Electrical connectors – With guiding means for mating of coupling part – For guiding side of movable panel – e.g. – circuit board
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-30
2001-10-23
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With guiding means for mating of coupling part
For guiding side of movable panel, e.g., circuit board
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305966
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to techniques for retaining printed circuit boards in connectors.
BACKGROUND
Many printed circuit boards are designed to engage a longitudinal connector along all or part of one of the edges of the circuit board. For example, in the field of computer equipment, it is common to mount a longitudinal connector on the face of a main board (the “motherboard”), and to engage the edge of a secondary board (a “daughterboard”) with the connector on the motherboard. Typically, daughterboards are oriented at right angles with the plane of the motherboard.
It sometimes happens that the connection between a daughterboard and motherboard is compromised because of vibration or shock. For example, vibration and shock usually occur during the transport of a computer. Occasionally, the vibration and shock occurring during transport will cause a daughterboard to be shaken loose from its connector.
Although numerous circuit board retention techniques have been devised to address the shock and vibration problem, the prior art techniques have drawbacks associated with them: Primarily, they require the addition of complicated hardware (such as levers, hinges, screws or metal pins) either to the connector or to the board, or both. The addition of this kind of hardware adds undesirable cost and weight to the final assembly.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved technique for retaining the edge of a circuit board inside a longitudinal connector.
It is an additional object of the invention to do so in a manner that eliminates the need for expensive and heavy additional hardware.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A circuit board retainer according to the invention may be constructed from a unitary piece of light weight flexible plastic. Two opposing connector catches are disposed at the bottom of the retainer on resilient stems. A frame is disposed between the catches. The frame fits around the profile of a longitudinal connector while the catches slip over the ends of the connector. The retainer becomes captive to the connector when the catches engage shoulders on the ends of the connector. Resilient opposing upright members are coupled to the frame and the catches. The upright members may be separated from each other by a distance approximately equal to an edge length of the circuit board to be retained. To assemble the circuit board into the retainer and the connector, the circuit board is lowered between the upright members toward the connector. As the circuit board engages the connector, two opposing board catches on the upright members engage corresponding notches formed in the circuit board. Alternatively, the notches may be formed in the upright members, and the catches formed on the circuit board. To disassemble the circuit board from the retainer, the upright members are bent away from one another to disengage the board catches while the circuit board is removed from the connector. To disassemble the retainer from the connector, the upright members are bent toward one another to disengage the connector catches from the shoulders while the retainer is removed from the connector.
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Arbogast Porter Rodgers
Dean Ronald P
Roesner Arlen L
Searby Tom J
Dinh Phuong KT
Hart Kevin M.
Hewlett--Packard Company
Sircus Brian
LandOfFree
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