JPH047076B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION U.S. Pat.
A card edge connector with double contact elements is disclosed and described. This increased density is achieved by arranging the lower part of every other contact element after the lower part of its front neighbor and leading the upper part laterally forward to be placed adjacent to the upper part of the adjacent contact element.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,234 discloses a CardEdge connector in which a U-shaped drive member is vertically movably inserted into the bottom of a CardEdge receiving slot. When the drive member is cammed upwardly, its parallel side walls normally resiliently engage and displace the contact element extending into the card edge receiving slot. When a card is inserted into the slot from above and the drive member is returned to its original position, the contact elements can be elastically returned into the slot and electrically engaged with the conductive tracks on the card surface.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,807 discloses a card edge connector that includes a lower mounting member containing contact elements and a vertically sliding housing disposed above the lower mounting member. As the rotating shaft drives the housing downward, the internal camming surface forces the contact elements into electrical engagement with a card inserted into the card edge receiving slot.

The present invention provides a connector that has a high density of contact elements, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,803, yet is capable of accepting cards without requiring insertion force. In particular, the zero insertion force card edge connector of the present invention comprises a lower housing and a lower housing having at least two rows of chambers for receiving contact elements and a pair of cam slots on the outside of the chambers, and a contact portion at the free end and a pair of cam slots on the outside of the chamber. an upper housing having a plurality of contact elements having curved portions to the contact elements and a plurality of cam surfaces for contacting the card edge receiving slot and the curved portions of the contact elements; and a cam slide that moves the upper housing along the longitudinal direction, and the contact portion and the curved portion of the contact element are alternately shifted in the longitudinal direction.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the structural members of the connector of the present invention include a lower housing 10, contact elements 12 and 1.
4, cam slide(s) 16 and upper housing 18 are included. These components, in conjunction with the lever 110 shown in FIG. 5, are constructed and assembled to provide a card edge connector with a high density of contact elements. The high-density contact elements are cammed out to electrically engage conductive traces on the card surface after the circuit card is inserted into the card-receiving slot of the connector. The housing and cam means are fabricated from a suitable insulating material, such as glass-filled plastic sold by General Electric Company under the trade name VALOX. The contact element is stamped into a continuous strip to allow the gold to be overlaid onto the nickel. The preferred strip material is phosphor bronze.

The lower housing 10 has a plurality of chambers 22 spaced along the length of the housing on either side of an upstanding central wall 24. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the outward extent of these chambers is defined by an inner wall 26 which is lower in height than the central wall. The lower housing has the bottom 3 of the small chamber.
An inner passage 30-i and an outer passage 30-o extend downward from 2 and open to the lower surface of the housing. Passage 30-i is adjacent to central wall 24 and
0-o is adjacent to the inner wall 26. walls 24, 26
are both vertically grooved as shown at 34. These grooves form an upward extension of the passageway 30.

Both side walls 36 of the lower housing are connected to each inner wall 2
6 defining a longitudinal slot 38 between the walls. Several cam followers 40 are arranged in these slots in their longitudinal direction.

T-shaped vertical end walls 42 are provided at both ends of the lower housing 10 . The upper end of the end wall 42 has a reference numeral 44.
A notch is provided as shown in , and both corners are sloped 4.
6.

A forwardly extending lever support member 48 is attached to the front end of the lower housing 10, and the upper end of the member 48 is provided with a slot 50 which intersects with a U-shaped transverse slot 52.

A pin 54 can be suspended from both end walls 42, as shown by broken lines in FIG. These pins orient and stabilize the connector on the circuit board.

The contact elements 12, 14 are arranged in a chamber 22 of the lower housing 10, with the upper part rising within the upper housing 18 (FIGS. 6 and 7) and the retaining part extending into the passage 30.
The lower portion projects downwardly from the lower housing and is inserted into a plated through hole in the circuit board. Each chamber 22 accommodates two contact elements, one contact element 12 and one contact element 14.
In FIG. 1, some contact elements are omitted for the sake of clarity. Contact element 12 is located in passage 30-i and will therefore be referred to as the inner element, and contact element 14 is located in passage 30-o and will therefore be referred to as the outer element.

