CA1078037A - Electrical connector for a substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A connector for an edge board or the like comprising an elongated body having an elongated backer frame secured thereto. The body has opposite ends, and upper and lower ends. The body is provided with inner and outer walls which define a card slot extending downwardly therebetween from the upper end thereof. The inner wall has a first side which is positioned adjacent the card slot and a second side disposed opposite thereto. Each of the first and second sides of the inner wall have a plurality of aligned and spaced apart contact slots formed therein. The lower end of the body has a plurality of V-shaped slots formed therein which extend upwardly therein and which are aligned with alternate contact slots. The backer frame has opposite ends, and upper and lower ends. The backer frame also has an inner wall surface positioned closely adjacent the second side of the body inner wall and has its upper end extending over the upper end of the body inner wall. The lower end of the backer frame has a plurality of V-shaped slots formed therein which extend up-wardly therein and which are aligned with alternate contact slots. The V-shaped slots of the body define V-shaped pro-jections therebetween. The V-shaped slots of the backer frame also define V-shaped projections therebetween which are-adapted to be received in the V-shaped slots of the body with the V-shaped projections of the body being received by the V-shaped slots of the backer frame. Means is provided to limit the extension of the V-shaped projections into the V-shaped slots. Contacts are mounted in predetermined con-tact slots in the inner wall second side and have upper ends which extend over the upper end of the body inner wall and extend downwardly into the card slot for electrical con-tact with the card positioned therein. The lower ends of the contacts extend downwardly through the V-shaped slots and extend downwardly from the body and backer frame. During the assembly of the connector, one end of the body and one end of the backer frame may be cut to provide the proper length connector. A modified form of the connector is also disclosed.

Description

~l~his application is a division of Canadian Serial No. :
- 269,290, filed January 7, 1977.
~Sany sizes ahd styles if Digital Readout Display Devices are used in calculators, etc. Common types of Digital ~.eadout Display Devices are liquid crystal and gas : discharge tube displays. The liquid crystal displays as well as the gas discharge tube displays are available in an extremely :
wide range of lengths, thicknesses, and contact densities.

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It is therefore virtually impossible to select any one or group of devices by which to establish a market base for standard product line tooling justification. Thus, as -specific potential applications are established, the only alternative to a manufacturer is to "custom design".
With tooling charges being extremely highS the tooling charges become a prohibiting factor in the use of such dis-plays in either prototype or ultimate production systems.
Therefore, it is a principle object of the in-vention to provide a connector which is adaptable to various physical and mechanical problem~ normally encountered in Digital Readout Display Devices.
A further object of the invention is to provide a connector which may be easily fabricated in various lengths.
A still further ob~ect of the invention is to provide a connector which is capable of accommodating different card widths.
' A still further ob~ect of the invention is to pro-vide a connector which permits a variety of contact density and spacing, A further object of the invention is to provide a connector including index registration features.
A still further ob~ect of the invention is to pro-vide a connector including means for mounting the same.
A still further ob~ect of the invention is to pro-vide a connector which is economical to manufacutre, durable ¦in use and refined in appearance.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure l is an exploded perspective view of the connector together with a typical display device and means for mounting the same.
Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the connector of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view seen on lines 3 - 3 of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view seen on lines 4 - 4 of Figure 1.
Fig'ure 5 is a partial plan view illustrating the manner ln which the backer frame is secured to the body. -,~ Figure 6 ls a sectional view seen on lines 6 - 6 ~ of Figure 4.
;.j!,'~ Figure 7 is a partial perspective view of the ., .
~,, connector.

~i Figure 8 ls an exploded perspective view of a motifled form of the connector.
' Figure 9 is a perspective view of the assembled connector of Flgure 8, and Figure 10 is sn enlarged sectlonal view seen on lines 10 - 10 of Figure 9.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
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'~ The connector of this lnvention is referred to ;~ generally by the reference number 10 in Figures 1 - 7.

Connector 10 generally comprises an elongated body 12 and !, an elongated backer frame 14. For purposeS` of description, body 12 will be described as comprising opposite ends 16 and .

