Abstract:
In a connector assembly for mounting on printed circuit boards and consisting of a receptacle connector (10) and a plug connector (20), the plug-side board mount (26) has a contact tab (26c), and the receptacle-side board mount (16) has a spring arm contact section (16c) that engages the contact tab (26c) of the plug-side board mount (26) when the connectors are mated. The spring arm contact section (16c) is disposed within a vertical through-cavity (12b) of the receptacle connector (10). When the connectors are mated, the spring arm contact section (16c) located in the through-cavity (12b) of the receptacle connector fits into the through-cavity (22b) of the plug connector where it engages with the contact tab (26c).

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to electrical connectors, specifically to electrical connectors that are mounted on printed circuit boards. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electrical connectors consisting of two halves mounted on nearly parallel printed circuit boards to be connected together, are known in the art. Following the general trend toward the reduction of electrical devices in size, such connectors intended for the mounting on printed circuit boards are also becoming smaller resulting in the necessity to increase strength of the mechanical connection of such connectors to boards. For this purpose, the board mounted connectors are secured to the boards by solder mounts set in side walls of the housing, for example, and surface mounted to the board surface such as in connectors according to Japanese Patent Disclosure Hei 7 (1995)-240246. Another method of securing the solder mounts to the connector consists in the embedding of grounding contacts in side walls of the housing such as in connectors according to Japanese Patent Disclosure Hei 7 (1995)-94241. 
     In order to enhance the freedom of designers of such small-size connectors intended for the mounting on board surface, it is desirable to provide an electrical connection between the solder mount of the plug connector and that of the receptacle connector for the purposes of grounding. That is, it is desirable to provide a possibility to ground connectors through solder mounts of either plug or receptacle connectors. 
     It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,405 for a matable connector pair to have housings with board mounts having contact sections disposed in cavities for grounding continuity, where one contact of a mating pair has a tab and the other has a spring arm contact section within its cavity to mate with the tab, with the mating tab adjacent a housing sidewall and the spring arm deflectable within its housing by the mating tab. 
     The purpose of this invention is to offer a board surface mounted connector allowing for the implementation of grounding either from the plug connector side or from the receptacle connector side by providing electrical connection between both solder mounts without compromising the small size of the connector. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The electrical connector according to this invention consists of two matching halves with the board mounts of a first half of the connector having contact tabs and the board mounts of the second half having spring arm contact sections that produce a contact with the contact tabs of the first half when the connector halves are joined together, and in one aspect it is characterized by the spring arm contact sections being arranged in such a manner that they can deflect inside through-cavities made in the vertical direction inside the housings of the matching half each of connector. 
     It is desirable to form support surfaces in open spaces provided for the spring arm contact sections. 
     It is also desirable to provide the spring arm contact sections with a guiding surface that would initiate deflection thereof to the contacting position upon mating of the complementary connectors. 
    
    
     An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIGS. 1 to 3 are plan, front and side views of the receptacle assembly of an embodiment of the electrical connector according to this invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a cross section of said receptacle assembly through lines 4--4 in FIG. 2. 
     FIGS. 5 to 7 are plan, front and side views of the plug assembly of an embodiment of the electrical connector according to this invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a cross section of said plug assembly through lines 8--8 in FIG. 6. 
     FIGS. 9 and 10 are partial oblique views of the receptacle and plug assemblies, respectively. 
     FIG. 11 is an oblique view of the solder mount having a spring arm contact section intended for the receptacle assembly. 
     FIG. 12 is an oblique view of the solder mount having a contact tab intended for the plug assembly. 
     FIGS. 13 and 14 are enlarged views of the spring arm contact section and contact tab before and after they engage each other when receptacle assembly and plug assembly are mated. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The specific configuration of a solder mount of the receptacle connector can be implemented as a bridge section, that fits in a groove made in the housing and supports the entire mount body, having mounting wings intended for soldering formed at the both ends of the bridge section, a spring arm contact section of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle of the bridge section, and a pair of press-in tongues formed between said spring arm contact section and the mounting wings. A specific configuration of the mount of the plug connector can be implemented as a bridge section, that fits in a groove made in the housing and supports the entire mount body, having mounting wings intended for soldering formed at the both ends of the bridge section, a contact tab of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle of the bridge section, and a pair of press-in tongues formed between the contact tab and the mounting wings. 
     In this electrical connector, the solder mount of the first half of the connector has contact tabs while the solder mount of the second half of the connector has spring arm contact sections that engage the contact tabs when the halves are joined together. Due to the fact that said spring arm contact sections fit into and can deflect inside vertical through-cavities made in the housing of the second half of the connector, the overall dimensions of the connector can be reduced, and since the grounding connection can be made through a solder mount of either the plug or the receptacle connector, the connectors can be designed with fewer limitations. 