The construction of these contact elements is shown in FIGS. 3a, 3b and 4a, 4b. 3a and 3b show the contact element 12 or inner element, and FIGS. 4a and 4b show the contact element 14 or outer element, the preferred method of manufacturing these elements being molded with a continuous strip shown as carrier strip 56. It is stamped and shaped. The elements are stored as a strip on a reel (not shown);
It can be inserted into the lower housing 10 all at once.
Reference numeral 58 indicates a notch for breaking off the carrier strip from the inserted element.

In both the inner and outer elements, reference numeral 60 indicates the upper part thereof;
62 represents a holding part, and 64 represents a lower part. The upper free end has a contact surface 66, which may be plated with precious metal, which engages the conductive tracks of a card inserted into the connector (FIG. 7). The lower curved portion of the contact surface has a cam surface 68.

Retainer 62 includes a plate portion 70 and a recess 72 .

The lower portion 64 includes a lead 74 that is inserted into a plated through hole in the rotating plate. The lead may also be of the compliant pin type, for example as disclosed in US Pat. No. 4,186,982.

Both retaining portion 62 and lower portion 64 are thicker than upper portion 60 to provide support for the lower housing and circuit board. The relatively thin upper portion 60 is necessary for springiness.

Contact element 12 differs from element 14 in approximately two ways. In the case of the element 12, only the uneven portion defining the convex cam surface 68 is displaced horizontally with respect to the longitudinal axis, and the upper part 60 is displaced to the left side of the holding part 62 (FIG. 3a) in the element 12, and the element 14, it is shifted to the right (Fig. 4a). These differences are necessary in order to load two elements into one chamber without interfering with each other. There are other differences such as length differences, but these are not important from the viewpoint of densely arranging a large number of contact elements in one connector.

The cam slide 16 (Fig. 1) is attached to the lower housing 1.
It is an elongated member configured to be slidably inserted into slot 38 of 0. The lower edge of the cam slide 16 is provided with a series of cam ramps 76 which cooperate with a cam follower 40 in the cam slot 38 to vertically displace the cam slide 16 as the cam slide 16 moves horizontally. This is a well-known technique.

The inner surface of each cam slide 16 is provided with a longitudinal groove 78 near the upper edge.

The front end of each cam slide 16 is provided with a hole 80 for receiving the pin on the lever shown in FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, the upper housing 18 is a long member attached to the lower housing 10 and moved up and down by the action of the cam slide 16. As shown in FIGS.

The outer surfaces of the side walls 82 of the upper housing 18 have parallel lower portions 84 and tapered upper portions 86. An L-shaped member 88 hangs down from the lower edge of both side walls, and its horizontal portion is the groove 7 of the cam slide 16.
It will be placed on 8th.

The interior of the upper housing 18 includes a series of vertical lateral walls 92.
It is divided into compartments 90 by the lateral wall 92, and a card edge receiving slot 94 is provided in the center of the side wall 92 by cutting it from above. These walls act as reinforcement members to prevent the side walls of the upper housing from buckling as the contact elements engage and disengage from the card. When the components are assembled, the horizontal wall 92 is connected to the horizontal wall 2 in the lower housing 10.
8 and the small chamber 90 is aligned with the small chamber 22.

Vertical transverse walls 96 project a short distance into the chamber 90 from the side walls and form a partition between the upper portions 60 of adjacent contact elements.

The special configuration of the inner surfaces of the side walls 82, ie the outer walls defining the compartment 90, can be seen in the cross-sectional view of FIG. Each outer wall of each chamber, generally designated 98, has two vertical sections, one on each side of a short transverse wall 96. Each chamber thus has four such vertical sections, two on each side of slot 94. Each vertical section has an inclined cam surface 100, each cam surface 100 being at a higher or lower position than the adjacent cam surface, ie, the cam surface on the same side wall of the same chamber. The symbol 100-h is used for the higher cam surface, and the symbol 100-l is used for the lower cam surface.

