Abstract:
An electrical connector ( 1 ) includes a first insulative housing ( 10 ), a number of contacts ( 20 ), and a second housing ( 30 ) attached to the first housing. The first housing defines a first and a second cavities ( 101,103 ) therein, a number of passageways ( 104 ) in communication of the cavities. Each contact received in the passageways has a mating portion ( 25 ) extending into the cavities, and further includes a solder portion ( 21 ) extending away from the first housing. The second housing defines a number of channels ( 34 ) for securely receiving the solder portions therethrough. An interengaging device arranges between the first and second housing such that the second housing is secured attached to the first housing.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector with an improved spacer for positioning contacts of the connector precisely.  
           [0003]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0004]    Computers are widely used in the fields of E-commerce, E-business, Home network, Internet work station and so on. Each computer has a data storage center, e.g. hard disk, where computer software and business data information are saved. When the computer runs, the computer Central Processing Unit (CPU) continuously accesses the hard disk and retrieves data from the hard disk or stores data to the hard disk. For compatibility, the hard disk driver interfaces are standardized. There are many hard disk driver interface standards and the SCSI families and ATA families are the most famous in the last decade. The electrical connector used in hard disk driver must comply with the corresponding interface standards. An organization, called the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (hereinafter referred to as SATA) Working Group and set up by APT Technologies Inc, Dell Computer Corporation, International Business Machines, Intel Corporation, Maxtor Corporation, Quantum Corporation, and Seagate Technology released a specification to define the SATA interface and the corresponding connectors. The specification defines a first type of SATA connector connecting to a cable and a second type of SATA connector mounting to a printed circuit board (PCB). The second type of SATA connector defined by the specification includes an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts received in the housing and two board locks fixed to the housing for attaching the connector to the PCB. The housing provides a guiding post on each one of two opposite side faces of the housing for guiding the connector to mate with a mating connector.  
           [0005]    However, each connector is required a spacer to precisely space tail portions of contacts thereof from each other a predetermined distance in order to correctly ensure soldering such connectors onto the PCB. Moreover the tail portion of the contact has a length which is too long resulting in excessive flexibility thereof. It becomes tedious to correctly extend tail portions having excessive flexibility into contact tail portion receiving holes defined in the spacer. Thus an independent spacer is required to organize the tail portions precisely.  
           [0006]    It is thus desirable to provide a spacer constructed as a separate part of an electrical connector with improved retention structure to alleviate or even eliminate the above-discussed problem.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    An object of the present invention is to provide a spacer constructed as a separate part of an electrical connector with improved retention structure.  
           [0008]    To obtain the above object, an electrical connector includes a first insulative housing, a number of contacts, and a second housing attached to the first housing. The first housing defines a first and a second cavities therein, a number of passageways in communication of the cavities. Each contact received in the passageways has a mating portion extending into the cavities, and further includes a solder portion extending away from the first housing. The second housing defines a number of channels for securely receiving the solder portions therethrough. The interengaging device arranges between the first and second housing includes a receptacle defined in the guiding post of the first housing and a hook formed on the second housing. The interengaging means further includes a block extending from a middle portion of the first housing and an auxiliary hook on the second housing. When the second housing is attached to the first housing, the hook is securely received in the receptacle of the guiding post in a longitudinal direction and the auxiliary hook to be securely received in a receptacle of the block in a traverse direction such that the second housing is secured attached to the first housing.  
           [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]    [0010]FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an electrical connector with a spacer in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a bottom, exploded view of the electrical connector of FIG. 1 with contacts being removed;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is assembled perspective view of the electrical connector;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 taken along line  5 - 5  of FIG. 3;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 taken along line  6 - 6  of FIG. 3; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector of FIG. 3 taken along line  7 - 7  of FIG. 3.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]    Referring to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electrical connector  1  for mating with a mating connector (not shown) according to the present invention comprises an elongate insulative housing  10 , a plurality of conductive contacts  20 , and a spacer  30 , for organizing the contacts  20 . The connector  1  has a mating portion  120  for mating with a mating connector (not shown) and a pair of flanges  130  at opposite ends of the mating portion for being mounted onto a printed circuit board (PCB, not shown).  
