Abstract:
A card connector comprises an insulating housing; a plurality of contacts retained in the insulating housing; a shielding provided with one end along a card inserting direction coupled on the housing, and defining a card receiving space together with the insulating housing with a card inserting opening at the other end of the shielding, the shielding having a pair of opposite side edges, one of the side edges being in substantially linear configuration and the other of the side edges being in a step configuration so that the width of the card inserting opening is wider than that of the insulating housing; and an ejector assembled on the shield for ejecting the card.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention is generally related to card connectors, and more particularly, to a card connector with an ejector.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     Most notebooks are provided with PC card connectors for accommodating PC cards as storage mediums. For adapting to developments of the communication technology and electronical technology, the industry standard of the PC card need to update ceaselessly. According to the newest industry standard (Expresscard PC Card Standard), express cards which have more quicker speed than conventional PC cards at data transmission are achieved. Thus, express card connectors are also achieved for receiving express cards. The express card has two types in configuration, one is rectangle and another is L-shaped.  
         [0005]     TaiWan Patent Application No. 092220363 discloses a card connector without an ejector. The card connector can receive two types express card. When drawn the card out of the card connector, it is done by hand directly However, when the express card is fully inserted into a card receiving space of the card connector, the card connector almost encloses the express card. Thus, when we want to draw the card out of the card connector by hand directly, it is inconvenient to do, especially when the card connector is assemble on electronic devices.  
         [0006]     Hence, an imporved card connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provided a card connector which has an ejector.  
         [0008]     To achieve the above objects, a card connector comprises an insulating housing; a plurality of contacts retained in the insulating housing; a shielding provided with one end along a card inserting direction coupled on the housing, and defining a card receiving space together with the insulating housing with a card inserting opening at the other end of the shielding, the shielding having a pair of opposite side edges, one of the side edges being in substantially linear configuration and the other of the side edges being in a step configuration so that the width of the card inserting opening is wider than that of the insulating housing; and an ejector assembled on the shield for ejecting the card.  
         [0009]     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  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a card connector in accordance with the present invention and a printed circuit board to which the card connector is to be mounted;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the electrical card connector shown in  FIG. 1  with a shielding being apart from a housing;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the card connector shown in  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the card connector shown in  FIG. 1 , but from another aspect;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the card connector shown in  FIG. 1 , but only showing the shield and an ejector; and  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is an exploded perspective view of the ejector shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]     Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a card connector  1  in accordance with the present invention is approximately L-shaped. The card connector  1  comprises an elongated insulating housing  10  with a plurality of contacts  20  being received in, a pair of soldering pieces  30  disposed in opposite sides of the insulating housing  10 , a L-shaped shielding  50  covered the housing  10 , a guide element  60 , a pair of stand off devices  70  and an ejector  40  disposed on the shielding  50 .  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the elongated insulating housing  10  has a base  11 , a pair of guiding arms  12  extending backwardly from opposite sides of the base  11  and a mating portion  14  extending from a lower part of the base  11  and disposed between the two guiding arms  12 . Each guiding arm  12  defines a slot  120  extending downwardly from an upper surface thereof and a plurality of latch holes  122  besides the slot  120 . The contacts  20  are received in a plurality of parallel channels  142  formed in the mating portion  14 . Each contact  20  comprises a contact portion  22  for electrically connecting with cards, a tail portion  24  for electrically connecting with a printed circuit board and a fixing portion (not shown) connected the contact portion  22  and the tail portion  24 . The soldering pieces  30  are inserted into the slots  120  of the guiding arms  12 , respectively.  
         [0019]     Referring to FIGS.  2  to  5 , the shielding  50  coupled on the housing  10  is formed and stamped a metallic sheet. The shielding  50  has a main body  51  in L-shaped and a plurality of side edges extending downwardly from edges of the main body  51  to form a card receiving space  58  for accommodating cards cooperating with the main body  51 , that is to say, length of one part of the shield adjacent to the housing being longer than that of another part thereof adjacent to the card inserting opening along a transverse direction. These side edges comprise a front wall  52  extending downwardly from a front edge of the main body  51 , a first and a second side edges  53 ,  54  at opposite sides of the front wall  52 , a third side edge  55  disposed in the same side with the first side edge  53 , a fourth side edge  56  disposed in the same side with the second side edge  54  and a longitudinal side edge  57 . The first and the second side edges  53 ,  54  are respectively adjacent to opposite ends of the front wall  52 , the third and the fourth side edges  55 ,  56  are respectively parallel to the first and the second side edges  53 ,  54 , and the longitudinal side edge  57  is disposed between the second side edges  54  and the fourth side edge  56 .  
