Grounding electrical connector

An electrical connector is provided for mounting to a substrate such as a printed circuit board or the like. The connector includes an insulative housing having a top, opposite sides and a base portion which is mountable to the printed circuit board. A conductive shield is positionable about at least a portion of the housing. A unitary conductive ground strap is mounted on the housing in engagement with the shield and includes a pair of legs depending along the opposite sides of the housing. The legs have tail portions at the distal ends thereof projecting beyond the base portion of the housing for insertion into holes in the printed circuit board to ground the shield to appropriate ground traces on the board.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, 
particularly, to an electrical connector mountable to a substrate such as 
a printed circuit board, or the like, for grounding thereto. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the electronics industry, electrical connectors are often mounted to 
printed circuit boards for electrical connection to circuit traces on the 
boards. Typically, the electrical connectors are positioned on the printed 
circuit boards by automated methods, and the electrical connections are 
wave soldered to the circuits on the boards. The connectors usually 
include some form of locking or retention feature to hold the connectors 
to the boards and, in the case of shielded connectors, the connectors 
include a commoning means coupled to ground traces on the board, often by 
insertion of at least one commoning element through a hole of the printed 
circuit board. 
One type of electrical connector assembly of the character described above 
is known in the electrical connector assembly industry as a miniature or 
sub-miniature D connector. The connector includes a plug and a receptacle, 
each having an insulative housing containing a plurality of mating 
terminals or contacts. In order to shield against RF/EM interference, an 
exterior metal or conductive shell typically encloses each housing. The 
shielding shells are effectively grounded to the ground traces on the 
printed circuit board. 
One of the main problems in utilizing such miniature connectors in 
conjunction with printed circuit boards is the cost of assembling the 
connectors themselves which is done prior to assembling the connectors to 
the printed circuit boards. Often, extraneous locking hardware, such as 
bolts, posts and rivets are used both to assemble the connectors and ready 
the connectors for interconnection to the boards. Although automated 
processes are being used to interconnect the connectors to the printed 
circuit boards, automated processes for assembling the connectors 
themselves have been difficult because of the nature of the miniature 
connector construction in combination with the extraneous hardware used in 
the connector assembly. Often, the connector components are assembled in 
directions on given axes, such as assembling the shielding shell to the 
housing in one direction on a given axis, and the extraneous hardware is 
assembled in different directions on other axes, requiring multiple 
tooling stages and/or different assembly stations in the assembly process. 
This invention is directed to solving the above problems and providing a 
new and improved shielded electrical connector adapted for mounting on a 
printed circuit board, which substantially entirely eliminates extraneous 
assembly, locking, and mounting hardware required for connecting the 
connector shield to ground traces on a printed circuit board and which is 
readily adaptable for automated assembly processes. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new electrical 
connector for mounting to a substrate such as a printed circuit board for 
grounding thereto. 
Generally, the electrical connector includes an insulative housing mounting 
a plurality of terminals, a conductive shield and a conductive ground 
strap member. These three components, alone, substantially entirely make 
up the connector for assembly to the printed circuit board. The insulative 
housing has a top portion, opposite sides and a base portion which is 
mountable to the printed circuit board. A conductive shield is 
positionable about at least a portion of the housing, particularly the top 
portion thereof. A conductive ground strap is mounted on the housing in 
engagement with the shield and includes a pair of legs depending along the 
opposite sides of the housing. Tail portions at the distal ends of the 
legs project beyond the base portion of the housing for insertion into 
holes in the printed circuit board to ground the shield to appropriate 
ground traces on the board. 
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the conductive ground strap 
is generally U-shaped, defining the legs of the strap and including a 
bight portion of the strap spanning proximal ends of the legs. The bight 
portion overlies a top surface of the housing. The conductive shield 
includes a portion overlying the bight portion of the U-shaped ground 
strap, sandwiching the bight portion between the shield and the housing. 
The housing includes recess means between the bight portion; the bight 
portion includes an aperture in registry with the recess means; and the 
conductive shield includes an integral strap retaining boss extending 
through the aperture into the recess means. 
It can be seen from the above description that the conductive shield and 
the U-shaped conductive ground strap can be assembled to the insulative 
housing in a singular direction downwardly onto the top of the housing, 
whereby the tail portions at the distal ends of the legs of the ground 
strap project from the bottom of the housing for insertion into holes in 
the printed circuit board. 
Other features of the invention include providing the housing with slots in 
the opposite sides thereof within which the legs of the ground strap are 
disposed. The slots are generally keyhole shaped in cross-section to 
define side flanges for capturing the legs in the slots. The housing 
includes solid portions at the bases of the slots, with holes in the solid 
portions through which the tail portions at the distal ends of the legs 
project. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent 
from the following detailed description taken in connection with the 
accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIG. 1, the 
invention is illustrated as embodied in a miniature connector, generally 
designated 10, which includes three basic components, namely: an 
insulative housing, generally designated 12, a conductive shield, 
generally designated 14, and at least one conductive ground strap, 
generally designated 16. In the embodiment of the invention shown herein, 
two conductive ground straps 16 are utilized, one ground strap at each 
opposite end of the connector. 
Electrical connector 10 may be of a variety of configurations, including a 
miniature or sub-miniature D connector. Regardless of the configuration, 
the connector will include a plurality of terminals 18 appropriately 
mounted within housing 12, with the terminals projecting from a bottom 
surface 20 of the housing in a direction generally parallel to axes of 
legs 66 of ground straps 16 for insertion into appropriate holes 22 in a 
substrate such as a printed circuit board 24 or the like. The terminals 
are electrically connected to appropriate circuit traces on the printed 
circuit board or in the holes thereof, all of which is known in the art. 
