Patent Abstract:
An electrical connector includes a housing having a plurality of terminals received within and a shell encircling the housing therein. The shell has a mating opening at one end thereof. A dustproof cover is assembled in the shell and positioned between the mating opening and the housing to perform anti-dust function. The dustproof cover has an insulator and a metal sheet combined with the insulator to strengthen the structure of the dustproof cover. The dustproof cover is of enough intensity and is not prone to deformation in use and therefore offers fully anti-dust function for the electrical connector.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a dustproof electrical connector. 
   2. The Related Art 
   Nowadays, electrical connectors are widely used in electronic products with the development of the technology of the electrons. In order to protect terminals of the electrical connectors from being dirtied by dust, the electrical connectors have dustproof function to come with the tendency. A known dustproof electrical connector includes a housing, a plurality of terminals received in the housing, a dustproof cover and a shell for encircling the housing and the dustproof cover therein. The dustproof cover is installed in front of the housing to perform the dustproof function. 
   Considering the miniaturization trend of the electronic products, the electrical connectors should be designed smaller to follow the trend. Correspondingly, the dustproof covers of the dustproof electrical connectors become thinner as well. However, the above-mentioned dustproof cover is made of insulating material (e.g. plastic). The thinner the dustproof cover is, the weaker the structural strength thereof is. Therefore, the dustproof cover is prone to plastic deformation and failing in the dustproof efficacy. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector having an improved dustproof cover. The electrical connector includes a housing having a plurality of terminals received therein and a shell encircling the housing therein. The shell has a mating opening at one end thereof. A dustproof cover is assembled in the shell and positioned between the mating opening and the housing to perform dustproof function. The dustproof cover has an insulator and a metal sheet combined with the insulator to strengthen the structure of the dustproof cover. 
   As described above, by disposing the metal sheet combined with the insulator to strengthen the structure of the dustproof cover, the dustproof cover can provide enough intensity to avoid deformation and losing the dustproof capability effectively. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a housing of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the housing of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a shell of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing a dustproof cover of the electrical connector; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; and 
       FIG. 7  is another angle perspective view of the electrical connector shown in  FIG. 6 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   With reference to  FIG. 1 , an electrical connector  1  according to the invention is shown. The electrical connector  1  includes a housing  10 , a shell  20 , a dustproof cover  30 , a plurality of terminals  40  and a pair of springs  50 . 
   Please refer to  FIGS. 1 to 3 . The housing  10  has a substantially rectangular base portion  11 . A top surface of the base portion  11  has plural substantially wedge-shaped lumps  111  aligned in a middle portion thereof and two protruding lumps  112  disposed at a rear end thereof. The base portion  11  has a raised platform  12  projecting from a front surface thereof and two through-holes  113  adjacent to two opposite sides of the base portion  11  respectively. A tongue portion  13  extends forward from an upper portion of the raised platform  12  and defines a row of terminal grooves  131  at a bottom thereof. The terminal grooves  131  further penetrate through the base portion  11 . 
   The raised platform  12  defines two retaining recesses  121  beneath the tongue portion  13 . The base portion  11  has a pair of retaining lumps  114  projecting out of a bottom surface thereof and corresponding to the retaining recesses  121 . At a rear surface of the base portion  11 , a resisting channel  115  is transversely formed below the terminal grooves  131  and two projecting strips  116  are arranged in the resisting channel  115 . 
   Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 4  together, the shell  20  has a top plate  21 , a bottom plate  22  parallel with the top plate  21 , and two side plates  23  connecting the top plate  21  with the bottom plate  22 . The top plate  21 , the bottom plate  22  and the side plates  23  collectively define a receiving room (not labeled) for containing the housing  10 , the dustproof cover  30  and the pair of springs  50  therein. A mating opening  24  is formed at a front end of the shell  20  and communicated with the receiving room. The top plate  21  defines plural locating holes  211  at a rear portion thereof for fixing the wedge-shaped lumps  111 . Two openings  212  are disposed at a rear edge of the top plate  21  and adjacent to the side plates  23  respectively. Each opening  212  has a stopper  213  extending downward therefrom. The bottom plate  22  defines a pair of locking tabs  221  curling upwardly from a front edge thereof and abutting against the side plates  23 . At a rear edge of the bottom plate  22 , two resisting pieces  222  are arranged between the stoppers  213  and each of the resisting pieces  222  transversely defines a seam  223  thereon. The bottom plate  23  further longitudinally defines two guiding slots  224  communicated with the corresponding seams  223 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 , the dustproof cover  30  includes an insulator  31  and a metal sheet  32  combined with the insulator  31  to form an insertion mouth  33  therebetween. The insulator  31  has a base bar  311  and two substantially square raised blocks  312  perpendicularly extending upwardly from two ends of the base bar  311 . Two corners of the insulator  31  opposite to each other respectively define a notch  313  positioned at a front surface of each raised block  312 . Each of the raised blocks  312  has an engaging trough  314  at a top surface thereof. A bottom side of the engaging trough  314  extends downward to form an inserting cavity  315 . Two locating rods  316  are protruded from a rear portion of each raised block  312  respectively. The base bar  311  has two projections  317  at a lower portion of a rear surface thereof. Each of the projections  317  has a sliding lump  318  adhered to a bottom thereof. The sliding lump  318  is smaller than the projection  317 . 
   The metal sheet  32  has a base plate  321 , and the thickness of the base plate  321  can be changed according to the depth of the engaging trough  314 . Middle portions of two short sides of the base plate  321  extend downward to form an inserting portion  322  respectively. The metal sheet  32  is assembled to the insulator  31  in such a manner that the inserting portions  322  are inserted into the inserting cavities  315  and two ends of the base plate  321  are sunk into the engaging troughs  314  to keep the base plate  321  at the same level with top surfaces of the raised blocks  312 . 
   Please refer to  FIGS. 6 and 7 . In assembly, the plurality of terminals  40  are correspondingly received in the terminal grooves  131 . The housing  10  is received in the shell  20 . In this case, the wedge-shaped lumps  111  are fixed into the locating holes  211  while the protruding lumps  112  are located at the openings  212 , the resisting pieces  222  are buckled in the resisting channel  115 , the retaining lumps  114  are respectively positioned at open ends of the guiding slots  224  and the projecting strips  116  are jammed into the corresponding seams  223 . One end of each spring  50  encircles the locating rod  316  of the dustproof cover  30  and the other end passes through the through-hole  113  of the housing  10  and presses against the stopper  213  of the shell  20 . The dustproof cover  30  is assembled in the shell  20  with a front end of the tongue portion  13  of the housing  10  adjacent to the insertion mouth  33  and the locking tabs  221  engaged with the corresponding notches  313 . In this case, the projections  317  are placed on the guiding slots  224  and the sliding lumps  318  are disposed at closed ends of the guiding slots  224 . 
   When a complementary connector (not shown) is plugged in the electrical connector  1 , the complementary connector pushes the dustproof cover  30  rearward, then the springs  50  are compressed and the sliding lumps  318  move rearward along the guiding slots  224  until the projections  317  received in the retaining recesses  121  and the sliding lumps  318  stopped by the retaining lumps  114 . Thus, the complementary connector is mated with the electrical connector  1 , and the terminals  20  pass through the insertion mouth  33  to electrically connect with the complementary connector. When the complementary connector is draw out of the electrical connector  1 , the dustproof cover  30  can return to original position to exert the dustproof function because of the elastic potential energy of the springs  50 . The locking tabs  221  are engaged in the notches  313  to prevent the dustproof cover  30  from springing out of the shell  20 . Because the dustproof cover  30  has the metal sheet  32  combined with the insulator  31 , the structural strength of the dustproof cover  30  is improved, so that the dustproof cover  30  is not easy deformation and to lost the dustproof capability when sliding back and forth. 
   As the above description, by disposing the metal sheet  32  combined with the insulator  31  to strengthen the structure of the dustproof cover  30 , the dustproof cover  30  can provide enough intensity to avoid deformation and losing the dustproof capability effectively even though the insulator  31  becomes smaller and thinner. Moreover, the total size and height of the dustproof cover  30  is not increased. 
   The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to those skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7