Patent Publication Number: US-6705885-B1

Title: Cable end connector assembly having pull mechanism

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This patent application is related to contemporaneously filed applications having the same applicant, the same assignee and the same title with the invention. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and particularly to a cable end connector assembly having a pull mechanism to facilitate disengaging the cable end connector assembly from a mating complementary connector. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     There exists in the art a cable end connector assembly matable with an electrical connector mounted on a printed circuit board for transmitting signals therebetween. To facilitate removing the cable end connector assembly from connection with the complementary connector, pull mechanisms have been used. Such pull mechanisms generally permit applying a withdrawing force to the cable end connector assembly without directly pulling a cable of the cable end connector assembly. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,361 (the &#39;361 patent) discloses one type of pull mechanism. In conjunction with FIG. 3 of the &#39;361 patent, a cable end connector assembly  1  has a pull tab  50  partially inserted in a connector body  9  of the assembly  1  between two rows of contacts  7  of the assembly  1  for user pinching and pulling when the assembly  1  is to be disengaged from a complementary connector. However, to comply with miniaturization trends in the electronic field, the cable end connector assembly is required to be manufactured much smaller than before, and the contacts of the assembly are arranged much closer than before. Therefore, there will be no enough room inside the connector body  9  to accommodate the pull tab  50 . 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,353 (the &#39;353 patent) discloses another type of pull mechanism. In conjunction with FIG. 1 of the &#39;353 patent, a cable end connector assembly  1  has a pull mechanism  7  assembled outside of an elongated housing  30  thereof. The housing  30  is formed with a pair of locking structure at opposite ends thereof. The pull mechanism  7  comprises an arch pull leash  70  and a pair of locking tabs  72  engageable with the pull leash  70  and the locking structure of the housing  30 . Thus, the assembly  1  can be disengaged from a complementary connector readily by pulling the pull leash  70 . Whereas, such pull mechanism and locking structure are not adapted for a miniature cable end connector assembly, because the sizes of the pull mechanism and the locking structure are required to be much smaller to correspond to the miniature connector assembly, which will make the configurations of the pull mechanism and the locking structure become quite complicated comparing with they being in original sizes. Therefore, a mass of trouble will be encountered in manufacturing and assembling the pull mechanism and the locking structure. 
     Hence, an improved cable end connector assembly is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A major object of the present invention is to provide a cable end connector assembly with a pull mechanism facilitating manufacturing and assembling thereof. 
     In order to achieve the object set forth, a cable end connector assembly comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts, a plurality of wires, a shell and a pull mechanism. The insulative housing comprises a plurality of passageways. The contacts are received in the passageways of the insulative housing. The wires are electrically connected with the contacts. The shell is assembled to the insulative housing. The pull mechanism comprises a mounting member assembled to the shell and defining a slit, a pull tab having a pull portion extending through the slit of the mounting member and a receiving portion, and a retaining member received in the receiving portion of the pull tab and being abuttable against the mounting member. 
    
