Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-17
2001-03-13
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Nonconducting pusher
C439S157000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06200149
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card edge connector for connecting a daughter circuit board to a mother circuit board. The invention particularly relates to a card edge connector which comprises a lever that can be smoothly rotated inwardly to latch the daughter circuit board in the connector or outwardly to eject the daughter circuit board from the connector.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Edge card connectors are used for connecting a circuit board with conductive pads along a lower edge, such as a daughter circuit board or a daughter card, to an underlying circuit board, such as a mother circuit board. Terminals loaded in a housing of the connector along a slot for receiving the daughter circuit board connect the conductive pads on the daughter circuit board to conductors on the mother board. Edge card connectors typically employ a lever disposed at one side of a housing of the connector, which is rotated inwardly to latch the daughter circuit board in a slot in the connector and rotated outwardly to eject the daughter circuit board from the slot in the connector.
The levers for such card edge connectors sometimes undesirably rotate or swivel in a plane which is perpendicular to a plane defined by the intended rotational movement of the lever. The plane of rotational movement is normally parallel to the slot in the connector. The undesirable rotation or swiveling of the lever is aggravated when the lever is subjected to lateral forces which are typical in the manufacturing, assembly and shipping of these connectors. Such lateral forces can cause the lever to excessively rotate or swivel thereby unfortunately causing damage to the lever.
These levers are also prone to vibration. As a result of vibration, the contact impedance between the conductive pads of the daughter circuit board and the terminals in the connector can become unstable.
FIG. 8
shows a conventional edge card connector according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,240. The structure of the edge card connector includes an insulative housing
1
, a plurality of conductive contacts
3
mounted in the insulative housing
1
for connection to connecting pads of the circuit board (not shown), and two levers
5
pivotally mounted at pivot points
8
on the insulative housing
1
at two opposite ends, respectively. The levers
5
each comprise a wrench arm
7
at the bottom, and a side projection
9
near the top thereof. When the levers
5
are rotated inwardly, the side projections
9
of the levers
5
are engaged into respective side recesses
4
at two opposite side edges of the daughter circuit board
2
. To remove the daughter circuit board
2
from the insulative housing
1
, one lever
5
is rotated outwardly to disengage the side projection
9
from the corresponding side recess
4
, and at the same time the respective wrench arm
7
is rotated upwardly to lift the daughter circuit board
2
from the insulative housing
1
. The main drawback of this structure is that the edge card connector has no means to protect the levers against destruction from lateral impact.
FIG. 9
shows another structure of a prior art edge card connector comprising a housing
1
′ for receiving a daughter circuit board (not shown) to connect contact pads on the circuit board to terminals
3
′. A lever
5
′ has a wrench arm
7
′ for ejecting the daughter circuit board from the connector
1
′. However, this structure is still not satisfactory in function. The expanded opposite end of the insulative housing
1
′ which is designed to reinforce the structural strength of the insulative housing greatly increases the transverse dimension of the edge card connector. Further, the lever
5
′ has flanges
9
′ that are moved by rotation of the levers
5
′ in and out of the space between respective parallel upright supports
6
of the insulative housing
1
′ to stabilize movement of the levers
5
′. However, when the levers are turned outwardly, the flanges are disengaged from the upright supports, thereby becoming vulnerable to damage from lateral impact.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an edge card connector that has a lever for holding a daughter circuit board firmly in position against vibration. It is another object of the present invention to provide an edge card connector for receiving a daughter circuit board having a lever that can withstand damage from lateral impact.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector for connecting a first circuit board to a second circuit board. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing having a first wall and a second wall extending from a first end to a second end and defining a top face. A slot in the top face extends from the first end to the second end between the first and second walls for receiving the first circuit board therein. A recess is also disposed in at least one of the first end and the second end. Terminal cavities are disposed in at least one of the first wall and the second wall adjacent to the slot. A plurality of terminals are mounted in the terminal cavities. Each of the terminals have a contact portion extending into the slot for contacting conductive pads on the first circuit board when received in the slot and a tail portion extending out of the insulative housing to contact conductors on the second circuit board. A lever is rotatably mounted in the recess at one of the first end and the second end of the insulative housing. The lever rotatably moves in a first plane to affect the position of the first circuit board in the slot. The lever includes a support arm with a vertical surface constantly engaged with a portion of the housing to limit the lever from rotating in a second plane angular to the first plane.
As also disclosed herein, the lever has two sides and the arm extends from each side. The recess in the insulative housing may also include a first wall and a second wall. The first wall and the second wall of the recess preferably extend upwardly from the top face of the housing and the support arm is adjacent to the first wall. The vertical surface of the support arm may be adjacent to the first upstanding wall. The housing may further include a first aperture in a first wall of the recess in registry with a second aperture in the second wall of the recess, and the lever includes a first shaft and a second shaft for reception in respective ones of the first aperture and the second aperture to rotatably mount the lever in the recess. A lower end of the support ann is preferably chamfered. The lever also may have an ejecting surface for engaging a portion of the first circuit board and lifting the first circuit board up in the slot upon rotation of the lever. The lever may also have latching surface for engaging a portion of the first circuit board and holding the first circuit board down in the slot. The lever may further have an extended gripping section for manually rotating the lever.
As further disclosed herein, the support arm preferably comprises a horizontal segment extending outwardly from the first side or the second side of the lever and a vertical segment extending downwardly from the horizontal segment.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5443394 (1995-08-01), Billman et al.
patent: 5620342 (1997-04-01), Kinross
patent: 5676555 (1997-10-01), Yu et al.
patent: 5749750 (1998-05-01), Yu et al.
patent: 5775925 (1998-07-01), Tondreault
patent: WO 9708782 (1997-03-01), None
Molex Incorporated
Nguyen Son V.
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
Card edge 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 Card edge connector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Card edge connector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2496936