hand is removed from the card member for extracting the card member, the slider moves under the force of the spring to the side of the opening of the card holding member and stops at the insertion/extraction allowing position. However, in the insertion/extraction allowing position, the force is exerted from the engaging indentions of the card member to the engaging protrusions in the direction to release the engaging protrusions from the engagement, and the slider moves in the direction in which the protrusions disengage from the indentions, which results in a forceful expulsion of the card member from the card holding member.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a card connector having a miniaturized width dimension and shape.
A further object of the invention is to provide a card connector having an engaging mechanism which does not cause the card member to spring out of the card holding member when removing the card member.
The card connector according to the present invention comprises a card member having card-side terminals; a card holding member which has mother-apparatus-side terminals to be connected with the card-side terminals, is capable of accommodating the card member such that the card member can be inserted therein and extracted therefrom, and is constructed such that, when the card member is seated inside the card holding member, the mother-apparatus-side terminals are in contact with the card-side terminals to establish an electrical connection therebetween; a slider which is installed in the card holding member so as to be movable in the direction of insertion and extraction of the card member and which moves in the direction of insertion and extraction along with the insertion and extraction of the card member; an engaging mechanism which is provided between the slider and the card member for engaging the card member with the slider; and a cam mechanism which is provided between the slider and the card holding member, and which, in response to the operation of pushing in the card member, positions and holds the slider in the contact position where the card member is held by the card holding member with the card-side terminals being in contact with the mother-apparatus-side terminals, and in the insertion/withdrawal allowing position where the card member can be inserted into or extracted from the card holding member.
The cam mechanism is composed of a cam protrusion that protrudes from a cam member provided in the slider and of a cam groove that is formed on the internal wall of the card holding member in opposition to the cam protrusion so as to hold the card member in the contact position and in the insertion/withdrawal allowing position. On the other hand, the engaging mechanism is composed of an engaging protrusion provided in the slider and of an engaging indention formed on the wall face of the card member in opposition to the engaging protrusion so as to engage with the engaging protrusion.
With a card connector of the above-mentioned construction, when the card member is pushed into the card holding member in order to seat the card member in the card holding member, along with the slider moving toward the leading edge of the card holding member, the protrusions on the slider engage with the indention on the card member, whereby the card member is engaged with the slider. Furthermore, the cam protrusion of the cam mechanism provided on the slider moves while being guided by the cam groove and the card member is held in the card holding member in the contact position. Specifically, the card member is held in the card holding member in a state where the card-side terminals are in contact with the mother-apparatus-side terminal
Amatatsu Seiya
Ishikawa Yasuhiro
Nakanishi Atsushi
Suzuki Masao
Tadokoro Hideo
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Ta Tho D.
Union Machinery Co., Ltd.
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