Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-18
2004-08-17
Hyeon, Hae Moon (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Nonconducting pusher
C439S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06776632
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2001-353566 filed Nov. 19, 2001, 2002-022366 filed Jan. 30, 2002 and 2002-316701 filed Oct. 30, 2002, which are incorporated hereinto by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector for electronic devices such as cellular phones, telephones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), portable audio devices, cameras and information terminal devices, and more particularly to a card connector that ensures a smooth withdrawing of a card without damaging it, as would occur if an inserted card in a locked state or ejected state were allowed to be forcibly pulled out.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electronic devices such as cellular phones, telephones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), portable audio devices, cameras and information terminal devices, the use of small memory cards with a built-in IC (integrated circuit) chip for CPU (central processing unit) and memory, such as IC cards, PC (personal computer) cards and SD secure digital or super desity) cards, has become very widespread in recent years and there are growing demands for card connectors that can accept these small memory cards (see referenced patent 1, for example).
Referenced Patent 1
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-143789 (FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, pages 3 and 4)
There are market demands on conventional card connectors such as described above that they be reduced in height and volume and strong enough to withstand card insertion and withdrawing operations. Another trend in the market is for card connectors to be able to firmly hold and release an inserted card with ease. To meet these demands, the card connectors have a metal plate cover at the top secured to a base plate of insulated material and also include a card eject mechanism and a card lock mechanism for easily releasing and locking a card.
FIG. 17
to
FIG. 22
of the drawings illustrate an example of such conventional card connector.
FIG. 17
is an overall perspective view of a conventional card connector
100
,
FIG. 18
a perspective view of the conventional card connector with the metal plate cover removed,
FIG. 19
a plan view showing the conventional card connector in a card locked state,
FIG. 20
an enlarged view of a lock portion of the card connector of
FIG. 19
,
FIG. 21
a plan view of the conventional card connector in a card ejected state, and
FIG. 22
an enlarged view of the lock portion of the card connector of FIG.
21
.
As shown in these figures, the conventional card connector
100
basically comprises a base plate
102
, a metal plate cover
103
, a eject mechanism
104
for releasing a card
110
, and a lock mechanism
105
for locking the card
110
.
In the conventional card connector
100
with the above construction, the base plate
102
is molded of an appropriate insulating material such as synthetic resin and is combined with the metal plate cover
103
made of a metal plate to form a hollow, flat housing in which the card
110
can be inserted. Along one side of the base plate
102
of the insulating material is arranged the eject mechanism
104
which ensures a smooth extraction of the card
110
from the card connector
100
. The eject mechanism
104
is provided with the lock mechanism
105
that locks the card
110
inserted in the card connector
100
.
The eject mechanism
104
in its basic construction comprises an operation lever
106
as an operation member mounted slidable along a side edge of a chamber formed in the base plate
102
, a spring member
107
such as a coil spring for elastically urging the operation lever
106
, and a push member
108
formed integral with the operation lever
106
to push out the card
110
so that the card can be taken out. When the lock mechanism
105
of the eject mechanism
104
is unlocked, an accumulated elastic force of the spring member
107
pushes the operation lever
106
to eject the card
110
through the push member
108
. The push member
108
extends in a direction almost perpendicular to the direction in which the operation lever
106
is operated. The front end portion of the card
110
engages the push member
108
to activate the operation lever
106
.
The lock mechanism
105
has a lock arm
109
which is provided at its free end with a locking piece
112
engageable with a lock recess
111
of the card
110
. The lock arm
109
is made from a rodlike or elongate platelike member and, at its base end (opposite the locking piece
112
end), is secured to a root portion of the push member
108
so that it is elastically supported like a cantilever. The locking piece
112
has one corner
112
a
rounded in arc so that, during a card locking operation, the locking piece
112
can easily fall into the lock recess
111
of the card. The other corner
112
b
of the locking piece
112
is pointed like a barb to prevent the locking piece
112
from inadvertently slipping out of the lock recess
111
of the card
110
and unlocking the card.
After having been inserted and used in such a conventional card connector
100
, the memory card
110
such as IC card, PC card or SD card needs to be withdrawn easily. For this purpose, the conventional card connector is provided with the eject mechanism
104
. Further, because the inserted card
110
must be held immovable, the conventional card connector
100
is also provided with the lock mechanism
105
for locking the inserted card
110
.
In the eject mechanism
104
, the push member
108
for pushing the card
110
outwardly is interlocked with or formed integral with the operation lever
106
. The locking piece
112
that engages the lock recess
111
of the card
110
is provided to the operation lever
106
. In a card ejection operation, the locking piece
112
is disengaged from the lock recess
111
of the card
110
to unlock the card, which can now be pulled out from the card connector
100
easily.
In a card locked state, the locking piece
112
engages the lock recess
111
of the card
110
, preventing the card from being withdrawn easily. Therefore, with the card
110
in the locked state, an attempt to withdraw the card forcibly will damage the lock recess
111
and in the worst case even the card connector
100
itself.
To solve these problems experienced with the conventional card connector, it is an object of the present invention to provide a card connector which has a feeling lock mechanism having a feeling lock member adapted to engage the lock recess of the card so that the card can be drawn out both in the card locked state and in the card ejected state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above objective, the card connector of the present invention comprises: a housing formed by a base plate and a metal plate cover mounted on the base plate; an eject mechanism provided in the housing to eject a card, the eject mechanism including an operation member mounted slidable along one side of the housing, a spring member to elastically urge the operation member, and an eject member integrally formed with the operation member; and a feeling lock mechanism to restrain a motion of the card. This construction allows the lock projection of the feeling lock member of the feeling lock mechanism to disengage easily from the lock recess if the card is forcibly pulled out from a card locked state or a card ejected state. This in turn allows the card to be drawn out easily without causing any damage to the card or the connector itself. This construction also reduces the size of the card connector so that it can be used on information terminal devices such as cellular phones.
Further, in the card connector of the present invention, since the feeling lock mechanism has a feeling lock member adapted to engage a lock recess of the card inserted in the housing, if the card is pulled out forcibly, it can be drawn out easily without damaging the card or the card connector.
Furthermore, in the card connector of the present invention, since the feeling lock member is formed with a lock
Kikuchi Kouji
Ooya Masaaki
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
Hyeon Hae Moon
Yamaichi Electronics Co. Ltd.
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