Board-Mounted Connector

This invention relates to board-mounted connectors, especially to board-mounted connectors intended for electrical connection of PC memory cards.

Board-mounted connectors intended for electrical connection of PC memory cards are usually electrically connected to a mother board by means of intermediary boards. For example, a board-mounted connector 100 described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-22762 shown in FIG. 5, is known in the art. In the board-mounted connector 100, electrical contacts 104,104' and ground contacts 106,108,110 retained in housing 102 are electrically connected to junction board 112. Junction board 112 is electrically connected to electrical contacts 122 of another intermediary electrical connector 120, with the connector 100 and the intermediary connector 120 being electrically connected to the mother board (not shown). In order to firmly join the connector 100 to the mother board, lugs 114 are provided on the bottom surface of the connector 100 that correspond to the intermediary connector 120.

Since in the above example the connector must be mounted on the mother board by means of the intermediary connector 120, the first connector must have lugs 114 that have practically the same height as the intermediary connector 120. Therefore, one of the disadvantages of this connector is that the board-mounted connector 100 occupies considerable space on the mother board.

Considering the above disadvantage, a purpose of the present invention is to achieve a low mounting height of the connector including a mounting fixture even if such fixtures are needed.

Another purpose of the present invention is to reduce the height of the connector and to move it closer to a junction board.

The board-mounted connector according to the present invention has electrical signal contacts and ground contacts extending from a rear of the housing, and the ground contacts form a single ground plate which is bent in such a manner that it intersects with the signal contacts, the ground plate creates a gap between the connector and the board to which it is mounted, and the intersecting section of the ground plate has openings that accommodate signal contacts so that they are separated from each other.

The board-mounted connector according to the present invention has electrical signal contacts and ground contacts, a housing mounted on a mother board, and a junction board to which contacts extending from a back end of the housing are electrically connected to the mother board by means of an intermediary connector mounted on the mother board. The ground contacts are fabricated in the form of a single ground plate having a bent section intersecting with the signal contacts, which provides space for the accommodation of the intermediary connector and has openings to keep the signal contacts separated from each other.

It is desirable that the contacts extending from the housing are bent in the form of a crank offset from the board so that they can intersect with the ground plate.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a board-mounted connector according the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the board-mounted connector shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A-3C show a ground plate with FIG. 3A being a plan view, FIG. 3B is a rear view looking from the bottom of FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3C--3C of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4 is a part cross-sectional view of the board-mounted connector taken along line 4--4 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a part cross-sectional view of a conventional board-mounted connector.

FIG. 1 shows connector 1 comprising a housing 2 having on both sides channel-shaped guides. A frame plate 10 spanning a ground plate 6 and guides 8 is inserted from a back end 4 of the housing 2 and secured thereto. Connector 1 is intended for the reception of a PC or other type of a memory card 70 (see FIG. 4). The card 70 is inserted from the left side of FIG. 1, that is, from a front face 12 of the connector. Guides 8 of the housing 2 have four mounting fixtures 14 having mounting holes 14a. The connector 1 is secured on a mother board 50 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) by means of screws 7 (see FIG. 2) screwed in the mounting holes 14a.

From FIGS. 1 and 4, it can be seen that electrical contacts 20 arranged in rows extend from a back end 4 of the housing 2. A number of grooves 16 extends toward the front end from the back end 4 of the housing 2 and are located at predetermined intervals. The ground plate 6 has tabs 18 inserted within the grooves. At both edges of the ground plate 6, spring-loaded tongues 33 are formed which are used to secure the ground plate on the housing 2 by engaging with housing shoulder 5. The ground plate 6 is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 3A-3C.

In FIG. 2, the connector 1 is shown in a state when it is mounted under the mother board 50 by screws 7 screwed through the upper surface of the board 50. The housing 2 has card-receiving slots 24a, 24b for the insertion and receipt of two PC cards arranged one above the other. The frame plate 10 has mounting members 10a formed at both edges of the frame plate. Openings 10b provided in the mounting members 10a are engaged with lugs 28 formed on the side walls of the housing 2, thus securing the frame plate underneath of the housing 2. At the back end 4 of the housing 2, two side walls 26a, 26b are formed which correspond to the two card-receiving slots 24a, 24b. An ejection arm 32 intended for the ejection of PC cards from the card-receiving slots, can be seen between side walls 26a, 26b and under the side wall 26b. Since the operation of the ejection arm is known, detailed explanation thereof is omitted.

