Patent Publication Number: US-8123569-B2

Title: Waterproof audio jack connector

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an audio jack connector, and more particularly to a waterproof audio jack connector. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     In the consumer electronics world, many electrical devices, such as cellular phones, MP3 players and miscellaneous portable audio devices require the use of external audio earphones or head phones in order to hear the media sound. By using these earphones or headphones, audio jack connectors must be provided in the audio devices for electrical plugs of the earphones or headphones being plugged into. The audio jack connector usually includes an insulative housing having a cavity for the electrical plug being plugged into and a set of receiving slots communicating with the cavity, and a set of contacts received in the receiving slots and protruding into the cavity for contacting with the electrical plug. 
     The receiving slots usually are recessed from one or more surfaces of the insulative housing and communicate with exterior so as to allow the contacts inserted into the receiving slots from the respective surfaces. However, In use, water would enter the cavity through the receiving slots easily to form an electrical short circuit. 
     Hence, an waterproof audio jack connector is desired to overcome the above problems. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, an audio jack connector comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts and a cover. the insulative housing has a bottom surface, a cavity having a front end exposed to exterior for insertion of an electrical plug, and a plurality of receiving slots recessed upwardly from the bottom surface and communicating with the cavity. The contacts are inserted into the receiving slots from the bottom surface of the insulative housing. the contacts have contacting portions protruding into the cavity for contacting with the electrical plug and soldering tail portions extending outwardly beyond the bottom surface. The cover envelopes the contacts into the receiving slots with the tail portions extending outwardly therefrom to make the audio jack connector communicate with the exterior via only the front end of the cavity. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, an audio jack connector comprises a plurality of contacts having contacting portions for contacting with the electrical plug and tail portions for being mounted to a circuit board; an insulative housing and a cover encapsulating the contacts with the tail portions extending outwardly from the cover when assembled; a cavity defined by the insulative housing and the cover for insertion of the electrical plug and for the contacting portions protruding into; and a plurality of receiving slots defined by the insulative housing and the cover for receiving the contacts. The receiving slots are located at least one side of the cavity and communicate with the cavity. 
     The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an audio jack connector according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another perspective view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1  mounted to a flexible circuit board; 
         FIG. 4  is a partly exploded view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is another partly exploded view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 7  is another exploded view of the audio jack connector shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , an audio jack connector  100  according to the present invention for insertion of an electrical plug (not shown) and being mounted to a flexible printed circuit (FPC)  200  is disclosed. In other embodiments, the audio jack connector  100  could be mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB) or other circuit board. The audio jack connector  100  includes an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of contacts  2  retained in the insulative housing  1 , and a cover  3  encapsulating the contacts  2  into the insulative housing  1 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4-7 , the insulative housing  1  and the cover  3  in this embodiment both are molded of dielectric material such as plastic or the like. In other embodiments, the cover  3  can be made of other waterproof materials such as chloroprene rubber, butyl rubber, PI Polyimide, PUR Polyurethane, etc. The insulative housing  1  and the cover  3  define a column  13  forming a columnar cavity  14  for insertion of the electrical plug, and a plurality of receiving slots  15  located at two sides of the cavity  14  and communicating with the cavity  14 . The column  13  includes a first column  131  formed in the inuslative housing  1  and a second column  132  formed in the cover  3 , the first column  131  protruding forwardly beyond a front side of the insulative housing  1  and upwardly beyond a top surface  11  of the insulative housing  1 , the second column  132  protruding forwardly beyond a front side of the cover  3  and downwardly beyond a lower surface  32  of the cover  3 . The cavity  14  includes a first part formed on the first column  131  and a second part formed on the second column  132 . The cavity  