Abstract:
An electrical connector ( 100 ) includes an insulative housing ( 1 ) having a base portion ( 11 ) and a tongue portion ( 12 ) extending forwardly from the base portion along a mating direction, a number of contacts ( 2 ) assembled in the insulative housing, and an ejector ( 4 ) comprising a slider ( 41 ), a pin member ( 43 ), and at least one spring element ( 42 ) for cooperatively ejecting a mating component. The slider has a rear lengthwise portion ( 411 ) extending along the mating direction and a front transverse portion ( 412 ) perpendicular to the mating direction. The lengthwise portion is moveably assembled on the base portion, and the transverse portion is positioned upon the tongue portion for being pushed by the mating component.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with an ejector for easily ejecting a mating component without increasing a lateral width thereof 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Arts 
         [0004]    Normally, a USB connector and an electrical card connector are respectively provided in an electronic product. The USB connector is assembled on a printed circuit board, and receives a mating USB plug for transmitting signals between the mating USB plug and the printed circuit board. The electrical card connector is separately assembled on the printed circuit board, and receives an electrical card for transmitting signals between the electrical card and the printed circuit board. The USB connector and the card connector are separated on the printed circuit board, which takes individual spaces of the printed circuit board. An electrical connector compatible for a USB plug and an electrical card is developed nowadays. Such compatible electrical connector is assembled on the printed circuit board and saves space of the printed circuit board for other components. The compatible electrical connector usually comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing, a metal shell covering the insulative housing, and an ejector for ejecting the insertion card. Because electronic products usually need several I/O connectors, space in width may be more important. However, the ejector is usually assembled at a side of the insulative housing, which takes additional widthwise space of the connector. Furthermore, the electrical connector usually has a small size and the ejector has a small size too. Ejection force on the card is small and there is a sideward component of the force acting on the ejector. The ejector assembled at the side of the insulative housing thereof may not steadily and effectively eject the card. 
         [0005]    Hence, an electrical connector with an ejector for easily ejecting a mating component and also saving space in width is desired. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with an ejector for easily ejecting a mating component and also saving space in width. 
         [0007]    To achieve the above object, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing having a base portion and a tongue portion extending forwardly from the base portion along a mating direction, a number of contacts assembled in the insulative housing, and an ejector comprising a slider, a pin member, and at least one spring element for cooperatively ejecting a mating component. The slider has a rear lengthwise portion extending along the mating direction and a front transverse portion perpendicular to the mating direction. The lengthwise portion is moveably assembled on the base portion, and the transverse portion is positioned upon the tongue portion for being pushed by the mating component. 
         [0008]    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 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective, assembled view of an electrical connector constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is another perspective, assembled view of the electrical connector; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a perspective, fully exploded view of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a top plan view of the electrical connector with a top cover is removed away for clarity; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a front elevational view of the electrical connector. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0014]    Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0015]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , an electrical connector  100  in accordance with the present invention, used for receiving a mating component (not shown), comprises an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of contacts  2  retained in the insulative housing  1 , a metallic shell  3  covering the insulative housing  1 , and an ejector  4  assembled at a rear part of the insulative housing  1 . The mating component is either a mating plug (not shown) or an electrical card (not shown). The mating plug and the electrical card are inserted and mated with the contacts  2  through a same insertion port along a same direction, but the mating plug and the electrical card are separately inserted and prevented from being synchronously inserted. 
         [0016]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the insulative housing  1  comprises a base portion  11  and a tongue portion  12  extending forwardly from the base portion  11 . The tongue portion  12  defines a plurality of passageways  121  along the mating direction and a pair of slits  122  at two opposite sides of the passageways  121 . The slits  122  also extend along the mating direction as the passageways  121  but extend longer than the passageways  121 . The base portion  11  defines a groove  111  along the mating direction in the middle thereof and a pair of slots  112  at two opposite sides of the groove  111 . The slots  112  also extend along the mating direction as the groove  111  but extend shorter than the groove  111 . Taken along the mating direction, the base portion  11  defines an opening  113  at a rear part of the groove  111 . An upper face of the tongue portion  12  is lower than that of the base portion  11  and a lower face of the tongue portion  12  is coplanar with that of the base portion  11 , i.e. the tongue portion  12  has a thickness smaller than that of the base portion  11 . 
