LOW PROFILE JACK

Abstract: A jack for modular plugs adapted for connection to printed circuit boards. The jack includes a plurality of jack con­ tacts and a two-part housing, the contacts and housing parts being constructed so that the contacts are completely en­ closed within the housing with the jack at the same time having a low profile, i.e., a small height dimension.

Description: The present invention relates to modular jacks according to the preamble of claim 1. The reference "Technical Digest. Western Electric, No. 74 July 1984, pages 17-18, New York, USA : R.R. Goodrich et al. shows a modular jack however, no indications as to the internal structure of the outer part of the housing can be gathered therefrom. The secure guidance of the contacts cannot be gathered from this publication; rather, it is illustrated in figure 1 that the ends 242 of the contacts do not comprise any guiding portions. It cannot be gathered therefrom how it shall be ensured in case of this jack that the contacts are maintained at their positions in the assembled state. Furthermore, at the rear side of the inner housing parts the contacts in the grooves 122 are exposed, so that all external short circuit is possible. It is the object of the present invention to produce a modular jack according to the preamble of the claim 1 in which the jack contacts are securely enclosed by the housing. This object is solved by the features in the characterizing portion of claim 1. According to the invention the modular jack consists of an outer and an inner housing parts known per se, which can be fitted into each other. The outer housing part is formed in one piece and comprises a partition wall on its inside which divides the inner space into a forward plug receptacle space and a rearward space. The partition wall extends from the bottom of the outer housing part upwards and ends in a plurality of projections extending upwards, which are separated by interspaces. A gap is located between the upper end of these projections and the top wall of the outer housing part. The inner housing part is substantially L-shaped and can be fitted into the above mentioned rearward space. In the inner housing part guiding portions (bores and guide channels) are formed in which the jack contacts are held. The inner housing part and the outer housing part are adjusted in their forms to each other in such a way that in the assembled state the guiding portions in the inner housing part are covered by the outer housing part, so that the jack contacts are guided securely. Only the pin portion extending downwards for the connection to a printed circuit bore project from the modular jack. Otherwise, there are no exposed parts of the jack contacts. It is an advantage that the contacts cannot slip and cannot contact each other, since in the rear portion they are securely seperated by the bores and in the front portion by the projections of the partition wall. Thus, the distance of the individual contacts from each other is clearly ensured. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A more complete appreciation of the present invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a jack in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a jack contact of a first set of jack contacts for use in the jack illustrated in Fig. 1; FIG. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of a jack contact of a second set of jack contacts for use in the jack illustrated in Fig. 1; FIG. 4 is a section view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2; FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the jack illustrated in Fig. 1 showing the two housing parts and the jack contacts; FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a first inner housing part of the jack housing; FIG. 7 is a section view taken along line 7-7 of Fig. 6 and illustrating one jack contact assembled to the inner housing part prior to final assembly; FIG. 8 is a rear elevation view of the first inner housing part illustrated in Fig. 6; FIG. 9 is a front elevation view of the first inner housing part illustrated in Fig. 6; FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the first inner housing part illustrated in Fig. 6; FIG. 11 is a rear elevation view of a second outer housing part of the jack housing; FIG. 12 is a section view taken along line 12-12 of FIg. 11; FIG. 13 is a front elevation view of the second outer housing part; FIG. 14 is a bottom plan view of the second outer housing part; FIG. 15 is a longitudinal section view of the jack taken along line 15-15 of Fig. 1; FIG. 16 is a section view taken along line 16-16 of Fig. 15; and FIG. 17 is a partial section view taken along line 17-17 of Fig. 15. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, a jack in accordance with the present invention, generally designated 10, is constructed of a plurality of jack contacts 12 and a jack housing 14 formed of a first inner housing part 16 (Figs. 6-10) and a second outer housing part 18 (Figs. 11-14). The jack contacts 12 include a first set of first jack contacts 12a (Figs. 2 and 4) and a second set of second jack contacts 12b (Fig. 3). Each jack contact 12a, 12b is formed of a suitable conductive material, such as phosphor bronze, and includes a pin portion 20, a contact portion 22, and a bridging portion 24a, 24b respectively. The first and second jack contacts 12a and 12b differ from each other in the length of their respective bridging portions 24a and 24b with bridging portions 24b being somewhat shorter than the bridging portion 24a as clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3. The jack contacts 12 are designed so as to be bendable into appropriate form with a minimal bend radius to facilitate the low profile construction of the jack while at the same time providing sufficient strength to ensure a high contact pressure between the jack and the plug contacts during use. In particular, it has been found that by forming the wire constituting the contacts 12 by a drawing operation to have the substantially rectangular cross-section shown in Fig. 4, the contacts 12 can be formed of a material having higher tensile strength than has been possible heretofore (thereby providing a higher contact pressure) while allowing the bend radius R (Fig. 15) to be smaller than had been possible heretofore (thereby facilitating the low profile construction of the jack) when the contacts were formed of the same high strength material by other forming operations, such as by stamping or photoetching. For example, when formed with the substantially rectangular cross-sectional configuration shown in Fig. 4 by a drawing operation, the wire of contacts 12 can be formed of 510 copper alloy phosphor bronze (5% phosphor) while still permitting the bend radius R to be less than that which could be obtained using wire having a round cross-section or rectangular cross-section formed by other operations, such as stamping or photoetching. In a preferred embodiment, the height H of the wire cross-section is about 0.03048 cm (0.12 inches) while the width W is about 0.0635 cm (.025 inches) in the case of computer applications or about 0.04572 cm (.018 inches) in non-computer applications. The corners of the rectangular cross-section are preferably rounded with a radius of curvature of about 0.00762 cm (.003 inches) to avoid scraping the plastic material of the jack housing during construction as described below. The drawing operation also is advantageous in that no fins or burrs are formed which exist in the case of forming by photoetching or stamping. Such fins or burrs tend to break and separate from the contacts after assembly and may cause short circuits during operation. The surface smoothness of the contacts is also improved when the contacts are formed by drawing relative to the surface smoothness of contacts formed by other methods. For example, contacts formed by stamping typically have surface irregularities of a size between about 25.4-35.56 · 10⁻⁶cm (10-14 micro inches) while the surface irregularities of the contacts formed by drawing are generally about 10.16 · 10⁻⁶cm (4 micro inches). As noted above, the jack housing 14 is formed of two parts, namely, a first inner housing part 16 and a second outer housing part 18. The inner housing part 16 is inserted within the outer housing part 18 to be lockingly interfit therewith after pre-assembly of the contacts 12 with the inner housing part 16 to capture the contacts 12 between them, the contacts being completely enclosed within the housing and precisely located to engage corresponding plug contacts when the modular plug is inserted into the jack. At the same time, the contact portions 22 of the contacts 12 are automatically given a pre-stress during assembly to ensure a high pressure contact with the plug contacts. The preferred embodiment of the jack illustrated herein includes six contacts. However, it is understood that the invention is not limited to a jack with six contacts, i.e., jacks with more or less than six contacts may be constructed in accordance with the invention. Referring to Figs. 5-10, the inner housing part 16 is formed of a suitable plastic material and has an L-shaped configuration including a back portion 26 and a guide portion 28 extending from the top of the back portion 26 in a cantilever fashion. The back and guide portions 26 and 28 have a common coplanar top surface 30. A plurality of substantially vertical, parallel bores 32 are formed through the back portion 26, the number of bores 32 corresponding to the number of contacts 12. Each bore 32 extends throughout the entire height of the back portion 26 opening onto the top surface 30 and the bottom surface 34 thereof and has a downwardly tapering cross-section best seen in Fig. 7. Thus, each bore 32 is formed by a pair of downwardly converging side walls 32a, a vertical back wall 32b, and a front wall 32c which converges downwardly with respect to back wall 32b. The top end 32d of each bore opening onto top surface 30 has a cross-section substantially greater than the cross-section of each contact 12 while the bottom end 32e of each bore 32 opening onto the bottom surface 34 has a cross-section substantially corresponding to the cross-section of the contacts 12. The bottom bore ends 32e form a pattern which conforms to the socket pattern of the printed circuit