Connecting device for connecting a sound producing device to an electronic equipment

Abstract: A connecting device (17) for connecting a sound producing device (10) to an electronic equipment has a connector secured to the sound producing device, and having a pair of elastic contacts (18) and an opening. A slider (19) is provided to be inserted in the connector from the opening, and provided to press the elastic contacts of the connector against terminals of a substrate (20) inserted in the connector from the opening.

Description: The invention relates to a connecting device for electrically connecting a sound producing device to an electronic equipment such as a portable telephone. The sound producing device for the portable telephone is mounted in the portable telephone, and a coil of a buzzer or a speaker is connected to a circuit in the telephone. Fig. 7 shows a conventional device for connecting a sound producing device to an electronic equipment. A manufacturer A manufactures the sound producing device 1 having a pair of leads 2 and a connector comprising a plug 3 and a socket 4. A coil of the sound producing device 1 is connected to a circuit of a substrate 5 of a portable telephone through the leads 2 and the plug 3 and socket 4 by a telephone manufacturer B who bought the device 1. The sound producing device 1 of Fig. 8 is connected to the circuit of the substrate 5 by a pair of spring plates 6 by the manufacturer B. The sound producing device 1 shown in Fig. 9 is connected to the circuit on the substrate by a pair of coil springs 7. In the device 1 of Fig. 7, the number of parts comprising the leads 2, plug 3 and socket 4 is large, and a large number of manufacturing steps are required. In the device of Fig. 8 or 9, the manufacturer B must solder the spring plates 6 or coil springs 7 to the circuit of the substrate 5. A prior art connecting device having the constructional features as indicated in the precharacterizing part of claim 1 is disclosed in US 5 904 589 A. In this prior art device the elastic contact comprises a lower leg-shape extension the free end of which extends outside the opening of the connector and engages a recess which is formed within a part of the slider in the inner most position of same. US 5 928 029 A discloses another connecting device comprising a slider having flexible spring fingers which are capable of slight inward deflection. Each spring finger has a latch projection which cooperatively engages a socket at the inner wall of the connector housing. It is the object of the invention to provide a connecting device which may easily connect a sound producing device to an electronic equipment. This object is solved by the features as claimed in claim 1. Preferably, each of the elastic contacts is a cantilever embedded in the connector at a base thereof, and extended in an inserting direction of the slider, and has contacting projection upwardly projected at a front end portion. The invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Fig. 1a is a plan view of a sound producing device having a connecting device of the present invention; Fig 1b is a side view of the device; Fig. 1c is a front view of the device; Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the underside of the device; Figs. 3a and 3b are sectional views taken along a line III of Fig. 1a, respectively; Fig. 4a is a left side view of a connector; Fig. 4b is a plan view of the connector; Fig. 4c is a sectional view taken along a line c-c of Fig. 4b; Fig. 4d is a front view of the connector; Fig. 4e is a sectional view taken along a line e-e of Fig. 4d; Fig. 5a is a plan view of a slider; Fig. 5b is a sectional view taken along a line b-b of Fig. 5a; Fig. 5c is a sectional view taken along a line c-c of Fig. 5a; Fig. 5d is a front view of the slider; Figs. 6a to 6c are sectional plan views showing the inserting operation of the slider; and Figs. 7 to 9 show conventional sound producing devices. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to Figs. 1a to 1c and Fig. 2, a sound producing device 10 has a case 11 and a cover 12 which are made of plastic. The cover 12 has a plurality of sound discharge holes 13, and the underside of the case 11 also has a plurality of sound discharge hole 13a as shown in Fig. 2. A connector 17 according to the present invention is integrated with the case 11 at the molding of the case 11. Referring to Figs. 3a through 4e, the connector 17 has a box shape comprising an upper plate 17a, lower plate 17b, side plates 17c, 17d and rear plate 17m. In the front of the connector 17, an insertion opening 17n is formed. The upper plate 17a has a pair of windows 17e, and the lower plate 17b has a pair of windows 17f. A pair of cantilever elastic contacts 18 made of elastic metal are embedded in the rear plate 17m at the molding of the connector 17 and appear in the windows 17e. Each of the elastic contacts 18 has a contacting projection 18a upwardly projected at a front end portion and extends in an insertion direction of a slider 19 (Fig. 3). On the outer walls of the side plates 17c and 17d, there is formed hooks 17g and 17h, and rib projections 17i and 17j, respectively. Each of the hooks and rib projections are arranged in the slider insertion direction. As shown in Fig. 4a, each of the hooks 17g and 17h is positioned at a position in an upper half location. Each of the rib projections 17i and 17j is elongated a whole height of the side plate 17c (17d). Referring to Figs. 4d and 4e, three guide ribs 17k are provided on the lower plate 17b, extending in the slider insertion direction for guiding a flexible substrate 20 (Fig. 3). As shown in Figs. 4a and 4c, there is formed a slant 17ℓ on the lower plate 17b at the opening 17n for guiding the insertion of the flexible substrate 20. Referring to Fig. 2, on the underside of the case 11, a pair of terminals 14 are embedded in the case and connected to ends of a coil of a buzzer provided in the case 11. Each of the elastic contacts 18 and the corresponding terminal 14 are formed from a metal plate including intermediate lead so as to be connected through the intermediate lead. Referring to Figs. 5a to 5d the slider 19 comprises a pressure portion 19a, an introducing portion 19b, adjacent the pressure portion 19a having an upward slant formed on the underside thereof, and a pair of side plates 19c and 19d confronting the opposite sides of the pressure portion 19a. As shown in Fig. 5b, the pressure portion 19a is positioned in an upper half range. On inside walls of the side plates 19c and 19d, hooks 19e and 19f, ribs 19g and 19h extending from the hooks are formed. These portions 19e, 19f, 19g and 19h are positioned in a lower half range as shown in Figs. 5b, 5c. On both sides of the base portion of the slider 19, projections 19k and 19ℓ are provided, outwardly projecting as a pair of knobs for extracting the slider 19 from the connector 17. The connector 17 and the slider 19 are supplied to a portable telephone manufacturer. The substrate 20 is inserted in the connector 17 by the manufacturer. Referring to Figs. 6a through 6e showing the inserting operation of the slider 19, the slider 19 is inserted in the connector 17 from the opening 17n. At the hooks 17g and 17h, the side plates 19c and 19d are expanded by the engagement of the hooks 19e and 19f, so that the hooks 19e and 19f of the slider 19 get over the hooks 17g and 17h and enter substrate introducing positions 17p. The inserting of the slider 19 is stopped at the substrate introducing position 17p shown in Figs. 3a and 6b where a gap is formed between the introducing portion 19b and the contacting projection 18a as shown in Fig. 3a. Thereafter, the flexible substrate 20 is inserted in the connector 17 from the opening 17n as shown in Fig. 3b. At that time, the flexible substrate 20 is guided by the slant 17ℓ and guide ribs 17k. The substrate passes through the gap between the introducing portion 19b and the contacting projection 18a. As shown in Fig. 3b, the substrate 20 and the slider 19 are inserted to an innermost position of the connector 17, while the hooks 19e and 19f of the slider 19 get over the rib projections 17i and 17j. At the innermost position, the pressure portion 19a of the slider 19 presses the substrate 20 to the elastic contacts 18. Consequently, the connecting projections 18a of the elastic contacts 18 are contacted with terminals on the flexible substrate 20. Thus, the sound producing device 10 is connected to the flexible substrate 20. At the innermost position, the hooks 19e and 19f of the slider 19 engage with outside of the rib projections 17i and 17j, thereby the slider is secured to the connector. In order to remove the flexible substrate 20, if the slider 19 is pulled out from the position of Figs. 3b and 6c to the position of Figs. 3a and 6b, the substrate can be removed. At that time, since the hooks 19e and 19f engage with the hooks 17g and 17h, the slider 19 is not removed. In accordance with the present invention, since the substrate is connected to the sound producing device by inserting the substrate in the connector, the connecting operation is very easy.

