JP3264585B2 - Card connector with eject mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector for a card, and more particularly to a connector for a memory card with an eject mechanism provided with a mechanism for ejecting (ejecting) a stored card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been an increasing need for interfaces with external circuits in high-performance computers and communication-related devices. In particular, a memory card is a typical example. The memory card contains external memory and data used for computer processing and, when used, is electrically interconnected with internal circuitry via electrical connectors.

One example of a conventional card connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-82141 and drawings filed by the present applicant. The card connector has a frame for accommodating the card, and a connector portion electrically connected to the accommodated card. The connector section interconnects the card and the circuit on the printed circuit board, while the frame section is mounted on the printed circuit board and connected to its ground circuit. The card connector has an ejection mechanism as needed. The eject mechanism includes an operation rod slidable in the card insertion direction, and a cam bar cooperating with the operation rod. When the operating rod is slid, the cam bar pivots with respect to the frame to push and eject the card.

[0004]

By the way, the ejector mechanism of the card connector described above can be moved within the sliding range when the card is not inserted, since the operation stick is not particularly fixed. Therefore, when it is attached to a portable position such as a notebook computer, noise is generated due to vibration. Further, when the buttons of the operation stick are disposed substantially coplanar with the outer surface of the housing, in the ejector mechanism as described above, the operation stick moves and the button enters the back,
There is a possibility that foreign matter may enter through the button opening formed in the housing, which is not preferable.

In order to solve these problems, an ejecting mechanism in which an elastic member, for example, a spring biases the operating rod toward the front, that is, the side of the button, is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Nos. 1-132074 and 2-41378. It is described in. However, these ejector mechanisms require a sliding guide structure for an operating rod biased by a spring, so that the ejector mechanism is required to be wider and more compact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a card connector having an operation rod which is biased by a spring and having a compact eject mechanism.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a car
A frame for accommodating the door, and an eject mechanism,
Turning the eject mechanism, an elastic spring, and the operating rod slidably mounted along one side surface of the urging of Sorcerer previous SL frame forward by the resilient spring, in cooperation with the manipulation rod
It is possible to engage with the card when the operation stick slides.
In combined and eject <br/> preparative card connector with a mechanism having a cam bar for discharging the card, the operating rod, the front
A button, a rearwardly projecting portion extending outwardly away from the one side, and an intermediate portion extending along the one side to the one side.
A center portion slidably supported on a surface, one end of the elastic spring being supported by the overhang, and the other end being supported by the frame at a forward position closer to the one side than the one end. Thereby, the operation rod is constantly pressed to the one side surface.
It is characterized by the following.

A card connector with an eject mechanism of the present invention (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a card connector) is a slidable operation rod supported by a frame, and ejects (ejects) the card in cooperation with the operation rod. And an eject mechanism including a cam bar. The operation rod has a central portion substantially in contact with the side surface of the frame at the center and a projecting portion projecting outward at the rear when the operation stick is attached to the frame.

An elastic spring for urging the operation rod substantially forward is attached to the operation rod. One end of the mounting spring is supported by the protrusion of the operating rod, and the other end is supported by a mounting piece formed on the frame. Since the projecting portion is located outside of the frame farther than the mounting piece, the elastic spring is urged even inward to press the operation rod so as to substantially contact the side surface of the frame.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a card connector 10 with an ejection mechanism according to the present invention. The card connector 10 has a frame 11 for accommodating the memory card 100 and a connector portion 12. The connector section 12 is located at the rear end of the frame 11. The frame 11 is made of a metal plate, and has a mounting portion 13 to the substrate and a ground contact 14 for ground connection on the side surface. Further, an operation rod 15 for ejection is slidably mounted along the side surface of the frame 11, and a cam bar 16 cooperating with the operation rod 15 is provided at the rear. A similar structure is disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 4-82141 and the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an operation rod 15 for ejection is provided.
The elastic spring 17 is attached to the. The elastic spring 17 has a substantially helical spring portion 21 and straight portions 22 and 23 extending to one end and the other end of the spring portion 21. The straight portions 22 and 23 extend in the length direction from a position substantially opposite to the diameter of the spring portion 21. Also the straight part
Structures for attaching springs are formed at the ends of 22, 23.
As shown in FIGS. 1B to 3B, the operation rod 15 is formed with a spring mounting groove 18 for mounting one end of an elastic spring 17. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), the operation rod 15 has a front part (near the button) 32 to which the button 31 is attached, a central part (support part) 33 slidably supported by the frame 11, and an outer part at the time of attachment. And a rear portion (overhanging portion) 34 including an opening (cooperating portion) 35. The above-mentioned spring mounting groove 18 is formed in the rear part 34. One end of the elastic spring 17 enters the spring mounting groove 18 and is supported.

