Abstract:
A socket comprises an insulating housing receiving a plurality of contacts, and a pick-up cap engaging with the insulating housing. The pick-up cap has a planar main body covering the insulating housing. The main body is formed with two pivots on a side thereof. The insulating housing is formed with a plurality of sidewalls, one of the sidewall is provided with a pair of mounting seats on an outside thereof, each mounting seat defines a mounting hole with a gap, and the pivots of the pick-up cap enter into the mounting holes via the gaps to pivotally assemble the pick-up cap to the mounting seats.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to socket, more particularly to a socket electrically connecting an IC package to a printed circuit board. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,197 issued on Feb. 21, 2006, discloses a traditional socket for electrically connecting an IC package to a printed circuit board. The socket comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing, a frame disposed around the insulative housing, a loading plate pivotally assembled to an end of the frame and a loading lever pivotally assembled to an opposite end of the frame. The socket usually is equipped with a pick up cap, the pick up cap can be assembled to the loading plate, the frame or the insulative housing, the pick up cap has two functions, one is to provide a smooth surface for sucking by a pick up tool to move the socket, the other is to protect the terminals received in the socket from exterior dust or outside force. 
         [0005]    The pick up cap of the socket needs to be removed before using, operator commonly directly upwardly picks the pick up cap disposed upon the insulative housing by fingers, however, once the operator makes a mistake during this process, the pick up cap will drop down and crash the contacts, that may destroy the socket. 
         [0006]    Hence, an improved socket is desired to overcome the above problems. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    According to the present invention, a socket comprises an insulative housing receiving a plurality of contacts and a pick up cap assembled to the insulative housing. The insulative housing has a plurality of sidewalls and at least one mounting seat formed on one of the sidewalls and defining a mounting hole with a gap. The pick up cap is formed with at least one pivot disposed on a side thereof, the pivot inserting into the mounting hole via the gap to pivotally assemble the pick up cap to the insulative housing. 
         [0008]    The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is an assembled, perspective view of a socket according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 1 , while taken from a different aspect; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is an exploded, perspective view of the socket; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is another perspective view of the socket in an opening state; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a side view of the socket shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of a part of the socket in  FIG. 5  surround by a circle line, showing a pick up cap of the socket is located at a horizontal position, and the pivot of the pick up cap stays in a mounting hole of the insulative housing; 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  shows a middle position of the pivot in the mounting hole; 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  shows the leaving position of the pivot in the mounting hole when the pick up cap is removed; 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is an assembled, perspective view of a socket according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is a view similar to  FIG. 9 , while taken from a different aspect; 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is an exploded, perspective view of the socket; 
           [0021]      FIG. 12  is another perspective view of the socket in  FIG. 10  in an opening state; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 13  an enlarged view of a part of the socket in  FIG. 12  surround by a circle line. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0023]    In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
         [0024]    Reference will be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail, wherein depicted elements are not necessarily shown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated by same or similar reference numeral through the several views and same or similar terminology. 
         [0025]      FIGS. 1-8  describe a socket  100  according to a first embodiment of present invention. Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the socket  100 , adapted for electrically connecting an IC package (not shown) to a printed circuit board (not shown), comprises an insulative housing  10 , a plurality of contacts (not shown) received within the insulative housing  10  and a pick up cap  30  assembled on the insulative housing  10 . 
         [0026]    The insulative housing  10  being a substantial rectangular shape, has a plurality of sidewalls  11  extending upwardly from a peripheral thereof, and a receiving cavity  12  recessed downwardly from the top surface of the insulative housing  10 , the contacts are arranged in matrix in the receiving cavity  12 . The insulative housing  10  has a pair of mounting seats  13  outside two ends of one of the sidewalls  11  to assemble the pick up cap  30 . 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 5 , the mounting seat  13  has a base  131  and an accessorial seat  132  both protruding outwardly from an outside surface of the sidewalls  11 . The base  131  defines a first recess  134  opening upwardly, the accessorial seat  132  defines a second recess  135  opening downwardly, wherein the accessorial seat  132  staggers with the base  131  along an extending direction of the sidewall  11  and the accessorial seat  132  is located beyond the base  131 . The first recess  134  and the second recess  135  cooperatively defines a mounting hole  136 , which substantially has a circular section and is situated outside the sidewall  11 . 
         [0028]    The pick up cap  30  and the insulative housing  10  have substantial equal areas, the pick up cap  30  is formed with a planar main body  31  covering the receiving cavity  12  and an operating portion  32  located beside of the main body  31 . The operating portion  32  projects from an edge of the main body  31  for being picked by fingers of operator. The operating portion  32  is formed with a latching arm  33  extending downwardly from a bottom thereof. The main body  31  has a protrusion  34  in the center thereof and a depression  135  on back of the protrusion  34  for receiving a top of the IC package in the cavity  12  of the insulative housing  10 . The main body  31  further has a pair of pivots  36  on two opposite ends of the other edge of the main body  31  opposite to the operating portion  32 . The pivot  36  is located below the main body  31  and horizontally extending outwardly along the other edge. The pivot  36  has a rectangular section and received in the mounting hole  136  of the mounting seat  13  of the insulative housing  10  to pivot the pick up cap  30  to the insulative housing  10 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 5  shows a side view of the pick up cap  30  located at a horizontal position, the pick up cap  30  at this position covers the insulative housing  10 , the pivots  36  stays in the mounting hole  136 , and the latching arm  33  latches the insulative housing  10  as so to retain the pick up cap  30  at the horizontal position. 
