Method of making electrical connector having upper and lower contacts from a first carrier and two discrete middle shielding plates from a second carrier

A method of making an electrical connector which includes an insulative housing having a tongue with an upper and lower surfaces, a plurality of contacts having respective contacting portions exposed to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and having two outermost upper or lower contacts, and a shielding member situated between the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and overlapping the two outermost upper or lower contacts along a vertical direction perpendicular to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue is characterized by the steps of: forming the plurality of contacts from a first carrier; forming the shielding member from a second carrier to have the two discrete shielding plates; stacking the first carrier and the second carrier; and molding the plurality of contacts and the two discrete shielding plates with an insulator in one shot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector including an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts and a shielding member both molded with the insulative housing in one shot.

2. Description of Related Arts

China Patent No. 109301566 discloses a method of making an electrical connector which includes an insulative housing having a tongue with an upper and lower surfaces, a plurality of contacts having respective contacting portions exposed to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and having two outermost upper or lower contacts, and a shielding member situated between the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and overlapping the two outermost upper or lower contacts along a vertical direction perpendicular to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue, characterized by the step of firstly fixing the two discrete shielding plates to corresponding contacts, e.g., by soldering and then molding on one shot the plurality of contacts and the two discrete shielding plates with an insulator to form the insulative housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of making an electrical connector which includes an insulative housing having a tongue with an upper and lower surfaces, a plurality of contacts having respective contacting portions exposed to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and having two outermost upper or lower contacts, and a shielding member situated between the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue and overlapping the two outermost upper or lower contacts along a vertical direction perpendicular to the upper and lower surfaces of the tongue is characterized by the steps of: forming the plurality of contacts from a first carrier; forming the shielding member from a second carrier to have the two discrete shielding plates; stacking the first carrier and the second carrier; and molding the plurality of contacts and the two discrete shielding plates with an insulator in one shot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring toFIGS.1-9, an electrical connector100in accordance with the present invention is embodied as a USB Type C receptacle connector and comprises an insulative housing1, a plurality of contacts2secured to the insulative housing1and including a first row of contacts21and a second row of contacts22, and two discrete shielding plates3. The electrical connector100may further comprise a shielding shell4enclosing the insulative housing1to form a mating chamber40.

The insulative housing1has a base11and a frontal tongue12. Each of the plurality of contacts has a front contacting portion201, a widened securing portion202wider than the front contacting portion201, and a widened rear soldering portion203wider than the front contacting portion201. The shielding shell4has a pair of legs41. The base11has a pair of first recesses111and a pair of second recesses112; the shielding shell4has a pair of first stops42and a pair of second stops43. The tongue12has a first surface121and a second surface122exposing the contacting portions201of the first and second rows of contacts21and22, respectively, and a pair of side surfaces123. Each of the two discrete shielding plates3has a main body31embedded in the insulative housing1and a latching portion32exposed to the side surface123.

The first row of contacts21includes two outermost ground contacts211and one or more other contacts23therebetween; the second row of contacts22includes one or more contacts24inwardly of the two outermost ground contacts211. Specifically, in this embodiment, the one or more contacts23include two power contacts231each adjacent to a corresponding ground contact211and one channel contact232between the two power contacts231; the one or more contacts24has only one channel contact241. As is well known in this art, to support dual orientation mating, there are a total of twelve reversely-symmetrically arranged contact positions one through twelve for each surface121or122. Namely, the two outermost ground contacts211occupy contact positions one and twelve, the two power contacts231occupy contact positions four and nine, the channel contact232occupies contact position five; channel contact241occupies contact position five at the second surface22.

Referring toFIGS.10-11, intermediate product shows that the first and second rows of contacts21and22are both connected with a single first carrier200and the two discrete shielding plates3are both connected with a single second carrier300. The second carrier300is stacked with the first carrier200so that the two discrete shielding plates3overlap the two outermost contacts211along a vertical direction perpendicular to the first and second surfaces21and22of the tongue12. For one associated electrical connector, the first carrier200has a first part or carrier strip210connecting to the soldering portions203and a pair of second parts220; the second carrier300has a third part310, a pair of second parts320, and a pair of third parts330each connected to an associated shielding plate3. Only the rear soldering portions203are connected to the first part or carrier strip210while the front contacting portions201are not connected to any carrier strip. The third part330has two bridges331(FIG.11) for stably connecting with the shielding plate3. Additionally, the two discrete shielding plates3may press against the two outermost contacts211. These carrier parts are to be severed as appropriate.

A method of making the electrical connector100which includes the insulative housing1having the tongue12with opposite first and second surfaces21and22, the plurality of contacts2having respective contacting portions201exposed to the first and second surfaces21and22of the tongue12and having two outermost ground contacts211, and the two discrete shielding plates situated between the first and second surfaces21and22of the tongue12and overlapping the two outermost ground contacts211along the vertical direction perpendicular to the first and second surfaces21and22of the tongue12are characterized by the steps of: forming the plurality of contacts2from the first carrier200; forming the two discrete shielding plates from the second carrier300; stacking the first carrier200and the second carrier300; and molding in one shot the plurality of contacts2and the two discrete shielding plates3with an insulator to form the insulative housing1.