GB2112589A

GB2112589A - A jack plug socket

Info

Publication number: GB2112589A
Application number: GB08235097A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Masami Kuwabara
Original assignee: HOLSIDEN ELECTRONIC CO Ltd
Current assignee: HOLSIDEN ELECTRONIC CO Ltd
Priority date: 1981-12-11
Filing date: 1982-12-09
Publication date: 1983-07-20
Also published as: JPS6121816Y2; HK23987A; JPS5888783U; KR860003418Y1; GB2112589B; KR840003446U

Abstract

A jack plug socket comprises a housing (1), a plurality of jack plug contact pieces (11, 13, 15) and a plurality of switches. The contact pieces (11, 13, 15) contact a jack plug (P) when the jack plug (P) is fully inserted into the socket and the switches are adapted to be operated by the insertion of a jack plug (P) into the socket. The jack plug socket also has a cover (31) formed of an electrically insulating material and which is removably attached to the housing (1). The terminals (11d, 15c,) of the contact pieces (11, 13, 15) and switches pass through the cover (31) at positions spaced apart from the housing (1). A supplementary switch (30) which is adapted to be operated by movement of at least one of the contact pieces (15) resulting from insertion of jack plug (P) into the socket is supported by the cover (32). The cover (32) and associated supplementary switch (30) can readily be removed and replaced by a cover which does not have an associated supplementary switch. Reduced manufacturing costs and versatility of application can be achieved. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A jack plug socket The present invention relates to a jack plug socket.

In order to conform with recently developed devices of various types and to improve the range of application, jack plug sockets are now being manufactured so as to incorporate within a housing not only the jack plug contact pieces which contact a jack plug inserted into the socket, but also a plurality of changeover switches which are adapted to form switching operations in accordance with the insertion and removal of a jack plug from the socket.

The manufacturers of jack plug sockets are therefore faced with a demand for a variety of jack plug sockets in which the number and arrangement of change-over switches provided within the socket differs between various applications. However, if a specific jack plug socket is designed and manufactured to meet the requirements of the various appiications, then manufacturing costs become prohibitively high.

With a view to mitigating this disadvantage the present invention provides a jack plug socket comprising; a housing, a plurality of jack plug contact pieces which contact a jack plug when the jack plug is fully inserted into the socket, a plurality of switches adapted to be operated by insertion of a jack plug into the socket, a cover formed of an electrically insulating material and removably attached to the housing such that terminals of the contact pieces and switches pass through the cover at positions spaced apart from the housing, and a supplementary switch which is adapted to be operated by movement of at least one of the contact pieces resulting from insertion of a jack plug into the socket and which is supported by the cover.

A supplementary switch is therefore provided and the cover which is removably attached to the jack plug socket housing can guide the terminals of the contact pieces and switches in order to ensure that their relative alignment is maintained. Replacement of the cover permits the supplementary switch to be added or removed from the jack plug socket, as desired. Consequently, the provision of a jack plug socket containing the switches suitable for a specific application can easily be provided. A relatively limited number of standard components are produced by the jack plug socket manufacturer and yet at the same time a relatively large number of jack plug socket configurations can be achieved.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings; in which Figure 1 is a perspective exploded view of a jack plug socket, Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of an assembled version of the jack plug socket of Fig. 1, Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section corresponding to Fig. 2 and illustrating a jack plug fully inserted into the socket, Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken along the line X-X' in Fig. 2, Figure 5 illustrates a circuit diagram of a device incorporating a jack plug socket, and Figure 6 is a perspective view of a cover which does not include a supplementary switch.

