Connector with auxiliary alignment plate

An electrical connector (10) includes an insulative housing (12) defining a plurality of passageways (14) therein for receiving therein a plurality of corresponding contacts (40) wherein the tail (42) of each contact (40) extends downward into a corresponding hole disposed in a PC board (100) on which the connector (10) is mounted. Each contact (40) further includes a contact section (44) for engagement with a mating contact of a complementary connector, and a retention section (46) positioned between the contact section (44) and the tail (42) wherein such retention section (46) includes a pair of opposite compliance expansions (47) defining an opening (48) therebetween so that such pair of expansions (47) may abut against the internal walls of the passageway (14) in the housing (12) for retaining the contacts (40) in position in the housing (12). An auxiliary alignment plate (50) adapted to be attached to the rear portion of the housing (12), includes a plurality of throughholes (52) for allowing the corresponding number of contact tails (42) to extend therethrough for a preliminary alignment of the contact tail (42) with the corresponding holes in the PC board (100), and further includes two opposite posts (56) integrally extending downward on two opposite ends thereof, wherein each post (56) includes a pair of diametrical slits (60) along its axial direction so that a pair of spaced legs (30) of each boardlock (20) disposed on one end of the housing (12), may be aligned within the corresponding slits (60) in the post (56) to have a correct position with regard to the corresponding hole (102) in the PC board (100).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of The Invention 
The invention relates to I/O (Input/Output) connectors, and particularly to 
the connector having an auxiliary alignment plate for both aligning the 
contact tails and the boardlocks both of which extend downward on the rear 
portion of the connector for reception within the corresponding holes in 
the PC board on which such connector is mounted. 
2. The Prior Art 
High density I/O connectors are desired recently in the computer field for 
efficiently transferring a hugh amount of signals within a short period 
occurring between the computer and the corresponding periphery. At the 
same time, the dimension of the computer and its internal components are 
also asked to be reduced for compliance with the miniaturization trend. 
Based on these requirements, the conventional retention between the 
contacts and the connector, which generally uses barbs projecting from the 
contact and piercing into the housing of the connector, may jeopardize the 
tiny and fragile internal structure of the connector housing which defines 
the corresponding cavities to receive the corresponding contacts therein. 
Additionally, because the contacts and the boardlocks become tinier and 
tinier, it is required to have an alignment device to align not only the 
downward contact tails of the contacts but also the legs of the boardlocks 
with regard to the corresponding contact holes and the boardlock holes in 
the PC board on which the connector is mounted. 
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a contact having 
thereon a retention device which can efficiently retain the contact within 
the corresponding cavity but not damage the housing of the connector. 
Another object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary plate for both 
aligning the tails of the contacts and the legs of the boardlocks, both of 
which extend downward into the corresponding holes disposed in the PC 
board on which the connector is mounted. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to an aspect of the invention, an electrical connector includes 
an insulative housing defining a plurality of passageways therein for 
receiving a plurality of corresponding contacts therein wherein the tail 
of each contact extends downward into a corresponding hole disposed in a 
PC board on which the connector is mounted. Each contact further includes 
a contact section for engagement with a mating contact of a complementary 
connector, and a retention section positioned between the contact section 
and the tail wherein such retention section includes a pair of opposite 
compliance expansions defining an opening therebetween so that such pair 
of expansions may abut against the internal walls of the passageway in the 
housing for retaining the contacts in position in the housing. An 
auxiliary alignment plate adapted to be attached to the rear portion of 
the housing, includes a plurality of through holes for allowing the 
corresponding number of contact tails to extend therethrough for a 
preliminary alignment with the corresponding holes in the PC board, and 
further includes two opposite posts integrally extending downward on two 
opposite ends thereof, wherein each post includes a pair of diametrical 
slits along its axial direction so that a pair of spaced legs of each 
boardlock disposed on one end of the housing, may be aligned within the 
corresponding slits in the post to have a correct position with regard to 
the corresponding hole in the PC board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
References will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the 
invention. While the present invention has been described with reference 
to the specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the 
invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various 
modifications to the present invention can be made to the preferred 
embodiments by those skilled in the art without departing from the true 
spirit and scope of the invention as defined by appended claims. 
It will be noted here that for a better understanding, most of like 
components are designated by like reference numerals throughout the 
various figures in the embodiments. Attention is now directed to FIG. 1, 
wherein an electrical connector 10 includes an insulative housing 12 
having an raised portion 13 for mating a complementary connector (not 
shown). A plurality of passageways 14 extend through the housing 12 in a 
front-to-end direction for receiving a corresponding number of contacts 40 
therein. A shell 16 including a compliance configuration with the housing 
12, is attached to the front surface 15 and the raised portion 13 of the 
housing 12. 
