Stacked connector assembly

Details Stacked connector assembly Stacked connector assembly

2001-12-27

2003-04-01

Vu, Hien (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With insulation other than conductor sheath

Plural-contact coupling part

C439S541500, C439S607070

Reexamination Certificate

active

06540563

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stacked connector assembly, and particularly to a stacked connector assembly having a spacer for conveniently and stably retaining terminals in an insulative housing thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A computer is required to provide connectors at input/output ports, which are usually mounted on a main printed circuit board (PCB) thereof, to mate with corresponding complementary connectors of peripheral devices for signal transmission therebetween. In order to sufficiently utilize limited area of the main PCB, the electrical connectors are usually arranged in a stacked manner. A conventionally stacked connector assembly has an upper and a lower receiving cavities in a mating face thereof. A plurality of first and second terminals are respectively disposed in the upper and the lower receiving cavities. Each first and second terminal includes a front contacting portion for engaging with a corresponding terminal of an inserted complementary connector, and a rear right-angle tail portion for electrical connection with a printed circuit board. However, because the rear right-angle tail portions of the first terminals connected with the PCB are too long, the rear tail portions of the first terminals are easy to warp when the complementary connectors are inserted into or pulled out from the stacked connector assembly. This will cause the stacked connector assembly to incline. As a result, the electrical connection between the stacked connector assembly and the complementary connectors may be unreliable and the quality of signal transmission therebetween may be adversely affected.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,089 discloses a stacked connector assembly which has a fixing device for retaining terminals. The stacked connector assembly defines a dual-lower USB (Universal Serial Bus) receiving cavity and an upper modular jack receiving cavity vertically stacked in a mating face thereof. Terminals disposed in the upper receiving cavity are assembled with insert-molded front and rear inserts, wherein the rear insert functions as a fixing device. The front and the rear inserts are molded around the terminals in a common plane with carrier strips severed from opposite ends of the terminals. Front contacting portions of the terminals are angled rearwardly from front nose of the front insert. The rear insert is downwardly bent to be formed at a right angle with respect to the front insert, whereby rear right-angle tail portions of the terminals embedded in the rear insert are formed. Thereafter, the front and the rear inserts with the terminals retained therein are assembled to the housing in which the contacting portions of the terminals are received in the upper jack receiving cavity and the rear insert is fixed on the housing. Thus, the right-angle tail portions of the terminals are retained in the housing by the rear insert.
However, before molding the rear insert, the terminals must be positioned in a mold via positioning mechanisms to ensure an accurate pitch between adjacent terminals, thus increasing the difficulty of manufacturing the rear insert. Due to inherent factors, such as size of the terminals, when molten plastic is injected into the mold to form the rear insert, the terminals are easily displaced to result in an inaccurate pitch between the adjacent terminals such that the electric capability of the terminals may be adversely affected, such as a cross-talk may be occurred. On the other hand, because the rear insert is integrally molded with the terminals, the rear insert cannot be reused and it will increase the cost of manufacturing the stacked connector assembly.
Hence, a stacked connector assembly having a spacer is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the main object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly having a spacer for conveniently and stably retaining terminals in an insulative housing thereof, thereby ensuring a reliable electrical connection between the stacked connector assembly and complementary connectors.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spacer for a stacked connector assembly wherein the spacer is easy to make and is conveniently secured to an insulative housing of the stacked connector assembly.
In order to achieve the object set forth, a stacked connector assembly having a spacer in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing defining a first and a second apertures in a mating face thereof, a first electrical connector disposed in the first aperture, a second electrical connector disposed in the second aperture, and a spacer fixed to the housing. The housing defines a concavity in a rear face and a plurality of staggered inner and outer recesses communicating with the concavity. The first electrical connector includes at least one first receiving cavity in communication with the mating face of the housing, and a first array of terminals having first contacting portions extending into each at least one first receiving cavity of the first electrical connector and first right-angle bent tails adapted for electrical connection with a printed circuit board. The second electrical connector includes a second receiving cavity in communication with the mating face of the housing and a second array of terminals having second contacting portions extending into the second receiving cavity and second right-angle bent tails received in the inner and outer recesses of the housing in a staggered manner. The spacer is assembled to the concavity of the housing and has a plurality of projections abutting against the second right-angle bent tails that are received in the inner recesses of the housing, and a plurality of channels having inside faces for abutting against the second right-angle bent tails that are received in the outer recesses.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5639267 (1997-06-01), Loudermilk
patent: 6080011 (2000-06-01), Tsao et al.
patent: 6206725 (2001-03-01), Wu
patent: 6402563 (2002-06-01), Shi et al.

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