Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-02
2001-08-14
Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273760
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid connector with an audio jack, and particularly to a hybrid connector with an audio jack which has exchangeable terminals.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,937,404, 4,978,310, and 5,092,795 disclose conventional connectors. The prior art connector (shown in
FIG. 6
) comprises a dielectric housing
101
, a metallic grounding shroud
500
enclosing the housing
101
, a conductive grounding contact
200
, a first contact
300
and a second contact
400
.
The housing
101
includes a case
103
for receiving the contacts
200
,
300
and
400
and a sleeve
102
forwardly projecting from the case
103
through which a complementary plug (not shown) is inserted. The U-shaped grounding shroud
500
forms a grounding leg
501
for grounding the complementary plug (not shown) and a pair of soldering fingers
502
outwardly extending. The grounding terminal
200
has a flat base
201
, a grounding arm
203
upwardly depending from the base
201
and a soldering finger
202
rearwardly and horizontally extending from a middle rear edge of the base
201
. The first contact
300
includes a flat base
301
, a soldering finger
302
depending outwardly from a bottom edge of the base
301
, and a longitudinal engaging arm
303
continuing forwardly from the base
301
. The second contact
400
has an elongated base
401
, a soldering finger
402
outwardly depending from a bottom edge of the base
401
, and a longitudinal engaging arm
403
depending rearwardly from the base
401
. The engaging arm
303
of the first contact
300
and the engaging arm
403
of the second contact
400
are laterally spaced from each other and cooperate for mating with the inserted complementary plug (not shown).
In assembly, the first contact
300
and the second contact
400
are respectively located at right and left interior sides of the case
103
of the housing
101
. The grounding terminal
200
is forwardly inserted from a rear end of the housing
101
. The shroud
500
is then engaged with the outside of the case
103
. Furthermore, the soldering fingers
202
,
302
,
402
and
502
are disposed under a bottom surface of the housing
101
for mounting the connector onto a printed circuit board (not shown). The height from a top surface of the connector to the printed circuit board (not shown), therefore, cannot be reduced, making the connector unsuitable for lower profile applications.
Hence, an improved electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a hybrid connector with an audio jack which has a pair of interchangable contacts.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a hybrid connector with an audio jack which has a minimized height above a printed circuit board.
To achieve the above objects, a hybrid connector with an audio jack comprises an elongate dielectric housing, a plurality of terminals and a contact assembly. The housing includes a plurality of grooves in middle and lateral ends thereof for receiving the plurality of terminals, and a mating hole disposed between a set of grooves at a lateral end of the housing and the balance of the plurality of grooves. The mating hole extends from a front surface to a rear surface of the housing and accommodates the contact assembly.
The contact assembly includes a first contact, a second contact and a third contact, all of which have an axis of symmetry. The first contact has a resilient engaging finger extending forwardly from a base thereof and a soldering arm extending rearwardly from the base thereof. The soldering arm of the first contact forms soldering surfaces at a top and bottom thereof. The second contact has an elongate base, a soldering arm extending rearwardly from the base and a resilient engaging finger extending rearwardly from a front end of the base. The soldering arm of the second contact is identical with that of the first contact. The third contact includes a base, a soldering arm bending rearwardly from a top edge of the base for being welded on a circuit board, a securing wing extending forwardly from a bottom edge of the base, and a pair of resilient engaging fingers depending forwardly from lateral sides of the base. The engaging fingers of the first contact, the second contact and the third contact resiliently cooperate to establish electrical connection with an inserted complementary plug.
In assembly, the contact assembly is initially inserted into the mating hole. The first and second contacts are disposed in lateral insides of the mating hole and the third contact is disposed at a rear end of the mating hole. Because the soldering surfaces of the symmetric first and second contacts are symmetric, the first contact and the second contact can respectively be placed upside down and therefore be interchangeable in their positions. Furthermore, the soldering arms of the contact assembly cooperate with a pair of soldering pads mounted at lateral sides of the housing and are welded on the circuit board above a bottom of the housing thereby minimizing the height of a top surface of the hybrid connector above the circuit board.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2717367 (1955-09-01), Puerner
patent: 4037913 (1977-07-01), Deitch et al.
patent: 4978310 (1990-12-01), Shichida
patent: 5022872 (1991-06-01), Shichida
Chung Wei Te
Hon Hai - Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.
Luebke Renee
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