Board positioning arrangement

An arrangement for positioning a printed wiring board relative to a rigid backplane without the need of support for the printed wiring board from below. Connector pins extend from the backplane and engage connector sockets mounted on the printed wiring board to support the printed wiring board. The printed wiring board is further prevented from falling away from the backplane by a retaining guide assembly which is mounted to the backplane and which engages the front edge of the printed wiring board at its upper end.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to printed wiring card positioning 
arrangements and, more particularly, to an arrangement for positioning a 
printed wiring board not relying on support of the board from below. 
Printed wiring board positioning arrangements are well known to those 
skilled in the art. One very common type is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,216,580 issued Nov. 9, 1965, to F. V. Fricker, Jr. This patent provides 
a positioning device for retaining cards which includes base and upper 
members connected by a flexible segment. The base and upper members 
include card admitting grooves and are positioned such that the lower end 
of the upper member's groove is out of alignment with the lower member's 
groove. Such devices rely on both card vertical edges to position the card 
and the card's bottom edge to support the card. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,089,042 issued May 9, 1978, to R. B. Torburn, teaches an 
apparatus for positioning hybrid substrates in a vertical orientation 
including a vertically oriented flat body portion located adjacent the 
substrate to be positioned. The body portion is held in contact with a 
horizontal mounting plane by means of a first peg extending from the body 
portion through the horizontal plane. Protrusions extend over the upper 
edge of and below the lower edge of the held substrate to position the 
substrate relative to the mounting plane. Such an arrangement has the 
disadvantage of being suitable for use only with substrates mounted upon a 
horizontal surface. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,024 issued Apr. 15, 1980, to Cavanna, teaches a unitary 
retention arm for printed circuit boards engaged in card connectors 
attached to vertically oriented base members. The retention arm is mounted 
to the base and engages the printed circuit card edge opposite the 
connector to hold the card seated within the connector. Such an 
arrangement can permit lateral movement of the printed circuit board 
relative to the connector thus allowing contact misalignment, shorting of 
adjacent contacts, and opening of the contact connection to occur. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A printed wiring board positioning arrangement is provided in accordance 
with the present invention which avoids the disadvantages and shortcomings 
of the above cited art and includes an arrangement for positioning a 
printed wiring board relative to a rigid vertical backplane supported by 
connector pins extending from the backplane. A connector body, having 
contacts in the form of receptacles, is mounted to the printed wiring 
board and engages the backplane mounted pins to provide board support. A 
retainer attached to the backplane near the top edge of the board engages 
the front edge of the board near its upper front corner to prevent the 
printed wiring board from falling away from the backplane. Angular 
movement of the board in the horizontal plane is prevented by a board 
guide included in the board retainer which engages the top edge of the 
printed wiring board. An alignment pin extends perpendicularly from the 
backplane adjacent and parallel to the connector pins, and engages a 
printed wiring board mounted alignment guide to align the connector board 
terminals with the backplane mounted pins and thus permit their engagement 
when the board is positioned and connected according to the present 
invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown the printed wiring board 
positioning arrangement of the present invention. Printed wiring board 1 
having front edge 2, top edge 3, and side surface 4 is positioned adjacent 
rigid backplane 5 and maintained in that position, as hereinafter 
described. Rigid backplane 5 is vertically oriented and serves as a 
mounting base for the several component parts of the present invention. In 
this regard, a plurality of electrical connector pins 11 extend 
perpendicularly from the backplane 5. A corresponding plurality of 
connector pin receptacles 12 are retained within an insulative connector 
body 15 which is attached to the printed wiring board surface 4. The 
connector receptacles 12 engage the connector pins 11 to form a support 10 
for the printed wiring board 1 and to provide paths for electrical signals 
to and from the printed wiring board. 
Retainer 20 includes rigid base portion 21 attached to the backplane 5 by 
means of fasteners 22. The fasteners 22 may be any of the types generally 
known in the art, for example, screws or eyelet rivets. Alternatively, 
adhesive bonding techniques may be used to attach the base portion 21 to 
the backplane 5 in place of the fasteners 22. A printed wiring board guide 
23 extends from the base portion 21 in a direction perpendicular to the 
backplane 5. The guide 23 has a generally inverted U-shaped cross-section 
and is sized to enclose the top edge 3 of the printed wiring board 1 and, 
thus, prevent angular movement of the board in the horizontal plane. The 
retainer 20 further includes a latch 24 having a generally triangularly 
shaped cross-section. The latch 24 is vertically oriented and includes an 
elongated vertical channel 25. The latch 24 is connected to the guide 23 
by flexible section 26. The channel 25 of the latch 24 engages the front 
edge 2 of the printed wiring board 1 to prevent the board 1 from falling 
away from the backplane 5 under the force of gravity, as is most clearly 
shown in FIG. 2. 
