Connector with an improved housing

Details Connector with an improved housing Connector with an improved housing

1999-12-29

2001-05-22

Paumen, Gary F. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Coupling part including flexing insulation

Hinged or flexed detent on insulation engaging to secure...

C439S733100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06234839

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, and particularly to an electrical connector with an improved housing for fixing contacts therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electrical connector is mounted between electronic devices for transmitting electrical signals therebetween. Contacts must be reliably positioned in the connector to secure reliable signal transmission. A prior art connector is disclosed in Taiwan patent application No. 86207970 shown in
FIGS. 4-5
. A conventional connector
3
comprises an insulative housing
4
and a plurality of contacts
5
. The housing
4
has a bottom wall
41
with a step-shaped portion
40
at a front end thereof. Step-shaped contact receiving slots
42
are defined through the step-shaped portion
40
having a first receiving portion
44
and a second receiving portion
45
for receiving an extending portion
51
of a corresponding contact
5
.
Production of the prior art housing
4
required a high precision mold to control the breadth of the contact receiving slots
42
to assure a proper fit of the contacts
5
therein. If the breadth of the contact receiving slots
42
are slightly narrower than that of the contacts
5
, the contacts
5
can be easily deformed or damaged while being pressed into the housing
4
. If the breadth of the contact receiving slots
42
are slightly wider than that of the contacts
5
, the contact
5
can be easily displaced from its position. Furthermore, a small displacement of the extending potion end
51
of the contact can result in a comparatively large displacement at the engaging portion end
52
.
Accordingly, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with an improved housing for orienting contacts therein.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector wherein the housing is made of a material of the elasticity so that a cantilever member of a supporting wall of a long horizontal passage can apply effective elastic pressure on a long contact properly orienting the contact therein.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
An electrical connector of the present invention comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts. The housing defines a plurality of long and short contact receiving slots which are adjacent and parallel to each other. Each contact receiving slot comprises a horizontal passage and a vertical passage through the housing. A notch is defined at a front end of a supporting wall of each long horizontal passage. A cantilever member upwardly extends from a bottom of the notch and projects slightly inward towards the long horizontal passage. The long and short contacts are received in the corresponding long and short contact receiving slots. Each contact comprises a horizontal section, a base section and an engaging section extending from the base section and perpendicular to the horizontal section. The horizontal section forms an embossment and has a solder tail for soldering to a printed circuit board. During assembly the contacts are inserted in the contact receiving slots, the cantilever member of the long contact receiving slots bending and applying elastic pressure on the embossments of the long contacts so that the long contacts are properly oriented in the housing.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4317609 (1982-03-01), Larpaik
patent: 5226839 (1993-07-01), Koumatsu et al.
patent: 5716232 (1998-02-01), Endo et al.

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