Patent Publication Number: US-6702598-B1

Title: Memory card connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to connectors and more particularly to a memory card connector with improved characteristics. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Conventionally, a memory card connector comprises an elongated body, a lengthwise, central slot on the body for receiving pins of a memory card, and two end shoulders each having a fastening mechanism for pivotably fastening the ends of the memory card. Following is a description of a number of conventional memory card connectors: For example, Taiwanese Patent Published No. 362,827 discloses, in its FIG. 9, showing a conventional memory card connector having closed end shoulders for fastening the memory card fitted in the slot. However, the memory card tends to loosen widthwise after a short period of time of use due to its closed end shoulders, even there are two locks provided at the shoulders they still cannot reliably fasten the memory card therein. Although Taiwan Patent Published No. 362,827, in order to improve the fastening mechanism for pivotably fixing both ends of the memory card by providing a non-closed end shoulders, however, a gap in the shoulders is wider than a thickness of the memory card received therein. As a result, the memory card also tends to loosen widthwise, an electrical connection between the memory card and the connector may fail. Moreover, Taiwanese Patent Published No. 366,144 discloses a similar locking mechanism in either end of the body for pivotably fastening the memory card fitted in the slot. However, it only provides a lengthwise fastening to the memory card. Hence, the memory card also tends to loosen widthwise after a short period of time of use. Additionally, an enhancement of the widthwise fastening to the memory card may degrade the lengthwise fastening thereof. As a result, an electrical connection between the memory card and the connector may also fail. Thus, the need for improvement still exists. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector for fastening a rectangular memory card including a plurality of pins at a lower side and a recess at either side. The connector comprises an elongated body including a lengthwise, central slot, two bases spaced apart by the slot, a plurality of conductive apertures on either base, and two shoulders at ends of the body, each shoulder including two arms facing the slot, a groove between the arms, two L-shaped flexible walls on a back of the groove, a slit between the walls, two wells spaced apart by the walls, two indentations adjacent the wells, a hole recessed into either indentation, and a cavity; and two fastening mechanisms each including a top trigger member, an upper inward protrusion, a latched piece at either side below the protrusion, a lower inward projection, and two cylindrical pivot bars below the latched piece, the pivot bars being fitted into the holes for pivotably connecting the fastening mechanisms in the cavity; wherein in fastening align the pins of the memory card with the slot prior to insertion, the insertion will be stopped once the memory card contacts the projections, and pivot the fastening mechanisms inward until the protrusions are snapped into the recesses and the latched pieces are urged against the walls respectively, thereby further inserting the pins into the slot, fastening the memory card widthwise and lengthwise, and electrically connecting the pins to the conductive apertures. 
     In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a slit between two walls becoming narrow responsive to the walls being urged toward each other by a compression of the latched pieces to further provide the lengthwise and widthwise fastening for the memory card and the connector. 
     In another aspect of the present invention there is further provided two abutment members each between the latched piece and the pivot bar, the abutment members being urged against rear corners of the indentations for firmly holding thereto. 
    
    
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of memory card connector according to the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3A is an exploded perspective view where a body of the connector and a fastening mechanism have not been fastened together; 
     FIG. 3B is a view similar to FIG. 3A where the body of the connector and the fastening mechanism have been fastened together; 
     FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view where the memory card has not fitted in a slot of the connector; 
     FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along line A—A of FIG. 4A; 
     FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view where the memory card has fitted in the slot of the connector but not fastened; 
     FIG. 5A is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line B—B of FIG. 5A; 
     FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view where the memory card has fitted in a slot of the connector and fastened; 
     FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6; and 
     FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line C—C of FIG.  6 A. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1,  2 ,  3 A, and  3 B, there is shown a memory card connector constructed in accordance with the invention. The connector comprises an elongated body  1 , a lengthwise, central slot  11  on the body  1  for receiving pins  31  of a memory card  3 , two bases  12  spaced apart by the slot  11 , a plurality of conductive apertures  121  on either base  12 , two shoulders  14  at ends of the body  1 , each shoulder  14  including two arms  140  facing the slot  11 , a groove  143  between the arms  140 , two L-shaped flexible walls  141  on the back of the groove  143 , a slit  144  between the walls  141 , two wells  145  spaced apart by the walls  141 , two indentations  146  adjacent the outer side of the wells  145 , a hole  147  recessed into either indentation  146  but not exposed to the outside, and a cavity  142 , and two fastening mechanisms  2  each including a top trigger member  20 , an upper protrusion  24  projected inward, a latched piece  21  having a rounded head at either side below the protrusion  24 , two abutment members  23  below the latched pieces  21 , two cylindrical pivot bars  22  below the abutment members  23 , and a lower projection  25  projected inward. 
     Referring to FIGS. 4,  4 A,  4 B,  5 ,  5 A,  5 B,  6 ,  6 A, and  6 B, an assembly and fastening operation of the invention will now be described in detail below. First, insert the fastening mechanisms  2  into the cavity  142  until the fastening mechanisms  2  are stopped by the bottom of the cavity  142  and the cylindrical pivot bars  22  are fitted into the holes  147 . As a result, the fastening mechanisms  2  are pivotal about the shoulders  14 . Second, align the memory card  3  with the slot  11  and the groove  143  prior to insertion. The insertion will be stopped once the memory card  3  contacts the projections  25 . Next, pivot the fastening mechanisms  2  inward by pushing the trigger members  20  inward until the protrusions  24  are snapped into side recesses  32  of the memory card  3 , the abutment members  23  are urged against corners of the indentations  146  for firmly holding thereto (see FIG.  3 B), and the latched pieces  21  are urged against the rear comer of the walls  141  respectively (as shown in FIGS. 3B,  6 A and  6 B). Note that the pins  31  of the memory card  3  are further inserted into the slot  11  during the process of snapping the protrusions  24  into the recesses  32 . Also, as seen from FIG. 6B the slit  144  becomes narrow because the walls  141  are urged toward each other by the compression of the latched pieces  21 . Thus, the memory card  3  is prevented from loosening widthwise and lengthwise. At this position, the pins  31  are electrically connected to the conductive apertures  121 . Most importantly, the electrical connection is secure because the memory card  3  is fastened widthwise and lengthwise by the fastening mechanisms  2  in accordance with the invention. 
     While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.