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` ~78037 18, top 20 and bottom 22. Body 12 is provided with inner and outer walls 24 and 26 respectively which define a card slot 28 extending downwardly therebetween from the upper ends thereof.
Inner wall 26 has an inner side 30 which is posi-tioned adjacent the card slot and an outer side 32. The inner and outer sides of the inner wall 26 have a plurality of aligned and spaced-apart contact slots 34 formed therein.
In other words, contact slots are provided in the outer side of inner wall 26 which extend over the top of wall 26 and which continue on in the inner side 30 of wall 26. The lower end of outer side 32 of wall 26 is defined by a shoulder 36 extending towards outer wall Z4 seen in the drawings. A
plurality of V-shaped slots 38 are formed in the lower end of body 12 as seen in Figure 5. The V-shaped slots 38 communi-cate with alternate slot 34 as also seen in Figure 5. The slots 38 are defined by projections 40. Each of the pro-jections 40 is provided with shoulders 42 for a purpose to be described in more detail hereinafter. End 16 is provided with a dove-tail flange 44 which is adapted to be received by a metal clip 46 for mounting purposes. Slot 48 extends downwardly into the upper end of body 12 adjacent end 16 and is adapted to receive one end of a spring clip 50. As seen in Figure 3, the lower end of card slot 28 is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart ribs 52 which are adapted to support the lower end of the edge board generally referred to by the reference numeral 54. The inner surface of outer wall 24 is provided with a plurality of spaced-apart ribs 56, the thickness of which control the width of the card slot 28.
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~` 1078037 Backer frame 14 includes opposite ends 58 and 60, and upper and lower ends 62 and 64. Backer frame 14 in- -cludes an outer wall surface 66 having an inwardly extend-ing flange 68 at the upper end thereof. Backer frame 14 is also provided with an inwardly extending flange 70 at its lower end which has a plurality of V-shaped slots 72 formed therein defining V-shaped projections 74 therebetween.
The V-shaped projections 74 are provided with shoulders 76 which are adapted to interference fit with the shoulders 10 42 on the projections 40 of body 12 as illustrated in Figure 6 for purposes of ultrasonic welding. Backer frame 14 is provided with a dove-taile flange 78 at end 60 and is provided with a slot 80 extending downwardly thereinto from the upper end thereof adjacent end 60. Backer frame 14 is also provided with a plurality of energy directors or contacts 81 adapted to provide a means for welding or , connecting backer frame 14 to body 12.
;~ The numeral 82 refers to contacts which are posi-,~ tioned between the body 12 and backer frame 14 and which i 20 generally include an arcuate upper end portion 84 and a ¦ shoulder or offset portion 86. Figure 2 illustrates the contact springs 82 having their lower ends joined by a strip 88 but it should be noted that this is for fabrication and assembly purposes only since the strip 88 is severed from the contacts 82 after the connection has been assembled.
The strip 88 and the contacts 82 thereon are commonly re-ferred to as a contact frame. In Figure 2, a pair of contact ~ frames are illustrated but it should be understood that a c~ single contact frame could be employed. It should also be ~ 30 understood that either or both contact frames may have select-1~ . .
ed contacts omitted to produce a varied selection of contact patterns and densities.
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-` 1078037 The connector 10 of Figures 1 - 7 is assembled as follows. The body 12 and the backer frame 14 have a closed end and an open end. That is, the closed end of body 12 is end 16 while the end 18 is considered as an open end while end 60 of backer frame 14 is the closed end with the end 58 being the open end. Ordinarly, the body 12 and the backer frame 14 would be molded so as to have a length of slightly over six inches. Such a length permits the body 12 and backer frame 14 to be cut to the desired length to accommodate any substrate or card length ranging from 1.0 inches to 6.0 inches. In other words, after the sub-strate length has been determined, the open end of body 12 (end 18) and the open end of backer frame 14 (end 58) would be cut to the desired length. The slots 34 in body 12 are .050 inches apart which permits the contact density or spacing to be either .050 inches centers or .100 inches centers by simply omitting one of the contact frames. If a contact density of .050 inches is desired, the two contact !. frames would be mounted on the body 12 so that the contacts are received in each of the slots 34 with the arcuate portions 84 of the springs extending over the top of the upper end of the wall 26 as illustrated in Figure 4. Frame 14 is then ' attached to body 12 in the manner illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7 so that the contacts 82 are positioned between the registering projections 40, 74 and V-shaped notches 38 and ! 72 as illustrated in Figure 6. The contacts 82 limit the inward movement of backer frame 14 relative to body 12. As stated, the shoulders 42 and 76 provide an interference fit for ultrasonic welding purposes. The positioning spring 50 ' 30 is mounted in either of the openings 48 or 80 to provide positive index registration (that dimension from one edge , ~ - 8 -.