board to which the jack is adapted to be connected. For example, the bores 32 are arranged in staggered forward and rearward rows 132 and 232 of three bores each, adjacent bottom ends 32e of bores 32 in each row being spaced from each other by a distance of 0.254 cm (.100 inches) and the rows 132 and 232 being spaced from each other by a distance of 0.254 cm (.100 inches), a pattern commonly used in printed circuit boards. The length of the pin portions 22 of contacts 12 is greater than the length of bores 32 (i.e., the height of back portion 26) so that upon assembly of the jack as described below, a pin 22a of the contact projects below bottom surface 34 for connection to the printed circuit board. A plurality of guide slots or channels 36 are formed in the top surface 30, each channel 36 opening at its rearward end at the top end 32d of a respective one of the bores 32. The channels 36 extend longitudinally over the guide portion 28 and terminate at forward edges 36a which are slightly recessed rearwardly of the forward edge 28a of the guide portion 28. At their forward edges 36a, the guide channels 36 are equi-distantly spaced from each other by a spacing equal to the spacing between the plug contacts of the plug adapted to be used with the jack. Such spacing is commonly about 0.1016 cm (.040 inches) so that it is seen that the channels 36 slightly converge with each other in the forward direction. Tapered fingers 38 project forwardly from the guide portion 28 between the forward edges 36a of adjacent guide channels 36 so that each channel 36 communicates with a respective forwardly diverging space 40 (Fig. 6) separated from an adjacent one by a tapered finger 38. Each channel 36 has a substantially rectangular cross-section (best seen in Fig. 16) with its width and height corresponding to the width and height of the jack contacts 12. The channels 36 communicating with the bores 32 of the forward row 132 have lengths substantially equal to the lengths of the bridging poritions 24b of second jack contacts 12b while the channels 36 communicating with the bores 32 of the rearward row 232 have lengths substantially equal to the lengths of the bridging portions 24a of the first jack contacts 12a. Means are provided on the first inner housing part 16 for facilitating the assembly of the same to the second outer housing part 18 and locking the housing parts to each other. In particular, a pair of upper rails 42 are provided along the lateral sides of the guide portion 28 while a pair of lower rails 44 parallel to upper rails 42 are provided along the lateral sides of back portion 26. A pair of locking projections 46 are also formed on the lateral sides of back portion 26 above respective lower rails 44, each locking projection including a camming surface 46a and a rearwardly facing vertical locking surface 46b. Referring now to Figs. 5 and 11-14, the outer housing part 18 comprises a member having a substantially rectangular prallelepiped shape formed by opposed top and bottom walls 50 and 52 and opposed side walls 54 defining an interior space between them. The inner and outer surfaces of the respective walls are designated by corresponding reference numerals followed by the suffixes "a" and "b" respectively. Bottom wall 52 has a rectangular cutout 53 which opens onto the rearward end 55 of housing part 18. A pair of posts 56 project downwardly from bottom wall 52 for connecting the jack to a printed circuit board. A pair of flanges 58 project laterally from side walls 54 for facilitating mounting of the jack to a chassis, if desired. The interior of the housing part 18 is divided by a wall 64 into a forward plug receptacle 60 and a rearward space 62 (Fig. 12) for receiving the back portion 26 of the inner housing part 16 with the guide portion 28 extending between both spaces 60 and 62. The wall 64 projects upwardly from bottom wall 52 and has a rear surface 66, a front surface 68 and a top surface 70 which is angled upwardly in the forward direction as best seen in Fig. 12. The distance between the rear surface 66 of wall 64 and the rear end 55 of housing part 18 is essentially equal to the longitudinal dimension of the back portion 26 of inner housing part 16. The distance between the plane of the outer surface 52b of bottom wall 52 and the inner surface 50a of top wall 50 is substantially equal to the height dimension of the inner housing part 16, i.e., the dimension between top and bottom surfaces 30 and 34. A comb-like structure comprising a plurality (five in the illustrated embodiment) of longitudinally extending, mutually spaced partitions 72 project upwardly from the top surface 70 of wall 64 and define a corresponding number (six in the illustrated embodiment) of guide slots 74 together with a pair of outermost walls 76 situated at respective lateral sides of the wall 64. Upon assembly of the jack, the guide slots 74 are aligned with the forward edges 36a of guide channels 36 of the inner housing part 16. A pair of longitudinally extending shoulders 78 terminating at abutment surfaces 80 project inwardly from the inner surfaces 54a and side walls 54 within plug receptacle space 60 for engaging a conventional