Mounting Device for Components

This invention relates to a mounting device for mounting components such as connectors or electronic modules to a printed circuit board.

The mounting devices described in Japanese Utility Model disclosure numbers Hei 1 (1989) - 42645 and Hei 2 (1990) - 34774 represent conventional devices for mounting components such as electrical connectors, electronic modules and the like onto circuit boards. In FIG. 8, a mounting device 1 is shown positioned above a component 10 which includes a plastic housing having a projection 11 with a slot 12 therein. It is to be understood that the component 10 would have other projections, including slots adapted to receive the insertion of the mounting device 1. The device 1 includes a flat planar stamping of metal with a central aperture 3 and exterior barbs 4 along the outer edges thereof and a head portion 5. Barbs 6 extend along the outer edges of legs 7 which extend downwardly from head portion 5. The device 1 is inserted in the slot 12 with the barbs 4 biting into the opposing walls of the slot and the barbed legs 7 extending down within a hole or aperture in a printed circuit board, not shown, with respect to FIG. 8, to lock the device 1 and therefore the component 10 to the board. FIG. 9 shows an alternative version wherein a device 20 is inserted into a slot 12 of a projection 11 to lock a component to a board 28, via a hole 29 in such board. As can be seen, the device 20 is formed of flat metal stock to include a pair of ears 21 which engage on the top surface of the projection 11, a head portion 22 joining such ears, and a pair of projecting legs 24 extending down through the slot 12 and the hole 29. The legs 24 include, on the outside edge surfaces of the ends, barbs 25 which are beveled as indicated in FIG. 9 to slidingly fit through slot 12 and hole 29 and spring outwardly to catch on the undersurface of the board 28. The device 20 includes barbs 26 which bite into the walls of slot 12 and lock the device to component 10. As can be appreciated, the legs 24 are deflected inwardly to accommodate a passage of the legs through hole 29. The conventional mounting devices referred to are all flat and provide a resiliency limited to the plane of the material from which they are formed.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting device for mounting components, such as connectors, to a printed circuit board, which exhibit an improved flexibility and have a low insertion force. It is yet a further object to provide a component mounting device which is widely tolerant of component and board dimensional variations.

The present invention achieves the foregoing objects through the provision of a one-piece, stamped and formed mounting device of thin, spring grade metal. The device features a head portion which contains barbs oriented on the edges to engage the side walls of a hole or slot in a component or electronic module and including particularly, those of electrical connectors. The head portion further includes a latch which extends, at an angle to the plane of the head and to the orientation of the barbs and which serves to lock the device within the aperture hole and component in a transverse sense.

Projecting from the head portion of the device are legs separated by a slot in the metal of the device. The legs are tapered outwardly and then inwardly to provide sloped surfaces to engage the surfaces of a hole or aperture in a board in which the device is inserted. The legs are oriented angularly to the plane of the material of the device and terminate in beveled portions, which are separated to define independent cantilever arms for the legs. In practice, the bottommost taper of the legs serves to ease insertion by engagement with the surface of the hole in which the device is inserted, and the upward leg portions serve to provide an appropriate spring action to control insertion and withdrawal forces. In accordance with the invention, the device is inserted in the hole or aperture of the component so that the legs project downwardly from the component and thereafter, the component carrying contacts or terminals may be handled and aligned with holes in a board to which the component is mounted and then inserted, the mounting devices entering appropriate apertures or holes to lock the component to the board.

FIG. 1 is a plan view, in elevation, of the mounting device of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken through lines 3--3 of FIG. 2, showing the invention legs prior to compression relative to a hole in a board.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the legs of the invention shown in FIG. 3 following compression in a hole in a board.

FIG. 5 is a front, elevational view showing in partial phantom the mounting of the device of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a side, elevational view of the device shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the component shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective showing prior art device preparatory to mounting in a component.

FIG. 9 is an elevational and partially sectioned view showing a prior art mounting device engaged in a printed circuit board.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the component mounting device 30 may be seen to include a head portion 40 joined by legs 50 extending downwardly from the head portion. The head portion 40 includes, along the edges thereof, a series of barbs 43, 44 and a U-shaped relief 46 defining a latch 48. The latch 48 can be seen in FIG. 2 to extend outwardly, at an angle relative to the plane of the sheet material of which the device is made.

In use, the device 30 is inserted, head first, upwardly into the base of a component. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a component 70 having a housing 71 including slots 76 in the base thereof, which are generally rectangular in cross-section. The slots 76 are dimensioned to be engaged on their opposing walls by the barbs 43 and 44 and on a shoulder of the adjacent wall by the latch 48, the sharp edges of the barbs digging into the plastic of housing 71 within the slots 76 and locking the devices 30 into position with the legs 50 thereof extending downwardly from the component base.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the legs 50 may be seen to include leg components 52 and 52a and 54 and 54a which terminate in a bottom end 56 and 58. Each of the legs may be seen to be beveled and bent transverse to the thickness of the sheet material of the device. The bevels 52a and 54a of the two legs operate to engage the edge of a hole 60, as shown in FIG. 3, in the manner indicated. These bevels and the rounded sections adjacent leg portions 52a and 52b ease insertion into the hole. The leg portions 52 and 54 establish a cantilever spring arm which controls the compression forces required to insert the device and thus a component into holes 60 in a printed circuit board. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the ends of the legs, such as 56 relative to leg 52, are beveled, and the legs are split as at 58 to provide a free action of the two legs in the manner shown in FIG. 4.

In a practical device, the mounting device 30 was formed of spring grade brass on the order of 0.3 mm thick and the dimension W, shown in FIG. 2, was on the order of 2.1 mm for a device made of sheet material of the appropriate thickness. Devices 30, made of harder material, will, of course, have a higher insertion force, and a change of the length of the leg portions 52 and 54 will tend to decrease the insertion force as will a change in the angle of bevel of leg portions 52a and 54a. As can be discerned from FIGS. 5-7, the mounting devices 30 may be optionally used on the sides of the component 70, to such devices as shown with component contacts 72 therebetween. These contacts may be considered to be posts, blades, tabs, or even receptacle devices, considering that the opposing contact would be of a shape to mate with such contacts.

The invention contemplates that the component 70 may be an electronic module, such as a relay or solenoid or it may be a connector adapted to interconnect solid state or other devices contained within the module to the contacts 72. The invention also contemplates the use of a mounting device in other applications wherein it is desired to fasten two elements together.

Having now described the invention in terms intended to enable a preferred practice thereof, claims are appended to define the invention.