JPH039266Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a connector used for electrically connecting a ROM card or IC card storing a computer program to a device equipped with a computer. .

[Conventional technology]

The ROM card is packaged with contacts provided on one side of the printed wiring board on which the ROM is wired and exposed to the outside. When this ROM card is inserted into the connector, the ROM card's printed wiring board is configured to be electrically connected to the main printed wiring board on the device main body side. Connectors that perform such functions are often used, for example, in television game machines, which have become popular in recent years.

FIG. 8 shows a conventional example of a connector. In this connector, when a ROM card 3 is inserted into a card insertion slot 2 provided in a body 1, a curved contact 6 formed on a contact piece 5 of a conductive piece 4 built into the body 1 is inserted. It is pushed outward as shown by the arrow while rubbing against the ROM card 3, and when the ROM card 3 is inserted into the set position, the contacts 6 come into elastic contact with the contacts of the ROM card 3.

Further, FIG. 9 shows another conventional example of a connector. This connector rotates an expanding member 7 provided on a body 1 by a predetermined angle (for example, 90 degrees) in one direction to push away a conductive piece 4 held on the body 1 outward against elasticity. If the ROM card 3 is inserted from the insertion slot 2, the contacts of the ROM card 3 will not rub against the contacts 6 of the conductive piece 5, and after inserting the ROM card 3 into the set position, the expansion member 7 By rotating the conductive piece 4 by a predetermined angle in the opposite direction as shown by the imaginary line in the figure, the elasticity of the contact piece portion 5 of the conductive piece 4 causes the contact 6 to
When the contact 6 is returned to its original position, this contact 6
It is configured to make elastic contact with the contacts of the ROM card 3.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the connector shown in FIG. 8, if the contacts 6 of the conductive piece 4 are brought into strong elastic contact with the contacts of the ROM card 3 to ensure continuity, a large insertion force will be required when inserting the ROM card 3. Not only does this make the insertion operation difficult, but when the ROM card 3 is inserted or removed, the contacts on the ROM card 3 and the contacts 6 on the conductive piece 4 may rub against each other, causing one or both of the contacts to be scraped. On the other hand, if an attempt is made to suppress the quality deterioration by reducing the preload of the contact portion 5 of the conductive piece 4, the contact pressure between the contacts decreases, which tends to cause poor conduction. Therefore, in order to suppress the quality deterioration of the contacts as much as possible in the connector shown in the same figure and to ensure good conduction, it is necessary not only to set the preload of the contact piece 5 appropriately, but also to An expensive, high-performance spring material must be used for the contact 6, and the plating layer of the contact 6 must be made thick, which has been a factor in increasing costs. However, since the ROM card 3 is removed from the connector when not in use, it tends to be inserted and removed frequently, and even if the above-mentioned measures are taken, there is a problem in that the quality of the contacts deteriorates significantly.

On the other hand, in the connector shown in FIG. 9, if the contact piece portion 5 of the conductive piece 4 is pushed outward by the expanding member 7, the contact will be inserted into the contact 6 of the conductive piece 4 when the ROM card 3 is inserted or removed. Since the contacts do not rub against each other, even if the preload of the conductive piece 4 is increased to ensure reliable conduction, quality deterioration due to contact scraping as described above is suppressed. However, this connector requires the expansion member 7 and various necessary parts to operate it, which complicates the configuration. In addition, each time the ROM card 3 is inserted or removed, the expansion member 7 is There is a problem in that the operation is very troublesome because it has to be operated.

A similar problem exists with connectors that use IC cards instead of ROM cards.

This invention solves the above problems, and the ROM
Through the movement of the swinging member that is linked to the movement of inserting and removing the card, the contacts on the card and the contacts on the conductive piece are brought into contact and separated without rubbing against each other, making the operation less troublesome and causing no deterioration in the quality of the contacts. The purpose is to provide a low-cost connector that is difficult to use.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the connector of the present invention has a body that has a card insertion slot equipped with contacts, and a swinging member that has a swinging fulcrum set in the vicinity of the card insertion/extraction path inside the body. and a contact piece portion of a conductive piece having spring properties is disposed so as to be displaceable between the inside and outside of the insertion/extraction path, and the swinging member has a front end disposed on the front side in the card insertion direction. When the card is pushed out into the insertion/extraction path, the rear end portion located on the rear side in the card insertion direction escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path, and the front end portion escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path. When the rear end is configured to project into the insertion/extraction path, and when the front end of the card pushed into the insertion/extraction path slides into contact with the front end, the front end is configured to protrude into the insertion/extraction path. An inclined surface is provided to generate a force in the direction of escaping to the outside of the insertion/extraction path, and a spring body is provided between the swinging member and the body to constantly bias the front end portion in a direction to protrude into the insertion path. The card is characterized in that the contact piece portion is provided with a contact that is brought into contact with and separated from the contacts of the card.

