JP2003187904A - Card adapter - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a push-push eject mechanism of a memory card with reduced number of parts, reduced cost of parts and assembly cost. <P>SOLUTION: For a card adapter 1 having a push-push eject mechanism 5, the eject mechanism 5 comprises a slider 6 freely sliding in the direction of card insertion, supported at the side part of a card housing part, having a contact part 6e made to simultaneously cooperate when the card is inserted/ pulled out by contacting the top end part of a card; a lock pin 7 of which, a base end part is swaying movement freely supported at the main frame side, and a top end part engages with a circulation cam groove mounted to the slider; and an elastic means 10 interposed between the slider and the main frame, energizing the slider in the card pulling out direction at all times. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a push / push type ejecting mechanism of a memory card in a card adapter that stores a memory card such as a memory stick in a card storage portion and inputs / outputs electrically recorded information. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an eject mechanism of a card adapter, a push-type device provided on a side of a card storage section is used.
There is a push type eject mechanism. In the configuration of the eject mechanism, as an example, a main frame of an insulator that forms a frame of the adapter, a card transport frame that is a card storage portion slidably included in the main frame, and the card transport frame are provided. An elastic means for constantly urging the main frame to eject it, and a base end portion swingably supported on the main frame side and a tip end portion engaged with a heart-shaped cam groove provided on the card carrying frame. It is known that the locking means and the pressing means that urges the tip of the locking means in the groove direction so as not to slip out of the heart-shaped cam groove.

A memory card is inserted into the card carrier frame and the memory card is pushed inward. The card carrying frame is pushed into the inside of the main frame together with the memory card, and is locked positionally at the required pushing position by the locking means engaged with the heart-shaped cam groove.

When the memory card is ejected, the memory card is further pushed so that the tip portion of the locking means circulates in the heart-shaped cam groove and returns to the return path. It is discharged together with the memory card.

[0005]

However, in the eject structure, the card carrying frame and the pressing means are required to increase the number of parts, which complicates the structure and increases the number of assembling steps. The card adapter according to the present invention has been proposed to solve such problems.

[0006]

The gist of the card adapter according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is to push a card into a card storing portion provided in a main frame to store the card, and further to push the card in to store the card. A card adapter having a push-push type eject mechanism that can be attached to and detached from a card storage unit, wherein the ejection mechanism is slidably supported laterally of the card storage unit in a direction along a card insertion / removal direction. In addition, the slider is provided with an abutting portion for abutting against the card front end portion and cooperating at the same time when the card is inserted / removed, and the base end portion is swingably supported on the main frame side, and the front end portion is attached to the slider. A lock pin that engages with a circulating cam groove provided, and the slider that is interposed between the slider and the main frame. Always is that which is composed of a resilient means for urging the card removing direction.

Further, the lock pin is so arranged that the tip of the lock pin does not come out of the circulating cam groove of the slider.
This includes that the position is restricted by the position restricting portion provided on the main frame.

According to the card adapter of the present invention, the eject mechanism for card insertion / removal is composed of three points, that is, the slider, the lock pin and the elastic means, the number of parts is reduced, the parts management is facilitated, and the eject is performed. Assembly of the mechanism is also easy. In addition, by providing the main frame with the position restricting portion for the lock pin, the lock pin is restricted so as not to slip out of the circulation type cam groove of the slider, so that the slip-out prevention member becomes unnecessary and the number of parts is reduced. The Rukoto.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a card adapter 1 according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the card adapter 1 pushes a card 4 (not shown) into a card storage portion 3 provided in a main frame 2 made of a synthetic resin insulator, and stores the card 4.
Has a push-push type eject mechanism 5 capable of removing the card 4 from the card storage portion 3 by releasing the card lock action by pushing in the insertion direction and pushing it back in the card removing direction by the elastic means. It is a card adapter.

The eject mechanism 5 is composed of a slider 6, a lock pin 7, and an elastic means 10 at three points. As shown in FIG. 3, the slider 6 is an elongated rectangular body made of synthetic resin as a whole, and guide protrusions 6a and 6b are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the main body along the entire length in the longitudinal direction. Also, on the outer wall surface on one side of the main body,
A circulation type heart-shaped cam groove 6c is engraved.

In the heart-shaped cam groove 6c, as shown in FIG. 4, the engaging pin tip portion 7a abuts the wall of the central island 8 along a guide groove having a height difference on the bottom surface, It is a known push-push type cam groove that is moved relatively and is position-locked in the recess 8a of the island 8 and then comes out of the recess 8a and returns to the original position. A positioning wall 6d is provided for restricting the position of the slider 6 so that the slider 6 does not come out in the forward direction when the pin tip portion 7a returns to its original position.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a side of the rear end of the slider 6 abuts on the front end of the card so as to cooperate with the card at the same time when the card is inserted or removed. The portion 6e is provided so as to bulge out. In this contact portion 6e,
The corners (the corners are loosely rounded) of the tip of the card 4 inserted into the card storage 3 come into contact with each other.

