Multi-port electrical connector having improved board locks

Details Multi-port electrical connector having improved board locks Multi-port electrical connector having improved board locks

2002-09-27

2003-10-28

Feild, Lynn (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

With supporting means for coupling part

Having resilient means engaging panel opening

Reexamination Certificate

active

06638106

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/210383, entitled “TWO PORTS INTEGRAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR”, invented by the same inventor, and assigned to the same assignee. The disclosures of the co-pending application are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a multi-port electrical connector having an improved board lock device for more stably mounting the multi-port electrical connector on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Prior Art
Board locks are popularly used in many electrical connectors for attaching the electrical connectors to circuit boards thereunder. A conventional board lock is generally shaped like a fork and has a pair of legs inserted into and soldered to a corresponding hole defined in the circuit board to thereby attach the electrical connector to the circuit board. Such board locks are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,419,713, 5,820,393, and 5,664,965. However, these board locks cannot sufficiently stably secure a connector with multiple ports to a circuit board since the multi-port connector generally has a width larger than that of a single-port connector. The board locks used in the co-pending '383 application are found not able to stably secure the dual-port connector thereof to a printed circuit board. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a board lock which can securely fix a multi-port connector to a printed circuit board.
Hence, a multi-port electrical connector with an improved board lock is desired to meet the above-mentioned demand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved board lock for a multi-port electrical connector, which can securely and reliably retain the multi-port electrical connector to an underlying circuit board.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a multi-port electrical connector which can be easily, conveniently and securely mounted to an underlying circuit board.
T o fulfill the above-mentioned objects, an electrical connector for being mounted onto a circuit board in accordance with the present invention comprises a dielectric housing, a plurality of conductive contacts received in the housing, and a pair of board locks. The housing forms a base and a pair of tongues projecting from the base. The base defines a pair of slits at opposite ends thereof and a pair of chamfer portions at opposite sides thereof for leaving enough space with respect to solder tails of the contacts to thereby facilitating soldering. Each tongue defines a plurality of passageways in a mating face thereof for receiving the conductive contacts. Each board lock is retained into a corresponding slit and forms a latch portion inserted into a corresponding hole defined in a circuit board and at least one side portion beside the latch portion for being mounted on a top face of the circuit board.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5277597 (1994-01-01), Masami et al.
patent: 5540598 (1996-07-01), Davis
patent: 5921787 (1999-07-01), Pope et al.
patent: 6179630 (2001-01-01), Chang

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