Very low profile card edge connector

A card edge connector is provided with a housing and electrical contacts. The housing has a card edge receiving area, end supports located at opposite ends of the card edge receiving area, and stability outriggers. The end supports extend up from a top surface of the housing and each has a slot for receiving a portion of a printed circuit board. The outriggers extend outward from lateral sides of the housing at the bottom of the housing. The outriggers also function as standoffs for the housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to electrical connectors and, more 
particularly, to a card edge connector. 
2. Prior Art 
The art is replete with different types and kinds of card edge connectors. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,846,734 and 4,934,961 show two different types of card 
edge connectors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,936 shows a card edge connector with 
contacts having surface mount solder tails and the housing having 
standoffs. U.S. Pat. 4,487,468 shows a card edge connector with guide 
rails at opposite ends of the connector. U.S. Pat. 3,665,375 discloses 
guides with slots to orientate a daughter board relative to a connection 
block. Burndy Corporation has manufactured card edge connectors with 
standoffs at both ends and extending outwardly from the housing to stably 
mount the connector on a mother board. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a card edge 
connector is provided comprising a housing and electrical contacts. The 
housing has a card edge receiving area, end supports located at opposite 
ends of the card receiving area, and outriggers. The end supports each 
have a slot for receiving a portion of a printed circuit board and 
extending up from a top surface of the housing. The outriggers extend 
outwardly from lateral sides of the housing at a bottom of the housing. 
The electrical contacts are mounted to the housing. In accordance with 
another embodiment of the present invention, a card edge connector is 
provided comprising a housing and electrical contacts. The housing is 
comprised of a one-piece molded dielectric material having a center 
section and end sections located on opposite ends of the center section. 
The center section has a card edge receiving area and outriggers extending 
laterally outward from longitudinal sides of the center section at a 
bottom of the housing. The end sections also have outriggers extending 
laterally outward from the end sections. The electrical contacts are 
mounted to the housing. 
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a card edge 
connector and printed circuit board assembly is provided comprising a 
mother printed circuit board, a card edge connector, and a daughter 
printed circuit board. The card edge connector is connected to the mother 
board and has a housing with a plurality of spring contacts. The housing 
has a center section with a card edge receiving area and two end sections 
with upwardly extending card end supports. The center section is 
substantially shorter in height than the end sections and the end supports 
have card receiving slots. The daughter board has a card edge connection 
area with contact pads on two sides located in the card edge receiving 
area and end edges located in and structurally supported by the card 
receiving slots of the end supports. The height of the center section is 
relatively short, but the end sections assist in stably connecting the 
daughter board to the connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIGS. 1-4 there is shown a card edge electrical connector 10 
for connecting a daughter printed circuit board 12 to a mother printed 
circuit board 14. Although the present invention will be described with 
reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings, it should be 
understood that features of the present invention can be embodied in 
various different forms of embodiments. In addition, any suitable size, 
shape or type of elements or materials could be used. 
The connector 10 generally comprises a housing 16 and a plurality of 
electrical contacts 18. The housing 16 is comprised of a one-piece molded 
dielectric polymer or plastic material. The housing 16 includes an 
elongate center section 20 and two end sections 22, 24. The center section 
20 has a card receiving area 26 and contact channels 28. The card 
receiving area 26 is suitably sized and shaped to receive the card edge 
connection area 30 of the daughter board 12 therein. Polarizing ridges 32 
are provided in the receiving area 26 to prevent misconnection of the 
daughter board 12 as is generally known in the card edge connector 
technology. The depth D of the receiving area 26, in the embodiment shown, 
is preferably about 0.175 inch. However, other depths could be provided. 