         [0020]     When the shielding  50  is assembled on the insulating housing  10 , the main body  51  covers an upper surface of the insulating housing  10 , the front side edge  52  shields the front face of the insulating housing  10  and defines a gap  522  to engage with a block  15  formed on the insulating housing  10 . The first and the second side edges  53 ,  54  respectively cover the side faces of the guiding arm  12 . The first side edge  53  is formed with a plurality of latches  542  extending into corresponding latch holes  122  to fix the shielding  50  to the insulating housing  10  and defines a cut  530  for the ejector  40  to pass through. The second side edge  54  has a same configuration with the first side edge  53 , it has a cut  442  and a plurality of latches  542 .  
         [0021]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the third and the fourth side edge  55 ,  56  are formed with horizontal plates  551 ,  561  extending inwardly to the card receiving space  58  from hemlines thereof, respectively. Guide grooves  552 ,  562  are defined between the horizontal plates  551 ,  561  and the main body  51  for guiding and holding the insertion/ejection of the card. The horizontal plates  551 ,  561  are formed with a plurality of extrusive slices  553 ,  563  along an card inserting direction for positioning the card in an up and down sides. The longitudinal side edge  57  is bended backwardly from a hemline thereof to form a receive portion  571  (shown in  FIG. 3 ) with a spring arm  570  extending therein for holding the guide element  60 .  
         [0022]     Referring to FIGS.  2  to  4 , the guider element  60  is approximately in a triangle shape. The guider element  60  has a board  61  and a L-shaped perpendicular wall  62  extending forwardly and upwardly from a front end of the board  61 . The board  61  is received in the receive portion  571  of the longitudinal side edge  57  and abuts against the fourth side edge  56 , the perpendicular wall  62  abuts against the second side edge  54  and the longitudinal wall  57  of the shielding plate  50  with a projection  63  and a depressed portion  64  on an out surface thereof to engage with a fixing hole  543  of the second side edge  54  and a spring arm  570  of the longitudinal side edge  57 , respectively. The perpendicular wall  62  is defined a guide channel  65  towards the card receiving space  58  for guiding the card inserting into or ejecting out of the card connector  1 .  
         [0023]     The stand off devices  70  have flakes  71  assembled on the side edges of the shielding  50  and engaging portions  72  soldered to a grounding pad of the printed board circuit. Further more the stand off device  70  in the same side with the ejector  70  is provided with a holding portion  73  (shown in  FIG. 5 ).  
         [0024]     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the ejector  40  comprises a slider  42  defining a heart groove  420 , a push rod  43  slidly assembled on the slider  42 , a resilient member such as a spring  41 , a link pin  44  and an ejecting rod  45 . The slider  42  is disposed on the third side edge  55  by locking between a pair of locking portions  555  arranged along a card insertion direction in the shielding plate  50 . One end the spring  73  is fasten to the holding portion  73  of the stand off  70  and the other clasps the push rod  43  to drive the push rod  43  to slider toward an original position thereof. One end of the link pin  44  is locked in a hole  431  of the push rod  43  and another end is received and can slider in the heart groove  420  of the slider  42 . The ejecting rod  45  is located between the insulating housing  10  and the shielding  40  by passing through the cuts  530 ,  540  of the shielding  50  and one end thereof is movably received in a limit hole  430  of the push rod  43 . Because the ejector  40  is disposed on the side edge  55  of the shielding  50  in virtue of opposite ends of the slider  42  locked between the locking portions  555  arranged along a card insertion direction, thus the ejector  40  is uploaded easily from the side edge  55  in virtue of the slider  42  uploaded from the side edge  55  along a vertical direction perpendicular to the card insertion direction.  
         [0025]     The ejector  40  is a push-push type, during inserting the electrical card into the electrical card connector, a front end of the card push ejecting plates  451  (shown in  FIG. 5 ) of the ejecting rod  45  to make the ejecting rod  45  move forward, so that the push rod  43  is also brought to move forward by the ejecting rod  45  and the link pin  44  slides in the heart groove  420 . In this state, the spring  41  is stretched until the link pin  44  into a lock position of the heart groove  420 , whereby the electrical card is fully inserted into the electrical card connector and electrical connects with the contacts  20 . If go on push the electrical card forwardly, the link pin  44  is released from the lock position, then the push rod  43  move rearward driven by the resilience force of the spring  41  to then bring the ejecting rod  45  to eject the card out of the electrical card connector.  
         [0026]     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.