Abstract:
An cable assembly ( 100 ) includes an insulated housing ( 1 ) defining a plurality of contact slots; a plurality of contacts ( 2 ) accommodated in the contact slots, with tail portions thereof disposed outside of the insulated housing; at least a cable ( 4 ) including two wires ( 41 ) enclosed within a conductive shielding portion ( 43 ); a grounding member ( 3 ) including a main portion ( 31 ), a finger portion ( 33 ) extending forwardly from the main portion and a connecting portion ( 32 ) formed at a rear segment of the main portion, said connecting portion gripping outside of the conductive shielding portion of the cable; and the finger portion and inner conductors of the wires clamped by the tail portions of the contacts.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    The present invention generally relates to a cable assembly, and more particularly to a cable assembly with contact members and a cable thereof electrically and mechanically connected together without soldering process. 
       DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART  
       [0002]    Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is an art that is different from Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA). At present, transmitting rate of an device utilizing SATA has already up to 150 MB/s or more, which is much higher than an equipment adopting PATA. 
         [0003]    A SATA cable assembly is used for connecting a Hard Disk (HD) and a main board (MB) of a computer. The SATA cable assembly used for transmitting signals includes a connector and a cable connected thereto. The connector has two pair of signal contacts spaced apart by three grounding contacts. The cable also has two pair of wires coupled to the corresponding signal contacts. Each of the pair of wires is further shielded by conductive portions for coupled to the grounding contacts. The wires and the grounding portions both mechanically and electrically connected to the signal contacts and the grounding contacts via soldering process. However, soldering process may cause some environmental pollution problems. Hence, a new method for terminating the connector and the cable is desired. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cable assembly with a connector and a corresponding cable interconnected one another with a mechanical method, rather than a soldering process. 
         [0005]    In order to achieve the object set forth, a cable assembly in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulated housing defining a plurality of contact slots; a plurality of contacts accommodated in the contact slots, with tail portions thereof disposed outside of the insulated housing; at least a cable including two wires enclosed within a conductive shielding portion; a grounding member including a main portion, a finger portion extending forwardly from the main portion and a connecting portion formed at a rear segment of the main portion, said connecting portion gripping outside of the conductive shielding portion of the cable; and the finger portion and inner conductors of the wires clamped by the tail portions of the contacts. 
         [0006]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is an exploded, perspective view of a cable assembly of a first embodiment in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is similar to  FIG. 1 , but viewed from other aspect; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  illustrates interconnection relations between cables and contacts. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a partially assembled perspective view of the cable assembly; 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is an assembled, perspective view of the cable assembly; 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a grounding member of a cable assembly of a second embodiment in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  illustrates interconnection relations between cables and contacts. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]    Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0015]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , a cable assembly  100  of a first embodiment in accordance to the present invention comprises an insulated housing  1 , a number of contacts  2 , a grounding member  3 , a cable  4 , a spacer  5  and a cover  6   
         [0016]    The insulated housing  1  includes an upper wall  1   1 , a bottom wall  12 , a pair of side walls  13 ,  14  interconnecting the upper and bottom walls  11 ,  12  to together define an L-shaped mating port  10 . A number of contact slots  151  are recessed forwardly from a back wall  15  of the insulated housing  1  and in communication to the mating port  10 . A guiding member  141  is formed on an outer surface of the side wall  14 . Two pairs of protrusion members  152  are respectively arranged on the top and low surface of the back wall  15 . 
         [0017]    The contacts  2  has seven contact members which are arranged in a row along a transversal direction. The contact members includes three grounding contacts and two pairs of signal contacts located between the grounding contacts. That is to say, the first, fourth and seventh positions of the row are grounding contacts, and the rest positions of the row are signal contacts. Each of the contacts  2  has a body portion  22  retained in the corresponding contact slot  151 , a mating portion  21  extending into the mating port  10 , and a tail portion  23  extending beyond the back wall  15 . A number of tooth-shaped protrusion members  231  are alternatively arranged at two lateral sides of the tail portion  23 . 
         [0018]    The cable  4  includes two differential pairs  41  arranged in juxtaposed manner and each differential pairs  41  having two conductors  42  insulated from one another, conductive shielding portions  43  respectively covering the differential pairs  41  and a jacket enclosing the shielding portions  43 . The conductive shielding portion  43  may be aluminum foil or copper foil. 
