Electrical connector having latching members for engaging with a mating connector and a circuit board

An electrical connector includes an insulative housing having a central section defining a plurality of passageways each receiving a contact element therein and two end blocks. A latching member made of metal by means of stamping and pressing has a U-shaped structure fit over each of the end blocks. The latching member has a latching arm extending from the U-shaped structure for engaging with a mating connector. The latching member also has a second arm extending from the U-shaped structure for engaging with and retaining a circuit board. The second arm has a convex portion confronting a face of the end block and defining a gap therebetween for receiving the circuit board whereby the convex portion engages with a surface thereof. Alternatively, the second arm may extend through and engage with a hole defined in the circuit board for retaining the circuit board in the connector.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector. 
2. The Prior Art 
Electrical connectors of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,557 are 
well known in the electronics field. As shown in FIG. 8 of the attached 
drawings, the electrical connector of the '557 patent generally comprises 
an insulative housing 71 having a base section 72 and two end blocks 74. 
Each end block 74 defines a bore 75 for receiving a locking block 73. The 
locking block 73 has a hook 76 extending beyond a front face of the 
housing 71 for engaging with a mating connector (not shown). The locking 
block 73 defines an inner-threaded hole 70 for receiving and engaging with 
a bolt thereby securing the connector to a circuit board (not shown). The 
locking block 73 is made of plastic and the hook 76 is integrated with the 
locking block 73 whereby the hook 76 has a poor mechanical strength and 
may be easily broken. Furthermore, the connector is secured to the circuit 
board by means of bolts whereby the assembly thereof is time inefficient. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,639 discloses an electrical connector which, as shown 
in FIG. 9, comprises an insulative housing 100 having two end blocks 101. 
A U-shaped member 102 made of a metal plate by means of stamping and 
pressing is sideways fit over each end block 101 and fixed thereon. The 
U-shaped member 102 has an arm 840 on which barbs 820 are formed for 
engaging with a mating connector. The metal member 102 of the '639 
patent's connector overcomes the mechanical deficiency problem of the '557 
patent. Nevertheless, the '639 connector is still secured to a circuit 
board by means of bolts (not shown) thereby complicating assembly of the 
connector to the circuit board. 
It is thus desirable to provide an electrical connector which is readily 
mounted to a circuit board. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical 
connector which can be readily mounted to a circuit board. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical 
connector comprising a latch member made from a metal plate having a first 
resilient arm for engaging with a mating connector and a second resilient 
arm for engaging with and applying a spring force to a circuit board to 
retain the circuit board and the connector together. 
To achieve the above objects, an electrical connector in accordance with 
the present invention comprises an insulative housing having a central 
section defining a plurality of passageways each receiving a contact 
element therein and two end blocks. A latching member made of metal by 
means of stamping and pressing has a U-shaped structure fit over each of 
the end blocks. The latching member has a latching arm extending from the 
U-shaped structure for engaging with a mating connector. The latching 
member also has a second arm extending from the U-shaped structure for 
engaging with and retaining a circuit board. The second arm has a convex 
portion confronting a face of the end block and defining a gap 
therebetween for receiving the circuit board whereby the convex portion 
engages with a surface thereof. Alternatively, the second arm may extend 
through and engage with a hole defined in the circuit board for retaining 
the circuit board in the connector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electrical 
connector 200 in accordance with the present invention comprises an 
insulative housing 1, two latching members 2, a plurality of contact 
elements 3 and a shielding member 4. The insulative housing 1 comprises an 
elongate parallelepiped structure having a D-shaped coupling section 10 
projecting from a front face 92 thereof. A plurality of passageways 11 are 
defined in the coupling section 10 and extend through the housing 1 for 
each receiving one of the contact elements 3 therein. The contact element 
3 has a tail section 30 extending beyond a rear face (not labeled) of the 
housing 1 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. It should be noted that for 
simplicity, only one contact element 3 is shown in the drawings. 
The housing 1 has two walls 12 dividing the housing 1 into a central 
section 90 located between the walls 12 and two end sections 91. The 
coupling section 10 is formed on the front face 92 of the central section 
90. The central section 90 has a top face 96 and an opposite bottom face 
97 each having wedge-shaped barbs 17 formed thereon. Each end section 91 
has a front face 80 having a U-shaped recess 16 defined therein. A bore 15 
is defined in the U-shaped recess 16 through the end section 91. The end 
section 91 has a top face 81 and an opposite bottom face 82. A 
wedge-shaped barb 18 is formed on the top face 81 of each end section 91. 
