IC positioning device in IC socket

A device is provided for positioning an IC having a plurality of leads arranged in array along side surfaces of an IC body. The IC positioning device in an IC socket comprises a locator for pressing an outer side surface of a lead located on an extreme arraying end of the lead array group. The locator is moved while pressing side surfaces of leads which are displaced in an array direction, so that the lead array group and the IC body are moved to predetermined positions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an IC positioning device capable of shifting the 
leads of an IC loaded in a socket to a correct location suitable for 
physical contact. 
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
An IC shown in FIG. 1 has leads arranged in array along the side surfaces 
of an IC body 1 and projecting outwardly therefrom. 
FIG. 2 shows a socket having a plurality of contacts 3 which can contact 
the IC placed in the socket. The socket has an IC receiving portion 5 
formed in a center portion on an upper surface of a socket body 4. The 
contacts 3 are arranged in array along the opposite two or four sides of 
the IC receiving portion 5. 
A cover 6, which is movable upwardly and downwardly, overlies an upper part 
of the socket body 4. When the cover 6 is lowered, the contacts 3 are 
caused to be displaced backwardly against their resiliency to move the 
contacts out of physical contact with the IC leads 2. When the contacts 3 
are displaced forwardly by their own restoring force, the contacts 3 are 
brought into contact with the upper surfaces of the IC leads 2 under 
pressure. 
As means for transforming the lowering motion of the cover 6 to the 
displacing motion of the contacts 3, there is employed a turnable lever 7 
capable of contacting the contacts 3. Instead of providing the turnable 
lever 7, the contacts 3 may be displaced backwardly by a lowering force of 
the cover 6 acting on pressure receiving portions which are integral with 
the contacts 3, respectively. 
As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the above exemplified socket, the lower 
surfaces of the leads 2 are supported on a seat surface 8, and outer side 
surfaces of the leads on the extreme ends 2a of each array group of leads 
2 are restricted by positioning walls 9 which project from opposite ends 
of the seat surface 8, so that the leads 2 are all correctly positioned. 
However, recently, the arrangement pitches of the IC leads 2 were reduced 
to 0.3 mm or 0.4 mm, and with the progress of this tendency, the width of 
each lead was also miniaturized. 
In this way, in case the IC leads are arranged at very small pitches and 
miniaturized, it is very difficult to correctly position the contacts with 
respect to the IC leads by use of the positioning walls 9 which are 
fixedly arranged in place as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. As a consequence, the 
centers of the IC leads and the contacts 3 are overly displaced as shown 
in FIGS. 3 and 4. This problem is aggravated by manufacturing tolerances 
of the positioning walls 9 and the leads 2. 
The present invention has been accomplished in order to obviate the above 
problem. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an IC 
positioning device in an IC socket, in which IC leads arranged at very 
small pitches in array from the sides of an IC body and projecting 
sideways therefrom, are correctly positioned in a socket body when an IC 
is placed in the socket body. 
In order to achieve the above object, there is essentially provided a 
device for positioning an IC having a plurality of leads arranged in array 
along side surfaces of an IC body, the IC positioning device in an IC 
socket comprising a locator for pressing an outer side surface of a lead 
located on an extreme arraying end of the lead array group. The locator 
being moved while pressing side surfaces of leads which are displaced in 
an array direction, so that the lead array group and the IC body are moved 
to predetermined positions. 
It is preferred that a pair of the locators are arranged in opposing 
relation so that the locators can press outer surfaces of leads which are 
located on extreme arraying ends of the lead array group. 
The locator preferably resiliently presses the side surface of the lead in 
a pressing direction via a spring. 
The lead pressing portion of the locator preferably has a resilient 
property so that the locator can resiliently press the side surface of the 
lead. 
The above and other objects, characteristic features and advantages of the 
present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by 
the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, as 
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT 
One embodiment of an IC positioning device in an IC socket according to the 
present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying 
drawings. 
FIGS. 5A through 9B show a representative example of an IC positioning 
device of the present invention, in which a pair of locators are applied 
to an IC socket of FIG. 2. 