` 1078037 (left or right) to the center line of the first connecting pad of the pads 90 on card 54 -- the manner in which the devices are manufactured) from either the right or left end.
The positioning spring 48 urges the card 54 to either the right or left end of the device so that positive indexing is provided between the arcuate portions of the contacts and the connecting pads 90.
The connector 10 may accommodate cards or substrates of various width by simply varying the thickness of ribs 56.
This can be easily done in the conventional molding operation without a special die or pattern for the member 12. The same backer frame 14 is utilized regardless of slot width. When the backer frame 14 has been positioned relative to the body 12, the backer frame 14 is secured to the body 12 by ultrasonic welding.
It can be seen in Figure 4 that the vertical portion of contact 82 is permitted some lateral deflection relative ;~ to wall 26 due to the construction thereof to permit the card 54 to be inserted into the connector in such a manner so as to require lower initial insertion forces, thus protecting the glass of edgeboard 54. The arcuate portion 84 is then deflected and compressed to provide maximum obtainable individual contact pressure for optimum contact resistance.
This feature is best described as bein~ a dual-deflection ` mode of contact.
I Thus it can be seen that the connection 10 has many ¦~ advantages over the heretofore available devices. The thermo-¦~ plastic material is easily cut to length with the "cut-off"
portions being able to be reground and reused or recycled.
The body and backer frame are easily cut to the necessary length and are adaptable for various contact spacing and '~

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10'78037 density thereby greatly reducing the required inventory and substantially reducing the requirements of "custom design".
Thus it can be seen that the connector 10 accomplishes at least all of the stated objectives.
Figures 8 - 10 illustrate a modified form of the connector referred to generally by the reference numer-al 100. Connector 10 is designed to accommodate those sub-strates or cards having connecting pads on both sides of the lower edge thereof. Connector 100 is comprised of identical frame members 102 and 102'. Frame 102 includes -a closed end 104 and an open end 106 while frame member 102 is provided with a closed end 104' and an open end 106'. Frame members 102 and 102' are provided with mount-ing holes 108 and 108' formed therein to facilitate the -attachment of the device to a suitable mounting surface.
If desired, the mounting openings could extend at right angles to those illustrated and such mounting holes are illustrated by bro~en lines in Figures 8 and 9.
A U-shaped body insert 110 is positioned be-tween the frame members 102 and 102' as illustrated in the drawings and has a pair of walls 112 and 114 having spaced-apart slots 116 and 118 formed therein as illustrated.
Frame members 102 and 102' are provided with inwardly ex-tending flanges 120 and 120'. Contacts 122 and 124 are received by the contact slots 116 and 118 respectively so that the arcuate portions 126 and 128 extend into the card slot area referred to generally by the refer-' ence numeral 130.
The open ends 106 and 106' of the connector 100 are cut to the desired length as in connector 10 and the connector is assembled and secured by ultrasonic weld-ing. After welding, the strips 132 and 132 may be cut 1`
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from the lower ends of the contacts 122 and 124. As seen in Figure 10, the arcuate portions 126 and 128 may be deflected to the positions illustrated by broken lines to facilitate the insertion of the card or substrate therein which reduces the amount of insertion pressure normally required. Such deflection is permitted by the spacing of thè walls 112 and 114 from the frame members 102 and 102' . as seen in Figure 10.
The contact spacing and density may be varied as required depending upon the particular card or sub-strate being accommodated.
The connection 100 accomplishes all of the re- .
sults accomplished by connection 100 with the additional ~::
feature of being able to accommodate those substrates or ` cards having connecting pads on opposite sides of the lower ; ends thereof. Thus it can be seen that the connector of .I this invention accomplishes at least all of the stated obJectives.

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1.
A connector for a substrate, comprising, a first elongated frame member having first and second ends, a second elongated frame member having first and second ends, each of said frame members having a plurality of intermittently and closed arranged slots and projections which engage respective projections and slots in the other of said frame members to determine the longitudinal position of said frame members with respect to each other, the first ends of said frame members extending laterally toward the other of said frame members and abutting the second end of the other of said frame members, whereby the second ends of said frame members can be selectively trimmed to create first and second frame members of equal length, and whereby connectors of predetermined length can be created from a pair of such trimmed first and second frame members, an elongated slot opening in said connector for receiving an edgeboard, and electrical contacts in said elongated slot for effecting electrical connection to an edgeboard, said contacts extending exteriorally from said connector.

2.
The connector of claim 1 wherein said contacts exit said connector through said slots and projections of said first and second members.

3.
The connector of claim 1 wherein said contacts have an elongated portion and an arcuate portion, and said contacts are in communication with said elongated slots, whereby initial penetration of an edgeboard into said slot will deflect the elongated portion of said contacts, and complete penetration of said edgeboard in said elongated slot will deflect the arcuate portion of said contacts.