Connector assembly

Details Connector assembly Connector assembly

1999-10-20

2001-07-24

Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With supporting means for coupling part

Supporting plural, independent coupling parts

C439S939000, C439S717000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06264501

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector assembly, especially to a connector assembly composed of at least two connectors of different format and same width or length, whereby those connectors can be easily assembled to a connector assembly and provide connection function for different connector format.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present computer generally uses two type of connector, i.e., PS/2 (Mini-Din) connector
1
and USB connector
2
as shown in FIG.
6
. The PS/2 connector
1
and USB connector
2
are generally of two-layer structure, and to save space, the PS/2 connector
1
and USB connector
2
are generally in stacking arrangement or side-by-side arrangement. These kind of arrangement makes the molding operation more complicated. More particularly, the PS/2 connector
1
is generally 6-pin connector with the 6 slots arranged in symmetrically ring shape. Moreover, the upper connector of a stacking type PS/2 connector assembly has longer terminal and the lower connector of the stacking type PS/2 connector assembly has shorter terminal. As shown in
FIG. 7
, a stacking type PS/2 connector assembly comprises
12
terminals
31
a
,
31
b
,
32
a
,
32
b
,
33
a
,
33
b
,
34
a
,
34
b
,
35
a
,
35
b
,
36
a
, and
36
b
inserted into an insulating stage
37
, and a front shell
38
and rear shell
39
sealing the insulating stage
37
. In other words, it is necessary to prepare
12
set of molding dies for the
12
terminals and different molding dies for the insulating stage, the front shell and the rear shell. The cost is high and the manage of components is complicated. As to the USB connector, it is necessary to prepare two sets of molding dies for the terminal of the upper connector and the lower connector. The cost is also high and the manage of components is also complicated. Moreover, the occupied height is relatively large.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector assembly, which is easily assembled and of low cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector assembly, which is designed, for preventing careless insertion.
In one aspect of the invention, the present invention provides a connector assembly composed of PS/2 (Mini-Din) connectors and USB connectors staked on an upper layer and a lower, respectively. The same connectors are mounted on the same layer. For examples, the PS/2 (Mini-Din) connectors are arranged on the upper layer and the USB connectors are arranged on the lower layer. In this way, six molding dies for the six terminal of the PS/2 (Mini-Din) connector, one molding die for the four terminals of the USB connector, a molding die for the insulating stage and a molding die for the shielding case are saved. In other word, the present invention can achieve connector assembly with two different type connector on upper and lower layer only by a molding die for upper connector (PS/2 connector), a molding die for lower connector (USB connector), a molding die for the shielding case, a molding die for the terminal of the lower connector and six molding dies for the upper terminals.
In another aspect of the present invention, the upper connectors and the lower connectors are combined to form a connector assembly and the adjacent connectors are fixed by male mating unit and female mating unit, whereby those connectors can be arranged in stacking and side-by-side manner. Moreover, the connectors of different types are labeled with different color for preventing wrong insertion.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:


REFERENCES:
patent: 5037330 (1991-08-01), Fulponi et al.
patent: 5161997 (1992-11-01), Defibaugh et al.
patent: 5622523 (1997-04-01), Kan et al.
patent: 5695362 (1997-12-01), Hillbish et al.
patent: 5975961 (1999-11-01), Atsumi et al.
patent: 5984732 (1999-11-01), Mehring
patent: 6004146 (1999-12-01), Tan et al.

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