Abstract:
An electrical connector assembly includes an upper insulative base and a lower insulative base discrete from each other, and assembled therewith along an up-to-down direction instead of a left-to-right direction. Thus, a small assembly space will be achieved compared to the prior art.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector configured by upper and lower units each mated with an electronic component and a printed circuit board respectively. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Taiwanese Utility Patent No. M271277 issued LIN SHU-SUEI on Jul. 21, 2005, discloses an electrical connector for mounting on a printed circuit board. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals disposed therein and a pair of locking elements locking the electrical connector with the circuit board. Each terminal comprises a planar retention portion, an extending portion and a soldering portion extend from two opposite ends of the retention portion. The soldering portion has a soldering tail soldering onto a printed circuit board. The insulative housing includes a mating section and a pair of base section defined on two ends thereof. When assembling, the electrical connector is mounted onto the printed circuit board through a lateral movement of the connector relative to the printed circuit board with a long lateral distance and then assembles with a complementary electrical connector of the printed circuit board. Thus, an additional space induced for the lateral movement of the connector relative to the printed circuit board will be requested during assembly. Nowadays, with a miniaturization trend in the connector industry, even a small real estate on the printed circuit board is precious since additional electronic components or conductive traces can be deployed. 
     Hence, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector in which only a small mounting area is needed when mounted onto a printed circuit board. 
     To fulfill the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector comprising an upper insulative base and a lower insulative base mounted with the upper insulative base, the upper insulative base having a mating section and a pair of head section defined on the opposite sides of the mating section longitudinally, a plurality of passageways being defined in the upper and the lower insulative base, each passageway in the upper insulative base intercommunicating with the passageway in the lower insulative base correspondingly; a plurality of contact terminals and complimentary terminals received in the passageways correspondingly, the complementary terminal having an abutting end extending beyond the top face of the lower insulative base; each contact terminal having a junction end exposing to the abutting end and extending in a first direction, the abutting end abutting against the junction end resiliently and electrically. 
     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 
       The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. As should be understood, however, the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector made in accordance with the present invention in which a hard disk drive shown in portion is mated thereto; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded, perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the connector shown in  FIG. 2  in which upper and lower units are shown respectively; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 6  is a cross sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , an electrical connector according to the present invention is adapted for mounting on a circuit board  5  and connecting with a complementary connector  6  of an electronic device, such as a hard disk drive. The electrical connector comprises an upper insulative base  1  and a lower insulative base  2  located on the upper insulative base  1 , a plurality of terminals  3  received in the upper insulative base  1  and the lower insulative base  2  respectively. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-3 , the upper insulative base  1  is substantially elongated and integrally formed, and comprises a mating section  10  and a pair of head sections  11  defined on two ends longitudinally. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3-4 , the mating section  10  is substantially flat and elongated, and defines a longitudinal direction and a short transversal direction perpendicular to the long direction, a mating face  101  disposed at a front end of the mating section  10 , an end face  102  located at a rear end of the mating section and parallel to the mating face  101  and a pair of guiding posts  103  disposed at two lateral sides thereof The mating section  10  defines a first receiving port  104  and a second receiving port  105  adjoining to the first receiving port  104 . The first receiving port  104  and the second receiving port  105  respectively defines a plurality of first terminal receiving passageways  106  extending through the mating face  101  and the end face  102 . 
     Each of head section  11  is rectangular shaped, and defines a mounting face  111  perpendicular to the end face  102  for mounting on the lower insulative base  2 . A first receiving hole  112  is defined through the head section  11  from the top to down. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , the lower insulative base  2  is substantially elongated and integrally formed, and comprises a base section  20  and a pair of seat section  21  protruding outwardly from the base section  20  along the long direction. A second receiving hole  211  runs through each seat section  21  from the top to down correspondingly to the first receiving hole  112 . The base section  20  defines a top face  201  parallel with the long direction and the short direction of mating section  10  and a front face  202  perpendicular to the top face  201 . A plurality of second terminal receiving passageways  203  are defined in the base section  20  extending through the top face  201  and the front face  202 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5 , the terminals  3  are divided into contact terminals  30  and complimentary terminals  31  for assembling to the first terminal receiving passageways  106  and the second terminal receiving passageways  203  respectively. Each contact terminal  30  comprises of a first retention portion  301  engaged in the first terminal receiving passageway  106 . A mating end  302  and a junction end  303  extends from the two opposite ends of the first retention portion  301 , the mating ends  302  are received in the first terminal receiving passageways  106  and extend into the first receiving port  104 , the junction ends  303  are exposed to the complimentary terminals  31 . 
     Each complimentary terminal  31  includes a second retention portion  311 , a soldering end  312  and a resilient arm  313  extend from the two opposite ends of the second retention portion  311 , the resilient arm  313  is S-shaped and defines an abutting end  314  on a free end. The abutting ends  314  extend beyond the top face  201  and abut against the junction ends  303  of the contact terminals  30  correspondingly. The soldering ends  312  extend out of the front face  202  and solder with the printed circuit board  5 . 
     The electrical connector further comprise a pair of pads  4  assembled on the seat section  21  for positioning the electrical connector on the printed circuit board  5 . 
     In assembling, referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , the contact terminals  30  are inserted into the first terminal receiving passageways  106  along the short direction from the end face  102  to the mating face  101 , the complimentary terminals  31  are assembled into the second terminal receiving passageways  203  along the short direction from the front face  202  to the back face (not labeled). Afterward, the upper insulative base  1  is mounted onto the lower insulative base  2  and retains with the lower insulative base  2  in the long direction through the retention between the head section  11  and the base section  20 . Meanwhile, the abutting ends  314  abut against the junction ends  303  resiliently and electrically. 
     Summing up the foregoing, the upper insulative base  1  and the lower insulative base  2  are assembled with a complimentary connector of the printed circuit board  5  through the terminals  3 . The complimentary connector  6  can be mounted onto the printed circuit board  5  through the electrical connector in a vertical direction instead of a horizontal direction or an up-to-down direction instead of a left-to-right direction, thereby having saved an assembling space on the printed circuit board. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed 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.