In this embodiment, a memory stick is assumed as the card 4, but if it is another memory card, the contact portion 6e is formed in conformity with the shape of the corner of the tip portion. Of course. Therefore, when the card is inserted, the slider 6 is also moved backward by the card 4, and when the card 4 is removed, the slider 6 is moved.
This causes the card 4 to move forward.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, on the rear portion of the main body of the slider 6, there is attached a metal lock member 9 made of an elastic material and protruding from the side wall to the card storage portion 3 side. The lock member 9 is fitted into the positioning recess provided on the side wall of the card 4 inserted in the card storage unit 3 by being depressed, and the positioning and the card 4 are pushed laterally (left side). It eliminates backlash and keeps it stable.

Further, a hole 6f opened at the rear end face is formed at the rear end of the slider 6. A coil spring 10, which is an elastic means for constantly biasing the slider 6 forward, is loosely fitted in the hole 6f.

As shown in FIG. 1, the coil spring 10 is interposed between a spring receiving seat provided on the rear end surface of the card storage portion 3 of the frame 2 and the hole 6f of the slider 6. The parts of the eject mechanism 5 are the above three points. To cope with these, on the frame 2 side, the guide projections 6a, 6b of the slider 6 are provided on the upper and lower inner surfaces near the one side wall 3a of the card storage section 3. Guide recesses 3c and 3d are provided in the front-rear direction with a required depth length from the opening.

Further, the side wall 3e on the other side of the card storage unit 3
Forms a part of the card storage portion and abuts and slides on the side surface of the card 4. In this way, the card storage portion 3 is formed by the frame 2, and there is no such thing as a separate card case as in the related art.

On the right side of the side wall 3a on one side of the card storage portion 3, a storage space portion 2a for storing the lock pin 7 is formed as shown in FIGS. The storage space 2a has a wide front area and a narrow rear area. A rear end of the storage space 2a has a base end portion 7b of a lock pin 7 sandwiched between the storage space portion 2a and a position regulation portion 2b that regulates the position so as not to rattle in the left-right direction. Is provided. This is because the tip portion 7a of the lock pin 7 is
This is because the slider 6 is in sliding contact with the bottom surface of the circulating cam groove 6c having a height difference so as not to come out.

In order to assemble the lock pin 7 into the storage space 2a, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 6, the lock pin 7 is erected and the bent portion of the base end 7b thereof is used as the fulcrum hole 2c.
And rotate it by about 90 degrees. At that time, the base end portion 7b
Is inserted into the regulation space formed by the position regulation portion 2b. Then, the tip end portion 7a is once bent to the right, and the tip end portion 7a is opened from the front opening portion to the heart-shaped cam groove 6c of the slider 6 which is incorporated together with the coil spring 10 in the card storage portion 3. It is returned and inserted toward 2d. The tip 7a of the lock pin 7 after assembling oscillates vertically due to the heart-shaped cam groove 6c, but does not move in the left-right direction due to the position restricting portion 2b, and can be pulled out from the heart-shaped cam groove 6c. There is no.

Thus, the three parts of the eject mechanism 5 are assembled in the card storage portion 3 of the main frame 2. A method of using the card adapter 1 of the present invention by the eject mechanism 5 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the card storage unit 3
The card 4 is inserted through the opening 3f. The card 4
Are memory cards such as a memory stick, a compact flash (R), and a PC card. The card 4 is not limited to the recorded information medium, but may be the card storage unit 3.
There is no particular limitation as long as it is a card of a frame shape that can be maintained in the shape and can maintain its shape.

In the initial state when the card 4 is inserted, the positional relationship between the lock pin 7 and the slider 6 having the heart-shaped cam groove 6c is set forward by the coil spring 10 as shown in FIG. 7 (A). The energized slider 6 is
The card is moved forward along the guide recesses 3c and 3d of the card storage portion 3 and stopped at the position where the tip portion 7a abuts on the positioning wall 6d to be positioned.

When the card 4 is further inserted into the card housing portion 3 (rearward), the tip of the card 4 contacts the contact portion 6e of the slider 6 while pushing the lock member 9 laterally. Then, the slider 6 is caused to cooperate with the card 4 and is moved rearward along the guide concave portions 3c and 3d. The slider 6 changes from the state shown in FIG. 7 (A) to the state shown in FIG. 7 (B), and the pin tip portion 7a swings around the base end portion of the lock pin 7 to the right side (shown in FIG. 4). Down to the bottom of the cam groove).