    
     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 a cable end connector assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cable end connector assembly of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a pull mechanism of the cable end connector assembly of FIG. 2 from a different aspect; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a side view of the cable end connector assembly of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the cable end connector assembly of FIG. 1, wherein a plurality of wires of the cable end connector assembly are not shown. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1,  2 ,  4  and  6 , a cable end connector assembly  1  in accordance with the present invention comprises an elongated insulative housing  10 , a plurality of contacts  20 , a plurality of wires  30 , a first and a second shells  40 ,  50 , and a pull mechanism  60 . 
     Referring to FIG. 2, the housing  10  includes two end walls  121 , a front and a rear walls  151 ,  152  (see FIG. 4) connecting to the end walls  121 , and a bottom wall  16  (see FIG. 6) connecting to the end, the front, and the rear walls  121 ,  151 ,  152 . The housing  10  defines a plurality of passageways  11  therein and a plurality of apertures  14  (see FIG. 6) communicating with corresponding passageways  11  in the bottom wall  16  for receiving contacts of a complementary connector (not shown). Each end wall  121  comprises a groove  13  at a front end thereof, a first step portion  131  (see FIG. 5) formed thereon, a second step portion  12  at rear end thereof and a slot  122  between the first step portion  131  and the second step portion  12 . 
     Each contact  20  includes a contacting portion  22  (see FIG. 4) received in corresponding passageway  11  of the housing  10  and a tail portion  21  extending from the contacting portion  22 . 
     Each wire  30  includes a conductor  31  electrically connected with the tail portion  21  of each contact  20  and an insulator  32  enclosing the conductor  31 . 
     The first and the second shells  40 ,  50  have a similar configuration. Each shell  40  ( 50 ) includes an elongated right-angle main portion  43  ( 53 ) and an abutting portion  44  ( 54 ) extending downwardly from the main portion  43  ( 53 ). Each main portion  43  ( 53 ) includes a horizontal portion  431  ( 531 ) (see FIG. 4) and a vertical portion  432  ( 532 ) (see FIG. 4) perpendicular to the horizontal portion  431  ( 531 ). The main portion  43  of the first shell  40  further comprises two wedge-shaped projections  41  projecting forwardly from the vertical portion  432  thereof and a pair of first engaging portions  42  extending rearwardly from opposite lower ends of the vertical portion  432 . The main portion  53  of the second shell  50  comprises a pair of second engaging portion  51  extending downwardly from opposite ends of the horizontal portion  531  thereof. Each first engaging portion  42  is formed with a first tab  421  extending sidewardly at distal end thereof. Each second engaging portion  52  includes a front section  521  and a rear section  51 . The front section  521  is formed with a wedge-shaped protrusion  522  projecting therefrom. The rear section  51  comprises a second tab  511  extending sidewardly at distal end thereof. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the pull mechanism  60  includes a mounting member  61 , a pull tab  62  and a retaining member  63 . The mounting member  61  is stamped from a metallic sheet and includes a main plate  612 , a connecting plate  613  extending downwardly from one side of the main plate  612 , and a pair of L-shaped legs  615  extending downwardly from opposite ends of the other side of the main plate  612 . The main plate  612  defines a slit  611  (see FIG. 2) along an elongated direction thereof. The connecting plate  613  defines two openings  614  therein. The pull tab  62  is made of plastic or plastic-like sheet material. The retaining member  63  is made of rigid material, such as metal and plastic. The length and width of the retaining member  63  are larger than the length and width of the slit  611 . 
     In assembly, the pull tab  62  is overlapped to form a receiving portion  622  for receiving the retaining member  63  and a pull portion  621  at end thereof for being pinched by user. The pull portion  621  passes through the slit  611  of the main plate  612  along a bottom-to-top direction until the receiving portion  622  together with the retaining member  63  abuts against a bottom surface of the main plate  611  of the mounting member  61 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 2,  4  and  5 , the contacts  20  are received in the passageways  11  of the housing  10 , and the wires  30  are electrically connected to the contacts  20  with the conductors  31  of the wire  30  being soldered to the tail portions  21  of corresponding contacts  20 . The first shell  40  is assembled to the housing  10  along a front-to-rear direction. The first engaging portions  42  are inserted into the groove  13  with the first tab  421  engaging with the first step portion  131 . The abutting portion  44  abuts against the front wall  151  of the housing  10 . The second shell  50  is assembled to the housing along a top-to-bottom direction. The front section  521  of the second engaging portion  52  is inserted into the slot  122  of the housing  10  with the protrusion  522  abutting against the housing at a bottom face of the slot  122 . The second tab  511  of the rear section  51  of the second engaging portion  52  engages with the second step portion  12 , and the abutting portion  54  of the second shell  50  abuts against the rear wall  152  of the housing  10 . 
     At this time, the wires  30  extend upwardly from a position between the first and second shells  40 ,  50  parallel to a direction along which the complementary connector mates with the assembly  1 . The projections  41  of the shell  40  are received in the openings  614  of connecting plate  613 . The legs  615  of the mounting member  61  are soldered to the second shell  50 , and the wires  30  extend through the space between the two legs  614 . By this way, the pull mechanism  60  is readily and securely attached to the shell  40 ,  50 . 
     When the cable end connector assembly  1  needs to be removed from the complementary connector, the pull portion  621  of the pull tab  62  is pulled upwardly, the pull force is then transmitted to the mounting member  61  by the receiving portion  622  together with the retaining member  63  pressing upwardly against the bottom face of the main plate  612  of the mounting member  61  for the size of the retaining member  63  being larger than that of the slit  611  of the main plate  612 , the pull force is finally transmitted to the whole assembly  1  by the engagement between the mounting member  61  and shell  40 ,  50 , thereby the assembly  1  being disengaged from the complementary connector. 
     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.