14  has a front end exposed to exterior for the electrical plug inserted into the cavity  14 , and a rear end opposite to the front end and enveloped by a rear wall  16  of the insulative housing  1 . The receiving slots  15  include a pair of first receiving slots  151  being of a same configuration and located at left side of the cavity  14  in a front-to-rear direction, a second receiving slot  152  located at right side of the cavity  14 , and a pair of third receiving slots  153  being of a symmetrical configuration and located symmetrically at two sides of the cavity  14 . Each receiving slot  15  includes a first part defined by the insulative housing  1  and a second part defined by the cover  3 . Each first part of the receiving slots  15  is recessed upwardly from a bottom surface  12  of the insulative housing  1 . Each second part of the receiving slots  15  is recessed downwardly from an upper surface  31  of the cover  3 . The insulative housing  1  and the cover  3  define a pair of protrusions  18  formed into the third receiving slots  153  and protruding toward the cavity  14 . The insulative housing  1  has a pair of cylindrical embossments  19  extending downwardly from the bottom surface  12 . The cover  3  has a pair of recesses  33  recessed downwardly from the upper surface  31  thereof for retaining the respective embossments  19  and a set of posts  34  extending downwardly from the lower surface  32  thereof for being mounted to the FPC  200 . Therefore, the audio jack connector  100  could be retained on the FPC  200  firmly. In another embodiment, the column  13  and the receiving slots  15  can be defined only by the insulative housing  1 , in this situation, the column  13  will protrude downwardly beyond the bottom surface  12  of the insulative housing  1  in addition, the receiving slots  15  are recessed upwardly from the bottom surface  12  of the insulative housing  1 , the cover  3  is used for enveloping the receiving slots  15 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 to 7 , the contacts  2  include a pair of first contacts  21  being of a same configuration and received in the first receiving slots  151 , a second contact  22  received in the second receiving slots  152 , and a pair of third contacts  23  being of a symmetrical configuration and received in the third receiving slots  153 . Each contact  2  has a base portion  25  retained in the respective receiving slot  15 , a resilient portion  26  bending toward the cavity  14  from the base portion  25 , and a tail portion  27  extending downwardly from the base portion  25  and outwardly from the cover  3  to be mounted in though holes of the FPC  200 . Therefore, the cover  3  and the insulative housing  1  can encapsulate the contacts  2  only with the tail portions  27  extending outwardly from the cover  3  for being mounted in through holes of the FPC  200  to provide waterproof and dustproof effects. The cover  3  has a plurality of tapered holes  35  for the tail portions  27  passing through. The tapered holes  35  are tapered from the upper surface  31  to the lower surface  32 . Each tail portion  27  has a tapered portion  275  tapered from an upper side to a lower side and fitting through the respective tapered holes  35  to prevent water and dust from entering into the receiving slot  15  more effectively. In another embodiment, the tail portions  27  can be insert molded into the cover  3  to prevent water and dust entering into the receiving slot  15  more effectively. The first and second contacts  21 ,  22  have convex contacting portions  28  protruding into the cavity  14  from the respective resilient portions  26  for contacting with the electrical plug. The third contacts  23  have arc contacting portions  29  protruding into the cavity  14  from the respective resilient portions  26  for contacting with the electrical plug, and retaining portions  20  extending from the respective arc contacting portions  29  and retained in the third receiving slots  153  for preventing the arc contacting portions  29  from inwardly over deformation. The protrusions  18  are located between the base portion  23  and the arc contacting portions  29  of the third contacts  23  for preventing the arc contacting portions  29  from outwardly over deformation. 
     In assembly, the contacts  2  are inserted into the first parts of the receiving slots  15  of the insulative housing  1  from the bottom surface  12 , the cover  3  is assembled to the insulative housing  1  with the embossments  16  received in the recesses  33 , the upper portion of the contacts  2  which is beyond the bottom surface  12  is received in the second parts of the receiving slots  15  of the cover  3 , finally, the cover  3  and the insulative housing  1  are bonded together by ultrasonic welding or thermal adhesive. Therefore, the contacts  2  are encapsulated by the insulative housing  1  and cover  3  only with the tail portions  27  extending outwardly from the cover  3  for being mounted to the FPC, the cover  3  can make the audio jack connector  100  communicate with the exterior via only the front end of the cavity  14  to provide waterproof and dustproof effects. 
     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.