The opposing cam surfaces are unequal, with the high cam surface 100-h passing through the slot 94 and the low cam surface 10-h.
You will be looking directly at 0-l.

The openings in the sloped side wall portions are passageways created by core pins when molding the upper housing. 1st
One of the two identical longitudinal ends 102 of the upper housing 18 is shown in the figure. An extension slot for the card edge receiving slot 94 is formed in the vertical wall 104. Bracket 106 defines a vertical channel 108 that slidably receives the upper end of end wall 42 of lower housing 10.

The lever 110 shown in FIG. 5 consists of two spaced apart parallel members 112 connected by a pin 114.
One pin 116 projects laterally from opposite surfaces of both members 112.

In the assembled connector of the invention (FIGS. 5, 6 and 7), the contact element 12 is placed in the lower housing 10 with its retaining portion 62 inserted into the inner passage 30-i. The holding portion 62 of the contact element 14 is inserted into the outer passage 30-o. Camming surfaces 68 face outward on both elements with contact surfaces 66 facing inward.

The cam slide 16 has a pin 116 that fits into the hole 80.
is attached to the lever 110 by the L-shaped member 88.
and groove 78 . This subassembly is lowered onto the lower housing 10 and the cam slide 16 is inserted into the cam slot 38.
and the top of the T-shaped end wall 42 slides into the opening or channel 108. Pin 114 slides into a lateral slot 52 in lever support member 48.

The upper portions 60 of the contact elements 12, 14 are inserted into the chamber 90 as shown in FIG.
faces toward the slot 94, and the cam surface 68 faces the outer wall. In the condition of FIG. 6, the contact surface is within the confines of the chamber and the cam surface 68 is above the cam surface 100. The side view of FIG. 5 shows the cam slide 16 resting on the bottom of the cam slot 38. FIG. 5 also shows the entire connector placed on the circuit board 120 at 11.
8.

As previously mentioned and as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the contact surfaces 66 on adjacent contact elements 12, 14 on each side of slot 94 are alternately located upwardly and downwardly; The contact surfaces of opposing contact elements 12, 14 on either side of slot 94 are not in the same location. With such a configuration of the contact elements 12, 14, the connector according to the invention can be assembled into a card 12 with rows of conductive tracks of alternating heights, as described below.
Can be used with 2.

The connector in the state of FIGS. 5 and 6 allows card 122 to be freely inserted into slot 94. When the lever 110 is tilted upward, the cam slide 16 is pulled forward, rides on the cam follower 40, and rises, and therefore the upper housing 18 also rises. The cam surface 100 of the chamber 90 engages the cam surface 68 and moves inwardly on the contact surface 66 to connect the conductive lines 124, 126.
press against. The contact surface of the contact element 12 engages the lower conductive line 126 and the contact surface of the element 14 engages the higher conductive line 124.

To remove card 122 from the connector, lever 110 is pushed down to its original position as shown in FIG.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the components of the connector of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view of the lower housing,
Figures 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b are illustrations of the contact elements of the connector of Figure 1, Figure 5 is a side view showing the cam mechanism and its structure, Figures 6 and 7 are FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the function of the connector when viewed in the axial direction. 10...Lower housing, 18...Upper housing, 1
2, 14... Contact element, 16... Cam slide, 22
...Small chamber, 38...Cam slot, 66...Contact part, 6
8...Curved portion, 100...Cam surface.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A lower housing having at least two rows of chambers for receiving contact elements and a pair of cam slots on the outside of the chambers; an upper housing having a plurality of cam surfaces in contact with a card edge receiving slot and the curved portion of the contact element; and an upper housing slideably inserted into the cam slot of the lower housing, the contact element a cam slide that moves the upper housing along the longitudinal direction of the connector, wherein the contact portion and the curved portion of the contact element are alternately shifted in the longitudinal direction.