Electrical connectors – With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-24
2002-10-08
Bradley, P. Austin (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With circuit conductors and safety grounding provision
C439S733100, C439S869000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06461175
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IC (Integrated Circuit) card connector used for insertion and removal of the IC card, and more particularly to an IC card connector to which countermeasures to prevent static electricity is taken and where a grounding terminal member is used for this IC card connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
The make up of a conventional IC card connector is described based on FIG.'s
13
and
14
. U-shaped housing
121
made up of a molding of synthetic resin has a base section
121
a
and a guide section
121
b
extending toward the front direction from both side sections of the base section
121
a
. Further, a plurality of metallic pin terminals
122
are mounted in such a way that respective contact sections thereof are in the rear (right side of
FIG. 13
) and respective terminal sections
122
a
thereof are in the front, and the pin terminals
122
are buried in the base section
121
a
of the housing
121
in a parallel arrangement in the lateral direction. Furthermore, a pair of mounting member
123
made of metallic piece is mounted on both side sections in front of the housing
121
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 14
, a shielding plate
124
made of metallic plate has a top surface plate
124
a
, a plurality of bent tongue shaped pieces
124
b
provided at the top surface plate
124
a
, C-shaped mounting sections
124
c
provided at both side sections of the top surface plate
124
a
. Further, the shielding plate
124
is combined with the housing
121
while allowing the mounting section
124
c
to be fitted to a peripheral surface of the guide section
121
b
in such a way as to cover a top surface of the base section
121
a
of the housing
121
by use of the top surface plate
124
a
, so that the top surface of the housing
121
becomes electrically shielded by the shielding plate
124
.
A pair of guide members
125
made up of the molding of the synthetic resin have a guide section
125
a
that has C-shape cross section and a mounting section
125
b
extending in forward direction. The pair of guide member
125
is integrated with the housing
121
in such a way as to recess the mounting section
125
b
into the guide section
121
b
of the housing
121
.
Further, a pair of contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
made of metal plate are bent in opposite direction with each other and top sections thereof become contact sections. Furthermore, parts of the pair of contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
extend in perpendicular direction to come into contact with circuit substrate described later.
Moreover, the pair of the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
are mounted on the pair of guide members
125
, and parts of the contact pieces are exposed from opening sections which are not illustrated formed at the guide section
125
a
to come into contact electrically with an IC card, which is inserted, described later.
Then, the IC card connector having such a constitution is incorporated into an electronic apparatus to be used, and its incorporation is performed in such a way that terminal section
122
a
of the pin terminal
122
is connected to conductive pattern
128
provided on the circuit substrate
127
, and one pair of mounting members
123
are mounted on the conductive pattern
128
with the mounting member
123
soldered. Further, a rectangular shaped IC card
30
used for such electronic apparatus is provided with a contact section capable of being connected to the pin terminal
122
at front section thereof and is provided with one pair of grounding terminals
31
at both side sections thereof.
Although the IC card
30
is used in such a way as to be inserted into or removed from the IC card connector, the IC card
30
is invariably inserted into the IC card connector using the guide section
125
a
of the guide member
125
as a guide. Further, when advancing the insertion of the IC card
30
, a pointed end section thereof is inserted using the guide section
121
b
of the housing
121
as a guide. The insertion is completed when the contact section of the IC card
30
comes into contact with the pin terminal
122
.
Furthermore, when the IC card
30
is completely inserted, the grounding terminal
31
of the IC card
30
comes into contact with the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
, while the IC card
30
simultaneously becomes elastically supported by the bent tongue shaped piece
124
b
. Further, the IC card
30
is capable of being pulled out from the IC card connector by hand, with the housing
121
and the guide member
125
as the guides are.
Now, since the pair of contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
are shape differently from each other, dies for manufacturing each contact piece is prepared separately. The contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
are made by undergo presswork utilizing each different die.
Thus, since it is necessary to prepare two kinds of dies in compliance with the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
, there is the problem of the time and the expense are required for manufacturing the dies.
Furthermore, the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
are small parts, accordingly, it is necessary to assemble the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
into the guide sections
125
a
,
125
a
by hands, for that reason, there is a possibility that the contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
may be accidentally mounted on the opposite end of the guide sections
125
a
,
125
a.
Moreover, when the pair of contact pieces
126
a
,
126
b
are mounted on the guide sections
125
a
,
125
a
respectively, subsequently, it was necessary to use a jig when the connector is made to fix the connector on the circuit substrate
127
by use of the screws and so forth which are not illustrated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing it is an object of the present invention to provide an IC card connector provided with grounding terminal members where a right side grounding terminal member and left side grounding terminal member are formed to have a simple structure and common shape, to reduce cost and allow easier assembly.
As a first solution for solving at least one of the aforementioned problems, there is provided a grounding terminal member while blanking a metal plate that is provided integrally with a leg section, a flat board shaped arm section, and first and second expanded sections being expanded outward at inside and outside of the arm section, wherein the leg section is made to ground, and any one of the first and the second expanded sections is made to elastically come into contact with a grounding terminal of electronic components.
As a second solution, there is provided an IC card connector that uses the grounding terminal member described in the first solution, comprising a housing on which a plurality of pin terminals are mounted and a frame which is mounted on the housing, wherein a pair of guide sections which are used at the time that the IC card is inserted and removed are provided longitudinally at both side sections of the frame, and the arm section of the grounding terminal member is mounted on the respective guide sections. The IC card is made to insert between the respective guide sections, and a grounding terminal of one side section of the IC card is made to come into contact with the first expanded section, while a grounding terminal of opposite side section to the one side section is made to come into contact with the second expanded section.
As a third solution, there is provided an IC card connector, in the second solution, wherein the housing is made to mount on a circuit substrate, subsequently, allowing pointed end of the leg section of the grounding terminal member to be projected from the guide section to establish continuity between the pointed end and a grounded pattern of the circuit substrate.
As a fourth solution, there is provided an IC card connector, in the second solution, wherein supporting leg sections are provided at both side sections of the frame, and pointed ends of the supporting leg sections are placed on the surface of the circuit substrate, thus allowing the pointed
ALPS Electric Co. Ltd.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas LLP
Bradley P. Austin
León Edwin A.
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