Electrical connectors – Coupling part including flexing insulation – Retaining contact within distinct coupling part housing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-19
2001-07-31
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Coupling part including flexing insulation
Retaining contact within distinct coupling part housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267622
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for use in stacking a plurality of circuit boards. More particularly, the invention relates to a connector typically for use in electric connections between adjacent circuit boards implemented in an electronic device (portable telephone, television set, audio equipment, VTR, OA equipment, etc.). The connector includes a conductive connector pin and an insulator housing, the connector pin being press-fitted within a pin retaining hole formed in the housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8
shows a conventional connector of the above-noted type.
In this connector
100
, its housing
101
includes a pin retaining hole
102
formed therethrough for allowing press-fitting of a connector pin
103
within it. The housing includes also, in a side face thereof, a slit
104
which extends from the top to the bottom of the housing
101
in parallel to and communication with the retaining hole
102
.
With the above construction, when the connector pin
103
is pressfitted into the pin retaining hole
102
, the housing is elastically deformed through the slit
104
for allowing radial enlargement of the retaining hole
102
needed for insertion of the pin. This construction is designed to prevent occurrence of crack in the housing
101
, particularly in its thin portions.
According to the above-described conventional connector, however, the side face of the housing
101
is split due to the presence of the slit
104
, and the pin retaining hole
102
is open at the portion where the slit is formed. Hence, the connector pin
103
press-fitted into the hole
102
is not retained or restricted at the slit forming portion. That is, the construction cannot provide uniform restricting force over the entire periphery of the shank of the connector pin
103
and there develops flexion of the slit forming portion as indicated by broken lines in FIG.
8
. Consequently, the pin
103
tends to slip away toward the slit
104
, often leading to inadvertent inclination in the posture of the connector pin
103
retained within the housing
101
.
In view of the above, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a connector of the above-noted type which allows the press-fitted connector pin to be reliably and stably maintained at its proper vertical posture, while effectively avoiding occurrence of crack in the housing during the press-fitting process of the connector pin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
For accomplishing the above object, a connector, according to the present invention, comprises:
a connector pin;
a housing for keeping posture of the connector pin press-fitted within the housing, the housing having a first face for receiving the connector pin and a second face opposite from the first face;
wherein the housing includes a pin retaining hole which is defined through from the first face to the second face and a groove which is open to the first face and has a closed bottom to the second face, the groove allowing elastic deformation of the housing for radial enlargement of the pin retaining hole when the connector pin is press-fitted into the pin retaining hole.
With the above-described construction, the housing includes the groove which is open to the pin receiving face (first face) of the housing and has a dosed bottom to the opposite face (second face) of the housing opposite from its pin-receiving face. Accordingly, when the connector pin is to be press-fitted into the housing, there occurs elastic radial enlargement of the pin retaining hole about the closed bottom of the groove acting as a pivot, thereby to avoid occurrence of crack in the housing Moreover, as this groove has the dosed bottom on the side of the second face of the housing, the integrity of the perimeter (i.e. closed loop) of the pin retaining hole is maintained on the side of the second face of the housing, so as to apply uniform retaining (elastic) force through the entire periphery of the shank of the connector pin press-fitted within the retaining hole. As a result, inadvertent inclining displacement in the posture of the connector pin can be effectively avoided
Therefore, the invention has fully achieved its intended object of providing a connector which allows the press-fitted connector pin to be reliably and stably maintained at its proper vertical posture, while effectively avoiding occurrence of crack in the housing during the press-fitting process of the connector pin.
According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the housing includes a plurality of said pin retaining holes arranged in a row and a plurality of said grooves, the grooves having one or more intermediate grooves provided in communication with and between at least one adjacent pair of pin retaining holes in the row and an end groove formed from one pin retaining hole disposed at the terminal end of the row through an outer wall of the housing. With this construction, the intermediate groove allows elastic deformation of the housing during insertion of the connector pin into one of the adjacent pin retaining holes and allows also elastic deformation of the housing during insertion of the pin into the other adjacent pin retaining hole. Hence, due to shared use of one groove by two holes adjacent each other, the total number of pin retaining holes to be formed in the housing may be reduced advantageously.
Therefore, disadvantageous reduction in the rigidity of the housing associated with formation of the grooves therein may be minimized for maintaining good pin retaining ability of the housing.
The housing may include a plurality of such rows of pin retaining holes. In this case, it is advantageous to form a single inter-row groove between adjacent rows. With formation of such single inter-row groove, the housing can provide substantially uniform elastic retaining force to the entire peripheries of the shanks of the pins press-fitted within the pin retaining holes of the respective rows.
In the above-described constructions, the end groove and the intermediate groove are formed in communication with the adjacent pin retaining hole(s). While these constructions are advantageous for reduction of the total number grooves to be formed in the housing, it is also possible to form the groove such that it is not communicated with the adjacent pin hole(s) and open to an outer wall of the housing.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, the housing includes a pair of said grooves which are arranged in symmetry with each other relative to an axis of the pin retaining hole. This construction is advantageous for being still more effective for applying uniform restricting force to the connector pin to maintain its proper vertical posture, thus restricting inclination of the pin therefrom.
Other features, functions, effects and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated upon reading the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5370540 (1994-12-01), Kobayashi
patent: 4-131883 (1992-12-01), None
patent: 2501043 (1993-06-01), None
patent: 11-86992 (1999-03-01), None
Dinh Phuong K T
Hosiden Corporation
Sircus Brian
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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