Electrical connectors – Including or for use with tape cable – With shield – ground conductor or ground commoning means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-30
2001-01-16
Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Including or for use with tape cable
With shield, ground conductor or ground commoning means
C439S404000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06174195
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ribbon cable connector, more particularly to a ribbon cable connector, which has a plurality of unitary conductive members, each of the conductive members being capable of being placed between a grounding plate and a row of signal terminals for connecting the grounding plate electrically to a selected one of signal terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional ribbon cable connector
10
is shown to include an elongated terminal seat (
10
a
) and an elongated clamping frame (
10
b
), which are interconnected detachably by means of two snap fitting units (F). The clamping frame (
10
b
) has a slotted clamping surface
101
. The connector
10
is adapted to establish electrical connection with a ribbon cable (not shown) that is clamped between the terminal seat (
10
a
) and the clamping frame (
10
b
) and that includes a plurality of individually insulated parallel conductors. Some of the conductors are grounding conductors. The connector
10
further includes two ground terminal sets. As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 2A
, each of the ground terminal sets includes a grounding plate unit
11
and two rows of ground terminals
12
, which are formed integrally with the grounding plate unit
11
. The grounding plate unit
11
has a grounding plate
111
, a plurality of notches
113
, and a plurality of pressed contact legs
114
, which are inclined relative to the grounding plate unit
11
and which are in electrical contact with a plurality of signal terminals (not shown), respectively. The pressed contact legs
114
are difficult to manufacture, and may bend or even break.
Referring to
FIGS. 1
,
2
and
2
A, because only some of the signal terminals need to be connected electrically with the ground terminals, the contact legs
114
are formed on some predetermined positions on the grounding plate
111
, which are decided according to the pattern of a printed circuit (not shown) that is connected electrically with the contact legs
114
, thereby increasing the necessity of high precision when manufacturing the grounding plate unit
11
. In assembly, when the clamping frame (
10
b
) is moved toward the terminal seat (
10
a
) to clamp the grounding plate unit
11
, the ground terminals
12
, and the ribbon cable (not shown) between the clamping frame (
10
b
) and the terminal seat (
10
a
) such that the terminals
12
piece through insulation of the ribbon cable (not shown), because there is no support for the ground terminals
12
and the ribbon cable (not shown), the ground terminals
12
deform to an extent that results in poor electrical contact between the ground terminals
12
and the ribbon cable (not shown) and in varying orientation of the contact legs
114
. Variation in orientation of the contact legs
114
results in poor electrical contact thereof with the signal terminals (not shown).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a ribbon cable connector which requires a lower manufacturing precision.
Another object of this invention is to provide a ribbon cable connector with means for positioning firmly ground terminals between a conductive grounding plate and a ribbon cable, thereby ensuring good electrical contact between the ribbon cable and the ground terminals.
According to this invention, a ribbon cable connector is adapted to establish electrical connection with a ribbon cable, and includes an elongated terminal seat and an elongated clamping frame, which is removably connected to the terminal seat and which is adapted to clamp the ribbon cable between the terminal seat and the clamping frame. A ground terminal set includes a grounding plate positioned on the terminal seat, and a longitudinal row of ground terminals, which are formed integrally with the grounding plate. Two longitudinal rows of signal terminals are positioned on the terminal seat, and are located on two sides of the row of ground terminals. A number of positioning devices are disposed between the grounding plate and some of the signal terminals. A plurality of unitary conductive members are interposed between the grounding plate and the signal terminals. Each of the conductive members is placed within a selected one of the positioning devices, and is in electrical contact with the grounding plate and the corresponding signal terminal.
In one embodiment, each of the ground terminals is generally Y-shaped, and has two prongs, which are adapted to be in electrical contact with the ribbon cable and which are offset from each other in a transverse direction of the terminal seat. The terminal seat has a top surface that is formed with two integral longitudinal ribs. The grounding plate of the ground terminal set is disposed between the ribs. The two prongs of each of the ground terminals are supported respectively on the ribs to position the ground terminals on the terminal seat. A positioning seat is adapted to be clamped between the ribbon cable and the terminal seat, and has two outer longitudinal slots and two inner longitudinal slots that are located between the outer longitudinal slots. The inner and outer longitudinal slots are formed through the positioning seat, and are closed at ends thereof. The two prongs of each of the ground terminals extend respectively through the inner longitudinal slots in the positioning seat. The two longitudinal rows of the signal terminals extend respectively through the outer longitudinal slots in the positioning seat.
Preferably, each of the conductive members has a planar plate, a pressed short contact leg, and a curved long contact leg, which project respectively from two sides of the planar plate to connect electrically with the grounding plate and one of said signal terminals, respectively. Each of the signal terminals is formed with a curved integral contact leg, on which the curved long contact leg of the corresponding conductive member presses.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4781620 (1988-11-01), Tengler et al.
patent: 5820403 (1998-10-01), Cheng et al.
patent: 5902147 (1999-05-01), Jochen et al.
patent: 5967832 (1999-10-01), Ploehn
Advanced Connectek Inc.
Bradley Paula
Liniak, Berenato, Lonagacre & White
Ta Tho D.
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