Abstract:
An electrical card connector for receiving at least two different cards, comprises: an insulative housing; a plurality of contacts received in the housing; an L-shaped shell assembled on the housing defining a receiving space for receiving the card; and a guide member assembled on the shell with a spring plate extending into the receiving space. When an L-shaped electrical card inserts into the connector, it could be keep in the connector steadily because of the friction between the card and the spring plate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention generally relates to an electrical card connector, and more particularly to an electrical card connector having a high transmission speed. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0004]    With the development of portable computer, the dimension gets more and more smaller so that it need more memory cards to meet the requirement. Accordingly, more and more electrical card connectors are widely used in the portable computer. Nowadays, the portable computer always is used in a jolty environment, so it is important to provide a stable signal transmission between the electrical card and the connector in the portable computer. 
         [0005]    A prior art discloses such an electrical card connector comprising a housing, a shell covering the housing and a plurality of contacts received in the housing. Said shell is configured of an L-shape with a notch besides said housing, a guide member is attached to the shell near the notch for guiding the electrical card inserting. When the electrical card is inserted into the connector, a retaining force is formed between the contacts and the card to hold the card in the connector in a steady environment. But the retaining force is so limited that the electrical card may escape from the connector in a jolty environment to affect the normal using of the computer. 
         [0006]    Hence, it is desirable to have an improved card connector to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector for an L-shaped electrical card retaining in the connector reliability. 
         [0008]    In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electrical card connector comprises: an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the insulative housing, an L-shaped shell assembled on the housing defining a receiving space for receiving the card and a guide member assembled on the shell with a spring plate extending into the receiving space, when an L-shaped card mates with the electrical card connector, the spring plate is opposed on the surface of the card elastically. 
         [0009]    Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical card connector in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical card connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is an exploded, perspective view of the electrical card connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a guide member of the electrical card connector; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is rear elevational view of the card connector in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0015]    Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the present invention in detail. 
         [0016]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , an electrical card connector  100  in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing  10 , a plurality of contacts  20 , a pair of grounding pieces  30  received in the housing  10 , a shell  40  covering the housing  10 , a guide member  50  retained by the shell  40 , a pair of stand offs  60  assembled on the lateral side of the shell  40  and an ejecting mechanism  70 . 
         [0017]    Referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the insulative housing  10  is elongate and comprises a base portion  11 , a pair of side arms  12  extending from lateral side of the base portion  11  and a mating portion  14  for engaging with an electrical card. There is a gap (not labeled) between the mating portion  14  and each side arm  12  for guiding the electrical card insertion. The mating portion  14  forms a plurality of passageway  142  for receiving the contacts  20 . Each side arm  12  forms a receiving slit  122  at the lateral side thereof for holding the grounding piece  30 . Each grounding pieces  30  connects the shell  40  to a Print Circuit Board (PCB) (not shown) electrically to make the electrical card connector  100  get a good anti-EMI effect. 
         [0018]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , a plurality of contacts  20  are received in the insulative housing  10  along a front-to-rear direction. Each contact  20  comprises a contact portion  22  for electrically connecting with the electrical card, a retention portion (not labeled) extending forwardly from the contact portion  22  and a solder portion  24  extending out of the front wall of the housing  10 . 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , the shell  40 , formed by a metallic sheet, comprises a main body  41  in an L-shaped, a plurality of sidewalls extending downwardly from edges of the main body  41  forming a receiving space for accommodating the electrical card and a notch  47  in the front thereof beside the insulative housing  10 . These sidewalls comprise a front wall  42  extending from the front edge of the main body  41 , a first and a second sidewalls  43 ,  44  at opposite sides of the front wall  42 , a third sidewall  45  disposed in the same side with the first sidewall  43 , a fourth sidewall  46  disposed in the same side with the second sidewall  44  and a longitudinal sidewall (not labeled) disposed between the second sidewalls  44  and the fourth sidewall  46 . Said insulative housing  10  is disposed in the front end of the shell  40  and engages with the front wall  42 , the first and second sidewall  43 ,  44 , respectively. The third and fourth sidewall  45 ,  46  extend inwardly defining two guiding grooves  452 ,  462  to guide the electrical card inserting into the connector. The pair of stand offs  60  are assembled on the third and fourth sidewall  45 ,  46  at the rear end thereof for holding the electrical card connector  100  on the PCB. 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIGS. 2-5 , the guide member  50 , engaging with the shell  40 , assumes a triangular shape and comprises a board portion  51  and an L-shaped perpendicular wall  52  extending forwards and upwardly from the front edge of the board portion  51 . The board portion  51  abuts against the fourth sidewall  46  and the longitudinal sidewall (not labeled), the perpendicular wall  52  abuts against the second sidewall  44  of the shell  40  and the longitudinal sidewall (not labeled). The perpendicular wall  52  forms a guide channel  55  extending in a front-to-rear direction for guiding the electrical card inserting into or ejecting out of the electrical card connector  100 . The board plate  51  forms a spring plate  510  extending into the receiving space. Said spring plate  510  has certain elasticity and comprises an engagement portion  5101  extending horizontally and a connecting portion  5102  extending forwardly to connect the engagement portion  5101  to the board plate  51 . When the L-shaped electrical card inserts into the connector  100 , the spring plate  510  will press on the bottom surface of the electrical card to retain the electrical card in the connector  100  reliability even if in a jolty environment. In addition, the force between the electrical card and the spring plate  510  can be changed via adjusting the dimension of the spring plate  510 . 
         [0021]    Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3 , the ejecting mechanism  70  is attached to the third sidewall  45  of the shell  40  and comprises a slider  71  having a heart groove (not shown), a push rod  72 , a spring  73 , a link pin  74  and an ejecting rod  75 . The push rod  72  is slidely assembled on the slider  71  with a limit hole  722  at an end thereof. The spring  73  has two ends, one end is fasten to the stand off  60  assembled on the shell  40 , and the other end to the push rod  72  to drive the push rod  72 . The link pin  74  connects with the push rod  72  and may slider in the heart groove of the slider  71 . The ejecting rod  75  is sandwiched in between the dielectric housing  10  and the shell  40  by passing through the shell  40  and rotatablely connecting with the push rod  72  via the limit hole  722 . The ejecting mechanism  70  is a push-push type, detailed description on work process and assembly of the ejecting mechanism  70  omits thereafter, for it is obvious to an ordinary skilled person in this art. 
         [0022]    When the L-shaped electrical card accommodates with the connector  100 , the spring plate  510  of the guiding member  50  withstands on bottom surface of the electrical card providing a retaining force, and the electrical card could be received in the connector  100  reliability even in a jolty environment. The dimension of the spring plate  510  can be adjusted to change the retaining force between the electrical card and the spring plate  510 . 
         [0023]    It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.