Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Utility Patent
1999-10-29
2001-01-02
Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
C439S467000, C439S687000, C439S352000
Utility Patent
active
06168476
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector, more particularly to one that complies with the IEEE 1394 standard.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical connectors that comply with the IEEE 1394 standard are generally used in 8 mm video cameras. Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional IEEE 1394 electrical connector is shown to comprise a terminal mounting seat
10
formed with a terminal receiving cavity
100
for receiving a contact terminal set
11
therein, a metal shield
12
that encloses the terminal mounting seat
10
and that serves as an electromagnetic interference shield, and a dielectric casing
13
that encloses the metal shield
12
to facilitate handling of the electrical connector.
Some of the drawbacks that arise during the manufacture of the conventional electrical connector of
FIG. 1
are as follows:
1. The terminal mounting seat
10
is formed integrally using die casting techniques. The design of the mold for forming the terminal mounting seat
10
is relatively complex in view of the need to form the terminal receiving cavity
100
for receiving the contact terminal set
11
, and in view of the need to ensure that the metal shield
12
can fittingly enclose the terminal mounting seat
10
. Moreover, because the terminal mounting seat
10
has a relatively small size, the terminal receiving cavity
100
is also relatively small, thereby increasing the difficulty in designing and making the mold for forming the terminal mounting seat
10
with a high degree of precision. Because the mold for forming the terminal mounting seat
10
is very laborious and time-consuming to design, the mold has a very high cost that increases substantially the cost for manufacturing the aforesaid conventional electrical connector.
2. The terminals
110
of the contact terminal set
11
are in the form of elongate strips. Because the terminal receiving cavity
100
is relatively small, the distance between cable connecting portions
111
of adjacent terminals
110
of the contact terminal set
11
is also very small when the latter is mounted in the terminal mounting seat
10
. Thus, short-circuiting can easily occur when a multi-wire cable
14
is connected to the cable connecting portions
111
of the terminals
110
due to the absence of sufficient spacing.
3. Precise engagement among the various components of the aforesaid conventional electrical connector is needed to ensure stability of the same. However, the various components of the electrical connector lack means for effectively preventing relative movement thereamong in the horizontal and vertical directions. Thus, undesired disengagement among the various components of the conventional electrical connector usually occurs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an IEEE 1394 electrical connector that can be fabricated using a mold with a relatively simple design to result in lower manufacturing costs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an IEEE 1394 electrical connector having terminals that can be adequately spaced apart to avoid short-circuiting when a multi-wire cable is connected thereto.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an IEEE 1394 electrical connector having components that can be prevented from relative movement in the horizontal and vertical directions.
According to the present invention, an electrical connector includes a dielectric terminal mounting seat, a contact terminal set mounted in the terminal mounting seat, a metal shield enclosing the terminal mounting seat, and a dielectric casing enclosing the metal shield.
The terminal mounting seat includes a base member and a cover member. The base member includes a bottom wall with front and rear portions. The contact terminal set is mounted on the bottom wall and extends from the front portion to the rear portion of the bottom wall. The base member further has a top side formed with an opening. The cover member is mounted movably on the base member so as to close the opening and so as to clamp the contact terminal set against the base member.
Preferably, the contact terminal set includes a plurality of terminals, each of which has an elongate connector mating portion, an elongate cable connecting portion, and an intermediate angled portion that interconnects the connector mating portion and the cable connecting portion such that the distance between the cable connecting portions of adjacent ones of the terminals is greater than that between the connector mating portions.
In the preferred embodiment, various engaging, retaining and locking units are employed to guard against relative movement among the base and cover members of the terminal mounting seat, the contact terminal set, the metal shield and the dielectric casing in the horizontal and vertical directions.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4449778 (1984-05-01), Lane
patent: 4596432 (1986-06-01), Tighe, Jr.
patent: 4641906 (1987-02-01), Olsson
patent: 5173057 (1992-12-01), Bunch et al.
Advanced Connecteck Inc.
Bradley Paula
Le{acute over (o)}n Edwin A.
Merchant & Gould P.C.
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