Electrical connector having detection means

An electrical connector comprises an insulating housing having a mating body and a plurality of passageways defined in the mating body; a plurality of conductive contacts received in the plurality of passageways; and detection means received in the mating body for detecting engagement of an external mating connector. The detection means comprises a first and a second plate juxtaposed together, each including a main body and a contact leg extending from said main body for engagement with a conductive contact of a mating electrical connector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of The Invention 
The invention relates to an electrical connector having detection means and 
detection means for such an electrical connector. 
2. The Prior Art 
With the prevailing of the computer network systems, more and more 
attentions are cast onto the reliability of network systems and a series 
of electrical connection testings will be performed before normal .use of 
the network systems. In conventional network systems, electrical 
connection testings are performed after all the mechanical connections of 
the systems are carried out. Since a network system may involve many 
peripherals, once a malfunction is found after the mechanical connections 
are completed, the system builder has to sequentially inspect each of the 
mechanical connections between the network system and the peripherals to 
locate the error causing the malfunction. This trouble-shooting process is 
very tedious and time-consuming. Several detection means were proposed in 
JP 61-169974 JP 1-167971, and JP 8-22873; the above-mentioned problems, 
however, were not satisfactorily solved. Hence, there is a need for an 
electrical connector having detection means for real-timely detecting the 
electrical connection between a network system and a peripheral to 
overcome the above-mentioned problems. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, a main object of the present invention is to provide an 
electrical connector having detection means for real-timely detecting the 
electrical connection between a network system and a peripheral. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical 
connector having detection means for detecting the electrical connection 
between the apparatus connected together. 
To fulfill the above-mentioned objects, according to one embodiment of the 
present invention, an electrical connector comprises an insulating housing 
including a mating body and a plurality of passageways defined in the 
mating body; a plurality of conductive contacts received in the plurality 
of passageways; and detection means received in the mating body for 
detecting engagement of an external mating connector, wherein the 
detection means comprises a first plate and a second plate juxtaposed 
together, each of the first and second plates including a main body and a 
contact leg extending from the main body for engagement with a conductive 
contact of a mating electrical connector. 
In another preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises detection 
means for an electrical connector. The detection means comprises a first 
plate and a second plate juxtaposed together, each of the first and second 
plates including a main body and a contact leg extending from the main 
body for engagement with a conductive contact of a mating electrical 
connector. 
In still another preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises an 
arrangement of detection means in an insulating housing for an electrical 
connector. The housing comprises a plurality of passageways and a slot 
near a pair of the passageways and communicating with the pair of 
passageways; a conductive contact received in each of the pair of 
passageways; detection means received in the slot for detecting engagement 
of an external mating connector, wherein the detection means comprises a 
first plate and a second plate juxtaposed together, each of the first and 
second plates including a main body and a contact leg extending from the 
main body for engagement with a conductive contact of the mating 
electrical connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the 
present invention. It will be noted here that for a better understanding, 
most of like components are designated by like reference numerals 
throughout the various figures in the embodiments. 
Referring now to FIG. 1, an electrical connector having detection means 
according to the present invention is generally designated at 1. The 
electrical connector 1 mainly comprises an insulating housing 10, an 
insulating plate 11, a plurality of conductive contacts 12, a metal 
bracket 13, boardlocks 14, shielding means 15 and detection means 16. 
The insulating housing 10 comprises a front mating surface 101, a rear 
mounting surface 102 opposed the mating surface 101, and a mating body 103 
extending forward from the mating surface 101. An upper and a lower row of 
passageways 1031 (only a few being shown) are defined in the mating body 
103 for receiving a portion of the contacts 12. 
A horizontal slot 1032 is provided in the mating body 103 between the upper 
and lower rows of passageways 1031 and communicating with one upper and 
one lower passageway 1031 as means for positioning the detection means 16. 
In one preferred embodiment, the upper and lower passageways 1031 align 
with each other and a pair of aligned upper and lower passageways 1031 
communicate with the horizontal slot 1032, forming a cross opening on the 
front surface of the mating body 103. 
A pair of insulating blocks 104 extends rearward form both ends of the rear 
mounting surface 102 of the insulating housing 10 for isolating the 
contacts 12 on either side from the metal bracket 13 and for fixing the 
insulating housing 12 to the metal bracket 13. 
The insulating plate 11, configured to cooperate with the insulating blocks 
104, is provided at the rear side of the insulating housing 10. In one 
preferred embodiment, the insulating plate 11 is customized to have an 
upper and a lower step, each including a plurality of vertical apertures 
110 for extending therethrough of the contacts 12. As can be seen, in the 
present embodiment, the horizontal contacts 12 (only one contact being 
shown) are bent 90 degrees to be vertically downward at their rear 
portions 122 for passing through the apertures 110 of the insulating plate 
11. 
The metal bracket 13 is substantially an elongate plate defining a central 
opening (not shown) for passing through of the mating body 103. The metal 
bracket 13 further comprises a pair of supports 131 extending rearward of 
both sides thereof for connecting to the pair of insulating blocks 104. 
