Plug connector having a latching mechanism

[0001] This patent application is related to a copending U.S. patent application entitled “PLUG CONNECTOR HAVING A LATCHING MECHANISM”, which is invented by the same inventor as this patent application and assigned to the same assignee with this application.

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention generally relates to a plug connector, and more particularly to a plug connector used for high-speed signal transmission.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] A committee called SFF is an ad hoc group formed to address storage industry needs in a prompt manner. When formed in 1990, the original goals were limited to define de facto mechanical envelopes within disk drives can be developed to fit compact computer and other small products.

[0006] Specification SFF-8088 defines matable Compact Multilane Shielded connectors adopted for being used in laptop portable computer to connect small-size disk drives to a circuit board. The connectors comprise a plug connector connecting with the small-size drive and a header mounted on the circuit board. The plug connector defined in the specification comprises a pair of engagable metal housings together defining a receiving space therebetween, a circuit board received in the receiving space, a cable comprising a plurality of conductors electrically connecting with the circuit board, and a latching mechanism assembled to a top surface of the upper metal housing. The latching mechanism comprises an elongated T-shape latch member for latching with the header mentioned above and an actuating member cooperating with the latch member for actuating the latch member to separate from the header. The latch member is assembled to a rear portion of a base of the upper housing with latch portion exposed beyond a front portion of the base of the upper housing to locate above a tongue portion of the upper housing.

[0007] However, such elongated latch member is hard to be actuated by the actuating member, otherwise the latch member must have enough thickness or made by high-quality material having enough rigidity to achieve the goal of latching reliably and unlatching easily.

[0008] Hence, an improved plug connector is provided in the present invention to address the problems mentioned above and meet the current trend.

[0009] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a plug connector having a latching mechanism for achieving a reliable latching and an easy unlatching.

[0010] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a plug connector mating with a complementary connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a housing having a base, a circuit board received in the housing, a latching mechanism assembled to the base and a metal shell attached to the base. The latching mechanism includes a pusher having a pivot, a puller pivotally connected with the pusher and having a resisting portion, and a latch having an inclined connecting portion engagable with the resisting portion and a latching portion provided with a pair of claws. The metal shell has a pair of upwardly deformable resilient beams for resisting against the latching mechanism. The pusher is pivotable about the pivot to move the resisting portion relative to the inclined connecting portion of the latch, to thereby move the latching portion together with the claws from a latching position to an unlatching position.

[0011] The latching mechanism comprises a pusher, a puller and a latch cooperated together to latch or unlatch the complementary connector, i.e., the puller is slidable to move the latch between the latching and unlatching position, along with a rotation of the pusher. When the pusher is rotated, the puller and the latch would be driven automatically. It is easy to drive the whole latching mechanism, if only depressing the pusher. The claws would latch the complementary connector reliably, since the latch restores itself to the latching position via a resilient restoring force provided by the resilient beams of the metal shell.

[0012] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0019] Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail.

[0020] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a plug connector 100 mating with a complimentary connector (not shown) in accordance with the present invention comprises a housing 1, a latching mechanism 20 assembled to the housing 1, an EMI gasket 6 attached to the housing 1, a metal shell 5 partially covering the latching mechanism 20, a plurality of screws 9 fixing the metal shell 5 on the housing 1, a circuit board 7 disposed in the housing 1, and a cable 8 electrically connected to the circuit board 7.

[0021] Please referring to FIGS. 1-2, the housing 1 of the present invention comprises a base 11 and an elongated tongue portion 12 extending forwardly from the base 11. The base comprises a lower base 112, an upper base 111 engaging with the lower base 112 and a receiving space (not shown) defined between the upper and lower bases 111, 112 for partially retaining the circuit board 7 and the cable 8. Both upper and lower bases 111 and 112 are preferably die-casted.

[0022] The upper base 111 has an elongated receiving slot 1111 extending along an upper surface thereof, a transversely extending engaging groove 1112, an insertion recess 1113 communicating with the receiving slot 1111, a retaining recess 1116 defined between the engaging groove 1112 and the insertion recess 1113, four screw holes 1114 defined at four corners of the upper base 111, and a pair of protruding tabs 1115 formed at a front edge of the receiving slot 1111.

[0023] The circuit board 7 is formed with a plurality of conductive pads 71 for electrically connecting with the complementary connector. The tongue portion 12 has a receiving space defined therein for receiving a front portion of the circuit board 7, and an opening 121 defined on an upper surface thereof for exposing the conductive pads 71 of the circuit board 7. The tongue portion 12 has a plurality of flanges 122 formed on an upper surface thereof and a plurality of keyways 123 defined adjacent to the flanges 122.

[0024] The latching mechanism 20 comprises a latch 2, a pusher 3 and a puller 4 mounted between the latch 2 and the pusher 3. The latch 2 made of metal material is a cantilever-type member. The latch member 2 comprises a N-shaped engaging portion 21 located in a vertical surface, a flat latching portion 22 located in a horizontal surface perpendicular to the vertical surface and an inclined connecting portion 23 connecting the engaging portion 21 with the latching portion 22 to provide spring force to the latch 2. The engaging portion 21 comprises a transverse bar section 211 and a pair of side sections 212 extending downwardly from opposite sides of the bar section 211. Each side section 212 is formed with a plurality of barbs 2121 on outmost edge thereof. The flat latching portion 22 defines a pair of rectangular holes 221 adjacent to the connecting portion 23, and a pair of claws 222 bending downwardly from opposite sides of the front edge thereof for clasping the complementary connector. The connecting portion 23 comprises a pair of coextensive L-shaped connecting beams 231. The connecting portion 23 also defines a hole therein for adjusting spring force of the latch 2 through changing size and shape of the hole.

