Abstract:
A card connector includes an insulating housing ( 10 ), a number of contacts ( 20 ) and an ejector ( 30 ). The insulating housing ( 10 ) defines a card receiving space ( 13 ) with a card insertion/ejection direction. The contacts ( 20 ) are retained in the insulating housing ( 10 ) and include a plurality of contacting portions ( 23 ) exposed into the card receiving space ( 13 ) to electrically connect with a card. The ejector ( 30 ) is assembled to the insulating housing ( 10 ) includes an ejecting arm ( 323 ) exposed into the card receiving space ( 13 ) to eject a card. The ejecting arm ( 323 ) includes a shield portion ( 326 ) extending in the card receiving space ( 13 ) along the card ejection direction from a transverse lateral side of the ejecting arm ( 323 ) being away from the contacts ( 20 ).

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention is generally related to a card connector, and especially to a card connector which is adapted for insertion/ejection of a card.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     Integrated circuit (IC) cards are used in a variety of appliances in conjunction with corresponding card connectors. In order to insert IC cards into the card connectors accurately and fully and draw the IC cards out of the card connectors conveniently, the card connectors commonly equip with ejectors to achieve above-mentioned object.  
         [0005]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,494 discloses a commonly card connector for receiving an electrical card. The card connector defines a card receiving space and comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of contacts exposed into the card receiving space and arranged on a bottom wall of the insulating housing and a card eject mechanism. The card eject mechanism is formed with a card engagement portion protruding into the card receiving space for ejecting the electrical card out of the card connector. The card engagement portion locates over the contacts.  
         [0006]     In normal state, the electrical card is safely inserted into the card receiving space and collides with a side face of the card engagement portion. However, because the electrical card is thin, the card easily engages with an upper face of the card engagement portion by mistake. Thus, the card is elevated by the card engagement portion so that it can&#39;t connect with the contacts. What is worse, the card may be destroyed.  
         [0007]     Hence, an improved card connector is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a card connector which has an ejector for inserting/ejecting a card conveniently.  
         [0009]     To achieve the above object, a card connector is adapted for receiving a card and comprises an insulating housing, a plurality of contacts and an ejector. The insulating housing defines a card receiving space with a card insertion/ejection direction. The contacts are retained in the insulating housing and comprise a plurality of contacting portions exposed into the card receiving space to electrically connect with a card. The ejector is assembled to the insulating housing and comprises an ejecting arm exposed into the card receiving space to eject a card. The ejecting arm comprises a shield portion extending in the card receiving space from one lateral side of the ejecting arm protruding into the card receiving space along a transverse direction perpendicular to the card insertion/ejection direction.  
         [0010]     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be drawn from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention with attached drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  is an assembled, perspective view of a card connector in accordance with the present invention with a card accommodated therein;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is an exploded, perspective view of the card connector of  FIG. 1  with an ejector assembled to an insulating housing;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is an exploded, perspective view of the card connector of  FIG. 1  with an ejector detached from an insulating housing;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  is an exploded, perspective view of the ejector of the card connector of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a partially assembled, perspective view of the card connector of  FIG. 1  with a shell detached from the insulating housing. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]     Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , the card connector in accordance with the present invention is adapted for receiving a card  100 , such as a SIM card. The card connector comprises an insulating housing  10 , a plurality of contacts  20  received in the insulating housing  10 , an ejector  30  and a shell  40  for covering the insulating housing  10 .  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the insulating housing  10  is approximately frame configuration. The insulating housing  10  comprises a bottom wall  11  and a pair of opposite right and left sidewalls  12  extending upwardly from lateral sides of the bottom wall  13 , which commonly define a card receiving space  13  for accommodating the SIM card  100 . The bottom wall  11  defines an opening  14  at rear end thereof and is formed with a plurality of rectangular receiving passages  110  arranged in two rows along a card insertion/ejection direction. The right and left sidewalls  12  are formed with a plurality of wedges  120  on outsides thereof, respectively. A pair of protruding blocks  121  protrude outwardly from lower sides of the opposite sidewalls  12 , respectively.  
         [0019]     The contacts  20  are divided into two groups which are insert-molded with the insulating housing  10 , respectively. Each contact  20  comprises a contacting portion  23  received in the corresponding receiving passage  110  and partially exposed into the card receiving space  13 , an intermediate portion (not labeled) extending rearward from the contacting portion  23  and molded in the insulating housing  10  and a soldering portion  24 . The soldering portion  24  extends rearward from the intermediate portion to expose into the opening  14 .  
         [0020]     The right sidewall  12  of the insulating housing  10  is formed with a pair of front and rear walls  16  at front and rear ends thereof, together defining a rectangular receiving concave  15  communicating with the card receiving space  13  along the card insertion direction for accommodating the ejector  30 . The bottom wall  11  defines a recess  152  at rear end thereof faced to the opening  14  to communicate with the receiving concave  15 . A column  162  protrudes forwardly from the rear wall  16  and is exposed into the concave  15 . A downwardly recessed hole  153  is formed on the right sidewall  12  in alignment with the column  162  along a vertical direction perpendicular to the card insertion direction.  