Each of the support 131 includes a vertical plate (not labeled) a distance 
away from an end of the metal bracket 13 and a horizontal plate (not 
labeled) extending outward from a lower portion of the vertical plate. 
The vertical plate defines a horizontal inward facing guide slot 1311 for 
guiding an outward facing guide bar (not labeled) on the insulating block 
104 and a locking opening (not labeled) above the guide slot 1311 for 
locking an outward protrusion (not labeled) on the insulating blocks 104 
above the guide bar. The horizontal plate comprises the boardlock 14 
having a pair of legs 140, 141 for fixing onto a circuit board. 
The metal bracket 13 further comprises a pair of hooks 1310 extending 
forward near both sides thereof for connecting to a mating connector (not 
shown) and a pair of screw holes 132 on both end portions thereof for 
further firmly securing the mating connector to the present connector 1. 
The shielding means 15 is a metal shell provided on a front surface of the 
metal bracket 13 surrounding the central opening of the metal bracket 13. 
Please now further refer to FIG. 3. The present detection means 16 
comprises a first upper plate 160 and a second lower plate 165, and both 
of the plates 160, 165 are formed by stamping. The upper plate 160 
includes a main plate 162 of a substantially rectangular shape and a first 
contact leg 161 extending rearward from a central rear edge thereof. The 
first leg 161 bends rearward and upward to a convex portion 1611, and then 
continuously bends twice in opposite directions to form a V-shaped end 
having an end stopper 1612. The main body 162 further comprises a 
plurality of barbs 1621 on its lateral edges and a pair of embossments 
1622 on its surface. 
Similarly, the lower plate 165 includes a main body 167 and a second 
contact leg 166 extending rearward from a central rear edge thereof. The 
second leg 166 bends rearward and downward to a convex portion 1661, and 
then continuously bends twice in opposite directions to form a V-shaped 
end having an end stopper 1662. Also, the main body 167 comprises barbs 
1671 on its lateral edges and embossments 1622 (not shown) on its surface. 
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, when positioning the detection means 16 into 
the horizontal slot 1032 of the mating body 103, the upper and lower 
plates 160, 165 are first juxtaposed so that the main bodies 162 and 167 
overlap each other with the pair of legs 161, 166 extending rearward and 
the convex portions 1611, 1661 projecting out of the plane on which the 
main bodies 162, 167 locate. 
Next, the assembled detection means 16 is inserted into the horizontal slot 
1032 with the lateral barbs 1621, 1671 interferingly fitting into the side 
walls of the horizontal slot 1032 and the embossments 1622 urging on the 
upper and lower surfaces of the horizontal slot 1032 to firmly securing in 
the mating body 103. Thus, the first and second contact legs 161, 166 
extend into the horizontal slot 1032 and the end stoppers 1612, 1662 of 
the first and second legs 161, 166 abut against an upper and a lower 
shoulder 1033, 1034 formed on inner walls of the horizontal slot 1032, 
respectively. The outermost convex portions 1611, 1661 of the upper and 
the lower contact legs 161, 166 project out of the horizontal slot 1032 
into the upper and the lower passageways 1031 for engaging mating contacts 
of a mating connector (not shown). 
In one preferred embodiment, the first and second contact legs 161', 166' 
are the same, as shown in FIG. 5, which is the most economic way to 
manufacture the detection means 16. In another preferred embodiment, the 
first and the second contact legs 161, 166 are similar to but slightly 
different from each other in shape to provide different functions when 
mating with mating contacts. One example of this can be seen in FIG. 4, in 
which a front portion of the first contact leg 161 connecting the main 
body 162 may have a different slope from that of the second contact leg 
166 so that when a mating connector is inserted into the present connector 
1, one of the two contact legs 161, 166 will be engaged first with a 
mating contact 2 (shown in phantom lines) of the mating connector for 
grounding to reduce noise then, the other one of the contacts legs 161, 
166 will be engaged with another mating contact 2 (shown in phantom lines) 
of the mating connector for transmitting an electrical signal to a circuit 
(not shown) for detecting whether the peripheral connected to the network 
system is in an on-line state and for reporting to a main circuit for 
reflecting the state to the system builder. 
Since the contact legs 161, 166 are resilient, they will bend inward when 
pressed by the mating contacts, and return to their original position 
while the mating connector is removed. 
FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the 
detection means 16 is received in a housing 10' for a vertical type 
electrical connector arrangement 1'. It can be seen that the detection 
means 16 and its arrangement to the housing 10' are completely the same as 
those in the housing 10 of the connector 1. The differences between the 
connectors 1 and 1' are the portions of the housing 10 and 10' which do 
not influence the structural relation between the detection means 16 and 
the housing 10 or 10'. 
While the present invention has been described with reference to specific 
embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not 
to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications to the 
present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those 
skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the 
invention as defined by the appended claims.