Patent Publication Number: US-7896662-B2

Title: Pin connector with notches on soldering surfaces of pins

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a connector which includes conductive connector pins and an insulator housing, the connector pin being press-fitted within a pin retaining hole formed in the housing. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,247,051 issued on Jul. 24, 2007 to Advanced Connector Inc. disclosed a pin connector. The pin connector has insulating housing and connector pins received and retained in the holes of the housing. The pins has a smaller upper end projecting above the upper face of the housing and a larger lower end retained in the housing which has a soldering face parallel to the lower face confronting to a printed circuit board, of the housing. The soldering area of the pin might be small if the whole pin are small, which might be result in a bad connection between the connector and the PCB. Thus, the need for improved still exists in order to overcome the inadequacies of the related art. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A pin connector comprises an insulating housing comprises pin retaining holes and connector pins retained in the retaining holes. Each of the connector pin has a header portion with a soldering face thereof and a shank portion extending from the header portion. The header portion defines notches opening through the soldering face. 
     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 
       The invention may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like members in the figures and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a pin connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the pin connector shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-section view of the pin connector taken along line  3 - 3  in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged perspective view of the connector pin; and 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-section view of a pin connector of another embodiment similar to  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. 
       FIGS. 1 through 4  show a connector  100  relating to a first embodiment of the invention. This connector  100  is embodied as a so-called pin connector having the basic construction common to the connectors of this type. The connector  100  includes a housing  1  made of insulating material such as synthetic resin, which housing defines two rows of pin retaining holes  12  each allowing press-fitting of a connector pin  2  therein. The connector pin  2  is of cylindrical bolt shape and has a head portion  22  which can be connected, by means of e.g. soldering, to a terminal of a print circuit board (not shown) disposed below and a long thin shank portion  20  which can be connected, by way of e.g. insertion, to a terminal of another circuit board (not shown) disposed above. The shank portion  20  extends from the header portion  22 . The connector pin  2  further includes a stopping portion  21  at an intermediate portion of the shank portions  20  for being interfered to the inner peripheral face of the pin retaining holes  12 , thus preventing withdrawal of the connecting pin  2  to the inserting side. 
     The connector pin  2  is press-fitted into the pin retaining hole  2  from a lower face or second face  11  with an upper end  201  of the shank portions  20  above the upper face or first face  10  to function as a mating end. Since the header portion  22  has a lager diameter than shank portions  21  in the cross section, the upper face  228  of the header portion  22  abuts against the lower face  11  of the housing for preventing the pin from upwardly over-moving. The lower face of the header portion  22  is functioned as a soldering face  222 . The header portion  22  tapers inwards and downwards so as to decrease area of the soldering face  222 . The header portion defines four substantial inverted pyramid notches  225 , each of which opens downwards through the soldering face  222  thereof and outwards through the outer peripheral side face  221 . The notches  225  benefit the gas permeability in soldering process when the connector is soldered to the PCB. The notches  225  reduce the level soldering face  222  on the PCB while the inner faces of notches  225  increase the soldering area. 
     The shank portion  20  has a lower end  202  above the header portion  22  received in the hole  12  and the stopping portion  21  is set on said lower end  202 . The stopping portion of block-like shape has a pair of opposite longitudinal ends  211  which project out the outer periphery side face of the shank portion and a middle portion  212  between said opposite ends hiding in the outer periphery side face circle of the shank portion  21  oppositely. 
     Please seeing  FIGS. 3 and 5  shown the cross sections of the notches, the notch  225  of the first embodiment has a top inner face and an upright inner face perpendicular to each other while the notch  225 ′ has a top inner face and a slant inner face  2250 ′. 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous, characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set fourth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosed is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of number, 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.