Housing 12 also may include integral board lock posts 26 projecting 
through appropriate holes 28 in the printed circuit board to lock the 
connector to the board prior to soldering terminals 18. 
Referring to FIG. 2 in conjunction with FIG. 1, insulative housing 12 has a 
top portion 30, a base portion 32 defining surface 20 (FIG. 1) which is 
mountable to the printed circuit board, and opposite sides 34. A mating 
plug, not shown can be inserted into cavity 35 as is known in the art. The 
housing is unitarily molded of dielectric material, such as plastic or the 
like, and includes end sections, generally designated 36, which have 
generally inverted U-shaped configurations. Each end section 36 includes a 
top wall 38 defining a top surface 40, and side walls 42 forming 
extensions of sides 34 of the housing. For purposes described hereinafter, 
top surface 40 has recess means in the form of a hole 44 through top wall 
38. Also for purposes described in greater detail hereinafter, side walls 
42 have slots 46 extending vertically thereof. The slots are generally 
keyhole shaped to define flanges 48 partially enclosing the slots. Solid 
portions 50 of the unitary housing close the bases of slots 46, and holes 
52 are provided through solid portions 50. Lastly, opposite sides 34 of 
housing 12 have stepped configurations, as at 54, to offset top portion 30 
from bottom portion 32. 
Conductive shield 14 is generally rectangularly shaped and substantially 
hollow in order to embrace top portion 30 of housing 12. The shield is 
stamped and formed in one piece of sheet metal material. The shield 
includes opposite end walls 56 and opposite side walls 58. It can be seen 
that the side walls have stepped configurations at the ends thereof, as at 
60, for mating into the stepped configurations 54 of opposite sides 34 of 
housing 12. The shield also has a flange 62 projecting outwardly from the 
bottom edge of each end wall 54. This flange overlies top surface 40 of 
housing 12 and has tabs 80 extending from it which tabs are bent around 
the wall 38 to attach shield 14 to the housing 12. Lastly, an integral 
strap retaining boss 64 depends from the underside of each flange 62. 
Each conductive ground strap 16 is in the general shape of an inverted U 
defining a pair of legs 66 with tail portions 68 at the distal ends of the 
legs. Each ground strap is stamped and formed in one piece from sheet 
metal material. The proximal ends of legs 66 are joined by a bight portion 
70 of the inverted U-shaped strap. An aperture 72 is formed generally 
centrally of bight portion 70. Legs 66 include stamped raised and 
elongated dimples 67 to provide additional rigidity. Tail portions 68 are 
inserted through holes 73 (FIG. 1) in the printed circuit board for 
connection to appropriate ground traces on the board (not shown). 
In case the shielded connector is mounted utilizing the surface mount 
technology e.g. there may not be openings 73 in the board, the ends of 
tail portions 68 may be bent substantially orthogonal to the vertical axis 
of legs 66 in such that the bent portions will make contact with 
appropriate ground traces on the board. 
With the above description of insulative housing 12, conductive shield 14 
and conductive ground straps 16, reference is made particularly to FIG. 2 
for explaining the simple assembly operation of electrical connector 10. 
In the following description, reference will be made to only one of the 
ground straps, since only one strap is depicted in FIG. 2. More 
particularly, ground strap(s) 16 is assembled to housing 12 in the 
direction of arrow "A" by inserting legs 66 into the top of slots 46 and 
moving the ground strap in direction "A" until tail portions 68 project 
through holes 52 in solid portions 50. Flanges 48 of the keyhole shaped 
slots 46 capture legs 66 securely within the slots. When so positioned, 
aperture 72 in bight portion 70 of the conductive strap is aligned with 
hole 44 in top wall 38 of end section 36 of the housing 12. 
Conductive shield 14 is assembled in the direction of arrow "B" (FIG. 2), 
which is parallel to direction "A", by sliding the shield over top portion 
30 of housing 12. When so assembled, flange 62 of the shield sandwiches 
bight portion 70 of ground strap 16 between the flange and top wall 38 of 
the housing. Boss 64, being formed integral with shield 14, projects 
through aperture 72 in bight portion 70 of the strap, and the boss is of 
sufficient length to project into hole 44 in wall 38 of the housing. The 
conductive ground strap thereby is held very securely to insulative 
housing 12 in conductive engagement with conductive shield 14 by the 
positioning of the legs of the ground strap in the slots of the housing, 
with the bight portion of the ground strap in full engagement with flange 
62 of the conductive shield, and further with boss 64 extending through 
aperture 72 in the ground strap. It can be seen that a commoning ground is 
established from conductive shield 14 through ground straps 16 to ground 
traces of the printed circuit board without the use of any extraneous 
locking hardware whatsoever, such as bolts, rivets, separate posts and the 
like. In addition, the ease of assembly of the major components of the 
connector is readily apparent by reference to FIG. 2 wherein it can be 
seen that the ground straps and the conductive shield are assembled to the 
housing in a singular direction as represented by arrows "A" and "B". The 
assembly operation, in fact, can be carried out by a singularly directed 
press application tool. 
In an alternate method of assembly the ground straps 16 are first assembled 
to the shield 14 by riveting, welding or the like and then the combination 
of shield 14 with the ground straps 16 attached is mounted onto the 
housing 12. Additionally, slots 48 in the housing may be made to extend 
all the way through eliminating solid portions 50 and the openings 52. 
It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific 
forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics 
thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be 
considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the 
invention is not to be limited to the details given herein.