Of course, the above card may be a ROM card or an IC card.

[Effect]

When no card is inserted into the insertion slot, the front end of the swinging member is biased by a spring body and protrudes into the card insertion/extraction path, while the rear end of the swinging member projects outside the insertion/extraction path. is being forced to flee.

Until the tip of the card inserted into the insertion slot reaches the inclined surface of the swinging member, the contacts of the card do not rub against the contacts of the contact piece, or even if they do rub, the contact pressure at that time is very small. When the tip of the card is further pushed in and presses the inclined surface, the front end of the swinging member resists the bias of the spring body and begins to escape to the outside of the insertion/extraction path due to the force generated by the pressure. The rear end of the member begins to protrude into the insertion/extraction path, pushing the card upward. During this time, the leading end of the card comes into sliding contact with the inclined surface.
By this operation, after the contacts of the card come into contact with the contacts of the contact piece portion, the contact piece portion is subsequently pushed up, so that the contact piece portion is displaced from the inside to the outside of the insertion/extraction path against the spring force.
When the contact piece is displaced in this manner, a restoring force corresponding to the spring force acts on the contact piece, so that the contacts of the contact piece come into elastic contact with the contacts of the card. The cards are set by the above steps.

Conversely, when you start to pull out the card that has been set, the front end of the swinging member starts to gradually protrude into the insertion/extraction path due to the bias of the spring body, while the swinging member that had been pushing the card up until now starts to push out. The rear end portion begins to escape to the outside of the insertion/extraction path. When the leading end of the card leaves the inclined surface, the front end completely protrudes into the insertion/extraction path, while the rear end completely escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path. With this operation, the contact piece returns to the inside of the insertion/extraction path due to its spring force, and the contacts of the card separate from the contacts of the contact piece. After this,
The card can be pulled out without its contacts rubbing against the contacts on the contact piece.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the connector.

The body 10 of the connector is constituted by a combination of a body main body 11 made of a plastic molded product, an upper cover 12, and a lower cover 13. The body main body 11 has left and right side walls 14, 14, a front wall 15, a rear wall 16, a protrusion 17 protruding forward from the upper end of the rear wall 16, and is opposed to the protrusion 16 with an interval. The front wall 15 includes a support portion 18 and a card insertion slot 19 provided in the front wall 15.

A guide surface 20 is provided at the opening edge of the insertion port 19 and is inclined in an outwardly expanding manner. The front end portion of the protruding portion 17 becomes thinner as it approaches the tip, and this portion serves as an engaging portion 21 that supports an intermediate portion of a conductive piece 39, which will be described later. Further, the protrusion 17 has ribs 22 at a plurality of locations equally spaced in the width direction. These ribs 22 reach the lower end of the rear wall 16. The support portion 18 has a stepped portion 23 facing the protruding portion 17, and the stepped portion 23 is divided by partitions 24 provided at equal intervals. Further, the opening 25 between the support portion 18 and the protruding portion 17 is also partitioned by a large number of partitions 26 . A mounting flange 27 extending laterally is provided at the lower end of the side wall 15, and a protrusion 28 is provided on the mounting flange 27.

The upper cover 12 has an L-shape in cross section,
The upper wall 29 is provided with a claw portion 31 that fits into and engages with an engagement hole 30 formed in the front wall 15 of the body main body 11, and the lower end of the rear wall 32 is provided with a claw portion 31 that engages with the engagement hole 30 formed in the front wall 15 of the body main body 11. An engaging claw portion 33 is provided.

The lower cover 13 includes a plurality of supporting parts 34 projecting at predetermined intervals, and each of these supporting parts 34 has an arcuate bearing surface 35 formed therein. The lower cover 13 also has a hole 3 into which the projection 28 fits.
6 and a spring body 4 to be described later.
A recess 38 is provided for supporting 9.

