Abstract:
An electronic card connector ( 100 ) includes an insulative housing ( 1 ), a number of terminals ( 2 ) retained in the insulative housing, a metal shell ( 4 ) having an elastic piece ( 4 ), and an ejecting mechanism ( 5 ) located on a side of the insulative housing. The ejecting mechanism includes a slider ( 51 ) and a resilient mechanism. The slider is urged by the elastic piece to assume a final position when an electronic card is fully inserted. A part of the resilient mechanism is moveable forwardly to engage the slider and then is backwardly moveable together with the engaged slider to eject the inserted electronic card.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to an electronic card connector, and more particularly to an electronic card connector having an ejecting mechanism. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,160 discloses an electronic card connector comprising a slider having a heart-shaped cam groove and a lock spring. The slider is designed for insertion/removal of a card provided with a notch-like lock concave portion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,597 discloses a card connector having an ejector designed for working with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. The ejector comprises a slider which moves together with a thin SIM card (without a notch-like portion) to be inserted or rejected, a push rod, and a pivotable lever coupled between the slider and the push rod. 
     An electronic card connector having an improved ejecting mechanism is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic card connector having an ejecting mechanism to attain efficient lock and ejection. 
     To achieve the above object, an electronic card connector includes an insulative housing, a number of terminals retained in the insulative housing, a metal shell having an elastic piece having a flexible piece, and an ejecting mechanism located on a side of the insulative housing. The elastic piece has a flexible piece. The ejecting mechanism has a slider and a resilient mechanism. The slider is urged by the flexible piece to assume a final position when an electronic card is fully inserted. A part of the resilient mechanism is moveable forwardly to engage the slider and then is backwardly moveable together with the engaged slider to eject the inserted electronic card. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective, assembled view of an electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective, exploded view of the electronic card connector; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective, partly exploded view of the electronic card connector, showing a wrong insertion of a card; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the electronic card inserted into the electrical connector where a metal shell thereof is shown separated from an insulative housing thereof; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective, assembled view of the electronic card inserted into the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector, taken along line  6 - 6  in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing the electronic card inserted into the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view showing the electronic card totally inserting the electrical connector; 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector, taken along line  9 - 9  in  FIG. 8 ; and 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of an insulative housing of the electrical connector. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 10 , an electronic card connector  100  of the present invention includes an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of terminals  2  and a metal sheet  3  affixed to the insulative housing  1 , a metal shell  4  attached to the insulative housing  1  and defining a receiving cavity  10  therebetween, and an ejecting mechanism  5  located in one side of the insulative housing  1  and received in the receiving cavity  10 . The electrical connector  100  defines a card-inserting direction, a front end, and a rear end as viewed with reference to  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the insulative housing  1  includes a base portion  11 , a side portion  12  insert-molded with the insulative housing  1 , and fool-proofing mechanism  13  seated in the side portion  12 . The base portion  11  is formed with a number of receiving rooms  110  arranged in two rows. The side portion  12  has a first receiving room  120  to receive the fool-proofing mechanism  13 . The fool-proofing mechanism  13  defines a pivoting arm  131  fixed in the side portion  12  and an acting arm  132  forming an obtuse angle relative to the pivoting arm. The acting arm  132  is formed with a panel portion  1321  along a transverse direction perpendicular to the card-inserting direction, an inclining portion  1322  forming an acute angle with respect thereto, and an elbowing portion  1320  connected with the panel portion  1321  and the inclining portion  1322 . The insulative housing  1  further has a bumping portion  14  seated in the right side of the base portion  11  and a sliding track  15  seated with the bumping portion  14  side by side and extending along the card-inserting direction. The base portion  11  has a pushing bulge  16  seated outwardly of an end of the sliding track  15 . 
     The terminals  2  are located in two rows and received in the receiving groove  110 . Each terminal  2  includes a soldering portion  21 , a fixed portion  22  retained in the insulative housing  1 , and a contacting portion  23  projecting into the receiving cavity  10 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the metal sheet  3  is located in two sides of the terminals  2  and is formed with a side board  31  forming the receiving cavity  10  with the insulative housing  1  and a snagging arm  32 . 
