Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-25
2001-01-30
Stephan, Steven L. (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
Distinct contact secured to panel circuit
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179629
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a high density board-to-board connector.
2. The Prior Art
High density board-to-board connectors are proposed to meet the development of portable computers which require that the connectors used therein occupy the smallest amount of space possible and directly connect a daughter board to a mother board avoiding the use of cables.
Conventional high density board-to-board connectors are disclosed in U.S. Utility Pat. Nos. 5,219,294 and 5,567,168 and U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D332,599, D364,378 and D367,263. However, such conventional high density board-to-board connectors have a complicated structure and, thus, a high manufacturing cost.
Furthermore, in order to correctly solder such conventional connectors onto a printed circuit board (PCB), each connector is equipped with a spacer to precisely space tail portions of contacts thereof from each other a predetermined distance. However, as shown in
FIG. 1
, when the contacts
30
are bent to have tail portions
301
perpendicular to body portions
302
thereof, the tail portions
301
of the two rear rows of contacts
30
have a length which is too long resulting in excessive flexibility thereof. It becomes tedious to correctly extend tail portions having excessive flexibility into contact tail portion receiving holes defined in a spacer
40
.
To overcome this disadvantage, an improvement has been proposed to bend the contacts
30
′ twice whereby the tail portions
301
′ thereof have the same length, as shown in FIG.
2
. Therefore, the tail portions
301
′ can be easily assembled to the spacer
40
. However, bending the contacts twice increases manufacturing costs.
Hence, an improved high density board-to-board connector is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of current high density board-to-board connectors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an objective of the present invention is to provide a high density board-to-board connector which has a simple structure and a low manufacturing cost.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a high density board-to-board connector which has a stair-like spacer with four steps each defining a number of contact tail portion receiving holes whereby tail portions of contacts of the connector can be easily inserted into the spacer and accurately spaced thereby when the contacts are bent and their tail portions received in the two rear rows of receiving holes have an excessive flexibility.
To fulfill the above mentioned objectives, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a high density board-to-board plug connector comprises a generally T-shaped housing having a front face for engaging with a mating connector and a rear face opposite the front face. The T-shaped housing further integrally forms two stepped upper faces and two stepped lower faces each defining a number of contact passageways extending to the rear face of the housing. A number of contacts each having a contact portion and a tail portion are interferentially mounted in the housing at a position wherein the contact portions are received in the contact passageways and the tail portions vertically extend behind the rear face. A spacer has a stair-like configuration defining four steps, wherein each step has a number of vertically defined contact tail portion receiving holes. When the housing together with the contacts is mounted to the spacer, the tail portions of the contacts in different faces of the housing extend into the contact tail portion receiving holes in corresponding steps.
A board-to-board receptacle connector includes a generally U-shaped housing defining two stepped upper faces and two stepped lower faces in a recess of the housing. Each face has a number of contact passageways defined therein and extending to a rear face of the housing. The U-shaped housing further has a mating connector engaging face defined by an end wall of the recess. A number of contacts are interferentially mounted in the housing at a position wherein contact portions thereof are received in a front part of the contact passageways, and tail portions thereof vertically extend behind the rear face. A spacer has a configuration the same as the spacer used with the plug connector. When the U-shaped housing together with the contacts is mounted to the spacer, the tail portions of the contacts in different faces of the housing extend into the contact tail portion receiving holes in corresponding steps. When the plug connector mates with the receptacle connector, the T-shaped housing extends into the recess of the U-shaped housing to cause the engaging faces of the two connectors to engage with each other and the contacts to electrically connect with each other.
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patent: 4390224 (1983-06-01), Showman et al.
patent: 5114355 (1992-05-01), Kimmel et al.
patent: 5127839 (1992-07-01), Korsunsky et al.
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patent: 5219295 (1993-06-01), Niwa et al.
patent: 5370557 (1994-12-01), Olsson
patent: 5387137 (1995-02-01), Bouwknegt et al.
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patent: 5643010 (1997-07-01), Wu
patent: 5688130 (1997-11-01), Huang
patent: 5692912 (1997-12-01), Nelson et al.
patent: 5800207 (1998-09-01), Hsu et al.
patent: 5879171 (1999-03-01), Wu
Lai C. Y.
Wu Kun-Tsan
Hon Hai - Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.
Hyeon Hae Moon
Stephan Steven L.
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