Electrical connector with slider

A surface mount connector for a flexible printed circuit board of low profile (low height) by providing contacts at a smaller pitch. A connector comprises an insulator, a plurality of contacts aligned longitudinally of the insulator and a slider. The contacts are provided in the insulator with at least one end thereof and a portion of a central area thereof being exposed outward. The slider holds a flexible printed circuit board between the slider and the insulator, longitudinal opposite ends of the slider are connected to opposite ends of the insulator and the contacts are electrically connected to a conductive pattern of the printed circuit board at positions corresponding to a node of the slider.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a surface mount type connector for a 
flexible printed circuit board. As a connector which is mounted to a 
surface of a printed circuit board for connection of other flexible 
printed circuit board, a slide type or a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) type 
has been known. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In an electronic equipment such as a mobile telephone set, a demand to 
further reduce a size is strong and components used therefor are in many 
cases of smaller size and of high packing density. In a flexible printed 
circuit board used in such a small size electronic equipment, an electrode 
(conductive pattern) pitch is narrowed and a contact pitch in a connector 
for connection with the printed circuit board is also narrowed to increase 
the package density. 
However, in the prior art slide type of ZIF connector, there is a limit in 
narrowing the contact pitch by a structural reason. Thus, a connector 
which allows the reduction of the contact pitch to increase the package 
density without regard to the type of the connector has been demanded. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a surface mount 
connector for a flexible printed circuit board which allows the provision 
of contacts at a smaller pitch and which is of low profile (low height). 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a surface mount 
connector for the flexible printed circuit board which permits automatic 
insertion of a connector body (insulator) and a slider. 
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a 
connector comprising an insulator, a plurality of contacts aligned 
longitudinally of said insulator and a slider, characterized in that said 
contacts are provided in said insulator with at least one end thereof and 
a portion of a central area thereof being exposed outward and said slider 
holds a flexible printed circuit board between said slider and said 
insulator, longitudinal opposite ends of said slider are connected to 
opposite ends of said insulator and said contacts are electrically 
connected to a conductive pattern of said printed circuit board at 
positions corresponding to a node of said slider. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The connector of the present invention fixes the opposite ends of the 
slider and the insulator while holding the flexible printed circuit board 
between the slider and the insulator, and electrically connects the 
contacts to the conductive pattern of the printed circuit board at the 
positions corresponding to the node of the slider. Thus, the package 
height is lower and the contact pitch is smaller than those of the prior 
art surface mount connector and the overall shape of the connector is 
reduced. 
Because of the above construction, the present connector eliminates an 
actuator (operation lever) as compared with the prior art connector, for 
example, the ZIF connector, and the construction is simpler and 
operability is better (allowing the automatic packaging). 
In the connector of the present invention, the contacts extends in the 
opposite directions from the opposite sides along the longitudinal 
direction. Thus, tandem connection of flexible printed circuit boards may 
be attained by connecting separate flexible circuit boards to the contact 
lines of the respective sides. 
Further, by providing holes or notches at appropriate positions of the 
flexible printed circuit board, the slider per se may be directly 
contacted to the contact to ground it, which is an advantage not attained 
in the prior art structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
FIGS. 1A to 3C show one embodiment of the present invention. The present 
embodiment is explained with reference to the drawings. 
The connector of the present invention comprises an insulator (connector 
body) 10, a plurality of contacts 20 aligned longitudinally of the 
insulator and a slider 30. 
As will be described later, the insulator 10 comprises opposite ends 11 
held by the slider 30 and a central area 12 for fixing a number of 
contacts 20 by molds. The material thereof is glass reinforced 
thermoplastic resin. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 2A, steps 13 are formed at 
the opposite ends 11 of the insulator 10 to regulate the movement by the 
slider 30 to unidirection (an open side free of step). 
The contacts 20 are provided in the insulator 10 with at least one of ends 
thereof and a portion of a central area being exposed outward. In a 
hatched area shown in FIG. 2A, the contacts 20 are packaged (buried) in 
the contact body. As seen from FIG. 2A, the contacts 20 are formed such 
that a portion of the exposed central area thereof protrudes outward. 
As shown in FIG. 1A, the plurality of contacts 20 are arranged to extend 
outward from a pair of sides which extend parallely to the longitudinal 
direction of the insulator 10. As shown, the width of the contact at the 
opposite ends may be widened to use for a power line or ground line. 
The slider 30 is formed of a metal and a node 32 thereof is reduced inside 
as seen from FIG. 2C and holds the flexible printed circuit board 40 
between the slider and the insulator 10. The longitudinal ends 31 of the 
slider are connected to the opposite ends 11 of the insulator and the 
contacts 20 are electrically connected to a conductive pattern of the 
printed circuit board at a position corresponding to the node of the 
slider 30. 
In the illustrated embodiment, the longitudinal ends 31 of the slider 30 
are formed to be bent inward (see FIGS 1B, 2C and 3C) and the longitudinal 
ends 11 of the insulator 10 are formed with curved surfaces corresponding 
to the shape of the ends of the slider 30. The slider 30 fixedly holds the 
opposite ends 11 of the insulator 10 relative to the insulator 10 at the 
longitudinal ends so that it is movable laterally. Specifically, the 
printed circuit board 40 temporarily held to a back side of the node by 
adhesive material is overlapped on the insulator 10 with the printed 
circuit board 40 being positioned down and the opposite ends 31 of the 
slider are pushed to fit the opposite ends 31 of the slider from the 
outside of the opposite ends 11 of the insulator. The contact 20 serves as 
a leaf spring and supports the printed circuit board 40 pushed in by the 
node of the slider 30. 
FIGS. 3B and 3C show the printed circuit board 40 but FIG. 3A does not show 
the printed circuit board for the sake of convenience. In the connector of 
the present invention, holes or notches are formed at appropriate 
positions of the flexible printed circuit board 40, and those contacts of 
the plurality of aligned contacts 20 which are located at the positions 
corresponding to the holes are directly contacted with slider 30. 
In the connector of the present invention, the width of the flexible 
printed circuit board 40 is narrower than the distance between the 
opposite ends of the plurality of aligned contacts 20 and those contacts 
of the plurality of contacts 20 which are located at the ends may directly 
contacted with the slider (metal). 
As shown in the embodiment, the contact 20 is not provided in the central 
area of the insulator 10 and a suction area for the automatic mounting may 
be provided to attain the automatic mounting of the main body and the 
slider. 
As shown in FIG. 4, the contact pitch may be widened by providing the 
plurality of contacts 20 to alternately extend outward from a pair of 
sides extending parallely to the longitudinal direction of the insulator 
10.