Claims: A sound producing device having a case (11), a connector (17) integral with the case and having an opening (17n), a pair of elastic contacts (18) projected from the case to the inside of the connector, a slider (19) inserted in the connector from the opening (17n), the slider having a pressure portion (19a), an introduction portion (19b) adjacent the pressure portion, and a pair of side plates (19c, 19d) formed outside the pressure portion, the pressure portion (19a) being provided to press the elastic contacts (18) of the connector (17) against terminals of a substrate (20) inserted in the connector (17) from the opening (17n), and the introduction portion (19b) having an upward slant so as to form a gap between the slant and the contacts (18) for introducing the substrate (20), characterized in that the connector (17) comprises an upper plate (17a), a lower plate (17b), a pair of side plates (17c, 17d) between the upper and lower plates, said opening (17n) is formed by the upper an lower plates and side plates, first hooks (17g, 17h) formed on the outer walls of the side plates adjacent the opening, and projections (17i, 17j) formed on the outer walls of the side plates not adjacent the opening, a pair of second hooks (19e, 19f) are formed at a position adjacent a tip end portion of each of the side plates of the slider (19), so that the second hooks (19e, 19f) slide over the first hooks (17g, 17h) and the projections (17i, 17j) of the connector (17) when the slider (19) is inserted in the connector (17) and is held by the projections (17i, 17j) and whereas, when the slider (19) is pulled outwards the second hooks (19e, 19f) engage with the first hooks (17g, 17h) of the side plates (17c, 17d) of the connector (17) thereby preventing the slider (19) from being removed from the connector (17). The device according to claim 1 wherein each of the elastic contacts (18) is a cantilever embedded in the connector (17) at a base thereof, and extended in an inserting direction of the slider (19). The device according to claim 1 or 2 wherein each of the elastic contacts (18) has a contacting projection (18a) upwardly projected at a front end portion.

Inventors: KUWABARA ATSUSHI, OHTA YOSHIZUMI, OMATA HAJIME, WATANABE SHUNICHI, KUWABARA, ATSUSHI, OHTA, YOSHIZUMI, OMATA, HAJIME, WATANABE, SHUNICHI
Applicants: CITIZEN ELECTRONICS, CITIZEN ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: H01R12
IPC codes: H01R12, G10K9