The end section 91 has a stepped rear face forming a first portion 93 and 
a second portion 94 respectively defining a first slit 13 and a second 
slit 14 therein. The first portion 93 has a bottom face 95 on which a rib 
19 is formed for properly positioning the connector 200 on a circuit board 
99. 
A recessed zone (not labeled) is defined on both the top face 96 and the 
bottom face 97 of the central section 90 of the housing 1 between the 
walls 12. Each wall 12 has a guiding face 124 opposing each other for 
guidingly receiving a top or bottom panel 45 of the shielding member 4 
into the recessed zone. The walls 12 also have a stop face 123 for 
properly positioning the top or bottom panel 45 of the shielding member 4 
with respect to the housing 1. 
Each wall 12 also forms a stop face 122 associated with each of the end 
sections 91 for engaging with and positioning the corresponding latching 
member 2 with respect to the housing 1. 
Also referring to FIG. 3, each latching member 2 is associated with one of 
the end sections 91 of the housing 1. The latching member 2 defines a 
U-shaped configuration having a bottom forming a base section 83 and two 
side limbs respectively forming a first engaging section 29 and a second 
engaging section 29' extending from the base section 83. 
A latching arm 20 extends from the base section 83 opposite the engaging 
sections 29, 29'. The latching a rm 20 has a free end on which retaining 
barbs 21 are formed for engaging with and retaining a mating connector 
(not shown). The base section 83 of the latching member 2 defines a 
central hole 25 which may be formed by means of stamping thereby forming a 
cylindrical extension 250 (FIG. 4). The hole 25 is aligned with the bore 
15 of the corresponding end section 91 of the housing 1 and the extension 
250 is received in the recess 16. 
Each latching member 2 also has resilient arms 22 extending from the 
engaging sections 29, 29'. Each latching member 2 has a bent free end 220 
engageable with the front face 80 of the corresponding end section 91 of 
the housing 1 for retaining the latching member 2 thereon. 
The first engaging section 29 has a U-shaped free end 23 for engaging with 
the first slit 13 of the end section 91 of the housing 1. The second 
engaging section 29' has a U-shaped free end 24 for engaging with the 
second slit 14 of the end section 91 of the housing 1. Thus, the latching 
member 2 is securely retained on the end section 91 of the housing 1. 
The latching member 2 also comprises a resilient arm 26 extending from the 
engaging section 29'. The resilient arm 26 has a free end on which a 
convex surface 260 is formed. The convex surface 260 of the resilient arm 
26 faces the bottom face 95 of the first portion 93 of the stepped rear 
face of the end section 91 of the housing 1 for receiving the circuit 
board 99 therebetween with the tail section 30 of the contact element 3 
engaging with the circuit board 99 (FIG. 4). In this respect, the convex 
surface 260 of the resilient arm 26 may be formed corresponding to the 
thickness of the circuit board 99 in order to securely engage therewith. 
Thus, the resilient arm 26 serves as a board lock of the connector 200. 
The first engaging section 29 defines an opening 28 therein for engaging 
with the barb 18 of the end section 91 of the housing 1 thereby securely 
retaining the latching member 2 to the housing 1. The first engaging 
section 29 also defines an optional bolt hole 27 therein through which a 
bolt (not shown) may extend to secure the connector 200 to the circuit 
board 99. The first portion 93 of the end section 91 may have a cutout 98 
or simply a bore through which the bolt may extend to engage with the 
circuit board 99. 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, the shielding member 4 comprises a D-shaped 
tubular section 42 fit over the D-shaped coupling section 10 of the 
housing 1 and two side panels 41 which overlap the base sections 83 of the 
U-shaped structures of the latching members 2. Each side panel 41 defines 
a slot 44 therein through which the latching arm 20 of the corresponding 
latching member 2 extends. The side panel 41 also defines a bolt hole 43 
in alignment with the hole 25 of the base section 83 of the corresponding 
latch 2 for receiving a fastener (not shown) to secure the shielding 
member 4 to the housing 1. 
The top and bottom panels 45 of the shielding member 4 define openings 46 
therein for being engaged by barbs 17 of the housing 1 to secure the 
shielding member 4 on the housing 1. 
