GB2219148A

GB2219148A - Electrical connector

Info

Publication number: GB2219148A
Application number: GB8909304A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Taketaro Doi; Tamotsu Yonebayashi
Original assignee: AMP Inc
Current assignee: TE Connectivity Corp
Priority date: 1988-05-25
Filing date: 1989-04-24
Publication date: 1989-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 2009-04-24
Also published as: KR890017830A; GB8909304D0; AU614361B2; JPH01296576A; AU3402989A; JPH053117B2; GB2219148B

Abstract

An electrical connector (10) comprises a dielectric housing (11) having passageways (13) in which contact sections (12a) of electrical contacts (12) are secured, post sections (12b) of the contacts (12) extend outwardly from a rear surface (14) of the housing (11). A stepped support and alignment member (15) has sections (15a, 15b, 15c) provided with holes (16) along which vertical sections of the post sections (12b) extend with upper surfaces of the sections (15a, 15b, 15b) engaging the horizontal sections of the post sections (12b), thereby. The post sections (12b) are thus supported, and the contact sections (12a) retained within the passageways (13) so that the contact sections (12a) do not move backward when the contact sections are mated with a complementary connector and the connector mounted on a printed circuit board. <IMAGE>

Description

ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to an electrical connector having a contact support and alignment member for supporting vertical parts of post sections of electrical contacts that extend outwardly from a dielectric housing and aligning the vertical parts for insertion into holes in a circuit board.

In known electrical connectors for connection to a printed circuit board, electrical contacts are secured in rows of passageways of a dielectric housing and the contacts have post sections that extend outwardly from a rear surface of the housing. The post sections have rows of parallel horizontal sections and rows of parallel vertical sections. The rows of horizontal sections are in alignment with the rows of passageways with the horizontal sections of the upper row being longer than the horizontal sections of the middle row which are in turn longer than the horizontal sections of the bottom row. The rows of vertical sections of the various rows of horizontal sections are likewise of similar construction with the vertical sections of the outermost row being longer than those of the middle row which in turn are longer than those of the innermost row.The post sections are also vertically aligned and the ends are coplanar so as to be inserted into holes in the circuit board for electrical connection thereto.

The post sections are large in number and must be properly aligned for insertion into the respective holes of the circuit board. This is a general problem because they can become misaligned as a result of shipping, handling and other factors which prevents them from being easily inserted into the holes without having to align them. This is especially true if the connectors are to be mounted onto circuit boards by automated insertion equipment.

Moreover, the contact sections of the contacts are frictionally secured in the passageways and they can be pushed outwardly when the contacts are mated with the contacts of a complementary connector which can result in bad electrical connections or possible shorting of contacts.

A planar contact support and alignment member of dielectric material has been used through holes of which the vertical sections of the rows of post sections extend which will maintain the post sections in alignment but it will not prevent the contact sections from being pushed outwardly from their passageways in the housing when the connector is mated with a complementary connector.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-231891 published September 27, 1988 discloses a stepped contact support and alignment member which enables the vertical sections of the post sections to be more easily inserted through the holes of the support member; however, it does not prevent the contact sections form being pushed outwardly from the passageways of the housing when the connector is mated with a complementary connector.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an electrical connector that will eliminate the difficulty of inserting the post sections of the connector in holes in a printed circuit board as well as to maintain the contact sections within the passageways of the housing when the connector is mated with a complementary connector.

According to the present invention, an electrical connector comprises a dielectric housing having rows of passageways; electrical contacts having contact sections and post sections with the contact sections secured in the passageways and the post sections extending outwardly from a rear surface of the housing; the post sections having rows of parallel horizontal sections and rows of parallel vertical sections; the rows of horizontal sections being in alignment with the rows of passageways with the horizontal sections of the upper row and the vertical sections of the outer row being longer than the horizontal and vertical sections of the middle row which are in turn longer than the horizontal and vertical sections of the bottom row, a dielectric support and alignment member having stepped sections has holes along each stepped section through which the vertical sections of the post sections of each row extend and each stepped section engages the upper ends of the vertical sections adjacent the horizontal sections to support the post sections thereby preventing the contact sections from being pushed rearwardly in the passageways and aligning the vertical sections with holes in a printed circuit board for insertion thereinto.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: drawing.

Figure 1 is a perspective and exploded view of an electrical connector and a support and alignment member.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 with the support and alignment member assembled onto the post sections of the electrical contacts.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, an electrical connector 10 comprises a dielectric housing 11 and electrical contacts 12 secured therein. Housing 11 is molded from a suitable dielectric material and has parallel rows of passageways 13 that are aligned horizontally and vertically at a prescribed pitch.

Electrical contacts 12 are stamped and formed in accordance with conventional practice from a suitable metal having the desirable electrical and spring characteristics. Contacts 12 include contact sections 12a disposed within respective passageways 13 and post sections 12b that extend outwardly from a rear surface 14 of housing 11.

Complementary electrical contact sections of a complementary electrical connector are electrically matable with contact sections 12a through openings 13a located in a front surface of housing 11 when connector 10 is electrically conne-ted with the complementary connector. Contact sections 12a are secured in respective passageways 13 via securing sections 12e of contact sections 12a frictionally engaging the wall or walls of passageways 13.

