Electrical connector

Details Electrical connector Electrical connector

2000-01-27

2001-08-28

Nguyen, Khiem (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

Electromagnetic or electrostatic shield

Shielding individually surrounding or interposed between...

Reexamination Certificate

active

06280251

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND TO THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector. In particular, the present invention relates to a connector used in connecting electronic devices such as personal computers and the like.
In recent years, connectors termed universal serial bus (USB) connectors as shown in
FIG. 5
have been used in computers. Because of component crowding in small space areas in computers and like devices, the connectors used are sometimes referred to as “small” or “miniature” connectors.
This connector comprises a connector socket
2
A, which can be mounted onto a substrate of a printed circuit board
1
A and the like, and a connector plug
3
A, which is inserted into and connects to connector socket
2
A. Connector socket
2
A is equipped with a shield case
4
A, which is constructed by bending and shaping a metal plate into a tube of rectangular section.
An insulated housing
6
A, which supports four contact pins
5
A side by side in the cross direction, is built into the inside of shield case
4
A. The middle section of contact pin
5
A is attached to the base of insulated housing
6
A. Contact pin
5
A has an external connection end
5
a
, which leads out from one end of shield case
4
A. An end support part
6
b
is formed integrally on the top half of base
6
a
of insulated housing
6
A. End support part
6
b
has approximately half of the vertical thickness of shield case
4
A. A contact end
5
b
of contact pin
5
A is supported by the lower surface of end support part
6
b.
Connector plug
3
A, which connects to connector socket
2
A, has a shield case
7
A, which is a tube of rectangular section. Shield case
7
A is insertable inside shield case
4
A. A cavity
8
A, which receives end support part
6
b
, is formed in the interior of a plug shield
7
a
of shield case
7
A. A contact end
10
a
of a contacter
10
A, which is supported by an end support part
9
a
of an insulated housing
9
A, is positioned directly below cavity
8
A.
In other words, in the “small” connector of the prior art as described above, if there is an attempt to insert connector plug
3
A into connector socket
2
A when connector plug
3
A is vertically inverted, end support part
6
b
of insulated housing
6
A does not match up with the cavity in connector plug
3
A. Because the end of end support part
9
a
of insulated housing
9
bumps into external contact end
5
a
, incorrect insertions are prevented.
However, with this prior art, with small connector sockets in which the vertical width of connector socket
2
A is reduced and the thickness of end support part
6
b
and end support part
9
a
made thin, mechanical strength can be inadequate, and when a strong force acts between both of these parts during insertion, they can break easily or become deformed.
In addition, with these small connectors, incorrect insertions are also prevented with a construction where corner parts of shield case
4
and shield case
7
A, which are formed as rectangular tubes, are cut at an angle so that there is vertical asymmetry. But because of errors in the making of the cut corner parts, incorrect insertions are not always prevented effectively.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Upon considering the problems of the small connector of the prior art as described above, the object of the present invention is to obtain a connector that, even when miniaturized, can reliably prevent incorrect insertion of the connector plug with respect to the connector socket. There would be no danger of breaking the inner insulated housing and the like when an outside force is applied during insertion.
In order to achieve this objective, the present invention proposes a small connector, comprising: a connector socket, having a shield case, which is a metal plate bent and formed into a rectangular tube, and an insulating housing, which supports a plurality of contact pins and is built into the interior of the shield case; a connector plug, having a plug part which is inserted into an insertion opening of the connector socket; a pair of L-shaped depression parts, where both lower corners of the shield case are indented towards the insertion opening.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the plug part has a pair of depressions formed at a part that corresponds to the L-shaped depression parts; stopper surfaces, which can join up against the L-shaped depression parts, are positioned on the inner ends of the depressions and the plug part comprises a plug shield, which is a metal plate bent and shaped into a rectangular tube; the pair of depressions is formed on the outer surface of L-shaped depressed deformation parts in which both lower corners of the plug shield are indented towards the interior; the stopper surfaces are surfaces of kerfs that cut and offset corresponding L-shaped depressed deformation parts.
The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate the same elements.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4854895 (1989-08-01), Komatsu
patent: 4875872 (1989-10-01), Tanaka
patent: 6109967 (2000-08-01), Chiou

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Electrical connector does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Electrical connector, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Electrical connector will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2493699