As shown in the drawings, the jack plug socket has a jack plug housing 1. The housing 1 has an open rear end and is formed of an electrically insulating resin. The front of the housing 1 has a hollow cylindrical projection 2 which projects from the front wall 1 a of the housing 1. A jack plug is inserted into the jack plug socket via the cylindrical projection 2. A metallic sleeve 3 is fitted on the inside of the hollow cylindrical projection 2. A ground contact piece 11 is provided within the housing 1 and is adapted to contact the ground electrode portion P1 of a jack plug P inserted into the jack plug socket. The ground contact piece 11 has a rectangular shaped main portion 1 a which is press fitted, at the lateral edges thereof, into grooves 1 2 provided in the housing 1.The main portion 11 a has a tongue portion 11 b extending from its front edge and has tips 11 c curved in a dog-leg shape. The tips 1 1c are located in the cylindrical projection 2. The main portion 1 1a also has a terminal portion 11 d projecting at a right angle from the rear end of the main portion 11a.

A ring contact piece 1 3 is provided within the housing 1 and is adapted to contact a ring electrode portion P2 of the jack plug P. The ring electrode portion P2 constitutes one channel electrode of the jack plug P. The ring contact piece 1 3 has a rectangular shaped main portion 1 3a which is press fitted at its lateral edges into grooves 14 in the housing 1. A tongue 1 3c is punched out of the main portion 1 3a so as to extend in a downward and rearward direction from the front end of the main portion 1 3a. In addition, the main portion 1 3a has a terminal portion 1 3d extending at right angles from the rear of the main portion.

A tip contact piece 1 5 is also disposed within the housing 1. The tip contact piece 1 5 is adapted to contact a tip electrode P3 of the jack plug P, the electrode P3 constituting the other channel electrode of the jack plug P.

Similar to the ground contact piece 11, the tip contact piece 1 5 has a rectangular shaped main portion 1 spa which is press fitted, at its lateral edges, into grooves 1 2 in the housing 1. A tongue 1 sub is punched out from the main portion 1 spa so as to extend in an upward and rearward direction from the front end of the main portion 15a. Additionally, the main portion 15a has a terminal 1 sic project ing from its rear end and at right angles thereto.

The ground contact piece 11 and the tip contact piece 1 4 are both press fitted into the same grooves 1 2 within the housing 1. How ever, the ground contact piece 11 is located towards the front of the housing 1 and the tip contact piece 15 is located towards the rear of the housing 1 and consequently the contact pieces 11 and 15 are separated from each other.

A pair of contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 are disposed on respective lateral sides of the housing 1. The switches 1 6 and 1 7 perform switching operations when activated by the insertion or removal of the jack plug P.

The contact switch 1 6 has a change-over contact piece 18, a make contact piece 1 9 and a break contact piece 20. The contact piece 1 8 has a rectangular shaped main por tion 1 8a which is press fitted, at its lateral edges, into grooves (not shown) in the hous ing 1. The main portion 1 8a has a tongue 18b which extends in a forward direction from the centre of the main portion 18a, at a predetermined angle. The tongue 1 8b is provided at its free end with a contact 1 8c which is disposed in a different plane from that of the tongue 18b. The rear side of the contact 1 8c is provided with a separator 1 8d which is formed of an insulating material.The main portion 18a is also provided with a terminal portion 1 8e which projects from the lower edge of the main portion 18a.

The make contact 1 9 has a rectangular shaped main portion 1 8 which is press fitted, at its lateral edges, into grooves (not shown) in the housing 1. The main portion 1 9a has a tongue 1 9c which extends from its front end.

The tip of the tongue 1 9c is forked into two branches and turned in a dog-leg shape, thus forming contacts 1 9b. When the jack plug P is not inserted a predetermined distance is maintained between the contacts 1 9b and the contact 1 8c of the change-over contact piece 1 8. When the jack plug P is inserted, the contacts 1 9b and 1 8c come into contact with each other.

The main portion 1 9a of make contact 1 9 has a terminal 1 9d projecting from its lower rear edge.

The break contact piece 20 has a rectangular shaped main portion 20a which has a notch groove 1 Ob in the front centre thereof.

Contacts 20c are formed on and under the notch groove 20b. The main portion 20a is press fitted, at its lateral edges, into grooves (not shown) in the housing 1. The main portion 20a has a terminal portion 20d projecting from the front lower edge of the main portion.

