Patent Publication Number: US-8109796-B2

Title: Electrical connector with elastic lead sections

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 with elastic lead sections to smoothly guide an insertion of a mating electrical connector. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,068 issued to Jerry Wu on Apr. 6, 2004 discloses a conventional electrical connector. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of contacts respectively retained in the insulative housing. The insulative housing defines a longitudinal slot inserted by a mating electrical connector and a plurality of passageways arranged at one side of the slot and communicating with the slot to receive said contacts. The passageways run through a front face of the insulative housing and each has a pre-loading portion integrally formed with the insulative housing so that the passageways are of hole shaped at the front face. Each contact defines a contacting portion protruding into the slot and a front free end slantwise resisting on the pre-loading portion to facility of the insertion of the mating electrical connector. The per-loading portion will occupy a height of the whole electrical connector. 
     In view of the above, a new electrical connector that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages is desired. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector with elastic lead sections to smoothly guide an insertion of a mating electrical connector. 
     To fulfill the above-mentioned object, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing and a pair of contacts. The insulative housing defines a mating face, a rear face opposite to the mating face, and a receiving cavity between and running through the mating face and the rear face. The contacts are retained in two opposite sides of the receiving cavity and each defining a contacting portion, a retaining portion extending backward from the contacting portion and at least a terminal portion extending from the contacting portion. A pair of elastic pieces integrally extend backward from the mating face of the insulative housing to the receiving cavity and free ends of the contacting portions resist on the elastic piece. The elastic pieces shift away from the receiving cavity under a condition that a mating electrical connector is inserted in the receiving cavity and press against the elastic pieces. The contacts are wider than the elastic pieces. 
     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 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an electrical connector of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a top and front, exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom and rear, exploded view of the electrical connector of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view of the electrical connector taken along  4 - 4  in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present invention in detail. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an electrical connector  100  includes an insulative housing  1  and a plurality of contacts  2  assembled in the insulative housing  1 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2-3 , the insulative housing  1  is configured with a rectangle manner. The insulative housing  1  defines a mating face  10 , a rear face  11  opposite to the mating face  10 , and a top wall  12  and a bottom wall  13  bridging the mating face  10  and the rear face  11 . Said faces  10 ,  11 ,  12 ,  13  jointly define a plurality of receiving rooms  14  divided by a plurality of partition grooves  15 . The partition grooves  15  extend backward from the mating face  10  and run through the top wall  12  and the bottom wall  13 . The receiving rooms  14  run through the mating face  10  and form a plurality of inserting opening  143  through which a plurality of mating electrical connectors (not shown) are inserted into the receiving rooms  14 . The receiving rooms  14  include signal receiving cavities  141  and power receiving cavities  142 . As shown in this embodiment, the electrical connector  100  includes one signal receiving cavity  141  and four power receiving cavities  142 . Each power receiving cavity  142  defines a pair of elastic pieces  16  respectively extending from a front edge of the top wall  12  and the bottom wall  13 . The two elastic pieces  16  extend backward from the middle of the mating face  10  to the power receiving cavity  142  and reach a point closest to each other to lead the mating electrical to be inserted into power receiving cavities  142 . A front end  161  of the elastic piece  16  integrally extends from the housing  1 , and a free rear end  162  slants into the receiving cavity  142  and is movable in an up-to-down direction so that the elastic piece  16  can be pressed not to occupy the height of the power receiving cavity  142  and the mating electrical connector can be inserted into the housing  1  smoothly. The free rear end  162  of the elastic piece  16  are projecting into the power receiving cavity  142  further compared with the front end  161  of each elastic piece  16 . 
     The contacts  2  are inserted into the housing  1  in a rear-to-front direction and include signal terminals  21  and power terminals  22 . The signal terminals  21  are arranged in two rows in the up-to-down direction. The two rows of signal contacts  21  are respectively retained to inner faces of the top wall  12  and the bottom wall  13  of the signal receiving cavity  141 . The power terminals  22  are also arranged in two rows in the up-to-down direction. The two rows of power contacts  22  are also respectively retained to inner faces of the top wall  12  and the bottom wall  13  of the power receiving cavity  142 . Several signal contacts  21  in two rows are retained in one signal receiving cavity  141 . Each power receiving cavity receives a pair of power contacts  22  retained to the top wall  12  and the bottom wall  13 . 
     Each power contact  22  is configured with a plate manner and defines a contacting portion  221 , a retaining portion  223  extending levelly from the contacting portion  221  and a plurality of terminal portions  224  extending from the retaining portion  223  for soldering. The terminal portions  224  of two power contacts  22  in a power receiving cavity  142  are in two rows in a front-to-rear direction and the terminal portions  224  are perpendicular with the contacting portions  221 . The contacting portion  221  is configured with arc-shaped and movable in the up-to-down direction. Referring to  FIG. 4 , a free end  222  of the contacting portion  221  resists on an inner side of the rear end  162  of the elastic piece  16  close to the corresponding inner wall of the receiving cavity  142 . The contacts  2  are wider than the elastic pieces  16 . When the mating electrical connector is inserted into the power receiving cavity  142 , the mating electrical connector press against the elastic pieces  16 , and the elastic pieces  16  shift away from the power receiving cavity  142  and drive the free ends  222  of the contacting portions  221  close to the corresponding inner walls of the power receiving cavity  142 . 
     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.