Patent ID: 6508660
Filing Date: 2003-01-21
Classification: H01R

Abstract:
A connector shroud for a rectangular electrical connector having four external sides, the connector being mounted on a printed circuit board, the shroud being separate from the connector, the shroud comprising:a housing fashioned from a single piece of metal, the housing having a first wall, a second wall, and a third wall, each wall juxtaposed with, and extending higher than, one of the external sides of the connector, the second wall connected to and positioned between the first and third wall, the first and third walls each having a flange extending from the ends of the first and third walls opposite the second wall, the flanges juxtaposed with, and extending higher than, the remaining external side of the connector not juxtaposed with one of the three walls of the housing, the walls and the flanges thereby substantially surrounding the connector and defining a channel that properly aligns a mating structure for proper connection with the connector, the housing having a plurality of leg pairs, at least two of the walls each having at least one of the leg pairs extending downward from the bottom of the walls so that each of the legs of the leg pairs projects through a corresponding hole in the printed circuit board, thereby allowing each of the legs of the leg pairs to be soldered to the printed circuit board, the distance between the legs of one of the leg pairs being substantially less than the distance between the legs of another of the leg pairs so that the housing may be attached to the printed circuit board in only one possible orientation.