The other end of the elastic spring 17 is supported by the frame 11. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a mounting piece 19 is formed integrally with the frame 11. FIG. 5 shows the mounting piece 19 in an enlarged manner. The mounting piece 19 extends outward, and further extends upward in a crank shape. Near the tip of the mounting piece 19, a key portion 41 is formed for mounting the elastic spring 17. As shown in FIG. 1A, the other end of the elastic spring 17 is supported by the attachment piece 18 at a position inside the one end attached to the operation rod.

Next, the card discharging operation of the card connector 10 will be described. In FIG. 1, the memory card 100 is shown by a broken line. When the memory card 100 is inserted and operated, the operation stick 15 and the cam bar 16 are placed in the state shown in FIG.
The ejection of the memory card 100 is performed by pressing the button 31. That is, the operation rod 15 is slid rearward, whereby the cam bar 16 is turned. At this time, the cam bar shown in FIG.
The 16 pushing surfaces 41 push out the vicinity of the end of the memory card 100 and eject the memory card 100.

The positions of the operation rod 15 and the cam bar 16 when the memory card 100 is ejected are shown in FIG. As shown, the elastic spring 17 extends elastically in the length direction. Therefore, when the power is released from the button 31, the operation rod 15 is slid to return forward. Therefore, after the memory card 100 is ejected, the operation rod 15 and the cam bar 16 are maintained in the state shown in FIG.

As described above, the elastic spring 17 has one end supported by the rear portion 34 of the operation rod 15 projecting outward and the other end supported by the mounting piece 19 of the frame positioned inside the rear portion 34.
15 is biased diagonally forward, that is, in the direction of arrow A in FIG. As a result, the central portion 33 of the operating rod 15 is
Is pressed against the side surface of the frame 11 with an appropriate force. Therefore, the operation rod 15 is guided by the side surface of the frame when sliding, and is constantly prevented.

As shown in FIG. 3B, a rear portion 34 of the operating rod 15 is provided.
A substantially T-shaped opening (cooperating portion) 35 is formed in the hole. The opening 35 is in a position as shown in FIG.
Engage with 42. The operation rod 15 includes a metal portion 36 and a button 31 that can be attached to the metal portion 36. When the operation stick 15 is attached to the opposite side of the card connector 10, the same type of metal portion 36 is used. Has 37. This allows the opening 35 to receive the tongue piece 42 even when mounted on the opposite side. Further, the opening 35 has a narrow portion 38 extending rearward from the wide portion 37. The narrow portion 38 enables the operation rod 15 to move backward when the operation rod 15 is attached to the frame 11. That is, at the time of mounting, the cooperating tongue piece 42 of the cam bar 16 is
, The operation rod 15 is displaced in the height direction, whereby the cam bar 16 and the operation rod 15 can be elastically temporarily held during the assembly process.

As described above, the cooperative relationship between the operating rod 15 and the cam bar 16 is realized by the engagement between the wide portion 37 of the opening 35 and the cooperating tongue 42. Therefore, when the operating rod 15 is slid, the mechanical torsion generated in the cooperating tongue piece 42 is relatively small. That is, a smooth discharge operation is possible, and unnecessary material is not applied to the cam bar 16 so that the material does not stick.