Then, when the operation of manually inserting the card 4 is stopped and the pushing is released, it is returned to the front by the urging force of the coil spring 10, and the pin tip portion 7a is cammed as shown in FIG. 7 (C). The position is locked by being guided by the recess 8a (see FIG. 4) of the groove. In this state, the insertion process of the card 4 is completed, and as shown in FIG. 1, the card 4 is electrically connected to the contact 11 which is press-fitted at the rear end of the card storage unit 3. Further, the convex portion of the lock member 9 is fitted in the concave portion for positioning the card 4, preventing the card member 3 from coming out of the card housing portion 3, and pressing the side wall to stably hold the card 4.

Next, the method of removing the card 4 is to push the card 4 inserted into the card storage portion 3 rearward. Then, as shown in FIG. 7D, the pin tip portion 7a slips out of the recess 8a, goes over the step, and moves to the left (upper vertical direction) cam groove.

When the pushing of the card 4 is released, the slider 6 is pushed back by the urging force of the coil spring 10. Then, the pin tip portion 7a is again provided with the cam groove 6
The slider 6 is positioned by returning to and contacting the positioning wall 6d of c (returning to the state shown in FIG. 7A).
By the forward movement of the slider 6, the card 4 in contact with the contact portion 6e is also pushed forward simultaneously. After that, the card 4 is pulled out forward by hand.

[0027]

As described above, the card adapter according to the present invention is a card adapter having a push-push type eject mechanism, and the eject mechanism is located laterally of the card storage portion along the card insertion / removal direction. The slider is slidably supported in the same direction, and the slider is provided with an abutting part for abutting against the card tip and cooperating at the same time when inserting and removing the card, and the base end is swingable on the main frame side. A lock pin having a tip end engaged with a circulating cam groove provided on the slider,
Since it is composed of the elastic means interposed between the slider and the main frame to constantly urge the slider in the card removing direction, the eject mechanism is composed of only three parts and the number of parts is reduced. Therefore, the cost is reduced and the assembling cost is reduced.

Further, the lock pin is designed so that the tip of the lock pin does not come out of the circulation type cam groove of the slider.
Since the position is regulated by the position regulating portion provided on the main frame, a separate pressing member is not required, the cost of parts is reduced, and the assembly cost is also reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a card adapter 1 according to the present invention, in which front and back covers and a printed circuit board are removed.

FIG. 2 is a rear view (A) of the card adapter 1 according to the present invention with the front and back covers and the printed circuit board and the like removed.
It is a side view (B).

FIG. 3 is a front view (A), a left side view (B), a right side view (C), a plan view (D) and a bottom view (E) of a slider 6 in the card adapter 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of a heart-shaped cam groove 6c of the slider 6.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged plan view of the card adapter 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing an assembled state of the lock pin 7 in the card adapter 1 according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view (A), (B), (C), (D) showing a push-push type ejecting action in the card adapter 1 according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 card adapter, 2 main frame, 2a storage space, 2
b Position restriction part, 2c Hole for fulcrum,
2d opening, 3 card storage,
3a One side wall, 3c, 3d guide recess, 3e Other side wall, 3f
Opening, 4 cards, 5
Eject mechanism, 6 slider,
6a, 6b guide protrusion, 6c heart-shaped cam groove, 6d positioning wall, 6
e Contact part, 6f hole,
7 lock pin, 7a pin tip,
7b base end, 8 islands,
8a recess, 9 lock member, 10 coil spring, 11
contact.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B058 CA02 CA04 CA13 KA24 YA20                 5E021 FA05 FB02 FB18 FC09 FC36                       HA05 HB05 HB16 HC13 HC17                       HC35 HC36 KA03                 5E023 AA04 AA16 AA21 BB19 BB22                       CC26 DD13 DD19 EE07 GG09                       GG14 HH19 HH22

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A card adapter having a push-push type ejecting mechanism capable of pushing a card into a card storing portion provided in a main frame to store the card, and further inserting and removing the card from the card storing portion. The eject mechanism is supported slidably in a direction along the card insertion / extraction direction on the side of the card storage portion and abuts on the card tip end portion for cooperating at the same time when the card is inserted / extracted. A slider provided with a contact portion, a lock pin having a base end portion swingably supported on the main frame side, and a distal end portion engaging with a circulating cam groove provided on the slider, the slider and the main frame And elastic means for always urging the slider in the card removing direction by interposing between
A card adapter characterized by being configured from. 2. The position of the lock pin is restricted by a position restricting portion provided on the main frame so that the tip of the lock pin does not come out of the circulating cam groove of the slider. The card adapter described in 1.