An IC is loaded in an IC receiving portion 5 which is formed in a center 
area of a socket body (or base) 4. Leads 2 arranged in array along 
opposite side surfaces of an IC body 1 and projecting sideways therefrom 
are supported on a seat surface 8. Each array of the leads 2 extends along 
an array direction 2' as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. Locators 10 are each 
arranged in the vicinity of outside locations of leads 2a which are 
located on extreme arraying ends of each lead array group. 
As one preferred example, as shown in FIGS. 5, 5B, 6A and 6B, a pair of the 
locators 10 are arranged in opposing relation at outside locations of the 
leads 2a which are located on extreme arraying ends of each lead array 
group. That is, four of the locators 10 are arranged in the vicinity of 
the outside locations of the corner portions of the IC body 1 
respectively. 
FIG. 7A shows one example of the locator 10. In FIG. 7A, the locator 10 
consists of a pressing lever 12 turnably attached to the socket body 4 
through a pin 11. The pressing lever 12 includes a pressing portion 13 
extending upwardly from its pivotal portion. The pressing lever 12 further 
includes a pressure receiving portion 14 extending sideways from the 
pivotal portion. Thus, each locator 10 is movably supported by the socket 
body (or base) 4 for movement toward and away from the IC receiving 
portion 5 respectively between a pressing position (as shown, for example, 
in FIG. 8A) and a releasing position (as shown, for example, in FIG. 7A). 
On the other hand, a cover 6 overlies an upper part of the socket body 4 
and serves as an actuator of the locator 10. This cover 6 includes a 
pressing portion 15 extending towards the pressure receiving portion 14. A 
pair of the pressing portions 15 are arranged in opposing relation so that 
when the cover 6 is depressed, the pressing portions 15 can push down the 
pressure receiving portions 14, respectively. 
Each locator 10 is normally biased in a direction for pressing an outer 
surface of the lead 2a by a spring member 16. For example, the spring 
member 16 is arranged such that it urges the pressure receiving portion 14 
upwardly in order to bias the pressing portion 13 in the direction for 
pressing the lead 2a. 
The pressing lever 12 is restricted in turning amount in the pressing 
directon by a stopper 17 which abuts against a front surface of the 
pressing portion 13. The stopper 17 is formed, for example, at an outer 
side surface of an IC support platform 18 which forms a lead supporting 
seat surface 8. The pressing portion 13 extends upwardly along a side 
surface of the platform 18. 
An inclined surface 19 is formed at an upper end of the pressing portion 
13. This inclined surface 19 is adapted to guide an outer side surface of 
the lead 2a which is located on an extreme arraying end of the lead array 
group. 
As shown in FIG. 6B, the locator is effective as a means for correctly 
positioning an IC which has gull-wing type leads 2. The leads 2 of this 
type each include a basal portion 2b slightly projecting sideways from an 
outer side surface of the IC body 1, an intermediate portion 2c bent 
downwardly from the basal portion 2b, and a distal end portion 2d bent 
sideways from a lower end of the intermediate portion 2c. Thus, the 
gull-wing type lead 2 has a so-called double bent configuration. From a 
view point of preventing deformation of the gull-wing type lead 2, the 
locator 10 preferably presses an outer surface of the intermediate portion 
2c. 
When the cover 6 is depressed, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the contacts 3 
are displaced backwardly into contact-releasing positions through the 
turnable levers 7 (FIG. 2). When the cover 6 is further depressed, the 
pressing portions 15 exert push-down forces upon to the pressure receiving 
portions 14 of the locators 10. As a consequence, the pressing levers 12 
are turned to move the pressing portions 13 into the pressure-releasing 
positions. Thus, the cover 6 serves as an actuator. 
In that state, the IC is loaded in the IC receiving portion 5 such that the 
leads 2 are supported on the seat surface 8, and then the depression of 
force against the cover 6 is removed. As a consequence, as shown in FIG. 
8, the cover 6 is raised by the restoring force of the contacts 3 and the 
contacts 3 are displaced forwardly. 