FIG. 6 shows the card connectors 10, 10 'of FIG.
Are shown in FIG. In the connector assembly 60, the card assemblies 10 are arranged back to back. The method of attaching the card connectors 10, 10 'to each other and to a printed circuit board (not shown) is described in the specification and drawings of Japanese Utility Model Application No. 4-92948 filed by the present applicant. A similar method is used.

The connector assembly 60 as shown in FIG.
All three types, Type I, II and III, according to the IA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) standard are available. A type I or type II memory card is inserted into each card connector 10, 10 'independently, and each eject mechanism 6
5, 65 'can be discharged independently. In particular, when used exclusively for Type III cards, the eject mechanism 6 in FIG.
5, 65 'can be removed and, if desired, another member (not shown) can be engaged, for example, near the ground contacts 14, 14' to function as a card mis-insertion prevention mechanism.

FIG. 7 shows a modified example of the mounting piece 19 shown in FIG. 3. The mounting piece 19 ′ has a key portion 51 ′. Key 51 '
Is formed in a substantially C-shape and has a protrusion 71 protruding inward. This prevents the other end of the elastic spring 17 from coming off.

As described above, the preferred embodiment of the card connector according to the present invention has been described. However, this is merely an example and does not limit the present invention. For example, the card can be used for various IC cards other than the memory card. Further, various modifications and changes can be made by those skilled in the art. For example, one end of the elastic spring can be attached to the cam bar 16 instead of the operation rod 15.

[0022]

The card connector with an eject mechanism according to the present invention has a slidable operation rod, a cam bar for pushing and ejecting the card in cooperation with the operation rod, and a direction in which the operation rod is pressed forward and against the side of the frame. An ejecting mechanism having an elastic spring for urging; Therefore, the operation of ejecting the card can be performed smoothly because the sliding of the operation rod is guided to the side surface of the frame. In particular, since the operating rod is reliably guided only on the side surface of the frame, it is not necessary to provide another guiding means. As a result, the connector is relatively small and can be made compact.

Further, since the operation rod is constantly pressed against the side surface of the frame, the operation rod is prevented from rattling, and no foreign matter enters between the operation rod and the frame to disable the operation, and no unpleasant noise is generated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a side view of a card connector with an ejection mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the card connector of FIG. 1 when the card is ejected.

3 (a) is a plan view, FIG. 3 (b) is a side view, and FIG. 3 (c) is an enlarged view of a rear part of the operation stick used in the card connector of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a cam bar used in the card connector of FIG. 1;

5A is a partial plan view of the mounting piece on the side surface of the frame of the card connector of FIG. 1 (the operating rod is not shown), and FIG. 5B is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. .

6A is a plan view, FIG. 6B is a side view, and FIG. 6C is a front view of a connector assembly using the card connector of FIG.

FIG. 7A shows another embodiment of the mounting piece shown in FIG. 3, (a).
Partial plan view, (b) Partial sectional view.

[Description of Signs] 10 Connector for card with eject mechanism 11 Frame 15 Control rod 16 Cam bar 17 Elastic spring 100 Card

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A frame for accommodating a card;
Comprising a mechanism, wherein the eject mechanism, an elastic spring, mounted slidably along one side <br/> surface of the urging of Sorcerer previous SL frame forward by the <br/> elastic spring and the operating rod has, a pivotable in cooperation with the manipulation rod when the sliding of the operating rod
A cam bar for engaging the card and ejecting the card.
In the card connector with ejection mechanism having said operating rod is along the button forward, the projecting portion projecting outwardly away from said one side to the rear, in the in the middle one side
And a central portion slidably supported by the one side surface.
Have respectively, one end of the elastic spring the overhang portion and the other end by being supported by the frame at a forward position closer to the one side than the one end, to the operating rod is the one side surface Always pressed
A card connector with an eject mechanism, wherein