Post sections 12b of contacts 12 include horizontal sections which at bights 12d are bent to right angle vertical sections with the free ends 12c being located in the same plane below the bottom surface of housing 11 so as to be inserted into respective holes in a printed circuit board (not shown) when connector 10 is mounted thereon. The number of post sections 12b are quite large in electrical connectors of this type, thus it is important that the free ends 12c of the rows of post sections 12b be accurately aligned for easy insertion into the holes of the circuit board when the connector 10 is mounted thereon either manually or by automated equipment.

As can be discerned, the horizontal sections of post sections 12b of each row of contacts 12 extend outwardly in alignment with passageways 13 and the horizontal sections of the upper row along with the vertical sections of the outer row of post sections 12b are longer than the horizontal and vertical sections of the post sections 12b of the middle row which are in turn longer than the horizontal and vertical sections of the post sections 12b of the inner row. Thus, the outer, middle and inner vertical sections of post sections 12b of contacts 12 are disposed in parallel rows 12' with free ends 12c thereof being coplanar as shown in Figures 1-3 and the horizontal and vertical sections of post sections 12b and their respective contact sections 12a in passageways 13 of housing 11 are disposed in parallel planes extending through the axeswof vertically aligned passageways 13 of housing 11.

A support and alignment member 15 is molded from a suitable dielectric material and it has a stepped or terraced configuration with sections 15a, 15b, 15c being located at upper, middle and lower staggered positions with section 15a being spaced rearwardly and upwardly relative to sections 15b and 15c respectively. Holes 16 extend through each of sections 15a, 15b, 15c from the top surfaces to the bottom surfaces thereof. The spacing of holes 16 in each of sections 15a, 15b, 15c corresponds to the spacing of the vertical sections of the post sections 12b of the outer, middle and inner rows thereof. Each of holes 16 has a front tapered surface 16a at the entrances thereto which act as guides for guiding free ends 12c of the vertical sections of post sections 12b into holes 16 of support and alignment member 15 when it is positioned onto the vertical sections as shown in Figure 3.Spaced legs 17 extend between sections 15b and 15c and the bottom surfaces thereof and section 15c are coplanar with a bottom rear surface lla of housing 11 which engage an upper surface of the circuit board when the connector 10 is mounted thereon. As shown in Figure 2, the free ends 12c of the outer, middle and inner rows of the vertical sections of post sections 12b are aligned with holes 16 of the sections 15a, 15b and 15c of the support and alignment member 15 which is then moved upwardly so that free ends 12c move into the respective holes 16 and sections 1spa, 15b and 15c move along the respective rows of the vertical sections of post sections 12b until they reach bights 12d as shown in Figure 3.In this position, upper flat surfaces of sections 15a, 15b, 15c engage the respective upper, middle and lower horizontal sections of the post sections 12b while the upper parts of the respective outer, middle and inner vertical sections of the post sections 12b extend along holes 16 thereof.

The support and alignment member 15 supports the horizontal and vertical sections of post sections 12b, maintains the contact sections 12a in their respective passageways thereby preventing the contact sections 12a from being moved rearwardly when mating with complementary contact sections during the connection between connector 10 and the complementary connector and aligns the vertical sections of post sections 12b so that free ends 12c can be easily inserted into the holes in the circuit board.

Support and alignment member 15 is maintained in position on the vertical sections of post sections 12b via frictional engagement of the vertical sections with the walls of selected holes 16. The front surface of section 15c engages with the part of rear surface 14 of housing 11 below the lower row of the horizontal sections of the post sections 12b between mounting sections 18 of housing 11 which include holes 19 through which securing members, e.g. screws or other conventional securing members, pass for securing connector 10 on the circuit board whereafter post sections 12b are electrically connected to the conductive areas of the circuit board. Instead of frictionally securing member 15 onto selected post sections 12b, latching means can be located on mounting sections 18 and member 15.

A support and alignment member has been disclosed for mounting onto post sections of electrical contacts of an electrical connector for supporting vertical and horizontal sections of the post sections, maintaining the contact sections of the electrical contacts in their respective passageways of the housing when the contact sections electrically mate with complementary contact sections of a complementary connector thereby assuring positive electrical connection between the mated contact sections and aligning the vertical sections of the post sections so that free ends of the vertical sections can be easily inserted into holes of a printed circuit board.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An electrical connector for electrical connection to a printed circuit board comprises a dielectric housing having rows of passageways extending from a front surface to a rear surface thereof, electrical contacts having contact sections secured in passageways and post sections extending outwardly from the rear surface, horizontal sections of the post sections extending axially from the passageways and vertical sections of the post sections extending parallel to the rear surface such that free ends of the post sections are disposed in parallel rows and are coplanar, a support and alignment member having holes through which the free ends of the post sections extend, characterized in that:: said support and alignment member is a stepped configuration having sections in each of which the holes thereof have extending therealong the vertical sections of the rows of post sections with the upper surfaces of the sections engaging the horizontal sections of the rows of post sections for supporting the post sections maintaining the contact sections in their passageways and aligning the free ends insertion into holes in the printed circuit board.

2. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that upper entrances of the holes have front tapered surfaces.

3. An electrical connector as claimedin claiml or 2, characterized in that selected holes (16) frictionally engage the vertical sections of the post sections (12b) securing the member (15) thereonto.

4 An electrical connector as claimed in claim l, or3, characterized in that a front surface of said member engages said rear surface (14) of the housing.

5. An electrical connector as claimed in claim 1,2,3 or 4, characterized in that spaced legs extend between said sections and the bottom surfaces of said spaced legs are coplanar with a bottom surface of said housing.

6. An electrical connector for electrical connection to a printed circuit board, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.