         [0019]    The grounding member  3  is made of metallic sheet and comprises a main portion  31 , three finger portions  33  spaced apart each other and projected forwardly from the main portion  31 , two connecting portions  32  torn apart and crimped from lateral sides of a rear segment of the main portion  31 . The connecting portions  32  grip/clamp the conductive shielding portions  43 , the finger portions  33  are supported by the tail portions  23  of the grounding contacts, while the inner conductors  42  of the two differential pairs  41  are located on the tail portions  23  of the signal contacts, then the protrusion members  231  are bent to clip/clamp the finger portions  33  and the inner conductors to have the cable  4  and the contacts  2  mechanically and electrically combined together. 
         [0020]    A spacer member  5  is assembled to the back wall  15  of the insulated housing  1 , with a number of protruding members  51  thereon projected into the contacts slots  151 . 
         [0021]    The cable assembly  100  further comprises a cover  6  enclosing a rear portion of the insulated housing  1  and a partial of the cable  4  adjacent to the insulated housing  1 . The cover  6  includes a first part (upper part)  61  and a second part (lower part)  62  associated with the first part  61 . 
         [0022]    The second part  62  includes a bottom wall  620 , a pair of right and left walls  621 ,  622  extending upwardly from lateral sides of the bottom wall  620 , and a back wall  623  connected to the bottom wall  620  and the pair of right and left walls  621 ,  622 . Both the right and left walls  621 ,  622  have a first clasping portion  6211 ,  6221  offset from one another. The first clasping portions  6211 ,  6221  further define positioning cavities  6212 ,  6222  in inner sides thereof. Two first locating cavities  6213 ,  6223  are defined in the right and left walls  621 ,  622 . Two tabs  6214 ,  6224  are respectively arranged in the first locating cavities  6213 ,  6223 . A pair of positioning posts  6215 ,  6225  project upwardly from top surfaces of the right and left walls  621 ,  622 . The pair of positioning posts  6215 ,  6225  also offset one another. Two positioning holes  6216 ,  6226  are recessed downwardly from the top surfaces of the right and left walls  621 ,  622 . A supporter member  6200  is arranged on a front segment of the bottom wall and located between the right and left walls  621 ,  622 . A slot  6202  is recessed downwardly from a middle section of the supporter member  6200 . A number of ribs  6201  are spaced apart each other and located on a back section of the supporter member  6200 . A second clasping portion  6231  is formed on a left side of the back wall  623  and a second locating cavity  6232  is defined in a right side of the back wall  623 . The second clasping portion  6231  is similar to the first clasping portion  6221 , and the second locating cavity  6232  is similar to the first locating cavity  6231 . 
         [0023]    The first part  61  is similar to the second part  62 , therefore they can fully combined together, and detailed description of the first part  61  is omitted hereby. The insulated housing  1  is assembled with the first part  61  and the second part  62 , with the back wall  15  is sandwiched between the supporter member  6200  of the second part  62  and a corresponding supporter member (not numbered) of the first part  61 , the protrusion members  152  are accommodated in the slot  6202  of the second part  62  and a corresponding slot (not numbered) of the first part  61 . The tail portions  23  of the contacts  2  are spaced apart each other by the ribs  6201 . 
         [0024]    Please referring to  FIGS. 6-7 , illustrating partial elements of a second embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the first embodiment, the main difference is a grounding member  3 ′ and the aforementioned grounding member  3 . The identical elements and their relations of between the first and second embodiments are omitted hereby. The grounding member  3 ′ is made of metallic sheet and comprises a main portion  31 ′, three finger portions  33 ′ spaced apart each other and projected forwardly from the main portion  31 ′. Two slits  34 ′ are firstly defined in lateral sides of a middle segment of the main portion  31 ′, and then two lateral portions of a rear segment of the main portion  31 ′ are bent upwardly and inwardly to form two connecting portions  32 ′. Each finger portion  33 ′ including an inclined transition portion  332 ′ projecting forwardly and upwardly from the main portion  31 ′ and a horizontal portion (front segment)  331 ′ extending forwardly from the transitioning portion  332 ′, thus the horizontal portion  331 ′ is disposed higher than the main portion  31 ′, such configuration facilitates terminating processing between the grounding member  3 ′ and the contacts  2 . 
         [0025]    It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or central characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments, therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein.