Patent Abstract:
A stacked connector assembly ( 10 ) includes a first connector ( 12 ) and a second connector ( 14 ) vertically stacked on the first connector. The first connector includes a first housing ( 16 ) having a top face ( 44 ) on which axially aligned pairs of opposing sockets ( 48 ) are formed. The second connector includes a second housing ( 52 ) having a bottom face ( 54 ) on which axially aligned spindles are formed. The second housing is positioned on the first housing with opposite ends of each spindle rotatably received in and supported by the corresponding pair of sockets to hingedly connect the second connector to the first connector.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to a stacked connector assembly, and more particular to connectors hinged together to form a stacked connector assembly. 
     THE RELATED ARTS 
     An electrical connector pair for mating each other to connect a first circuit board, such as a circuit board of a computer disk drive, to a second circuit board, such as a main circuit board of a docking station, are known in the field of connectors, such as SCA-2 based connectors. Such electrical connectors are thus often referred to as “board-to-board”connectors. Connectors of similar function for connecting two circuit boards are also available in the market, such as EBBI connectors (EBBI is a registered mark of Molex Inc., Lisle, Ill.). Each pair of the board-to-board connectors comprises a plug (or male) connector and a socket (or female) connector releasably mating each other. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,171. 
     To save the occupied area of the printed circuit board on which connectors are mounted, the connectors can be assembled in a stacked relation before mounting to the printed circuit board. The stacked connectors, which is generally called “stacked connector assembly” are also well known in the field of connectors. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,207 and 5,851,125. These stacked connector assemblies each require a bracket to secure connectors together. The brackets increase the costs of the assemblies. Furthermore, the connectors in these assemblies are secured together by means of mortise-tenon and/or snap fitting structures. However, such a securing means is not convenient to operate; thus, the assembling efficiency is low. Accordingly, an improved stacked connector assembly is necessary to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly which does not need a bracket to secure connectors of the assembly together. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly wherein connectors of the assembly can be easily secured together. 
     To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, a stacked connector assembly comprises a first connector, such as an SCA-2 based receptacle connector, and a second connector, such as an EBBI based plug connector, and vertically stacked on the first connector. The first connector comprises a first housing having a top face on which axially aligned pairs of opposing sockets are formed and a plurality of terminals each having a tail. The second connector comprises a second housing having a bottom face on which axially aligned spindles are formed and a plurality of terminals each having a tail. The second housing is positioned on the first housing with opposite ends of each spindle rotatably received in and supported by a corresponding pair of sockets to hingedly connect the second connector to the first connector. Each housing comprises two arms extending rearward from opposite ends thereof. Each arm of the second housing is stacked on the corresponding arm of the first housing. A spacer has a high profile portion having a plurality of openings therein and a low profile portion having a plurality of openings therein. The high profile portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the second connector with the tails of the second terminals extending through the corresponding openings. The low profile portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the first housing with the tails of the first terminals extending through the corresponding openings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a front, top perspective view of a stacked connector assembly in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is view similar to FIG. 1, from a rear aspect; 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded view of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  5 — 5  of FIG. 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 — 6  of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a step in assembling the connector assembly in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1-4, a stacked connector assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention, generally designated with reference numeral  10 , comprises a first (lower) connector  12 , such as an SCA-2 based receptacle connector, a second (upper) connector  14 , such as an EBBI based plug connector, vertically stacked on the first connector  12  and a spacer  36  for equidistantly spacing outside longer tails  59  and inside shorter tails  22  of terminals  58 ,  20  of the connectors  14 ,  12 , and preventing the tails from buckling when they are inserted into a printed circuit board (not shown). 
     Also referring to FIG. 6, the first connector  12  comprises a first elongate housing  16  having a front mating face (not labeled) for matingly engaging a first mating connector. A surrounding wall  18  having opposite portions (not labeled) is formed on and extends from the front mating face of the first housing  16 . First conductive terminals  20  are retained in the first housing and arranged along inner surfaces of the opposite portions of the surrounding wall  18  for electrically engaging with the first mating connector. Each first terminal  20  has a tail  22  extending beyond a bottom surface (not labeled) of the first housing  16  for insertion into the printed circuit board. 
     The first housing  16  has two forward-extending arms  24  extending from opposite ends thereof in a forward direction. The surrounding wall  18  is located between the forward-extending arms  24 . Each forward-extending arm  24  forms a guide channel  26  for guidingly receiving a complementary guidepost of the first mating connector. A first board lock  28 , made of conductive materials, is attached to each end of the first housing  16  and has an extension  30  extending into a corresponding guide channel  26  for electrically engaging a corresponding grounding member of the first mating connector to ground the first mating connector. The first board lock  28  has two spaced, resilient, barbed legs  32  for interferentially fitting into a corresponding hole defined in the printed circuit board to thereby retain the stacked connector assembly  10  to the printed circuit board. 
