Electrical connectors – With supporting means for coupling part – Comprising or for use with supporting panel
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-29
2001-09-25
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With supporting means for coupling part
Comprising or for use with supporting panel
Reexamination Certificate
active
06293823
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No.11-281363 filed on Oct. 1, 1999 filed which is incorporated here in by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a nut-prefixed connector whose housing has pre-installed nuts, to which bolts are applied to fix the connector on a circuit board in a later assembly process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There is a conventional electrical connector whose housing incorporates a plurality of contacts and which is to be fixed tightly on a circuit board with bolts and nuts. For such a connector, it is a customary design practice that nuts are press-fit into and fixed at predetermined positions of the housing during the assembly of the connector before the connector is actually installed on a circuit board. This type of connector simplifies the process of assembling the connector on a circuit board. Because the nuts are already provided at predetermined positions of the connector, the connector placed on a circuit board can be fixed simply by putting bolts through pre-arranged through-holes of the circuit board.
Because this connector needs a strength to withstand the press-fitting of the nuts at the predetermined positions of the housing, the housing must be designed to have a sufficient thickness. As a result, the external dimensions of the housing are relatively large, so it is difficult to miniaturize the connector. Furthermore, in an assembly process where this type of connector is mounted on a circuit board, the contacts of the connector are placed directly on solder-coated connection terminals of electrical pathways of a circuit, which is printed on the circuit board, and then the connector and the circuit board in this condition are heated together in a furnace to fuse the solder and thereby to connect the contacts of the connector to the corresponding pathways of the circuit on the circuit board ( surface-mounting process ). If the above mentioned connector with nuts press-fit in the housing is heated in a furnace, then the resin forming the housing is somewhat relieved of the stress that resulted from the press-fitting of the nuts, so, accordingly, the force holding the nuts in the housing of the connector is reduced. This condition may result in one or all of the nuts to fall off from the housing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to miniaturize a nut-prefixed connector.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a nut-prefixed connector whose nuts will not fall off even if the connector is heated in a furnace when it is installed (surface-mounted) on a circuit board.
In order to achieve these objectives, the present invention provides a nut-prefixed connector with a nut-fixing part which is provided in a housing. This nut-fixing part includes a nut-holding room, and a nut is insertable into and detachable from the nut-holding room by a movement in a direction perpendicular to the thickness direction of the nut. In addition, a projection is provided at the entrance of the nut-holding room to prevent the nut inserted in the nut-holding room from coming out.
In a prior-art connector of this type, the nut inserted in the nut-holding room is retained therein by the pressure exerted by the elastic deformation of the housing as a result of the press-fitting of the nut. However, in the nut-prefixed connector according to the present invention, the nut inserted in the nut-holding room of the housing is held therein by the projection, which is provided at the entrance thereof, so the housing of the connector according to the present invention does not need as great a strength as required for the prior-art connector, which must withstand the press-fitting of the nut. Therefore, the housing of the connector according to the present invention can be formed thinner with reduced external dimensions than that of the prior-art connector. Thus, the present invention enables a further miniaturization of the connector. In addition, when this connector is mounted on a circuit board and passed through a furnace during an assembly process, even if the housing experiences a stress relief because of the heating, there is no possibility of the nut falling off from the housing. In a case of the prior-art connector whose nut is press-fit and retained therein by the elastic deformation of the housing, the nut may fall off as the housing experiences a stress relief. Because there is no such problem with the connector according to the present invention, the assembly process can be operated at an improved efficiency. Furthermore, in the connector according to the present invention, the nut inserted is kept therein by a simple structure, not by the pressure that is generated from the deformation of the housing, which is the case with the prior-art connector. As a result, the nut-fixing part of the connector according to the present invention does not require the same level of precision for the dimensions of the nut-holding room as the prior-art connector. Therefore, the cost-effectiveness of the connector can be improved further. In addition, because the design of the nut-holding room does not require a high level of precision, a few types of nuts with a relatively wide range of dimensions (especially for the thickness) can be used in the connector without any design change of the housing.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5249983 (1993-10-01), Hirai
patent: 5971802 (1999-10-01), Pan et al.
patent: 6027372 (2000-02-01), Lai et al.
patent: 6102735 (2000-08-01), Chen et al.
KEL Corporation
Paumen Gary
Usher Robert W. J.
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