modular plug when the latter is inserted into the plug receptable space 60. In this connection, a pair of spaced lips 82 project upwardly from the bottom wall 52 at the plug receiving opening at the front end 84 of the outer housing part 18. These lips constitute locking surfaces for the locking tab of the modular plug as is conventional. A lip 86 projects downwardly from the top wall 50 at the front end 84 of housing part 18. A pair of upper channels 88 are formed in the inner surfaces 54a of side walls 54 immediately below the top wall 50 for receiving the upper rails 42 of the guide portion 28 of inner housing part 16. Upper rails 42 extend from the rear end 55 of the outer housing part 18 to the inner side of lip 86 at the forward end 84 of housing part 18. A pair of lower channels 90 are formed in the inner surfaces 54a of side walls 54 extending from the rear housing part end 55 up to the rear surface 56 of separating wall 64. The lower channels 90 receive the lower rails 44 of inner housing part 16 upon assembly. A pair of locking projections 92 are formed on the inner surfaces 54a of side walls 54 and each include a camming surface 92a and a forwardly facing locking surface 92b adapted to lockingly engage the locking surfaces 46b of locking projections 46 upon assembly as described below. Referring now to Figs. 5, 7 and 15-17, the assembly of the jack 10 will now be described. The contacts 12a and 12b are associated with the inner housing part 16 as seen in Figs.5 and 7. Thus, the pin portions 20 of each of the first contacts 12a are inserted into the bores 32 of the rearward row 232 so that the pins 28 project below the bottom surface 34 of the back portion 26 and the bridging portions 24a are received in corresponding guide channels 36. Similarly, the pin portion 20 of each of the second contacts 12b are inserted into the bores 32 of the forward row 132 with bridging portions 24b received in corresponding guide channels 36. The contact portions 22 of the contacts 12 pass over the forward edges 36a of guide channels 36 separated by fingers 38. Assembly of the contacts to the inner housing part is facilitated by the large top ends 32d of each bore 32 and the diverging spaces 40 at the forward ends of each guide channel. Each of the contact portions are preferably provided with a slight rearward pre-bend as shown in Fig. 7 to capture the contacts to the inner housing part. The dimensions of the guide channels 36 and contacts 12 are such that the exposed upper surfaces of the bridging portions 24 of the contacts are substantially flush with the upper surface 30 of the inner housing part 16. The sub-assembly of the inner housing part 16 and contacts 12 is then inserted into the rearward space 62 within outer housing part 18 in the direction of arrow A of Fig. 5 with the upper and lower rails 42 and 44 being received in the upper and lower channels 88 and 90. During insertion, the contact portions 22 are aligned with respective ones of the guide slots 74 formed between partition 72 and engage a rounded surface interconnecting the rear and top surfaces 66 and 70 of wall 64 whereby the contact portions 22 and automatically eventually deformed into the shape shown in Fig. 15. When insertion is completed, the end region of each contact bears with a spring force or pre-stress against the top surface 70 of separating wall 64 in its own respective guide slot 74. Partitions 72 prevent the contacts 12 from contacting each other during operation. The inner surface 50a of the top wall 50 of the outer housing part 18 bears against the top surface 30 of inner housing part 16 and the top surfaces of the bridging portions 24 of contacts 12 within guide channels 36 as best seen in Fig. 16 thereby fixing the contacts in place. During insertion, the camming surfaces 46a, 96a of locking projections 46, 96 engage each other until the locking surfaces 46b, 96b snap into engagement as best seen in Fig. 17 whereupon the inner and outer housing parts become locked to each other. The longitudinal dimension of the back portion 26 of inner housing part 16 is such that its rear surface is flush with the rear end of the outer housing part 18 when insertion has been completed. By forming the contacts 12 of flat wire in the manner described above, the radius of curvature R (Fig. 15) can be made sufficiently small (with the contacts 12 still being formed of high strength material) that the overall height of the jack can be small sufficiently small that the jack can be accommodated in very small spaces. The jack construction is provided with the further advantage that the contacts 12 are completely enclosed within the jack housing and can be formed of high strength material so that a high contact pressure is provided with the plug contacts to ensure a reliable electrical connection. Shorting of the jack contacts cannot occur due to the separation of the guide slots 24 by partitions 72. All of these features are accomplished with a relatively simple two-part construction of the jack housing. Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the claims appended hereto, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically disclosed herein.