         [0018]    The housing  10  has a mating surface  107  and an engaging surface  108 . The housing  10  defines a plurality of passageways  104  from the engaging surface  108  to the mating surface  107 , a first and a second cavities  101 ,  103  defined in the housing  10  from the engaging surface  108  to the mating surface  107 . The first and second cavities  101 ,  103  have different dimension, and the first cavity receives a power segment of the mating connector (not shown) and the second cavity receives a signal segment of the mating connector (not shown). The first and second cavities  101 ,  103  each have anti-disorientation device. A substantially rectangular opening  102  is defined between the mating surface  107  and the engaging surface  108  and locates in a middle of the mating surface  107 . The passageways  104  are in communication with the first and second cavities  101 ,  103 . The housing  10  provides a pair of guiding posts  100  upwardly extending from the flanges  130  and outwardly protruding from opposite end walls  110  of the housing  10  in a transverse direction. The guiding post  100  has a sharp section upwardly extending beyond the mating surface  107  of the housing  10  for guidance of the connector to mate with the mating connector and a lower portion  1001  for mounting into the PCB. Each guiding post  100  has a plurality of rib portions  1003  formed on outer surface of the lower portion  1001 . A receiving space  1000  is defined in each guiding post  100 . A block  106  projects downwardly from a middle of the engaging surface  108  of the housing  10  and defines a receiving cavity  1060  therein. The receiving cavity  1060  is in communicating with the opening  102 . The block  106  has a pair of engaging portions  1062  formed on inner walls thereof.  
         [0019]    Referring to FIG. 7, a pair of step portions  112  is respectively formed on opposite end walls  110  of the housing  10 . Each flange  130  has a larger surface area adapted to face the PCB and defines a cutout  131  in a bottom face thereof.  
         [0020]    The contact  20  extends elongately and each has a middle portion  24 , a first retention portion  23  extending upwardly from an upper end of the middle portion  24 , a second retention portion  22  extending downwardly from a low end of the middle portion  24 , a mating portion  25  extending upwardly from the second retention portion  22 , and a solder portion  21  extending downwardly from the second retention portion  22  for being soldered onto the print circuit board. The first retention portion  23  has a pair of barbs formed opposite sides thereof, and the second retention portion  22  has a pair of protrusions  222  formed opposite sides thereof.  
         [0021]    The independent spacer  30  comprises a base  31 , and a pair of hooks  32  integrally formed on opposite ends of the base  31 . The base  31  defines a row of channels  34  for allowing the corresponding contacts  20  extending therethrough. The base  31  comprises a pair of mounting plates  36  projecting outwardly from opposite ends thereof, a pair of walls  310  projects upwardly from opposite ends thereof and an auxiliary hook  35  projecting upwardly from a middle of a top face thereof related to the block  106 . The auxiliary hook  35  has a pair of hooks (not labeled) at a free end thereof. The hook  32  of the spacer  30  comprises a base portion  321  projecting outwardly from opposed walls  310  of the base  31 , a substantial rectangle tail portion  320  extending downwardly from a lower portion of the base portion  321 , and a locking portion  322  projecting from an upper end of the base portion  321 . The locking portion  322  has a barb  323  at a free end thereof. The mounting plate  36  of the spacer  30  defines a circular hole  33  and the tail portion  320  of the hook  32  extends downwardly therethrough. Each channel  34  has a pair of step sections  341  located on inner walls thereof. The channel  34  is shaped substantially “T” by the step sections  341 .  
         [0022]    In assembly, referring particularly to FIGS.  3 - 7 , the contacts  20  are firstly inserted into the passageways  104  of the housing with barbs of the first retention portion  23  engaging with inner walls of the passageways  104 . When the contact  20  are received in the passageways  104 , the mating portion  25  is exposed in the first cavity  101  or the second cavity  103 . When the spacer  30  is assembled to the housing  10  under the engaging face  108  of the housing  10 , the lower portions  1001  of the guiding posts  100  align with the holes  33  of the spacer, and the contacts  20  align with the channels  34  of the spacer  30 . The solder portions  21  of the contacts  20  are inserted into the channels  34  until the protrusions  222  of the second retention portions  22  abut against the step sections  341 , the lower portions  1001  are inserted into the holes  33  and extend beyond a bottom face of the spacer  30 . When the locking portions  322  of the hooks  32  engages with the step portions  112  of the housing  10  in a longitudinal direction of the housing  10 , the tail portion  320  is fully received in the receiving space  1000 , the auxiliary hook  35  is received in the cavity  1060  of the lock block  106  and the hooks of the auxiliary hook  35  are engaged with the engaging portions  1062  in a traverse direction of the housing  10 . Therefore, the mounting plates  36  of the spacer  30  are fully received in the cutouts  131  of the flanges  130  with the walls  310  abutting against inner sides of the end walls  110 . Thereby, the housing  10  and the spacer  30  are firmly secured together with each channel  34  aligning with the corresponding passageway  104  in a line.  
         [0023]    When the connector  1  is mounted onto the PCB (not shown) with the mounting plates  36  of the spacer  30  abutting against a top surface of the PCB, the rib portions  1003  of the guiding posts  100  are engaging with inner wall of a hole defined in the print circuit board to provide the connector with an excellent fixation.  
         [0024]    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.