Similar to the contact switch 16, the other contact switch 1 7 comprises a change-over contact piece 25, a make contact piece 26 and a break contact piece 27. Each of the contact pieces 25, 26 and 27 have respective shapes which are symmetrical with respect to those of the change-over contact piece 18, the make contact piece 1 9 and the break contact piece 20 of the contact switch 1 6.

The reference numerals used in relation to contact switch 1 7 correspond to those used for the contact switch 1 6 and therefore a detailed of the components of the contact switch 1 7 is omitted.

The open rear end 1 d of the housing 1 is closed by a resin cover 32 which includes at the rear end a switch case 31 which houses a supplementary switch 30.

The cover 32 has a base portion 37 and vertically disposed therefrom a partition wall 33 which partitions the housing from the supplementary switch 30. The partition wall 33 has a slit 34 through which the inside of the housing 1 communicates with the inside of the switch case 31. The partition wall 33 has, at the upper end thereof, engagement projections 35. The cover 32 may be removably attached to the housing 1 in such a way that the engagement projections 35 are fitted into engagement holes 36 in the top surface of the housing 1, and engagement projections 36 at the lateral edges of the base portion 37 are engaged with engagement grooves 38.

The engagement grooves 38 are provided in engagement walls 1 c which are integral with and extend from the lateral walls of the housing 1.

The base portion 37 of the cover 32 has through holes 39, through which the terminals of the respective contact pieces mentioned above, pass. Alignment of the terminals may be assured by passing the terminals through the holes 39. Namely, the base portion 37 of the cover 32 may be held at a position spaced by a predetermined distance from the bottom wall 1 d of the housing 1, with the base portion 37 engaged with the engagement walls 1 c which extend from the lateral walls of the housing 1. The respective terminals which project from the bottom wall 1 d pass through the holes 39 in the base portion 37 and are supported by the cover 32, thus, the respective terminals are aligned at a predetermined position, thereby facilitating attachment of the jack plug socket to a printed circuit board or the like.

The supplementary switch 30 has a changeover contact piece 40, a make contact piece 41, a break contact piece 42 and a separator 43. The separator 43 is made of insulating material and is disposed between the changeover contact piece 40 and the break contact piece 42.

The change-over contact piece 40 has a rectangular shaped main portion 40a and a tongue 40b extends from the lower edge of the main portion 40a. The tongue 40b is turned so as to have an L-shape section. The tongue 40b has a T-shape contact 40c formed at the tip thereof. The main portion 40a is fitted at its lateral edges into grooves 44 in the inner lateral walls of the switch case 31. The tongue 40b projects into the inside of the housing 1 through the slit 34. The main portion 40a has a terminal portion 40d extending from one side thereof and projecting from the bottom of the switch case 31.

Make contact piece 41 has a rectangular shaped main portion 41a and a tongue 41b extending from the lower side thereof. A Tshape contact 41c is formed at the tip of the tongue 41b. The main portion 41a is fitted at its lateral edges into grooves 45 in the inner lateral walls of the switch case 31. The tongue 41b projects into the housing 1 through the slip 34 and the contact 41c faces the contact 40c of the change-over contact piece 40 with a predetermined space provided therebetween. A terminal 41d extends from the lower edge of the main portion 41a and projects from the bottom of the switch case 31.

Break contact piece 42 has a rectangular shaped main portion 42a and a tongue 42b extending from the lower edge thereof and at right angles thereto. The tip of the tongue 42b is forked into two branches, the tips of which are turned downwards so as to form contact 42c. The main portion 41a is fitted at its lateral edges into grooves (not shown) in the inner lateral walls of the switch case 31.

The tongue 42d projects into the housing 1 through the slip 34 and the contacts 42c come into contact with the contact 40c of the change-over contact piece 40. A terminal portion 42d extends from one side of the main portion 42a and projects from the bottom of the switch case 31.