     The inclined surface formed in the vertical through-cavity supports the spring arm contact section preventing plastic deformation. Due to the fact that the contact tab has a chamfered guiding surface that initiates deflection of the spring arm contact section at the time of joining the connectors to the contacting position, the transition of the contact tab and the spring arm contact section to the mutually connected state takes place very smoothly. 
     As it can be seen from FIGS. 1 through 4, a plurality of contacts 14 are arranged in the housing 10 of the receptacle connector assembly 10 (below, simply &#34;receptacle assembly&#34;), and two solder mounts 16,16 are secured in the retaining grooves 12a,12a formed in both ends of the housing 12. 
     FIG. 9 represents an enlarged view of the solder mount retaining groove 12a and the through-cavity 12b in which the solder mount 16 is secured, formed in the end of the housing 12 of the receptacle assembly 10. The solder mount 16 is inserted and secured in the solder mount retaining groove 12a and the through-cavity 12b as it will be explained in more detail below. 
     As it can be seen from FIGS. 5 through 8, a plurality of contacts 24 are arranged in the housing 22 of the plug connector assembly 20 (below, simply &#34;plug assembly&#34;), and two solder mounts 26,26 are secured in the retaining grooves 22a,22a formed in both ends of the housing 22. 
     FIG. 10 represents an enlarged view of the solder mount retaining groove 22a and the through-cavity 22b in which the solder mount 16 is secured, formed in the end of the housing 22 of the plug assembly 20. The solder mount 26 is inserted and secured in the solder mount retaining groove 22a and the through-cavity 22b as it will be explained in more detail below. 
     FIG. 11 is an enlarged view depicting a solder mount 16 of the receptacle connector and FIG. 12 is an enlarged view depicting a solder mount 26 of the plug connector. FIGS. 13 and 14 represent an enlarged view of mutual position of the solder mount 16 of the receptacle connector and the solder mount 26 of the plug connector when the receptacle assembly 10 and plug assembly 20 are joined together. 
     As it can be seen from FIG. 11, the receptacle-side solder mount 16 consists of a bridge 16a that fits in the groove 12a of the housing 12, mounting wings 16b, 16b provided for soldering to the board at both ends of the bridge, a spring arm contact section 16c of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle of bridge 16a, and a pair of press-in tongues 16d,16d formed between said spring arm contact section 16c and mounting wings 16b,16b. The plug-side solder mount 26 consists of a bridge 26a that fits in the groove 22a of the housing 22, mounting wings 26b,26b provided for soldering to the board at both ends of the bridge, a contact tab 26c of U-shaped cross section formed at the middle of bridge 26a, and a pair of press-in tongues 26d,26d formed between contact tab 26c and mounting wings 26b,26b. 
     The press-in tongues 16d,16d of the receptacle-side solder mount 16 shown in FIG. 11 are inserted and pressed in the groove 12a of the housing 12 shown in FIG. 9; at that time, the spring arm contact section 16c fits in through-cavity 12b of housing 12 where it can be deflected. 
     The press-in tongues 26d,26d of the plug-side solder mount 26 shown in FIG. 12 are inserted and pressed in the groove 22a of the housing 22 shown in FIG. 10; at that time, contact tab 26c fits in through-cavity 22b of the housing 22. 
     When the housings 12 and 22 are joined together as shown in FIG. 13, the spring arm contact section 16c of the receptacle-side solder mount 16 comes in contact with the contact tab 26c of the plug-side solder mount 26 and it is deflected inside as shown in FIG. 14; when the state of full contact with the contact tab 26c of the plug-side solder mount 26 is achieved, it is inserted in through-cavity 22b of the housing 22 of the plug-side assembly. Since the spring arm contact section 16c of the receptacle-side solder mount 16 is located inside through-cavity 12b of receptacle-side housing 12 (after connector mating is completed, it is located also inside the through-cavity 22b of the housing 22 of the plug-side assembly), the overall height of the connector can be made smaller. Due to the fact that both solder mounts 16 and 26 are in contact with each other, the grounding connection to the circuit board can be made by the solder mount of either plug-side or receptacle-side connector, thus providing for a greater freedom in the designing process. 
     In addition, the purpose of the inclined surface 12c formed in through-cavity 12b, against which the spring arm contact section 16c bears, is to support section 16c and prevent plastic deformation thereof resulting from repetitive connections and disconnections of the connector. Due to the fact that the spring arm contact section 16c has a guiding surface 26c&#39; that directs the contact tab 26c at the time of joining the connector halves to the contacting position, the transition of the spring arm contact section 16c and the contact tab 26c to the mutually connected state takes place very smoothly. 
     The embodiment explained above is only one example of the ideas that form the basis of the design of the electrical connector according to this invention. For example, the receptacle-side solder mount 16c and the plug-side solder mount 26c can be interchanged with each other. Configurations of connector housing, solder mounts, etc. also can be modified if such modifications do not affect the substance of the invention.