FIGS. 3A-3C show the ground plate 6. As can be seen from FIG. 3A, the ground plate 6 has a number of tabs 18 extending forward from base section 32 in a longitudinal direction. Latches 34 are provided on both sides of tabs 18, at the edges of the base section 32. Latches 34 have spring-loaded tongues 33 extending backward that are formed by U-shaped slots 36. The spring-loaded tongues 33 are bent in the direction of the reverse side of the page containing FIG. 3A and extend from a bottom surface of the latches 34. Free ends 38 of the spring-loaded tongues 33 are engaged with shoulders 5 of housing 2 (see FIG. 1), thus preventing ground plate 6 from removal. On the opposing sides of central tabs 18 are formed barbs 9 the purpose of which is to secure the ground plate in the housing 2.

An extension 40 formed at the back end of the base section 32 has termination members 44 extending in a backward direction from a back edge of the extension 40 at predetermined intervals therealong. In extension 40 are formed rectangular openings 46, and openings 48, 52 of a larger size than openings 46 are also provided.

From FIG. 3B, it can be seen that the extension 40 is bent downward. The configuration of ground plate 6 is clearly shown in FIG. 3C. The tab 18 extends to the front via a step section 18a, after which it is bent down and then up to the tip 18b. Extension 40 is configured as a slanted intermediary piece extending down from the back end 42 of base section 32 with a horizontal end section 43 from which termination members 44 extend.

FIG. 4 represents a partial cross-sectional view along line 4--4 in FIG. 1. In the back end 4 of the housing 2, signal contacts 20,20' corresponding to card-receiving slots 24a, 24b are pressed into and retained in their respective contact-receiving cavities 54. Termination sections 22 of contacts 20 extending from the back end of the housing 2 are shaped like cranks with downward bends. Because of this, a sufficient space is formed between the mother board 50 and front sections 23 of termination sections 22. The front sections 23 are inserted in through holes (not shown) of an intermediary or junction board 60 and connected thereto by soldering. Termination sections 22' of contacts 20' are also deflected down and connected to the junction board 60 by soldering.

The ground plates 6, 6' are inserted in grooves 16 from the back end of the housing 2. Tabs 18, 18' of the ground plates 6, 6' are positioned in the upper parts of the card-receiving slots 24a, 24b, respectively. PC cards 70 are inserted in card-receiving slots 24a, 24b as shown by dotted lines. At this time, tabs 18, 18' engage with multiple grounding lugs 72 located on the upper surfaces of PC cards 70, thus connecting them to ground. Termination members 44, 44' of extensions 40,40' of the ground plates 6,6' are inserted in through holes of junction board 60 and soldered thereto. Since the sections 22a of the contacts 20 bent at a right angle overlap with the slanted extension 40 of the ground plate 6, the right-angle sections 22a are aligned with respective openings 46 and can extend through openings 46 of extension 40 without engaging therewith. Since a rather large space is formed between the extension 40 and mother board 50, an intermediary or junction connector 80 can be placed therebetween. As shown in FIG. 4, junction connector 80 can be made of rather small dimensions only slightly extending above an upper surface 7 of housing 2. Since the extension 40' of the ground plate 6' in this embodiment does not have to be slanted very much, it does not intersect with the termination sections 22' of contacts 20'.

A front edge 60a of junction board 60 is inserted in the junction connector 80 and respective conductive pads thereon form electrical connections with electrical contacts 82. Therefore, the distance from the back end 4 of the housing to the junction board 60 can be made short and the junction connector 80 can be placed closer to connector 1, thus making it possible to reduce the area occupied by the connecting elements on the mother board 50 and the overall area contributing to general reduction of the connector size. Therefore, both the actual height of connector 1 and the area occupied by it on the mother board 50 is reduced.

Above, a detailed explanation concerning a board-mounted connector according to this invention has been provided. However, the present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment only but also covers various changes and modifications thereof.

In the board-mounted connector according to the present invention, the space between a board and a ground plate is increased due to the fact that the ground plate is bent so that it intersects with the electrical contacts, and the bent section has openings to accommodate sections of signal contacts, thereby providing for the effect that the area occupied by a back portion of the connector is reduced along with an actual height of the connector, thus making it possible to reduce the area on the board occupied by the connector.