         [0030]      FIGS. 6-8  shows a removing process of the pivot  36  of the pick up cap  30  from the mounting hole  136 . The mounting hole  136 , cooperatively defined by the first recess  134  and the second recess  135 , has a gap  138 . The gap  138  has a width A, a short side of the pivot  36  has a dimension B and a long side of the pivot  36  has a dimension C, wherein C&gt;A&gt;B. 
         [0031]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , when the pivot  36  located at the horizontal position, the long side of the pivot  36  faces the gap  138 , since the dimension A of the gap  138  is smaller than the dimension C of the long side of the pivot  36 , the pivot  36  at this position can not escape from the mounting hole  136  and is kept to rotate within the mounting hole  136 .  FIG. 7  shows a middle position; the long side of the pivot  36  still faces the gap  138 . After continuing to rotate, the short side of the pivot  36  faces the gap  138  as shown in  FIG. 8 , and since the dimension A of the gap  138  is bigger than the dimension B of the short side of the pivot  36 , so the operator can easily upwardly remove the pivot  36  from the mounting hole  136  via the gap  138  so as to detach the pick up cap  30  from the insulative housing  10 . An assembling process of the pick up cap  30  to the insulative housing  10  is a reverse process, here will say again. 
         [0032]      FIGS. 9 to 13  describe a socket  200  according to a second embodiment of present invention, the socket  200  has an insulative housing  50  receiving a plurality of contacts (not shown) and a pick up cap  60  secured to the insulative housing  50 . The pick up cap  60  has a configuration substantially same with the pick up cap  30  in the first embodiment, and comprises a planar main body  61  disposed upon the insulative housing  50  and an operating portion  62  located on a side of the main body  61  and having a latching arm  63 . The main body  61  is formed with a pair of pivots  66  on an edge thereof opposite to the operating portion  62 , the pivot  66  is disposed below the main body  61  and horizontally extending along the edge. The pivot  66 , the operating portion  62  and the latching arm  63  are same as corresponding sections of the pick up cap  30 , unnecessary description will not given here. 
         [0033]    Referring to  FIG. 11 , the insulative housing  50  has a same configuration as that of the insulative housing  10 . The insulative housing  50  has a plurality of sidewalls  11  extending upwardly from a peripheral thereof, and a receiving cavity  52  recessed downwardly from the top surface thereof, the contacts are arranged in matrix in the receiving cavity  52 . The insulative housing  50  has a pair of mounting seats  53  outside two ends of one of the sidewalls  51  to assemble the pick up cap  60 . 
         [0034]    The sidewall  51  is further provided with an elastic arm  54  to position the IC package in the receiving cavity  52 . A difference between the insulative housing  50  in this embodiment and the insulative housing  10  in the first embodiment is: the mounting hole  136  is completely located outside the sidewall  11 , while a mounting hole  536  defined by the mounting seat  53  has a part located inside the sidewall  51 . The detail configuration of the mounting hole  536  will described in following paragraph. 
         [0035]    The mounting seat  53  has a base  531  and an accessorial seat  532 , the base  531  protrudes outwardly from outside surfaces of the sidewall  51 . The sidewall  51  defines a horizontal slot  534  extending along an extending direction of the sidewall  51  from a part thereof facing the base  531 , the horizontal slot  534  passes through a top surface of the sidewall  51  and has arch bottom. The sidewall  51  further has an upright slot  535  located outside the horizontal slot  534  and communicating with the horizontal slot  534 . The upright slot  535  passes through a bottom surface of the sidewall  51 , a part of the sidewall  51  located at a top of the upright slot  535  forms the accessorial seat  532 . 
         [0036]    A part of the sidewall  51  located under the horizontal slot  534  forms a bottom seat  533 , the bottom seat  533 , the base  531  and the accessorial seat  532  together define the mounting hole  536 . Since the horizontal slot  534  make a part of the mounting hole  536  inside the sidewall  51 , a size of the insulative housing  10  can be reduced. The mounting hole  536  has a gap (not labeled), engagement between the pivot  66  and the mounting hole  536  is same as that of the pivot  36  and the mounting hole  136 , here will not say again. 
         [0037]    The mounting seat  13  and  53  of the socket  100 ,  200  in a first and a second embodiments, respectively, the pivot  36 ,  66  of the pick up cap  30 ,  60  can be disposed by one or two, both can assemble the pick up cap  30 , 60  to the insulative housing  10 ,  50 . 
         [0038]    It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.