A connector aligner 30 is provided to assist in mating the connector 
sockets 12 with the connector pins 11 and includes alignment pin 31 
extending perpendicularly from the backplane 5. The alignment pin 31 is 
positioned relative to the connector pins 11 so as to place it in contact 
with the printed wiring board surface 4 and a lower surface 16 of the 
connector body 15 when the connector sockets 12 are engaged with the 
connector pins 11. The alignment pin 31 is preferably longer than the 
connector pins 11 to permit alignment of the connector receptacles 12 of 
the printed wiring board 1 relative to the connector pins 11 before they 
are engaged. 
Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown at 30' a variation of the connector 
aligner 30 shown in FIG. 2. The connector aligner 30', as shown in FIG. 3, 
includes an aligner guide 32' attached to the printed wiring board 1 below 
the connector body 15. The aligner guide 32' includes engaging surface 33' 
shaped to closely fit the upper surface of the associated alignment pin 
31'. A pair of alignment pin locating surfaces 34' meet the engaging 
surface 33' and extend downwardly diverging to assist in locating the 
alignment pin 31' adjacent to the engaging surface 33' when the printed 
wiring board 1 is oriented for positioning adjacent to the backplane 5. 
The aligner guide 32' prevents horizontal movement of the bottom of the 
printed wiring board 1 to prevent misalignment of the connector 
receptacles 12 and the connector pins 11 as the printed wiring board is 
being slid into position adjacent to the backplane 5. 
The printed wiring board 1 may alternatively be supported from the 
backplane 5 by the connector aligner 30 in lieu of support via the 
connector receptacles 12 engaged with the connector pins 11. In this 
regard and considering the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the alignment pin 
31 will engage the printed wiring board surface 4 to align, and the lower 
surface 16 of the connector body 15 to align and support the printed 
wiring board 1 from the backplane 5. If, on the other hand, the embodiment 
shown in FIG. 3 is considered, the alignment pin 31' will engage aligner 
guide 32' via engaging surface 33' to align and support the printed wiring 
board 1 from the backplane 5. 
The printed wiring board 1 as shown in the drawing is positioned relative 
to the backplane 5, according to the present invention, by causing the 
flexible section 26 to yield thereby displacing the latch 24 to permit 
placing the upper surface 3 of the printed wiring board 1 within the board 
guide 23, and then placing the printed wiring board surface 4 and the 
lower surface 16 of the connector body 15 (or the engaging surface 33' of 
the aligner guide 32' in FIG. 3) in contact with the alignment pin 31 (or 
31'). These actions will serve to align the connector receptacles 12 with 
the connector pins 11, thereby facilitating their subsequent engagement. 
The printed wiring board 1 is then slid toward the backplane 5 to engage 
the connector sockets 12 with the connector pins 11 and position the 
printed wiring board 1 adjacent to the backplane 5. As the printed wiring 
board 1 is slid into position, the latch 24 of the retainer 20 will snap 
around the front edge 2 of the printed wiring board 1 under force of the 
flexible member 26 thus engaging the channel 25 around the front edge 2 of 
the printed wiring board 1. 
The printed circuit board 1 is removed from its position relative to the 
backplane 5 by bending the latch 24 horizontally away from the printed 
wiring board 1 to disengage the channel 25 from the front edge 22. The 
printed wiring board 1 is then slid horizontally away from the backplane 5 
to disengage the connector sockets 12 from the connector pins 11, the 
alignment pin 31 from the printed wiring board surface 4 and the lower 
surface 16 of the connector body 15, and the top edge 3 from the printed 
wiring board guide 23. 
The present invention has been described with reference to a specific 
embodiment thereof for the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the 
invention may be used to advantage. It will be appreciated by those 
skilled in the art that numerous modifications of the present invention 
can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention which shall 
be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.