A boardlock 20 includes a vertical section 22 which can be fixed to the 
housing 12 through a rivets" 23 extending through the hole 24 in the 
vertical section 22, the hole 25 in the housing 12 and the hole 26 in the 
shell 16. The boardlock 20 further includes a horizontal section 28 
extending rearward from the bottom edge of the vertical section 22 and 
adapted to be seated on the horizontal plate 11 of the housing 12, and a 
pair of legs 30 downward extending from the rear edge of the horizontal 
section 28 which can extend through an opening 17 of the horizontal plate 
11 of the housing 12 into a corresponding hole 102 in a PC board 100 (FIG. 
6(A)-6(C) on which the connector 10 is mounted. 
It should be noted that the contact 40 as shown in FIG. 3, is in a shape 
before being cut-off from the carrier 49 and bent. Referring to both FIGS. 
1 and 3, each contact 40 includes a tail section 42 which generally 
extends downward for solderable insertion into a corresponding hole in the 
PC board 100. A fork type mating section 44 is formed in another end of 
the contact 40 for mating with another contact of a complementary 
connector (not shown), and a retention section 46 is positioned between 
the tail section 42 and the mating section 44 wherein the retention 
section 46 includes a pair of compliance expansions 47 having an opening 
48 therebetween for provision of elasticity of such pair of expansions 47. 
Referring to FIG. 4, because the original distance between this pair of 
expansions 47 is substantially larger than the dimension of the passageway 
14, such pair of expansions 47 may provide normal force against the 
internal wall of the passageway 14 of the housing 12, thus retaining the 
contact 40 in position with regard to the housing 12. 
Referring to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the connector further includes an auxiliary 
alignment plate 50 defining a plurality of holes 52 extending therethrough 
in a vertical direction for aligning the corresponding tail sections 42 of 
the contact 40 when the connector 10 is completely assembled, so that the 
contact tail sections 42 may be easily and correctly inserted into the 
corresponding holes in the PC board 100. 
The plate 50 further includes a pair of latches 54 upward extending 
therefrom for locking the plate 50 to the housing 12. Moreover, a pair of 
posts 56 extend downward adjacent two opposite ends of the plate 50 
wherein each post 56 includes a vertical groove 58 extending from the top 
surface 57 of the plate 50 and terminating approximate the bottom end 59 
of the post 56. This groove 58 substantially extends through such post 56 
in the diametrical direction to form a pair of opposite slits 60 on two 
sides of the post 56, so that when the plate 50 is assembled to the 
housing 12, the pair of legs 30 of the boardlock 20 may be received within 
the groove 58 in the post 56 and the locking sections 31 of the legs 30 
may extend laterally from the slits 60 into the exterior as shown in FIG. 
2. 
When the connector 10 is mounted onto the PC board 100, the post 56 of the 
housing 12 and the legs 30 of the boardbock 20 therein may both be 
inserted into the hole 102 in the board 100 in serial steps as shown in 
FIGS. 6(A)-6(C). 
The invention provides a device for both aligning the contact tails and the 
boardlock legs. It can be also noted that in the boardlock 20, the legs 30 
are far from the vertical section 22 where the boardlock 20 is fixed to 
the housing 12, so, as experienced, sometimes the legs 30 may be tilted 
with regard to the hole 102 in the board 100. This is the reason why the 
alignment of the legs 30, through the post 56, is necessary. From another 
viewpoint, in this embodiment, even though the legs 30 are restrained 
within the slits 60 and/or groove 58, the legs 30 still keep the desired 
sufficient resiliency for easy insertion into and proper adjustment within 
the hole 102 of the board 100. This is because the legs 30 themselves are 
not directly fixed to the housing 12, and instead the true fixation of the 
boardlock 20 is still arranged to be in the vertical section 22. 
Therefore, the boardlock 20 of the invention maintains the desired 
resiliency for easy insertion and cooperation with the PC board 100, but 
without the tilting problem due to such resiliency. 
While the present invention has been described with reference to specific 
embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not 
to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications to the 
present invention can be made to the preferred embodiments by those 
skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the 
invention as defined by the appended claims. 
Therefore, persons of ordinary skill in this field are to understand that 
all such equivalent structures are to be included within the scope of the 
following claims.