Also, the pressing levers 12 are turned forwardly (in the arraying 
direction of the lead array group) by the restoring force of the spring 
members 16 to raise the cover 6. The pressing lever 12 is turned further 
forwardly while exerting pressing force against the outer side surfaces of 
the leads 2a which are located on the extreme arraying ends. Following 
this movement, the array of leads 2 are moved as a unit along the seat 
surface 8, together with the IC body 1, thereby assuring correct 
contacting positions of the leads 2 relative to the contacts 3. Thus, as 
can be recognized by comparing, for example, FIGS. 7A and 8A, movement of 
each locator 10 from its releasing position (FIG. 7A) to its pressing 
position (FIG. 8A) causes the locator 10 to engage the endmost lead and 
thereby press an outer side surface of the endmost lead to move the array 
of leads and the IC body horizontally relative to the socket body (or 
base) 4 to the position shown, for example, in FIG. 8A. 
When the locators 10 are arranged at opposite of each lead array, each 
locator 10 allows the IC to stand still at a location where the resilient 
pressing force of the spring members 16 is well balanced, thereby assuring 
the above-mentioned contacting positions. 
When correct positions of the leads 2 are obtained, as shown in FIG. 9, the 
contact 3 is brought into contact with upper surfaces of the distal end 
portion 2d of the lead 2 under pressure. From a view point of accuracy of 
positioning, the locator 10 may be arranged such that the locator 10 can 
press the side surface of the distal end portion 2d of the lead 2a with 
which the contact 3 is brought into contact. 
The present invention includes a case where the locator which presses in 
one direction (see FIG. 5A and 5B) is a ruler restricting wall, and only a 
locator for pressing in the other direction is employed, so that only the 
outer side surface of the lead which is located on one end of the lead 
array is pressed by the locator and the outer surface of the lead which is 
located on the other end of the lead array is urged against the stationary 
restricting wall. 
The locator 10 is turned in the arraying direction of the lead array group 
and presses an adequate part of the outer side surface of the lead 2a. 
As shown in FIG. 10, the locator 10a consisting of the pressing lever 12a 
can be constructed such that the pressing portion 13a shown in FIG. 10, 
presses the outer surface of the distal end portion 2d or an upper edge 
portion of the outer surface of the basal portion 2b of the lead 2a, so 
that pressing force in the arraying direction of the lead array group is 
generated while exerting a downward pressing force against lead. When the 
pressing surface of the pressing portion 13a is defined by an inclined 
surface 130, the downward compound force can favorably be obtained. As a 
consequence, the IC can be biased downwardly by this downward compound 
force. 
Timing is properly set such that the locator 10a presses the lead 2a before 
the contact 3 is brought into contact with the lead 2 under pressure. 
In other words, after the lead 2a is pressed by the locator 10a into the 
position, the contacts 3 are brought into contact with the upper surfaces 
of the leads 2 under pressure. 
In the example shown in FIG. 11, the locators 10b are arranged such that 
they presses the outer surfaces of the leads 2a obliquely with respect to 
the arraying direction of the lead array group. These locators 10b are 
arranged in opposing relation at the corner portions of the IC body 1 and 
are caused to obliquely press-the outer surfaces of the leads 2a which are 
located on the extreme ends of the lead array, by the spring members 16b 
while moving towards the comer portions of the IC body 1. 
As a consequence, the leads 2 and the IC body 1 are caused to move in the 
arraying direction of the lead array group, thereby ensuring contacting 
positions of the leads 2 with respect to the contacts. 
At that time, as shown in FIG. 11, each locator 10b is provided with an IC 
body pressing portion and an IC lead 2a pressing portion, so that the 
locator 10b can press the two or one side forming an angle of the IC body 
1 and the outer surface of the lead 2a. 
In the case of an IC in which the IC leads 2 project from four sides of the 
IC body 1, eight locators can be employed so that they can press the leads 
on the extreme ends of each lead array group as shown in FIG. 5B. In the 
embodiment shown in FIG. 11, each of the locators 10b can press the outer 
surfaces of the leads which are located on the extreme ends of the two 
lead array groups respectively projecting from the two adjacent sides 
(i.e. which form a corner portion of the IC body 1). 
