Electrical connectors – With insulation other than conductor sheath – Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-09
2003-04-01
Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)
Electrical connectors
With insulation other than conductor sheath
Plural-contact coupling part
Reexamination Certificate
active
06540561
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and, more particularly, to an electrical connector for electrically connecting printed circuit boards or the like.
An electrical connector is used for electrically connecting printed circuit boards or electrically connecting a printed circuit board and an electrical cable such as a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter referred to as “FPC”). Such an electrical connector normally includes a plug connector and a receptacle connector to be connected to the plug connector.
To prevent disconnection between the plug connector and the receptacle connector, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2676063 is a locking mechanism for engaging contacts of the plug connector with contacts of the receptacle connector. Since the contacts are normally made of material such as metal that is hard to be worn against the rubbing, the deterioration of the locking mechanism as a result of repeated insertion of the plug connector into the receptacle connector is extremely low.
However, the locking mechanism has the following problems.
When the connector is small and thin and has densely-arranged contacts, a mechanism for holding the contacts in a housing is complex so that it is impossible to provide large force for holding the contacts in the housing. Therefore, there are possibilities that the contacts come off the housing when the plug connector is removed from the receptacle connector and that the dimensional accuracy at contact portions of the contacts and soldered portions of the contacts becomes worse.
In case that the housing and the contacts are integrally formed, an outer surface of a mold may rub the contact surfaces of the contacts when the mold is released. The contact surfaces of the contacts may be scratched so that surface treatment including gold plating on the contact surfaces and/or sealing provided for treating the gold plating is affected. In this case, it is difficult to provide suitable electrical contact.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which has a locking mechanism for securely preventing disconnection between a plug connector and a receptacle connector.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector of the type described, which can provide large force of holding contacts to a housing and is suitable for an integral molding of the housing and the contacts.
Other objects of the present invention will become clear as the description proceeds.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical connector comprising a plug connector and a receptacle connector which are adapted to be connected to each other in a first direction, the plug connector comprising a plug housing and a plug contact held by the plug housing, the receptacle connector comprising a receptacle housing and a receptacle contact held by the a receptacle housing for coming in contact with the plug contact when the plug connector is connected to the receptacle connector, one of the plug contact and the receptacle contact having a principal surface extending along the first direction, a concave portion recessed from the principal surface in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a wall between the principal surface and the concave portion, another of the plug contact and the receptacle contact having a projection which is positioned inside the concave portion when the plug connector is connected to the receptacle connector.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plug connector for being connected to a receptacle connector in a first direction, the plug connector comprising a plug housing and a plurality of plug contacts held by the plug housing for coming in contact with the receptacle connector, each of the plug contacts having a principal surface extending along the first direction, a concave portion recessed from the principal surface in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a wall between the principal surface and the concave portion.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a receptacle connector for being connected to the above-mentioned plug connector, the receptacle connector comprising a receptacle housing and a plurality of receptacle contacts held by the receptacle housing for coming in contact with the first-mentioned contact portion in the second direction, each of the receptacle contacts having a projection which is positioned inside the concave portion when the plug connector is connected to the receptacle connector.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1912147 (1933-05-01), Kaefer
patent: 4274700 (1981-06-01), Keglewtsch et al.
patent: 4755143 (1988-07-01), Enomoto et al.
patent: 4795362 (1989-01-01), Vonder et al.
patent: 5025121 (1991-06-01), Allen et al.
patent: 5931689 (1999-08-01), Patel
patent: 3110609 (1981-03-01), None
patent: 0450770 (1991-10-01), None
patent: 0795929 (1997-09-01), None
patent: 2636476 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 2676063 (1997-07-01), None
Dinh Phuong
Japan Aviation Electronic Industry, Ltd.
Michael Best & Friedrich LLC
Sircus Brian
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