         [0017]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the contacts  2  are received in the passageways  121  of the insulative housing  1  and each contact  2  comprises a contacting portion  21  extending above the upper face of the tongue portion  12  for connecting with the mating component, and a tail portion  22  extending downwardly from the contacting portion  21  and below the lower face of the insulative housing  1  for connecting to a printed circuit board (not shown). The contacts  2  are flexible and the contacting portions  21  are movable along a vertical direction perpendicular to the mating direction. The lower face of the tongue portion  12  defines a plurality of cavities  123  communicating with the passageways  121  in the vertical direction for providing the downward movement of the contacting portions  21 . 
         [0018]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the ejector  4  comprises a slider  41 , a pin member  43  and two spring elements  42 . The slider  41  comprises a lengthwise portion  411  extending along the mating direction and a transverse portion  412  extending perpendicular to the mating direction. The lengthwise portion  411  defines a heart-shaped slot  4110  therein for guiding the pin member  43 . The transverse portion  412  forms a pair of protrusions  4120  downwardly therefrom. The lengthwise portion  411  is received in the groove  111  of the base portion  11  and the transverse portion  412  is positioned above the upper face of the tongue portion  12 . The protrusions  4120  are received in the slits  122  of the tongue portion  12 . As the slider  41  moves along the mating direction in response to insertion of the mating component, the protrusions  4120  move in the slits  122 . During the movement of the protrusions  4120  in the slits  122 , the transverse portion  412  moves across the contacting portions  21  due to elasticity of the contacting portions  21 . The spring elements  42  are received in the slots  112  with one end thereof contacting with the base portion  11  and the other one end thereof contacting with the transverse portion  412 , i.e., the spring elements  42  are compressed between the base portion  11  and the transverse portion  412  for providing elasticity. The pin member  43  has a first end (not labeled) retained in the opening  113  and a second end (not labeled) slideably moveable in the heart-shaped slot  4110 . The principle of the heart-shaped slot  4110  of the ejector  4  is well-known to persons skilled in the art, and it is not described herein in detail. The spring elements  42  and the protrusions  4120  are both numbered in two in the preferred embodiment, it is just for providing balanced force but it is not limiting. In other embodiment, only one spring element  42  and one protrusion  4120  achieves the ejection of the mating component if adjusting the positions of the spring member  42  and the protrusion  4120 . 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-4 , the metallic shell  3  comprises a top cover  31  and a bottom cover  32  respectively located above and below the insulative housing  1 . The top cover  31  has an elastic piece  311  elastically pressing down the pin member  43 , preventing the pin member  43  from jumping out of the heart-shaped slot  4110  of the slider  41 . The metallic shell  3  has a length commonly twice larger than that of the insulative housing  1  and accordingly, the mating component doesn&#39;t get to the insulative housing  1  until the mating component moves a rather distance along the mating direction. The top cover  31  and the bottom cover  32  of the metallic shell  3  cooperatively define a receiving space  38  for the mating component. An insertion port  37  is formed at the front of the receiving space  38 . 
         [0020]    When the mating component is inserted into the receiving space  38  and pushes the transverse portion  412  of the slider  41 , the slider  41  moves rearward and presses against the spring elements  42  such that the spring elements  42  have elasticity. The pin member  43  is positioned at an inner position, and signals are transmitted between the mating component and the contacts  2 . When a user pushes the mating component again, the pin member  43  moves away from the inner position and back to an outer position, elasticity of the spring elements  42  is released, and the mating component is ejected out of the electrical connector  100 . 
         [0021]    In the present invention, because the ejector  4  is assembled at a rear part of the insulative housing  1  taken along the mating direction, the ejector  4  takes inner room of the electronic product and saves spaces in width. The electrical connector  100  facilitates the electronic product for assembling more other I/O connectors. Furthermore, the mating component inserted in the electrical connector  100  is balancedly, easily ejected by the ejector  4 . 
         [0022]    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.