The above locators are arranged in opposing relation on a single diagonal 
line of the IC body 1 or on two diagonal lines of the IC body 1. 
In FIG. 12, the pressing portion 13c of each locator 10c is formed of a 
resilient member represented by a leaf spring. This pressing portion 
presses the outer surface of the IC lead 2a in the arraying direction by 
its own resiliency. 
The locator 10c can thus be resiliently supported by the spring member 16c, 
or the locator 10c can be provided with the resilient pressing portion 130 
as mentioned, so that it resiliently presses the outer surface of the lead 
2a, thus allowing for absorption of the manufacturing tolerance of the 
lead 2 so that the lead will not be deformed by pressing force overly 
applied to the outer surface of the lead 2a. 
As shown in FIG. 12, the locator 10c formed of the leaf spring is secured 
at its lower end to the socket body 4 and extends upwardly from the socket 
body 4 along the side surface of the IC support platform 18. An upper end 
of the locator 10c is defined by the lead pressing portion 13c. 
Also, the leaf spring is provided with a pressure receiving portion 14c 
projecting backwardly from an intermediate portion of the leaf spring. 
When the cover 6 is depressed, the pressure receiving portion 14c of the 
leaf spring is pushed down by the pressing portion 15 of the cover 6. As a 
result, the leaf spring is bent backwardly against its resiliency serving 
its fixed lower end as a fulcrum and resiliently displaced into a pressing 
force releasing position. On the contrary, the leaf spring is restored 
into a forward pressing position by its own resiliency and resiliently 
presses the outer surface of the lead 2a. 
FIGS. 7 through 10 show examples in which the pressing levers 12 
constituting the locators 10 are tumably disposed to press the leads in 
the arraying direction of the lead array group, whereas FIG. 13 shows an 
example in which the pressing levers 12d are linearly reciprocally movably 
disposed in the arraying direction of the lead array group. 
In FIG. 13, there is employed means for guiding the above-mentioned linear 
reciprocal movement. As such means, each pressing lever 12 is provided 
with a slide portion 20 which is laterally slidable with respect to the 
socket body 4. 
As shown for example in FIG. 13, the slide portion 20 extends inwardly from 
the pressing lever 12d and is laterally slidably fitted into a guide 
groove 21 formed laterally in a side surface of the IC support platform 
18. With this arrangement of a guide, the pressing lever 12d is linearly 
reciprocally moved. 
Also, in the example of FIG. 13, the pressure receiving portion 14d and the 
pressing portion 13d are formed of levers as separate parts. The lever 
forming the pressure receiving portion 14d is turnably axially supported 
by the socket body 4 such that the pressing portion 15 of the cover 6 can 
act on the external end of the lever and an inner end of the lever can 
engage the lever as the pressing portion 13d. When the pressure receiving 
portion 14d is turned, the engaging portion thereof the pressing portion 
13d backwardly to cause it to retreat linearly backwardly. Also, the 
pressing portion 13d is biased forwardly by the spring member 16d and 
linearly advanced to the lead pressing position. 
In the arrangement of FIG. 13, the pressing lever 12d can be linearly 
reciprocally moved obliquely in the arraying direction of the lead array 
group or it can alternatively be moved obliquely towards the comer of the 
IC body 4, in order to press the outer surface of the lead 2a or the outer 
surface of the lead and the side surface of the comer portion of the IC 
body 4 so that the leads are correctly positioned. FIG. 13 merely 
illustrates one concrete example of such an idea. 
The locator presses the outer surface of the lead which is located on the 
extreme end of an array of the IC leads which are positionally displaced, 
or the outer surface of the lead and the side surface of the IC body, so 
that the IC leads are correctly positioned relative to the contacts. 
It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and 
described is to be taken as the preferred embodiment of the same, and that 
various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be 
resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the 
scope of the subjoined claims.