Claims: A modular jack (10) for a modular plug adapted for connection to a printed circuit board, said jack comprising a two-part housing (14) including an outer housing part (18) and an inner housing part (16) affixed thereto, characterized in that said outer housing part (18) comprises a member formed by opposed top and bottom walls (50,52) and opposed side walls (54), said top, bottom and side walls integrally formed and defining an interior longitudinally extending space between them, a partition wall (64) extends transversely through said space substantially between said opposed side walls (54), said partition wall (64) projects upwardly from said bottom wall (52) and divides said longitudinal space into a forward plug receptacle space (60) bounded by said top, bottom and side walls, and a rearward space (62), said partition wall (64) terminates in a series of upwardly projecting spaced partitions (72) defining a series of guide slots (74) between them, and ends defining a gap with said top wall that extends transversely substantially between said opposed side walls (54); said inner housing part (16) comprises a substantially L-shaped unitary member fixed to said outer housing part (18), said L-shaped member includes an upwardly extending back portion (26) and a longitudinally extending guide portion (28) projecting from an upper region of said back portion (26), said back portion (26) situated in said rearward space (62) of said outer housing part (18) and said guide portion (28) extends from said rearward space (62) into said forward plug receptacle space (60) of said outer housing part through said gap defined between said ends of said partitions (72) and said top wall (50) of said outer housing part (18); said jack further includes a plurality of jack contacts (12), each of said jack contacts including a pin portion (20), a contact portion (22) and a bridging portion (24a, 24b) interconnecting said pin and contact portions (20, 22), said bridging portions (24a, 24b) extend longitudinally on a top surface (30) of said guide portion (28) of said inner housing part (16) between said guide portion (28) and said top wall of said outer housing part (50) and from said back portion (26) to a forward end region of said guide portion (28), said contact portions (22) extend from said forward end region of said guide portion (28) into respective ones of said guide slots (74) of said outer housing part (18), and said pin portions (20) extend downwardly at said back portion (26) and have ends (20a) adapted to be connected to a printed circuit board; and a plurality of bores (32) are formed through said back portion (26) for receiving said pin portions (20) of said contacts (12), and a plurality of guide channels (36) are formed in a top surface (30) of said guide portion (28), each guide channel (36) opening at a rearward end thereof into a top end of a respective one of said bores (32) for receiving said bridging portion (24a, 24b) of a respective one of said contacts (12). Modular jack according to claim 1, wherein each guide channel (36) terminates at a forward end thereof in the region of a forward edge (36a) of said guide portion (28). Modular jack according to claim 2, wherein fingers (38) project forwardly from said forward edge (36a) of said guide portion (28), each finger (38) being situated between the forward ends of adjacent guide channels (36). Modular jack according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said guide channels (36) at least slightly converge in the forward direction. Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims, wherein each of said bores (32) formed through said back portion (26) taper in a downward direction. Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims, wherein each guide channel (36) receiving a bridging portion (24a, 24b) of a respective one of said contacts (12) with an exposed surface of said contacts being substantially flush with said top surface (30) of said guide portion (28), and wherein said inner housing part (16) is fixed within said outer housing part (18) such that said inner surface (50a) of said top wall (50) of said outer housing part (18) contiguously overlies said top surface (30) of said guide portion (28) and said exposed surface of said contact bridging portion (24a, 24b). Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims further including cooperating rail (42, 44) and channel means (88, 90) formed on said inner (16) and outer housing parts (18) for positioning said housing parts (16, 18) with respect to each other. Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims, wherein said contacts (12) are formed of flat wire having a substantially rectangular cross-section. Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims, wherein said flat wire of which said contacts (12) are formed is manufactured by a drawing operation. Modular jack according to any one of the preceeding claims, wherein said contact and bridging portions (22, 24) of each contact (12) are bent with respect to each other around a curved contact portion having a minimal radius (R) of curvature.

Inventors: PHILIPPSON, WALTER M.
Applicants: STEWART STAMPING CORPORATION (A CONNECTICUT CORPORATION)
Application year: 1986
Main classification: H01R23
IPC codes: H01R4, H01R13, H01R12