Patent Publication Number: US-7717755-B2

Title: Electrical connector with improved contacts

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 having improved contacts for guiding a mating connector. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Taiwan Patent Issued Number M298826 discloses an electrical connector including an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts retained in the housing. The housing defines a receiving cavity running through a front face thereof for receiving a mating connector therein and a plurality of receiving grooves disposed at two sidewalls thereof. The receiving grooves are disposed at two sides of the receiving cavity and communicate with the receiving cavity. The contacts include a plurality of first contacts and a pair of switching contacts. Each of the first contacts defines a retaining portion and a resilient arm extending therefrom, and a contacting portion is defined at a free end of the resilient arm by projecting into the receiving cavity for contacting with the mating connector. 
   However, the mating connector may scrape a front edge of the contacting portions when the mating connector is inserted into the receiving cavity. Moreover, the contacts will be crushed if the inserting force of the mating connector is big, which will make the electrical connector be destroyed. Therefore, a new design to solve the problem is required. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with contacts having guiding portions for guiding a mating connector. 
   In order to achieve above-mentioned objects, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing and at least one contact received and retained in the housing. The housing defines a mating face, a receiving cavity running through the mating face for receiving a mating connector and at least one groove disposed at a sidewall of the receiving cavity and communicating with the receiving cavity. The at least one contact defines a retaining portion retained in the at least one groove, a contacting portion bending into the cavity and at least one guiding portion extending from the contacting portion along a mating direction for guiding the mating connector to enter into the receiving cavity, and a free edge of the at least one guiding portion extends into the corresponding at least one groove. 
   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 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is another exploded perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the electrical connector mating with a mating connector. 
       FIG. 6  is a front cross-sectional view of  FIG. 1  taken along line  6 - 6 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the preferred embodiment of the present invention in detail. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , an electrical connector  100 , preferably an audio jack, includes an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of electrical contacts  2 ,  3  received in the housing  1 , a retaining member  4  and a clip member  5 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , the housing  1  of a rectangular configuration defines a front/mating face  10  and a bottom face or mounting face  11  perpendicular to the front face and a pair of sidewalls  13  perpendicular to the front face and bottom face. A columnar receiving cavity  101  runs through the front face  10  and is surrounded by the sidewalls  13  and the bottom and top faces. A plurality of terminal grooves  131 ,  132  disposed in opposite sidewalls  13  are defined communicating with the receiving cavity  101  and an exterior through the bottom face  11 . The housing further defines a slot  111  recessed from the bottom face  11  and communicating with the receiving cavity  101 . 
   Three first terminals  2  of similar configuration are arranged in one of the sidewall  13 . Each of the terminal includes a retaining portion  21  with bars at lateral sides thereof, a soldering portion  20  extending to the bottom face  11  from the retaining portion  21  and bending outwards, and a resilient arm  22  extending upwards and then bending downwards. A contacting portion  23  is defined at a free end of the resilient arm  22  by bending towards the cavity  101 , with a protruding contacting point  231  thereof and a guiding portion  24  extending forwards from a front edge of the contacting portion  23 . The contacting point  231  is partly disposed at the guiding portion  24  in this embodiment. Alternatively, the contacting point  231  may be completely set on the guiding portion  24  or apart from the guiding portion  24 . The three terminals are received in the corresponding grooves  131  from the mounting face  11 . The guiding portions  24  protrude into the cavity  101  with the free edge  241  adjacent to the front face  10  extending into the terminal grooves  131 . 
   A second terminal  31  are same to the first terminal  2  and received and retained in a groove  132  in the front end of another sidewall  13 . The second terminal  31  also defines a guiding portion  314  extending forwards from a front edge of the contacting portion  313 . The third terminal  32  includes a retaining portion  321  with bars thereon, a resilient arm  322  extending forward from a front edge of the retaining portion  321  and a soldering portion  320  bending outward from a bottom edge of the retaining portion  321 . A contacting portion  323 , which bends toward the bottom face  11  from a top edge of the resilient arm  22 , is provided at a free end of the resilient arm  322  with a contacting point  324  thereon. The second terminal  31  and the third terminal  32  are received in corresponding grooves  132  defined at the sidewall  13  from the mounting face  11 , and form a detecting pair  3 . A free edge  316  of the guiding portion  314  extends into the terminal grooves  132 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4 , the retaining member  4  includes a retaining portion  41  with barbs  411  received and interfered with a slot  14  behind the grooves  132 , and a soldering portion  42  to be connected with a PCB as the soldering portions of the terminals. 
   The clip member  5  is of substantial arc-shape, and includes a connecting portion  51  substantially parallel to the bottom face  11  of the housing  1 , a pair of resilient arm  52  bending from two opposite ends of the connecting portion  51 , and a pair of clamping portions  53  each extending from the end portion apart from the connecting potion  51  of the resilient arm  52 . The clip member  5  is received and retained to the housing  1  by the clamping portions  53  engaging with the slot  111 , and the connecting portion  51  is positioned at an opening of the slot  111  at the bottom face  11  of the housing  1  and the resilient arms  52  project into the receiving cavity  101  for clipping a mating connector  200  (shown in  FIG. 5 ). 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 5 , when the electrical connector  100  is mating with the mating connector  200 , the guiding portions  24 ,  314  may guide the mating connector  200  to enter into the receiving cavity  101  smoothly. Then, the contacting portions  23 ,  313  may separately connect with the mating connector  200  by the contacting points  231 ,  315 . When the mating connector  200  is completely inserted into the receiving cavity  101 , the free end of the mating connector  200  will enter into the clip member  5  and be clipped between the pair of resilient arms  52  steadily. 
   The improved contacts having guiding portions  24 ,  314  may guide the mating connector  200  entering into the receiving cavity  101  smoothly. Moreover, the free edges  241 ,  316  of the guiding portions  24 ,  314  further enter into the corresponding grooves  131 ,  132  may prevent the front edges  241 ,  316  from being scraped to cause the contacts be destroyed easily. The contacting points  23 , partly disposed on the guiding portions not only can contact with the mating connector  200 , but also have a guiding function for guiding the mating connector  200 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 6 , it is noted that in the first terminal  2 , the resilient arm  22  essentially includes a first section  221  located outside of the receiving cavity  101  and parallel to the retaining portion  21 , a second section  222  extending from the first section  221  into the receiving cavity  101  and angled to the first section  221 . The contacting portion  23 , which is linked to the end (not labeled) of the second section  222 , extends essentially along an axial direction and is fully located in the receiving cavity  101  and angled to both said first section  221  and the second section  222  while roughly compliant with a corresponding arc section  1011  of the receiving cavity  101  (shown in the dashed line in  FIG. 6 ) in the radial direction. The three segmental type arrangement of the resilient arm  22  (including the first section  221  and the second section  222 ) and the contacting portion  23 , allows the contacting portion  23  and the corresponding guiding portion  24  to be more compliant with the plug inserted into the receiving cavity  101 . Thus, deflection of the resilient arm  22  corresponding to insertion of the plug is smoother, advantageously. 
   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.