39 is a conductive piece. This conductive piece 39 is made of an elongated spring plate, and has a contact piece portion 40 on the distal end side of the engagement portion with the engagement portion 21, and the middle portion of this contact piece portion 40 is bent in an inverted C-shape to form a contact 41. It is said that Before assembly, a large number of conductive pieces 39 are connected by tie bars (not shown). Further, the lead portion 42 of this conductive piece 39 is bent at a predetermined location at an angle close to a right angle. Furthermore, edge-shaped protrusions 43 are provided at predetermined locations on the lead portion 42 .

44 is a swinging member. This swinging member 44 is
It includes a shaft portion 45 rotatably supported by the bearing surface 35 of the lower cover 13, and has a front end portion 46 and a rear end portion 47 thereof.
is configured to protrude upward from the intermediate portion. Further, the front end portion 46 has an inclined surface 48.
is provided.

The above-mentioned body main body 11, upper cover 12, lower cover 13, conductive piece 39, and swinging member 44 are assembled as shown in FIG. In this assembled state, the lead portion 42 of the conductive piece 39 is fitted between the ribs 22, 22 of the protrusion 17, as shown in FIG. As shown in detail in FIG. 5, the protrusion 43 of the conductive piece 39 bites into the rib 22 and serves to firmly fix the lead portion 42 to the protrusion 17 without wobbling. Furthermore, a preload is applied to the contact piece portion 40 of the conductive piece 39. Therefore, in the natural state, the contact piece portion 40 is in the state shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 26
The insertion/removal path for the card 50 from between the
Indicated by ) is protruded into the inside of the moreover,
The tip portion 40a of the contact piece portion 40 is supported by the stepped portion 23 of the support portion 18. As shown in FIG. 7, the shaft portion 45 of the swinging member 44 is supported by the bearing surface 35 of the support portion 34 (see FIG. 1).
Therefore, the swinging fulcrum P of the swinging member 44 is set near the lower part of the insertion/extraction path A. If the swinging fulcrum P is set near the lower part of the insertion/extraction path A in this way, the front end 4 of the swinging member 44
6 is projected into the insertion/extraction path A, the rear end portion 47 is released to the outside (lower part) of the insertion/extraction path A (the state shown in FIG. 2).
Furthermore, when the front end portion 46 escapes to the outside (lower part) of the insertion/extraction path A, the rear end portion 47 protrudes into the insertion/extraction path A (third
condition).

A spring body 49 is interposed between the swinging member 44 and the lower cover 13, and the spring force of the spring body 49 causes the front end 46 of the swinging member 44 to protrude into the insertion path A. is energized by

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the attachment portion between the body main body 11 and the upper cover 13. As is clear from the figure, the mounting flange 37 of the upper cover 13 is overlapped with the mounting flange 27 of the body main body 11, and the protrusion 28 is fitted into the hole 36.
The projection 28 and the mounting flange 27 are integrated by heat welding.

In the above configuration, the conductive piece 39 is almost entirely covered by the upper cover 12 to prevent dust from deteriorating its performance due to adhesion of dust.

Here, the vertical width H of the insertion/extraction path A shown in FIG. 2 is greater than the thickness t of the ROM card 50, and the protrusion width h of the contact 41 into the insertion/extraction path A is H-
It is set equal to or slightly smaller than t.

Next, the function of the above connector will be explained.

A state in which the ROM card 50 is inserted into the insertion slot 19 and its tip end 50a is butted against the inclined surface 48 of the swinging member 44 is shown in imaginary lines in FIG. In this state, the intermediate portion of the ROM card 50 is supported by the rear end portion 47 of the swinging member 44.
Further, the contacts of the ROM card 50 are not in contact with the contacts 41 of the contact piece portion 40, or even if they are in contact, the contact pressure is close to zero. When the ROM card 50 is further pushed in from this state and the inclined surface 48 is pressed, the front end 46 of the swinging member 44 resists the bias of the spring body 49 and escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path A due to the force generated by the pressing. While starting,
The rear end 47 of the swinging member 44 begins to protrude into the insertion/extraction path A, pushing the ROM card 50 upward. During this time, the tip 50a of the ROM card 50 presses down on the inclined surface 48 and
sliding into contact with. Through this series of operations, after the contacts of the ROM card 50 come into contact with the contacts 41 of the contact piece portion 40, the contact piece portion 40 is subsequently pushed up and displaced to the outside of the insertion/extraction path A against the spring force. As a result, a restoring force corresponding to the spring force acts on the contact piece portion 40, so that the contacts 41 of the contact piece portion 40 come into elastic contact with the contacts of the ROM card 50. Figure 3 shows ROM card 50
The state in which the tip end 50a is in contact with the rear wall 42 and set at the normal position is shown. As is clear from the figure, since the set ROM card 50 remains pushed up by the rear end 47 of the swinging member 44, the contacts 41 of the contact piece 40 touch the contacts of the ROM card 50. Ensure bullet contact. This action is caused by the front end 46 of the swinging member 44.
This is further ensured by supporting the leading end 50a of the ROM card 50.

