Electrical connectors – With coupling separator – Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
2003-11-05
2004-06-08
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With coupling separator
Nonconducting pusher
Reexamination Certificate
active
06746256
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic card connector with pushing assembly for two-stage operation, and more particularly, to a connector providing an electronic card to be inserted by pushing the electronic card at the first stage and ejected at the second stage.
In recently years, various types of electronic cards have been applied to electronic products such as cellular phones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants. For example, the compact flash (CF) card, multimedia card (MMC) and secure digital (SD) card have been very commonly seen. Consequently, connectors which provide connection and positioning between the electronic cards and the electronic products have been developed, such that electric connection and data communication between the electronic cards and the electronic products can be established. However, as frequent insertion and ejection operations of the electronic cards are inevitable, endurance is highly demanded by the connectors to sustain iterative operations.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional electronic card connector. The connector allows an electronic card
4
to be pushed and plugged therein. The connector includes an insulating body
1
, a shielding shell
2
and a pushing assembly
3
. The shielding shell
2
is placed on top of the insulating body
1
to provide shielding effect. The insulating body
1
includes a base
10
with a first arm
11
and a second arm
12
stretching perpendicularly from two opposing ends of the base
10
. The base
10
, the first arm
11
and the second arm
12
construct a space
13
for receiving the electronic card
4
. As shown in
FIG. 1
a,
a one-way track
14
may be formed on the base
10
at the end where the second arm
12
stretches from. The one-way track
14
includes a forwarding portion
141
, a positioning portion
142
, and a returning portion
143
to form a loop, allowing a downward bending head
321
of a guide lever
32
to perform one-way movement therein. Adjacent to and circumscribed by the one-way track
14
is a positioning block
144
. The positioning block
144
has a first side surface, a second side surface and a third side surface contoured with the forwarding portion
141
, the positioning portion
142
, and the returning portion
143
, respectively. That is, the first side surface of the positioning block
144
extends along the forwarding portion
141
and terminates with a second side surface contoured with a recess, such that the downward bending head
321
approaching the end of the forwarding portion
141
will rest on the recess
145
. The third side surface of the positioning block
144
has a first part parallel to the first side surface, and a second part bent to merge with the first side surface. The pushing assembly
3
includes a spring
30
, a slide member
31
and the guide lever
32
. One end of the spring
30
is mounted to the second arm
12
, while the other end of the spring
30
is connected to the slide member
31
. Therefore, the slide member
31
can move along the elongate direction of the second arm
12
. The movement of the slide member
31
is actuated by insertion or ejection of the electronic card
4
in and out of the space
13
. Further, the end of guide lever
32
is connected to the slide member
31
to be driven thereby. Therefore, when the electronic card
4
is pushed and inserted into the space
13
, the lever head
321
is pushed to move towards the end of the forwarding portion
141
. After reaching the end of the forwarding portion
141
, by the force exerting from the spring
30
, the lever head
321
is withdrawn to move into the positioning portion
142
. The recessed structure of the positioning portion
142
then hooks the lever heat
321
on the recess
145
. In this way, the electronic card
4
is properly positioned in the connector. By pushing the electronic card
4
towards the connector again, the lever head
321
is pushed away from the recess
145
towards the returning portion
143
. By the restoring force exerting from the spring
122
a,
the lever head
321
moves along the returning portion
143
to generate an ejecting force against the electronic card
4
. The electronic card
4
can thus be ejected from the connector.
The iterative insertion and ejection operations of the electronic card
4
generate friction between the lever head
321
and the one-way track
14
of the insulating body
1
. As the guide lever
32
is typically fabricated from metal material, the abrasion thereon is even more serious. Particularly, the turning point
146
of the forwarding portion
141
and the positioning portion
142
is most easily abraded. Once the turning point
146
of the forwarding portion
141
and the positioning
142
is seriously abraded, a smooth or normal operation of insertion and ejection of the electronic card
4
will be seriously affected.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an improved electronic card connector structure with pushing assembly for two-stage operation. Therefore, the abrasion and damage of the insulating body and the pushing assembly can be greatly suppressed to provide a smooth insertion and ejection operation and increase lifetime of the connector.
The connector provided by the present invention comprises an insulating body, a shielding member and a pushing assembly. The insulating body includes a base, and an elongate first arm and an elongate second arm extending perpendicularly from two ends of the base. A one-way track with a forwarding portion, a positioning portion, and a returning portion is consecutively formed on the first arm. The first arm and the second arm construct an open space for receiving the electronic card. The shielding member which covers the insulating body includes a spring leaf with a recessed rail corresponding to the forwarding portion. The free end of the spring leaf is bent to the forwarding portion and forms a tilt toward the positioning portion. The pushing assembly includes a resilient member, a slide member and a guide lever. One end of the resilient member is mounted to the first arm and the other end thereof connected to the slide member. The guide lever is pivotably connected to the slide member at one end thereof and has a first protrusion and a second protrusion at the other end thereof for slidably moving in the one-way track and the recessed rail, respectively. As such, when the electronic card is inserted, the second protrusion is guided by the tilt to rest in the positioning portion; and when the electronic card is ejected, the first protrusion is guided in the returning portion back to the forwarding portion.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6482020 (2002-11-01), Yeh
patent: 6554627 (2003-04-01), Chen
patent: 6592385 (2003-07-01), Chen
patent: 6619971 (2003-09-01), Chen
patent: 6655973 (2003-12-01), Ji et al.
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