Electrical connectors – With external conductor or cable embedded in insulative... – Molded connector body
Reexamination Certificate
2002-12-13
2004-09-14
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With external conductor or cable embedded in insulative...
Molded connector body
C439S942000, C439S579000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06790087
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electric connector, more particularly to an electric connector which can be easily positioned and soldered to a cable and which are reliable for production.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIGS. 1
,
2
and
3
illustrate an electric connector
3
to be used with a cable
4
, and to mate with a complementary electric connector (not shown here). The electric connector includes an insulative housing
31
, a plurality of conductive terminals
32
and a protective sleeve
33
. The insulative housing
31
has a front end having a insertion side
3101
for connection with a complementary electric connector, and a rear end having a connecting side
3102
. The insulative housing
31
is further formed with a plurality of terminal receiving tunnels
311
connected to the insertion side
3101
and the connecting side
3102
. The terminal receiving tunnels
311
respectively have openings
3110
on the connecting side
3102
. Each conductive terminal
32
has an insertion end
321
, a connecting end
322
and a positioning section
323
connected to the insertion end
321
and the connecting end
322
. Two opposite sides of the positioning section
323
are formed with barbs. Referring to
FIG. 2
, a conductive terminal
32
is placed in a corresponding terminal receiving tunnel
311
though an opening
3110
on the connecting side
3102
. Via interferential engagement of the positioning section
323
with the inner wall of the corresponding terminal receiving tunnel, the insertion end
321
of the conductive terminal
32
is positioned in the terminal receiving tunnel
311
near the insertion side
3101
so as to electrically contact a corresponding terminal of a complementary electric conductor. At the same time the connective end
322
of the terminal extends outside the connecting side
3102
so as to be soldered to the cable
4
. Lastly, as shown in
FIG. 3
, a protective sleeve is injection molded via an overmolding method so as to entirely envelop the connecting side
3102
of the insulative housing
31
and the soldering joints of the connecting ends
322
of all of the conductive terminals and the cable
4
. Only the insertion side
3101
of the insulative housing
31
is exposed.
However, the following drawbacks are encountered in manufacturing the aforesaid electric connector:
1) It is difficult to solder the conductive terminals
32
to the cable
4
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, after each conductive terminal
32
is positioned in each corresponding terminal receiving tunnel
311
, each connecting end
322
thereof projects outside the connecting side
3102
in a suspended manner. Therefore the operation to solder the connecting ends
322
and the cable
4
is performed in a situation in which the connecting ends
322
and the cable
4
are not supported. If any one thereof is displaced, the quality of the soldering connection will be adversely affected, and difficulty will increase in the soldering operation.
2) It is difficult to position conductive terminals during manufacturing a protective sleeve
33
. When an overmolding process is used to manufacture a protective sleeve
33
, a flowable plastic material must be first injected into the mold so as to form the protective sleeve
33
. However, high pressure generated upon injection of the molding material will keep the material to flow continuously. And since the solder connection between the connecting ends
322
and the cable
4
is in an unsupported state, upon being subjected to impact due to the high-pressure injected material, the connecting ends
322
of conductive terminals
32
will displace and contact adjacent connecting ends
322
. In severe occasions, the terminals can even break, resulting in inferior products. To prevent the foregoing drawback, during the manufacturing of the protective sleeve
33
, an adhesive tape or silicone adhesive filler is used to position the soldering junction between the connecting ends
322
and the cable
4
before the plastic material is injected into the mold. However, this extra positioning procedure will increase manufacturing cost and decrease the efficiency of production.
3) The plastic material injected during manufacturing of the protective sleeves
33
tends to seep into the terminal receiving tunnel
311
. Due to the fact that there are openings
3110
of the terminal receiving tunnels
311
formed in the connecting side
3102
of the insulative housing
31
, the high pressure plastic material for forming the protective sleeves
33
will overflow and seep into the terminal receiving tunnel
311
. If the quantity of the overflowing material is too much, then the insertion ends
321
of the conductive terminals
321
will be covered by the plastic material or displaced from the original position, which in either case would produce unstable mating connection between the electric connector and an associated complimentary electric connector, and can even impair the electrically connecting effect.
4) The protective sleeves tend to deform after contraction due to cooling. As described in the foregoing, each connecting end
322
of the conductive terminal
32
is unsupportedly hung outside the connecting side
3102
. Therefore, after the plastic material is injected into the mold and cooled down to form the protective sleeve
33
, the lowering of temperature tends to contract the plastic material around the soldering junction between the connecting ends
322
and the cable
4
, thus forming depression thereabout. Though this phenomenon does not alter the performance of the connector
3
, it could affect the appearance thereof, rendering the product unacceptable. This increases the manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an electric connector that is easy to be positioned when being soldered to a cable and that can prevent the positional change or damage caused by the material injected during the manufacturing of the protective sleeves.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric connector that can prevent the plastic material injected during manufacturing the protective sleeves from seeping into the electric connector.
Accordingly, an electric connector of this invention comprises
an insulative housing having an insertion side for insertion into a complementary electric connector, a connecting side and a plurality of terminal receiving tunnels connected to the insertion side and the connecting side;
a plurality of conductive terminals, each of the conductive terminal having a insertion end and a connecting end, each of the conductive terminal being placed in a corresponding one of the terminal receiving tunnels, the connecting end extends outside the connecting side;
a base having a plurality of grooves, the base further including one side which is adjacent to the connecting side of the housing and which has a stop block, the base having holes extending through the stop block at locations corresponding to the grooves, wherein, after the base is connected to the housing, the holes permit the connecting ends to pass therethrough and to be received in the grooves, and the stop block substantially covers the openings of the tunnels in the connecting side of the insulative housing.
The electrical connector may also include a protective sleeve covering the insulative housing, but exposing the insertion side of the insulative housing.
The electrical connector may also include an interference portion on said housing. The interference portion may assist in retaining the protective sleeve to the insulative housing.
The electrical connector may also include other features as more fully described in the specification.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4252397 (1981-02-01), Eigenbrode et al.
patent: 4704091 (1987-11-01), Owens et al.
patent: 4973264 (1990-11-01), Kamono et al.
patent: 5595497 (1997-01-01), Wood
patent: 6129594 (2000-10-01), Lai
patent: 6482021 (2002-11-01), Hara et al.
Molex Incorporated
Ta Tho D.
Zeitler Robert J.
LandOfFree
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