     The first housing  16  also has two rearward-extending arms  34  extending from the ends thereof. A space (not labeled) is defined between the rearward-extending arms  34  for accommodating the tails  22  of the first terminals  20 . In the embodiment illustrated, a spacer  36  in the form of a step has a high profile portion  361  having a plurality of openings  37  therein and a low profile portion  362  having a plurality of openings  38  therein. The high profile portion  361  is retained between the rearward-extending arms  64  of the second connector  14  with the tails  59  of the second terminals  58  extending through the corresponding openings  37 . The low profile portion  362  is retained between the rearward-extending arms  34  of the first housing  16  with the tails  22  of the first termninals  20  extending through the corresponding openings  38 . 
     Each rearward-extending arm  64  of the second connector  14  forms a pair of elongated protrusions  641  for having an interferential engagement with the high profile portion  361  of the spacer  36  to enhance the stability of the stacked connector assembly  10 . Each rearward-extending arm  34  defines a first, vertically-extending slit  40  in a rear end face  42  thereof. The use of the slits  40  will be discussed later. 
     The first housing  16  has a top face  44  on which a lengthwise-extending rib comprising a number of spaced but aligned segments  46  is formed. Each segment  46  has opposite ends each forming a socket  48  with a front face of the segment  46 . Each segment  46  has a flat top surface  50 . 
     The second connector  14  comprises an elongate second housing  52  positionable above the first housing  16  of the first connector  12 . The second housing  52  has a length substantially corresponding to that of the first housing  16  of the first connector  12  and a bottom face  54  resting on the flat top surface  50  of the segments  46  of the first housing  16 . The second housing  52  also has a front mating face in which a cavity  56  is defined for receivingly and engagingly mating a second mating connector (not shown). A tongue plate  57  is arranged in the cavity  56  and retains second terminals  58  made of conductive material for electrically engaging the second mating connector. 
     The second housing  52  forms a number of projections  60  on the bottom face  54  thereof. Each projection  60  is received in a space (not labeled) between two adjacent segments  46 . Each projection  60  has two oppositely laterally extending pivots  62 . The pivots  62  are rotatably fitted in corresponding sockets  48  whereby the second connector  14  is rotatably mounted to the first connector  12  about the pivots  62 . The rotatable connection allows relative movement of the second housing  52  with respect to the first housing  16  whereby the second housing  52  is positioned on the flat top surface  50  of the segments  46  of the first housing  16 . 
     The second housing  52  has rearward-extending arms  64  extending from opposite ends thereof in a rearward direction and corresponding in position to and resting on the rearward-extending arms  34  of the first housing  16 . A latch  66  depends from each rearward-extending arm  64  and forms a catch  68  received in and engaging with a notch  70  defined in the rear end face  42  of the corresponding rearward-extending arm  34  of the first housing  16  thereby securing the first and second connectors  12 ,  14  together. A slit  72  is defined through each latch  66 . After assembly of the connector assembly  10 , the slits  72  are aligned with the slits  40  in the arms  34  of the first connector  12 . 
     Also referring to FIG. 5, each rear-extending arm  34  of the first housing  16  defines a first channel  74  in communication with the vertically-extending slit  40  and extending in a forward direction along the arm  34 . Each rear-extending arm  64  of the second housing  52  defines a second channel  76  in communication with the slit  72 . A second board lock  78  comprises a vertically-extending base section  80  received in the slit  72  of each latch  66  of the second housing  52  and partially fit into the vertically-extending slit  40  of the first housing  16 . The second board lock  78  comprises two barbed beams  82  extending forwardly from the base section  80  and interferentially fit into the first and second channels  74 ,  76  of the rearward-extending arms  34 ,  64  of the first and second housing  16 ,  52  to securely fix the second connector  14  to the first connector  12  after the first and second connectors  12 ,  14  are assembled together. 
     The second board lock  78  has two spaced, resilient, barbed legs  84  depending from the base section  80  for interferentially engaging with a hole defined in the printed circuit board to retain the stacked connector assembly  10  on the circuit board. 
     Referring to FIG. 7, in assembling the first and second connectors  12 ,  14 , to form the connector assembly  10 , the pivots  62  are firstly fitted into the sockets  48  so that the second connector  14  is pivotably mounted on the first connector  12 . The second connector  14  is oriented to be inclined relative to the first connector  12 . The tails  59  of the terminals  58  of the second connector  14  are partly inserted into the openings  37  of the high profile portion  361  of the spacer  36  is rotated clockwise to a position in which the bottom face  54  of the second connector rests on the top flat surface  50  of the segments  46  and the openings  38  of the low profile portion  362  of the spacer  36  are aligned with the tails  22  of the terminals  20  of the first connector  12 . Thereafter, the spacer  36  is moved upwardly until it is appropriately engaged between the protrusions  641  of the rear-extending arms  64  of the second connector  14 . Finally, the board locks  78  are assembled to the first and second connectors  12 ,  14  to securely fasten the two connectors together. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7