     The metal shell  4  includes a top wall  41  and a pair of side walls  42  extending downwardly from the top wall  41 . The metal shell  4  further has a holding hole  42  at a front edge of the top wall  41  and an elastic piece  43  located in the holding hole  42  and extending along the card-inserting direction from an inner edge of the holding hole  42 . The elastic piece  43  includes a curved piece  431  bent downwardly, a flexible piece  432 , and a pair of guiding pieces  433  projecting from two free ends of the curved piece  431  and the flexible piece  432 . The left side wall  41  has a pressing piece  44  extending along the card-inserting direction and the front end of the pressing piece  44  is separated from the side wall  41 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-5 and 8 , the ejecting mechanism  5  located in the metal sheet  3  includes a slider  51 , a spring  52 , a slipping bulge  53  seated beside the bumping portion  14 , and a lever  54 . The slider  51  is formed with a main portion  511  extending along the card-inserting direction, a side panel  512  extending from the main portion  511  and exposed to the receiving cavity  10 , a hollow  513  located in the right of the main portion  511 , and a driving portion  514  rising from a rear end of the side panel  512 . The slipping bulge  513  is formed with a convex pillar  530  so that one end of the spring  52  is fixed in the snagging arm  31  and the other is fixed in the convex pillar  530 . The lever  54  is formed with a main body  540 , a hook  541  located in the slipping bulge  53 , a buckling portion  542  extending upwardly from the main body  540  and exposed to the receiving cavity  10 , a depression  543  located in the bottom of the main body  540  and receiving the pushing bulge  16 , and a baffle  544  located in front of the depression  543  and at the bottom of the main body  540 . The front end of the buckling portion  542  is connected with the main body  540  to form an angular surface therebetween while the rear end thereof splits from the main body  540 . Prior to insertion of the electronic card  200  into the electronic card connector  100 , the buckling portion  542  is not engaged or connected to the hollow  513  because the pushing bulge  16  is pushing the baffle  544  outward. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , when the electronic card  200  is inserted in the electronic card connector  100  in a wrong way, a right-angle portion (not labeled) of the electronic card  200  is resisted against by the panel portion  1321  to prevent the fool-proofing mechanism  13  from rotating outside such that the electronic card  200  is unable to get into the electronic card connector  100 . 
     The tray  5  is movable between an original position and a final position. The front edge of main portion  511  is resisted against by the curved piece  431  of the elastic piece  43  and the buckling portion  542  of the lever  54  is unconnected with the hollow  513  while the acting arm  132  is partly received in the receiving cavity  10 . Referring  FIGS. 4 to 6 , when the electronic card  200  having a chamfer (not labeled) is inserted into the electronic card connector  100 , the chamfer of the electronic card  200  is connected with elbowing portion  1320  to make the fool-proofing mechanism  13  move outwardly along with the insertion of the electronic card  200 . When the electronic card  200  is inserted, a rear end of the electronic card  200  is connected with the driving portion  514  to drive the slider  51  to slide forwardly under the elastic piece  43  with the guidance of the guiding piece  431 . Referring to  FIGS. 7 to 9 , when the electronic card  200  is inserted into the electronic card connector  100  totally, the slider  51  is located at a front edge of the sliding track  15 , thus arriving at a final position. When the electronic card  200  is ejected, the slipping bulge  53  is driven by an external force to slide backwardly so that the spring  52  is compressed to the final position, the lever  54  move forwardly to make depression  543  across the pushing bulge  16  and then the buckling portion  542  of the lever  54  is received in the hollow  513 . When the external force is removed, due to resilience or a returning force of the spring  52 , the slipping bulge  53  drives the lever  54  and the slider  51  to move backwardly and then the driving portion  514  pushes the electronic card  200  to withdraw from the receiving cavity  10 . After that, the spring  52  and the lever  54  return back to the original position, and the pushing bulge  16  pushes the baffle  544  to disengage the locked buckling portion  542  from the hollow  513  so that the slider  51  can be separated from the lever  54 . 
     The preferred embodiment of the present invention is that the ejecting mechanism  5  is cooperated with the elastic piece  43  to attain the efficiency of locking and ejecting. The spring  52 , the slipping bulge  53 , and the lever  54  can be collectively termed a resilient mechanism. 
     While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as described in the appended claims.