The height H' of the end sections 22,24 is about 0.61 inch and the height 
H" of the housing is about 0.22 inch. The contact channels 28 are located 
on opposite sides of the receiving area 26 as two parallel rows with 
windows that open into the receiving area 26. The electrical contacts 18 
are mounted in the contact channels 28 with contact areas 34 that extend 
through the windows into the receiving area 26. Located at the bottom of 
the center section 20 are standoff outriggers 36. The standoff outriggers 
36 extend down from and laterally outward from the bottom 35 of the sides 
of the center section 20. The standoff outriggers 36 generally perform two 
functions. First, they function as standoffs to space the rest of the 
center section from the top surface of the mother board 14. Second, 
because they extend laterally outward from the sides of the center section 
20, they function a stability outriggers to stably seat the center section 
20 on the top surface of the mother board 14. 
The end sections 22, 24 generally comprise end supports 38 and standoff 
outrigger bottoms 40. Each end support 38 has a slot 42 for receiving a 
portion of the daughter board 12. Each slot 42 has an open top end 44, an 
open inner side 46 that faces the other slot, and the remaining bottom end 
and sides are enclosed. The bottoms 40 extend downward further than the 
bottom 35 of the center section 20 the same distance as the standoff 
outriggers 36. Likewise, the bottoms 40 extend laterally outward from the 
end sections 22, 24 the same distance as the standoff outriggers 36. 
The electrical contacts 18, in the embodiment shown, are generally 
comprised of spring contacts. First ends 50 are soldered to contact pads 
52 on the mother board 14. The contact areas 34 are located at second ends 
of the contacts and are deflectable as the card edge connection area 30 of 
the daughter board 12 is inserted into the receiving area 26. The contact 
areas 34 are adapted to electrically contact contact pads 54 on the 
daughter printed circuit board 12. 
In the embodiment shown, the connector 10 also includes through-hole mounts 
that are comprised of metal latches 56. The latches 56 are fixedly 
connected to the hosing and extend from the bottom of the housing. Each 
latch 56 has a pair of spring legs 58 that extend through holes of the 
mother board 14 to fixedly mount the connector 10 to the mother board. The 
shape of the ends of the legs 58 and spacing between latches 56 is 
designed to pull the housing 16 against the top surface of the mother 
board 14. One of the latches 56a is orientated differently than the other 
latches. This helps to assure proper and exact positioning of the 
connector 10 on the mother board 14. In the embodiment shown, the contact 
pads 52 and solder tails 50 are on center-to-center pitch or spacing of 
only about 0,050 inch and are about 0.02 and 0.03 inch wide. Therefore, 
proper and exact positioning is important to prevent misconnection. In 
alternate embodiments, other types of means to mount the housing 16 to the 
mother board 14 could be provided. 
The daughter board 12, in the embodiment shown, is a SIMM printed circuit 
board. More specifically, it is a double sided SIMM with electric 
components 60 on both sides. The SIMM board 12 also has contact pads 54 on 
both sides at the card edge connection area 30. The open area between the 
two end supports 38 allows the electric components 60 to be located in 
that open area. Hence, the daughter board can be designed to a smaller 
size, but the end supports 38 nonetheless provide ample stability of the 
mounting of the daughter board 12 to the connector 10. Unlike prior double 
sided SIMM card edge connectors, the connector's 10 use of standoff 
outriggers 36 in the center section 20 and standoff outrigger bottoms 40 
at the end sections 22, 24 make the mounting of the connector 10 on the 
mother board 14 very stable. This is particularly advantageous for the 
surface mounted connector 10 shown in FIGS. 1-4 where the solder tails 50 
of the contacts 18 are merely surface mounted on the mother board 14. 
These standoff outriggers 36 prevent stress, being developed from movement 
of the daughter board 12 in the card receiving area 26, from reaching the 
solder joint at the solder tails 50 and contact pads 52. This makes the 
solder joint much more reliably. In alternate embodiments, additional 
standoffs and/or standoff outriggers could be provided. Use of the 
standoff outriggers provide ample stability for the surface mounted 
connector 10, but nonetheless minimizes the size of the housing 16 and the 
amount of real estate or area it occupies on the mother board 14. As shown 
with reference to FIG. 5, the same housing 16 can also be used with 
through-hole mounted contacts 18a in a connector 10a. 
It should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative 
of the invention. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by 
those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. 
Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such 
alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within the scope of 
the appended claims.