The separator 43 has a base portion 43a which also acts as lid means for closing the upper opening 31 of the switch case 31. An operating portion 43b extends from the lower side of the base portion 43a so as to have an L-shape section. The operating portion 43b has a column shaped projection 43c at its tip or operating end. The projection 43c has a semi-circular top made of the same insulating material as that of the separator 43. The operating portion 43b projects into the inside of the housing 1 through the slot 34 and the operating end or projection 43c comes into contact with the rear side of the tongue 15b of the tip contact piece 1 5.

When the plug P is inserted into the jack plug socket and the tip electrode portion P3 of the plug P presses the tongue 15b, the tongue 15b is moved downwards and the operating portion 43b is also therefore moved downwards. The contact 40c of the changeover contact piece 40 disengages from the contact 42c of the break contact piece 42 and comes into contact with the contact 41c of the make contact piece 41.

The operating portion 43b of the separator 43 has a notch 47 which has a semicircular section. The notch 47 is provided in the side of the operating portion 43b adjacent the end of the base portion 43a, thus increasing the resilience of the operating portion 43b. Base portion 43a of the separator 43 is provided at the front wall thereof with a pair of engagement portions 48. When the cover 42 is engaged with the housing 1, the engagement portions 48 are acted upon at the upper ends thereof by the edge of the rear side opening of the housing 1. This prevents the supplementary switch 30 constituted by the contact pieces 40, 41 and 42 and the separator 43 from inadvertant removal from the switch case 31.

Such an arrangement facilitates the attachment and removal of the supplementary switch 30, since the supplementary switch is disposed on the cover 32 which is removably attached to the housing 1. When the supplementary switch 30 is not required, the housing 1 may be closed at its rear side opening 1 b by a cover 100 having no supplementary switch, as shown in Fig. 6, instead of the cover 32.

Consequently, a manufacturer of jack plug sockets need only manufacture a relatively small number of standard components in order to provide a larger number of final jack plug socket configurations. That is, the jack plug housing 1 incorporating contact pieces (ground pieces 11, ring contact pieces 1 3 and tip contact pieces 15) and switches (contact switches 16, 17) is provided as a standard unit. Covers 32 having supplementary switches 30 and covers 100 having no supplementary switch are provided as separate standard components. The cover attached to the housing 1 is selected in accordance with the desired application for the jack plug socket.

The use of standard components enables manufacturing costs to be reduced.

The cover 32 is attached to the housing 1 during the final stage of jack plug socket assembly. Alternatively, it is possible for the manufacturers to supply the jack plug socket bodies and the required number of each type of cover in accordance with an order from a user for a particular application.

The supplementary switch 30 is constructed so that the respective main portions 40a, 41a, 42a and 43a of the contact pieces 40, 41, 42 and the separator 43 are housed in the switch case 31. Only the respective operating portions, which are turned in an L-shaped manner project to the outside of the switch case 31 through the slit 34 in the partitioning wall 33. This construction facilitates attachment of the cover 32 to the housing 1 and the attachment and removal of the supplementary switch 30 is therefore particularly simple.

The contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 are disposed with their operating ends or separators 18d and 25d located adjacent the plug inserting port in a plug inserting path 60. The supplementary switch 30 is disposed with its operating end or projection 43c located in contact with the rear side of the tip contact piece 1 5. This construction ensures a time lag in change-over timing between the contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 and the supplementary switch 30. That is, when the plug P is inserted the contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 first perform a change-over operation and then the supplementary switch 30 performs a change over operation.When the plug P is removed, the supplementary switch 30 is the first to perform a change-over operation and the contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 subsequently perform change-over operations.

The above described embodiment can be used, for example to receive a jack plug attached to a head phone as may be required for a portable radio and cassette tape recorder. This particular application greatly benefits by the use of the described jack plug socket since if the head phone is used for monitoring recording, no howling takes place on the insertion and removal of the jack plug due to the described lag in switching times.

Fig. 5 is a example of the connection diagram for such an application.

