Contact of socket connector

Details Contact of socket connector Contact of socket connector

2001-12-13

2002-09-24

Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With coupling movement-actuating means or retaining means in...

Including compound movement of coupling part

C439S862000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06454588

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a socket connector for mounting an electronic device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) module, to a circuit board, and more particular to a contact of the socket connector having a cost- and material-saving structure.
2. The Related Arts
Socket connectors for mounting an electronic device, such as a central processing unit (CPU) module, to a circuit board are well known and commonly used in the computer industry.
FIG. 1
of the attached drawings shows an example of the socket connectors that is referred to as ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket connector. The socket connector, generally designated with reference numeral
10
, comprises a base or housing
12
defining an array of open cells
14
in which contacts (not shown in
FIG. 1
) are received and a cover
16
movably supported on the base
12
. The cover
16
defines through holes
18
corresponding to the cells
14
of the base
12
. The cover
16
is capable to carry a CPU module
20
with pin legs
22
of the CPU module
20
extending through the holes
18
of the cover
16
and partially into the cells
14
. An actuator
24
drives the cover
16
in such a manner to bring the pin legs
24
of the CPU module
20
into contact with the contacts of the base
12
thereby forming electrical connection therebetween. Examples of socket connectors of this type are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,498,725, 5,833,483, 6,059,596, 6,142,810, and 6,159,032.
FIG. 2
of the attached drawings shows a contact, designated with reference numeral
26
, received in each of the open cells
14
of the base
12
of the conventional socket connector
10
. The contact
26
is made by stamping a metal plate as shown in FIG.
3
. The contact
26
comprises a flat body
28
interferentially fit in the cell
14
, two spring arms
30
which are bent from the flat body
28
to be substantially opposite to each other and a solder pad
32
also bent from the flat body
28
to be substantially perpendicular thereto for carrying a solder ball (not shown). As shown in
FIG. 3
, a number of contact blanks
26
′ (that will finally form the contacts
26
) are lined up and connected to a carrier strip
34
after the stamping operation. To save material of the metal plate that makes the contacts
26
, the contact blanks
26
′ are arranged as close to each other along the carrier strip
34
. However, the dual spring arm structure of the contact
26
requires that a distance between adjacent contact blanks
26
′ be at least as large as twice the span of the spring arm
30
of the contact
26
. Practically, such a distance is about 2.54 mm. However, the center-to-center distance between adjacent cells
14
of the connector housing
12
is 1.27 mm, that is half of the distance between adjacent contact blanks
26
′ along the carrier strip
34
. For each line of the cells
14
of the base
12
, a contact fitting process that handles a single carrier strip
34
can only place the contacts
26
into every other ones of the cells
14
. Thus to completely fill the line of the cells
14
, two contact fitting processes must be performed. This is generally not a time- and cost-efficient manner.
Further, arranging contacts along a carrier strip with a double span between adjacent contacts is a waste of material of the metal plate because a large portion of the material between the flat bodies of adjacent contacts will be stamped away.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a contact structure wherein contact blanks are arranged along a carrier strip with a single span between adjacent contact blanks so as to enhance assemblage of the contacts in a housing and reduce waste of material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a contact for a socket connector, the contact having a simplified structure so as to reduces costs of manufacture.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, a contact for a socket connector is provided. The contact is made by stamping a metal plate whereby a number of contact blanks are formed and equally-spaced along a carrier strip that partly constitutes the metal plate. The contact has a single spring arm whereby the distance between adjacent contact blanks along the carrier strips is substantially corresponding to a single arm span, thereby saving material between adjacent contact blanks. The single arm span distance between adjacent contact blanks allows the contacts to be arranged in a more compact fashion along the carrier strip and thus assembling the contacts to a housing can be done more efficiently. Each contact blank comprises an elongate flat body having, at a first end thereof, an enlarged section and, at a second end thereof, a first inclined extension. A second inclined extension projects from a lateral side edge of the flat body and is substantially parallel to the first inclined extension. The enlarged section is attached to the carrier strip by a ready-to-separate connection that allows a finally formed contact to be readily separated from the carrier strip. The flat body has a first major surface. The enlarged section is bent approximately 90 degrees to form a soldering pad substantially perpendicular to the first surface for carrying a solder ball. The first extension is coplanar to the first surface. The second extension is bent at an angle no more than 90 degrees whereby the second extension is inclined with respect to the first surface and a lengthwise direction of the flat body. The contact is fit into a cell defined in a housing with the first extension, functioning as retaining arm, interferentially fit into a slot defined inside the cell to secure the contact in the housing. The second extension, functioning as a spring arm, is arranged to be substantially corresponding to a moving direction of a corresponding pin leg of a central processing unit module. The inclination of the spring arm provides resiliency of the spring arm for firmly engaging the pin leg.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5454727 (1995-10-01), Hsu
patent: 5492488 (1996-02-01), Hsu
patent: 6152757 (2000-11-01), Szu
patent: 6312276 (2001-11-01), Lin

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