High-speed electrical connector

Details High-speed electrical connector High-speed electrical connector

2001-12-07

2002-09-24

Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With insulation other than conductor sheath

Metallic connector or contact secured to insulation

C439S943000, C439S733100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06454615

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly to a high-speed electrical connector having retention mechanism which can prevent contacts retained in the connector from deformation during inserting in a direction perpendicular to a printed circuit board (PCB) when the connector is mounted to the PCB.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional high-speed electrical connector
500
commonly has a plurality of electrical contacts
52
as shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, each of which has a press-fit retaining portion
524
. When the connector
500
is mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB)
53
, the retaining portions
524
of the contacts
52
are inserted into through holes
531
in the PCB
53
. Each through hole
531
has a diameter less than a dimension of the retaining portion
524
. The connector
500
can be mounted on the PCB
53
by pressing the retaining portions
524
of the contacts
52
into the through holes
531
without additional soldering process.
When the connector
500
is mounted to the PCB
53
, the retaining portions
524
of the contacts
52
confront sidewalls of the PCB
53
around the through holes. The contacts
52
are retained in passageways
513
of the housing
51
by barbs
523
protruding from opposite sides of each contact
52
. However, the barbs
523
are insufficient to securely retain the contacts
52
in the passageways
513
if the insertion force during the mating process is too high. The contacts
52
will slide upwardly along the passageways
513
as the housing
51
is pressed downwardly, which leads to the contacting portion
521
of the contacts
52
resisting an inner face
518
of a top wall of the housing
51
. Under such condition, the contacting portions
521
will bias from their proper position, thereby failing to electrically connect with corresponding contacts of a mating connector (not shown). In addition, the insertion force acted on a tail portion
525
of the contact
52
may subject the tail portion
525
to a force in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction which alters the pitch of the contacts thereby adversely affecting insertion of the contacts
52
into the holes
531
defined in the PCB
53
.
Therefore, an improved connector and compliant contacts are required having an improved retention mechanism for retaining the contacts within a housing of a connector which will eliminate undue deformation of the contacts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved connector with contacts having retaining mechanisms for positioning the contacts in true positions when the connector is mounted to a PCB.
In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention includes an insulative housing defining a plurality of passageways therethrough and a plurality of contacts received in the passageways. A plurality of retaining slots are aligned with the passageways and are defined between top and bottom surfaces of the housing. Each contact has a base portion and a pair of contacting portions received in the passageway of the housing and a press-fit tail portion extending downwardly from the bottom surface of the housing. A retaining portion extends upwardly from the base portion and is inserted into the retaining slot of the housing. The connector can be mounted to a PCB by a tool pressing on the top surface of the housing of the connector, when the tail portions of the contacts are inserted into the through holes of the PCB, the retaining portions of the contacts abut upwardly against the tool. Thus, the contacts are prevented from sliding upwardly along the passageways.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3980385 (1976-09-01), Hirokawa et al.
patent: 5425661 (1995-06-01), Self, Jr. et al.
patent: 5743769 (1998-04-01), Koguchi
patent: 6165027 (2000-12-01), Huang et al.

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