         [0021]     The right sidewall  12  defines a rectangular recess section  150  downwardly recessed from a bottom face of the receiving concave  15  and locating approximately in middle of the receiving concave  15 . A pair of grounding terminals  22  are insert-molded with the insulating housing  10  with contacting portions (not labeled) received in the rectangular hole  150  and partially exposed into the concave  15 . Tail portions of the grounding terminals  22  are exposed into the opening  14  to align with the soldering portions  24  of the contacts  20 .  
         [0022]     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the ejector  30  is used for ejecting the SIM card  100  out of the card connector. The ejector  30  comprises a slider  31 , a pin member  33 , a resilient member  34  and an ejecting member  320  for contacting and ejecting the SIM card  100  directly. In this embodiment, the resilient member  34  is a spring and the ejecting member  320  is a separate component. However, the ejecting member  320  also can be unitary with the slider  31  on condition that the ejecting member  320  can protrude into the card receiving space  13  to eject the SIM card  100 .  
         [0023]     The slider  31  is approximately an elongated cube configuration and can move along the card insertion and ejection direction with the SIM card  100  inserted and ejected. The slider  31  defines a heart-shaped slot  312  recessed downwardly from a top face thereof, a semi-circular receiving hole  313  recessed forwardly from a rear face thereof and a plurality of through slots  311  recessed downwardly from a top face a bottom face of lateral sides of the slider  31 . One end of the spring  34  is disposed around the column  162  of the rear wall  16  and the other end is disposed into the receiving hole  313  of the slider  31 . One end of the pin member  33  is moveably disposed in the heart-shaped slot  312  of the slider  31  and the other end is securely locked in a pinhole  161  of the front wall  16  of insulating housing  10 . The pin member  33  and the heart-shaped slot  312  are referred as holding means and can hold the slider  31  in a final position where the card  100  is electrically connected with the card connector and can release the slider  31  when ejecting the card  100 .  
         [0024]     The ejecting member  320  is stamped from a metal sheet. The ejecting member  320  comprises a horizontal plate  321  and a holding arm  322  extending upward and rearward from rear end of one side of the horizontal plate  321  adjacent to the card receiving space  13 . A plurality of hooks  324  protrudes upwardly from the holding arm  322  and lateral sides of the horizontal plate  321 , respectively. In addition, the holding arm  322  is formed with a rectangular plate-shaped ejecting arm  323  bent from a free end thereof and transversely protruding into the card receiving space  13  and locating above the recess  152  of the bottom wall  11 . The ejecting arm  323  is formed with a shielding portion  326  extending forwardly from an upper face thereof along the card ejection direction to expose into the card receiving space  13 . The ejecting member  320  is securely assembled to a bottom face of the slider  31  with the hooks  324  interferencely received in the through slots  311  of the slider  31 .  
         [0025]     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the shell  40  is made of metal sheet to cover the housing  10 . The shell  40  comprises a base portion  41  and a pair of opposite right and left side portions  42  extending downwardly from lateral sides of the base portion  41 . A rectangular opening  412  is defined in rear end of the base potion  41  to communicate with the opening  14  of the insulating housing  10 . Furthermore, the base portion  41  is formed with a resilient piece  413  at front end thereof adjacent to the right side portion  42  for pressing downwardly against the pin member  33  in the heart-shaped slot  312  of the slider  31  of the ejector  30 . Each side portion  42  is formed with a plurality of mating holes  421  for receiving the wedges  120  of the insulating housing  10  and a pair of soldering feet  420  on opposite distal ends along the card insertion direction for being mounted on a printed circuit board (not shown). An engaging piece  422  extends from the base portion  41  to expose into a gap (not labeled) defined in each side portion  42  to mate with the corresponding protruding block  121 . Thus, the shell  40  is securely assembled to the insulating housing  10 .  
         [0026]     The SIM card  100  defines a cutout  101  in a corner between a rear end and a left side thereof. The left sidewall  12  of the insulating housing  10  is formed with a slanting face  122  faced to the card receiving space  13  at rear end thereof to recognize the cutout  101  in order to prevent the SIM card  100  from mismating. In process of the SIM card  100  inserting the card connector, a rear end of a right side of the card  100  will enter into a cavity defined by the ejecting arm  323 , the shielding portion  326  and the slider  31  of the ejector  30  to collide with the ejecting arm  323 . Then, to drive the slider  31  to move along the card insertion direction and to urge the spring  34  to elastically distort. In the meantime, the pin member  33  moves along the heart-shaped slot  312  of the ejector  30  to make the slider  31  finally achieve a final position or a locking position where the card  100  is electrically connected with the contacts  20  accurately and fully. In addition, the grounding terminals  22  are electrically connected with the horizontal plate  321  of the ejecting member  320  of the ejector  30  to discharge static.  
         [0027]     When ejecting the card  100 , a rearward push force is exerted to the card  100  to make the pin member  33  move along the heart-shaped slot  312  again so as to release the slider  31  from the final position. At this time, the resilient restorable force of the spring  34  urges the slider  31  to move along the card ejection direction so as to eject the card  100  out of the card connector in virtue of the ejecting arm  323  of ejector  30  pushing the card  100 .  
         [0028]     While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been shown and described, equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as described in the appended claims.