Connector of a simple structure having a locking mechanism

A transceiver connector adapted to be connected to a mating connector having a fitting hole and a latch. A metal hood serving as a housing is configured to be insertable into the fitting hole in an inserting direction. The transceiver connector includes a lever formed from a single metal plate and slidable with respect to the housing in the inserting direction and a detaching direction opposite to the inserting direction. The housing has a locking stepped portion adapted to engage the latch in the detaching direction. The lever has an inclined surface and a latch driving convex portion serving as an engagement releasing portion adapted to release engagement between the latch and the locking stepped portion by sliding of the lever, and a support piece continuous from the latch driving convex portion, folded back, and supported by the housing.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2008-280854, filed on Oct. 31, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a connector and, in particular, relates to a connector having a locking mechanism.

BACKGROUND ART

In servers or the like in a computer network, use is made of board-connecting connectors intended for high-speed transmission. The connectors of this type include one generally called a transceiver connector.

One example of the transceiver connector is disclosed in Published JP-A-2005-519452 as “Transceiver Module Assembly”. The disclosed transceiver module assembly is inserted and fitted into a receptacle assembly mounted on a board and is thereby electrically connected to the board. When the transceiver module assembly is fitted into the receptacle assembly, both are locked together by a standardized locking mechanism so that detachment of the transceiver module assembly is prevented. The locking mechanism comprises a locking element provided in the receptacle assembly and a drive arm provided in the transceiver module assembly. The drive arm is part of an ejector mechanism for ejecting the transceiver module assembly from the receptacle assembly, but in the state where the transceiver module assembly is fitted into the receptacle assembly, the drive arm engages the locking element of the receptacle assembly to prevent the detachment of the transceiver module assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the above-mentioned transceiver module assembly, however, there is a problem that the number of components for the locking mechanism is large and the structures and mechanisms of the respective components are complicated, leading to an increase in production cost.

It is therefore an exemplary object of this invention to provide a connector of a simple structure having a locking mechanism.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a connector adapted to be connected to a mating connector having a fitting hole and a latch. The connector comprises a housing configured to be insertable into the fitting hole in an inserting direction and a lever formed from a single metal plate and slidable with respect to the housing in the inserting direction and a detaching direction opposite to the inserting direction, wherein the housing has a locking stepped portion adapted to engage the latch in the detaching direction, and wherein the lever comprises an engagement releasing portion adapted to release engagement between the latch and the locking stepped portion by sliding of the lever and a support piece continuous from the engagement releasing portion, folded back, and supported by the housing.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

Referring toFIGS. 1A to 1C, a description will first be given of a mating connector serving as a connection object of a transceiver connector.

The mating connector is generally designated by reference symbol2and comprises a metal shell21serving as a housing and a connector portion25attached to the metal shell21. The metal shell21has a hollow rectangular prism shape formed by punching and bending a metal plate and has a fitting hole22opened forward for fittingly receiving the transceiver connector. Left and right walls of the metal shell21each have a rearward cantilever-like latch3formed by cutting and raising a portion of the wall so as to project into the fitting hole22. When the transceiver connector is fitted into the fitting hole22, the latches3engage the transceiver connector to lock the fitted state.

The connector portion25is attached to the metal shell21at a deep portion (rear portion) of the fitting hole22and comprises an insulator26and a plurality of contacts27held by the insulator26. The insulator26has a fitting groove28for receiving and connecting the transceiver connector and a board attaching seat29for attaching to a board P. The board attaching seat29projects downward through an opening23formed in a lower wall of the metal shell21so as to be mountable on the board P. One end of each contact27is located in the fitting groove28and brought into contact with a corresponding conductive terminal of the received transceiver connector to be electrically connected thereto. Each contact27is drawn out through a rear surface of the insulator26and then perpendicularly bent downward to penetrate the board attaching seat29so that the other end of each contact27forms a connection terminal to the board P. The metal shell21and the connector portion25are fixedly mounted on the board P so that the other ends of the contacts27are connected to a circuit of the board P.

Next, referring also toFIGS. 2A to 2C, a connector according to an exemplary embodiment of this invention will be described using a transceiver connector.

The transceiver connector is generally designated by reference symbol1and electrically connected to the mating connector2by being fitted into the metal shell21thereof and has a locking mechanism for locking the fitted state by engaging the latches3projecting into the metal shell21.

The transceiver connector1comprises a metal hood4serving as a housing, a circuit board12received and held in the metal hood4, and levers6assembled to left and right side surfaces of the metal hood4, respectively. The metal hood4comprises an upper hood41and a lower hood42which are vertically stacked one on the other and screwed by screws43so as to be integrated together. The upper hood41and the lower hood42are individually formed into predetermined shapes by a method such as die cast. The metal hood4has, in its left and right side surfaces, lever holding grooves44for receiving and holding the levers6so as to be slidable forward and rearward.

The circuit board12is received and held in an inner space of the metal hood4and has one end connected to a cable C introduced into the inner space from a rear end of the metal hood4and the other end projecting to the outside from a front end of the metal hood4to form a connector portion13. A plurality of conductive terminals14for electrical connection to the mating connector2are formed by conductive patterns on upper and lower surfaces of the connector portion13. The circuit board12is mounted with electrical elements (not illustrated) for processing input/output signals transferred to the connector portion13from the cable C.

Referring also toFIGS. 3 to 5, the metal hood4and the levers6will be described.

Each lever6has a long plate shape long in the forward/rearward direction and is formed by punching and bending a metal plate. The lever6has a body portion61, a recess portion62, and a latch driving convex portion63arranged in this order from the rear side to the front side. Further, the lever6integrally has a support piece8which is folded rearward from a front end of the latch driving convex portion63. An inclined surface10is formed at a rear end portion (portion continuous with the recess portion62) of the latch driving convex portion63. The latch driving convex portion63(including the inclined surface10) and the support piece8are narrower than the body portion61and the recess portion62and the recess portion62is formed with projecting pieces66along upper and lower lines thereof, respectively.

On the other hand, each lever holding groove44is opened rearward of the metal hood4and has a wide groove portion45for receiving the body portion61and the recess portion62and a narrow groove portion46for receiving the latch driving convex portion63(including the inclined surface10) and the support piece8. A front end face, forming a boundary with the narrow groove portion46, of the wide groove portion45forms a locking stepped portion11for engagement with the latch3of the mating connector2. An upper wall surface and a lower wall surface of a portion, for receiving the recess portion62, of the wide groove portion45respectively have projecting piece guide grooves47for receiving the upper and lower projecting pieces66so as to guide the lever6to slide forward and rearward.

By inserting the upper and lower projecting pieces66of the lever6into the projecting piece guide grooves47, the lever6is held to be slidable forward and rearward in a predetermined range in the lever holding groove44and is prevented from coming off the lever holding groove44.

The recess portion62and the support piece8of the lever6contact and slide on a bottom wall surface of the lever holding groove44. The body portion61and the latch driving convex portion63of the lever6are approximately flush with a corresponding one of the left and right side surfaces of the metal hood4. The recess portion62is recessed from the corresponding left or right side surface of the metal hood4so that a free end of the latch3is engageable with the locking stepped portion11over the recess portion62.

The lever6is slidable between a pushed position where the latch driving convex portion63(including the inclined surface10) is completely received in the narrow groove portion46and a drawn-out position where the lever6is forced to slide rearward so that a rear half (including the inclined surface10) of the latch driving convex portion63is drawn out into the wide groove portion45and a front half thereof remains in the narrow groove portion46.

Rear end portions of the levers6received in the left and right lever holding grooves44are coupled together by a plastic operating member5which is used for forward and rearward slide operations of the levers6. The levers6and the operating member5are coupled together by, for example, press fitting.

The operating member5is assembled to the rear end of the metal hood4so as to be movable forward and rearward and comprises an operating portion51projecting upward of the metal hood4and arm portions52entering a hollow portion of the metal hood4to guide the operating member5forward and rearward. Positioning projections7are provided on upper and lower surfaces of each of the arm portions52, respectively.

Positioning projections9are provided on upper and lower inner wall surfaces, facing the positioning projections7, in the hollow portion of the metal hood4. The positioning projections7and the positioning projections9cooperatively form a positioning means such that when the operating member5is operated to move forward or rearward, the positioning projections7elastically ride across the positioning projections9so as to be positioned forward or rearward of the positioning projections9, thereby selectively positioning the levers6at the above-mentioned pushed position or the above-mentioned drawn-out position in the lever holding grooves44.

The operating member51and the levers6may be integrally formed from a metal plate.

Next, referring also toFIGS. 6 to 11B, a description will be given of fitting and detaching operations and locking and lock releasing operations for the transceiver connector1and the mating connector2.

The transceiver connector1in which the levers6are positioned at the pushed position is placed so as to face the mating connector2and then is inserted and fitted into the fitting hole22of the mating connector2. Then, the free ends of the latches3ride over the side surfaces of the metal hood4so as to be elastically bent outward and relatively move rearward on the side surfaces of the metal hood4. Herein, the width and position of each latch3are set so that the free end of the latch3moves so as to ride over both the latch driving convex portion63and the side surface of the metal hood4at the narrow groove portion46where the latch driving convex portion63is received.

In this transceiver connector1, the width of each latch3is set to be approximately equal to that of the latch driving convex portion63and the positions of the latch3and the latch driving convex portion63(and the narrow groove portion46) are slightly offset vertically from each other so that the free end of the latch3rides over both the latch driving convex portion63and the side surface of the metal hood4. However, it may alternatively be configured that the width of each latch3is set to be greater than that of the narrow groove portion46(and smaller than that of the wide groove portion45) to allow the free end of the latch3to ride over both the latch driving convex portion63and the side surface of the metal hood4.

When the transceiver connector1reaches a completely fitted position at the deep portion of the fitting hole22of the mating connector2as shown inFIGS. 7 and 8, the connector portion13is inserted into the fitting groove28of the connector portion25so that the conductive terminals14are brought into contact with the contacts27to be electrically connected thereto. Simultaneously, the latches3reach the wide groove portions45of the lever holding grooves44to restore their original shape due to their elastic restoring force and thus the free ends of the latches3enter or fall into the wide groove portions45. Accordingly, the free ends of the latches3engage the locking stepped portions11of the wide groove portions45in a detaching direction of the transceiver connector1. Thus, a locked state shown at (a) inFIG. 6is reached. In this event, the free end of each latch3is located on the recess portion62of the lever6as shown inFIGS. 9A to 9C. Further, since, as shown inFIG. 11A, the positioning projections7provided on the arm portions52of the operating member5are located forward of the positioning projections9of the metal hood4, the levers6are positioned at the above-mentioned pushed position, i.e. a non-engagement-releasable position, in the lever holding grooves44.

For releasing the locked state, the operating member5is grasped by fingers to move the levers6to the above-mentioned drawn-out position. Then, the rear half of each latch driving convex portion63projects into the wide groove portion45from the narrow groove portion46. During this projecting process, the free end of each latch3elastically rides over the latch driving convex portion63, as shown inFIGS. 10A to 10C, passing through the inclined surface10from the recess portion62, and is released from the engagement with the locking stepped portion11. Accordingly, a lock released state is reached as shown at (b) inFIG. 6. That is, the inclined surface10and the latch driving convex portion63cooperatively serve as an engagement releasing portion. In this event, the latch driving convex portion63receives an elastic restoring force of the latch3due to its flexure, but since the latch driving convex portion63is supported by the support piece8, it does not deform. Further, since the positioning projections7provided on the arm portions52of the operating member5ride across the positioning projections9of the metal hood4so as to be located rearward of the positioning projections9as shown inFIG. 11B, the levers6are positioned at the above-mentioned drawn-out position, i.e. an engagement released position, in the lever holding grooves44.

Thereafter, the transceiver connector1is pulled in the detaching direction. In this event, the free end of each latch3moves from the rear half to the front half of the latch driving convex portion63, but since the front half of the latch driving convex portion63remains in the narrow groove portion46, the free end of the latch3rides over the side surface of the metal hood4during that moving process. Therefore, as shown at (c) inFIG. 6, by pulling out the transceiver connector1in the state as it is, the transceiver connector1can be detached from the mating connector2.

Referring toFIGS. 12 to 15B, a modification of the lever positioning means will be described.

In the above-mentioned transceiver connector1, as shown inFIGS. 11A and 11B, the positioning projections7of the operating member5and the positioning projections9in the hollow portion of the metal hood4are provided as the positioning means for the levers6at the pushed position and the drawn-out position. Instead of them or in addition to them, there may be provided positioning projections7′ of the levers6and positioning projections9′ of the lever holding grooves44of the metal hood4as shown inFIGS. 12 to 14.

In this case, in the locked state shown at (a) inFIG. 6, as shown inFIG. 15A, the positioning projections7′ provided on the levers6are located forward of the positioning projections9′ of the metal hood4so that the levers6are positioned at the above-mentioned pushed position in the lever holding grooves44, while, in the lock released state shown at (b) inFIG. 6, as shown inFIG. 15B, the positioning projections7′ provided on the levers6are located rearward of the positioning projections9′ of the metal hood4so that the levers6are positioned at the above-mentioned drawn-out position in the lever holding grooves44.

According to the transceiver connector1, the number of components for the locking mechanism is small and the structures and mechanisms of the respective components are simple, and therefore, it is possible to reduce the production cost.