With reference to FIG. 3, the latching member 2 is mounted to the end 
section 91 of the housing 1 by fitting the U-shaped structure of the 
latching member 2 over the end section 91 in the lengthwise direction of 
the housing 1 with the first and second engaging sections 29, 29' 
respectively sliding sideways over the top and bottom faces 81, 82 of the 
end section 91 and the ends 23, 24 of the engaging sections 29, 29' 
inserted into the corresponding slits 13, 14 of the end section 91. The 
sliding motion of the latch 2 with respect to the end section 91 of the 
housing 1 is stopped by the stop face 122 of the corresponding wall 12. 
The barb 18 engages with the opening 28 of the first engaging section 29 
thereby retaining the latch 2 on the end section 91 of the housing 1. 
The circuit board 99 defines notches 990 (FIG. 10) fitting over the ribs 19 
formed on the first portions 93. The circuit board 99, once fit into the 
connector 200, is secured in position by being engaged by the convex 
surfaces 260 of the resilient arms 26. 
Referring to FIG. 5, after the latching members 2 are mounted to the end 
sections 91 of the housing 1, the shielding member 4 is attached to the 
front face 92 of the central section 90 of the housing 1 by fitting the 
tubular section 42 over the coupling section 10 of the housing 1 with the 
side panels 41 of the shielding member 4 overlapping the base sections 83 
of the latching members 2. The top and bottom panels 45 of the shielding 
member 4 slide over the top and bottom faces 96, 97 of the central section 
90 of the housing 1 and the openings 46 thereof engage with the barbs 17 
thereby securing the shielding member 4 on the housing 1. 
With reference to FIG. 6 wherein a second embodiment of the present 
invention is shown, the latching member, which is now designated by 
reference numeral 5, comprises a base 58 and first and second engaging 
sections 59, 59'. A latching arm 50 extends from the base section 58 
opposite the engaging sections 59, 59'. The first engaging section 59 has 
a U-shaped free end 53 engaging with the first slit 13 of the 
corresponding end section 91 of the housing 1, while the second engaging 
section 59' has a U-shaped free end 54 engaging with the second slit 14 of 
the end section 91. The second engaging section 59' also has a resilient 
arm 56 forming a convex surface 51 engaging with and retaining the circuit 
board 99 in the housing 1. To provide a secure engagement between the 
housing 1 and the circuit board 99, the tail section 30 of the contact 
element 3 forms a convex surface 31 substantially corresponding to the 
convex surface 51 of the resilient arm 56 for securing the circuit board 
99 therebetween. In this respect, the resilient arm 56 also functions as a 
board lock. 
Referring to FIG. 7 wherein a third embodiment of the present invention is 
shown, the latching member, which is now designated by reference numeral 
6, comprises a base section 68 from which a first engaging section 69 and 
a second engaging section 69' extend. Each engaging section 69, 69' has a 
U-shaped end 63, 64 engaging with the first and second slits 13, 14 of the 
corresponding end section 91 of the housing 1. A latching arm 60 extends 
from the base section 68 opposite the engaging sections 69, 69'. The 
second engaging section 69' has a retaining member 66 for engaging with 
and retaining the circuit board 99. The first engaging member 69 has a 
perpendicular arm 61, serving as a board lock, extending through a hole 
991 defined in the circuit board 99 (FIG. 10) for securely retaining the 
circuit board 99. Preferably, the arm 61 has a convex free end 62 for 
retaining the circuit board 99. 
In view of the structure of the connector 200 described above, it is 
evident that the latching member 2 may be made from a metal plate by means 
of stamping and pressing thereby facilitating the manufacture and assembly 
thereof. The provision of a board lock on a latching member allows the two 
parts of the connector to be manufactured simultaneously in a simple 
forming operation. Furthermore, the board lock formed on the latching 
member allows the connector to be easily mounted to circuit boards of 
different thickness. 
One feature of the invention is to provide the connector with retention 
means with regard to the board wherein one retention force is exerted by 
the contact elements and the other opposite retention force is generated 
by the metal clip, i.e., the latching member 2, so that the board may be 
retainably sandwiched between the metal clip and the contact elements. 
Although the present invention has been described with reference to 
preferred embodiments, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a 
variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from 
the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the 
appended claims.