When the set ROM card 50 starts to be pulled out, the front end 46 of the swinging member 44 gradually starts to protrude into the insertion/extraction path A due to the bias of the spring body 49, while the ROM card 50 has not been pushed up until now. The rear end portion 47 of the swinging member 44 begins to escape to the outside of the insertion/extraction path A. When the tip 50a of the ROM card 50 leaves the inclined surface 48,
As shown in FIG. 2, the front end 46 completely protrudes into the insertion/extraction path A, while the rear end 47 completely escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path A. Through this operation, the contact piece portion 40 returns to the inside of the insertion/extraction path A due to its spring force, and the ROM card 50
The contact 41 of the armature portion 40 separates from the contact 41 of the armature portion 40 . Thereafter, the ROM card 50 is pulled out without its contacts rubbing against the contacts 41 of the contact piece portion 40.

In the above, when the ROM card 50 is inserted, the contacts of the ROM card 50 contact the contacts 41 of the contact piece portion 40, and then the ROM card 50 is inserted.
Until the card 50 is set, and
ROM when pulling out the ROM card 50
The contacts 41 of the contact piece 40 rub against the contacts of the ROM card 50 from when the card 50 begins to move back until the contact piece 40 completely returns to its original position. The rubbing of the contacts against each other in this case is useful for so-called self-cleaning of the contacts, and is convenient for maintaining good performance of the contacts.

Note that the same applies to a connector that uses an IC card instead of the ROM card 50 described above.

[Effect of idea]

Since the connector of the present invention is constructed as described above, even if a large preload is applied to the contact portion of the conductive piece, the contacts are less likely to be scraped due to rubbing against each other, and the quality of the contacts is improved. Maintains well over a long period of time. Therefore, the connector has a long service life. Despite this, it has a simple configuration of just installing a swinging member on the body, and does not require the troublesome operations required in the conventional example shown in Figure 9, making it a compact, easy-to-use, and inexpensive connector. . In addition, the contacts on the card and the contacts on the contact piece rub against each other only for a period of time while the card is being pushed up by the swinging member or while the card is being pulled out; This occurs along with the movement of the contact piece being pushed up and down, so even if the preload is increased as described above, the force required to insert the card can be small. Therefore, when applied to a connector having a large number of contacts, the card insertion force does not become large in proportion to the number of contacts, resulting in greatly improved usability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the connector, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the state when a ROM card is set. , FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the X section in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the attachment part between the body main body and the upper cover. 7 is a plan view taken along the line - in FIG. 2, FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the conventional example, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view of another conventional example. 5...ROM card, 10...body, 19...
...insertion port, 39...conductive piece, 40...contact piece part,
41... Contact, 44... Swinging member, 46...
...front end of the swinging member, 47...rear end of the swinging member, 48...slanted surface, 49...spring body, A...card insertion/extraction path, P...swing fulcrum.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A body having a card insertion slot equipped with contacts is provided with a swinging member having a swinging fulcrum set at a location near the card insertion/extraction path inside the body, and A contact piece portion of a conductive piece having a spring property is disposed so as to be displaceable between the inside and outside of the insertion/extraction path, and the front end of the swinging member disposed on the front side in the card insertion direction is connected to the insertion/extraction path. When the card is pushed inward, the rear end located on the rear side in the card insertion direction escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path, and when the front end escapes to the outside of the insertion/extraction path, the rear end The front end is configured to project into the interior of the insertion/extraction path, and when the front end portion of the card pushed into the insertion/extraction path slides into contact with the front end, the front end is projected outside the insertion/extraction path. A spring body is provided between the swinging member and the body to constantly bias the front end portion in the direction of protruding the front end portion into the insertion path, and the contact piece A connector characterized in that a portion thereof is provided with a contact that connects and separates from a contact of a card.