The outputs terminals of amplifiers R and L are respectively connected to the break contact pieces 20 and 27 of the contact switches 1 6 and 1 7. The change-over contact pieces 18 and 25 of the contact switches 16 and 17 are respectively connected to speakers 50 and 51. The break contact pieces 20 and 27 are respectively connected to the tip contact piece 1 5 and the ring contact piece 15 through attenuator resistors R1 and R2. Lead terminals for releasing a muting operation is a muting circuit 52 are respectively connected to the change-over contact piece 40 and the break contact piece 42 of the supplementary switch 30.

The operation of the circuit illustrated in Fig. 5 will now be described.

When recording commences the recording button is pressed and the muting circuit 52 is simultaneously operated. Subsequently, the amplifier outputs become zero. When the head phone plug P is inserted into the housing 1, the contact switches 1 6 and 1 7 first perform a switching operation to break the speaker circuits and thereby switch the outputs of the amplifiers R and L to the head phone. Subsequently, the supplementary switch 30 performs a switching operation which is used to release the muting operation of the muting circuit 52. The monitor outputs of the amplifiers R and L are therefore supplied to the head phone. During this operation, there is no possibility of howling occuring when the plug is inserted since the break operation in the speaker circuit is performed before the muting release operation.When the plug P is removed the speaker circuit is connected after the muting operation has been reset, and therefore no howling occurs.

The operating end of the supplementary switch 30 is located at the rear side of the tip contact piece 15 and, with the tip electrode P3 of the jack plug in contact with the tip contact piece 15, the supplementary switch 30 biasses the tip contact piece 15 towards the tip electrode P3. This biassing is due to the inherent resilience in the supplementary switch 30 or the resilience of its change-over contact piece 40 and make contact piece 41.

Such an arrangement enhances the contact between the tip contact piece 15 and the tip electrode P3 and helps prevent the jack plug from being inadvertently removed from the jack plug socket.

The described jack plug socket avoids the necessity of disposing a coil spring or other means at the rear side of the tip contact piece 1 5 as is usual with conventional jack plug sockets. The inherent resilience of the supplementary switch 30 replaces the biassing conventionally provided by a coil spring or the like. The special component required by conventional jack plug sockets is avoided and a jack plug socket incorporating a supplementary switch can be economically manufactured.

Fig. 6 illustrates a cover 100 which does not carry a supplementary switch 30. The cover 100 may conventionally have a cylindrical member 103 projecting from a base portion 102 of the cover 100. A coil spring 101 is inserted into the cylindrical member 103.

The tip contact piece 15 has its tongue 15b acted upon by one end of the coil spring 101.

The resiliency of the tip contact piece 15 is thus ensured by the coil spring 101.

Claims

1. A jack plug socket comprising: a housing, a plurality of jack plug contact pieces which contact a jack plug when the jack plug is fully inserted into the socket, a plurality of switches adapted to be operated by insertion of jack plug into the socket, a cover formed of an electrically insulating material and removably attached to the housing such that terminals of the contact pieces and switches pass through the cover at positions spaced apart from the housing, and a supplementary switch which is adapted to be operated by movement of at least one of the contact pieces resulting from insertion of a jack plug into the socket and which is supported by the cover.

2. A jack plug socket as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plurality of switches and the supplementary switch each comprise a respec tive change-over contact piece, a respective make contact piece and a respective break contact piece, the change-over contact piece contacting the respective break contact piece when a jack plug is not inserted in the jack plug socket and contacting the respective make contact piece when a jack plug is fully inserted into the jack plug socket.

3. A jack plug socket as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the jack plug socket housing and the cover are formed of a resin.

4. A jack plug socket as claimed in any preceding claim in combination with recording apparatus.

5. A combination as claimed in claim 4 in which the recording apparatus comprises a muting circuit and in which the or each loud speaker of the recording apparatus is connected to a respective one of the plurality of switches and in which the muting circuits connected to the supplementary switch, whereby the loudspeaker or loudspeakers are rendered inoperative before the muting circuit is rendered inoperative, upon insertion of a jack plug into the jack plug socket.

6. A jack plug socket substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompany drawings.

7. A jack plug socket in combination with recording apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.