[0025] The pusher 3 comprises a rectangular body portion 31, a pivot 32 formed at a substantially middle portion of the body portion 31, a rectangular pressing portion 33 formed at a free end of the body portion 31, and an shaft 34 opposite to the pressing portion 33 relative to the pivot 32.

[0026] The puller 4 made of plastic material comprises a head portion 43, an intermediate portion 41 bending upwardly and extending away from the head portion 43, a pair of hook portions 42 provided at a free end of the intermediate portion 41. The head portion 43 has a resisting portion 430 formed at a front edge thereof, an inclined face 431 connected to the resisting portion 430, a pair of blocks 433 rising from opposite ends of the resisting portion 430, and an indentations 432 defined in the head portion 43.

[0027] The metal shell 5 comprises a top wall 51, a pair of side walls 54 bending downwardly from the top wall 51, a pair of resilient beams 52 formed on the top wall 51. The top wall 51 has four mounting holes 53 defined at four corner portions thereof. The pair of resilient beams 52 respectively has a deformable free end facing toward each other.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 1-3, in assembly of the plug connector 100, the cable 8 is soldered to the circuit board 7. The circuit board 7 together with the cable 8 is partially sandwiched between the upper and lower bases 111, 112. The hook portions 42 of the puller 4 engage with the shaft 34 of the pusher 3 to establish a linkage between the hook portions 42 and the shaft 34. The pusher 3 and the puller 4 are mounted in receiving slot 1111, with the pivot 32 ratatably received in the engaging recess 1112. The shaft 34 and the hook portions 42 are connected with each other via the linkage and are plunged in the retaining recess 1116. The latch 2 is inserted in the receiving slot 111, with the connecting portion 23 plunged in the indentation 432 of the puller 4. In conjunction with FIG. 5, the connection portion 23 is disposed above the resisting portion 430 in a certain distance, with inclined lower surface thereof facing toward the inclined face 431. The side sections 212 are inserted in the insertion recess 1113, and the bar sections 211 together with the connecting portion 23 is restricted from a front-to-back movement. The pair of rectangular holes 221 engage with the pair of protruding tabs 1115.

[0029] The EMI gasket 6 is attached to a front face of the base 11 of the housing 1 for shielding purpose. The metal shell 5 is fixed on the housing 1, with each screw 9 inserted through the mounting hole 53 into the screw hole 1114. The latch 2, the puller 4 and the body portion 32 of the pusher 3 are partially covered by the metal shell 5 and the pressing portion 33 is exposed outside the housing 1.

[0030] FIG. 5 illustrates the plug connector 100 located in a latching position and FIG. 6 illustrates the plug connector 100 located in an unlatching position. A downward pulling force is exerted to the pressing portion 33 of the pusher 3 to actuate the shaft 34 together with the hook portions 42 rotating upwardly around the pivot 32. The resilient beams 52 of the metal shell 5 are upwardly resisted against by the shaft 34 and the hook portions 42. The head portion 43 of the puller 4 rearwardly retreats along the receiving slot 1111, along with the upward movement of the hook portions 42. Simultaneously, the resisting portion 430 comes to contact with the connecting portion 23 and slides along the inclined connecting portion 23 of the latch 2 to move the connecting portion 23. Since the bar section 212 is restricted from the front-to-back movement by the insertion recess 1113, the connection portions 23 have been upheld by the resisting portion 430. In such a process, the inclined connecting portion 23 is attached to the inclined face 431 of the puller 4 and climbs upwardly along the inclined face 431. At the same time, the latching portion 22 together with the claws 222 move upwardly to the released position.

[0031] When the plug connector 100 is located in the unlatching position as shown in FIG. 6, the complementary connector could be mounted onto or removed from the plug connector 100. When the exerted force is released, the resilient beams 52 of the metal shell 5 would provide a resilient restoring force to the shaft 34 and the hook portions 42. The shaft 34 and the hook portions 42 together with the whole latching mechanism 200 revert to the latching position as shown in FIG. 5.

[0032] After the downward pressing force is removed from the pressing portion 33, restoring force of the resilient beams 52 drives the shaft 34 and the hook portions 42 to return to the retaining recess 11116. The resisting portion 430 of the puller 4 moves forwardly to its original position, and thus, the latch 2 also reverts to its original position. At this time, the complementary connector electrically connects with the conductive pads 71 of the circuit board 7, with claws 222 clasping corresponding structure of the complementary connector.

[0033] latching mechanism 20 comprises a pusher 3, a puller 4 and a latch 2 cooperated together to latch or unlatch the complementary connector. When the pusher 3 is depressed, the puller 4 and the latch 2 would be driven automatically. It is easy to drive the whole latching mechanism 20, if only depressing the pusher 3. The claws 222 would latch the complementary connector reliably, since the latch 2 restores itself to the latching position via the resilient restoring force provided by the resilient beams 52 of the metal shell 5.

[0034] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.