Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6217391?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2014-03-17 13:36:45
Document Index: 788543894

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 42', 'art 42', 'art 42', 'art 42', 'art 302', 'art 304', 'art 302', 'art 304', 'art 302', 'art 304', 'art 42', 'art 36', 'art 304', 'art 302', 'art 402', 'art 404', 'art 404', 'art 402', 'art 404', 'art 42', 'art 36', 'art 402', 'art 402']

Patent US6217391 - Low profile modular electrical jack and communication card including the same - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsModular electrical jack including an outer housing part and an inner housing assembly connected to the outer housing part and defining one or more plug-receiving receptacles therewith. The inner housing assembly includes contact/terminal members, at least one of which includes a terminal portion adapted...http://www.google.com/patents/US6217391?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6217391 - Low profile modular electrical jack and communication card including the sameAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS6217391 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/276,209Publication dateApr 17, 2001Filing dateMar 25, 1999Priority dateMar 26, 1998Fee statusLapsedAlso published asCN1136632C, CN1306685A, DE69926224D1, DE69926224T2, EP1066663A1, EP1066663A4, EP1066663B1, WO1999049541A1Publication number09276209, 276209, US 6217391 B1, US 6217391B1, US-B1-6217391, US6217391 B1, US6217391B1InventorsRobert Colantuono, Ronald LocatiOriginal AssigneeStewart Connector Systems, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (28), Referenced by (15), Classifications (7), Legal Events (8) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetLow profile modular electrical jack and communication card including the sameUS 6217391 B1Abstract Modular electrical jack including an outer housing part and an inner housing assembly connected to the outer housing part and defining one or more plug-receiving receptacles therewith. The inner housing assembly includes contact/terminal members, at least one of which includes a terminal portion adapted to be connected to a substrate, an arcuate contact portion extending into a respective plug-receiving receptacle and an intermediate bridging portion connecting the terminal portion and the contact portion. The bridging portion is inclined in relation to an inner surface of the outer housing part such that only a very short region of the bridging portion bears against the inner surface of the outer housing part and thus, remaining portions of the bridging portion are spaced from the inner surface. The construction of such contact/terminal members enables the jack to have a height less than that of contact/terminal members in existing jacks of the RJ type while providing the contact/terminal members with sufficient normal contact force to comply with FCC requirements. A communications card such as a PCMCIA card including the jack is also disclosed.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/079,447 filed Mar. 26, 1998.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to modular electrical jacks having a lower profile than conventional modular electrical jacks, e.g., modular jacks of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,991.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The use of modular connectors, i.e., plugs and jacks, in data communications applications, such as communication cards, has become common. Since the structure and dimensions of modular connectors have become standardized and since the mating and disengagement of modular plugs and modular jacks are simple and familiar to most individuals, the use of modular connectors is especially suited to data communication applications where interchangeability or detachability of components is desirable.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved single-port and multi-port modular connectors of the RJ-type.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the communication card of FIG. 1 taken along the line 3�3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the outer housing part shown in FIGS. 5 and 5A taken along the line 5B�5B of FIG. 5;
FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view of the outer housing part shown in FIGS. 5 and 5A taken along the line 5C�5C of FIG. 5;
FIG. 8 is a view of the inner housing part shown in FIG. 6 taken along the line 8�8 of FIG. 7;
FIG. 9 is a view of the inner housing part shown in FIG. 6 taken along the line 9�9 of FIG. 7;
FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view of the contact/terminal-retainer assembly shown in FIG. 11 taken along the line 16�16 in FIG. 13;
FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view of the sub-assembly shown in FIG. 19 taken along the line 23�23 in FIG. 19 after placement of the terminal portion of the contact/terminal members in the slots in the rear face of the inner housing part;
FIG. 23A is a cross-sectional view of the sub-assembly shown in FIG. 19 taken along the line 23�23 in FIG. 19 as it appears after placement of the sub-assembly in connection with the outer housing part;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A low profile modular electrical jack in accordance with the invention will be described with reference to a communication card including the same. A communication card is a type of electronic component designed for insertion into a slot in a computer which enables the computer to transmit and receive data through a cable connected to the card. In view of the size of slots in certain computers, e.g., laptop computers, and in accordance with industry standards, the card must be quite thin and therefore the jack in accordance with the invention is particularly suited for use in such a card. However, the jack may be used alone as a stand alone jack, e.g., mountable directly to a printed circuit board of a computer (the motherboard), or in numerous other applications, i.e., essentially all those applications requiring an RJ-type receptacle for receiving a mating RJ-type plug. A primary difference between the use of the jack for different applications would be the construction of the housing of the jack. The construction of the contact/terminal members in the jack in accordance with the invention as shown in the illustrated embodiment, which is a novel design which enables the jack to have a lower profile in comparison with existing RJ-type jacks (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,991), would be common to the jacks used for different applications. However, also included within the scope of the invention are jacks including the housing components described below (outer housing part, inner housing part and contact/terminal-retainer assembly housing) and other contact/terminal members which might not have a height resulting in a jack including the same to have a height lower than a conventional RJ-type jack. That is, the use of the outer housing part, inner housing part and contact/terminal-retainer assembly housing is not limited to low profile jacks including contact/terminal members such as described herein, or low profile jacks including other constructions of contact/terminal members, and each of these components can be used, either individually or in combination with one or both of the others, in other modular jacks.
The contact/terminal-retainer assembly 38 includes contact/terminal members 34 having a particular form to enable the jack 14 to have a �reduced� vertical height (relative to jacks including existing, traditional contact/terminal members) while still providing sufficient normal contact force. As such, the overall height of the jack 14 may be less than about 10.5 mm, which is less than the overall height of conventional jacks of the RJ type (about 11.5 mm).
As shown in FIG. 23A, only a very short region of the intermediate bridging portion 34 c of the contact/terminal members 34 bears against the top wall 54 of the outer housing part 42, i.e., along the curve 154 leading to contact portion 34 a of the contact/terminal member 34. This would thus constitute a �point contact� between the contact/terminal members 34 and the lower surface 54 a of the top wall 54 of the outer housing part 42. The intermediate bridging portion 34 c thus bears against the top wall 54 of the outer housing part 42 only at the curved portion and is spaced from the top wall 54 in view of its upward inclination from the inner housing assembly 44. The particular construction of the contact/terminal members 34 and housing therefor, as described above, enables the height of the jack 14 in accordance with the invention to be less than conventional jacks of the RJ type. Further, an advantage realized by means of this construction is that it is possible to pre-stress the contact/terminal members 34 when assembling the jack 14, e.g., by pressing the contact/terminal members 34 against the lower surface 54 a of the top wall 54 of the outer housing part 42.
FIG. 25 shows a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of a modular jack in accordance with the invention designated generally as 300. Jack 300 includes an inner housing part 302, an outer housing part 304 defining at least one plug-receiving receptacle 312 and contact/terminal members 306 having a terminal portion 320 for enabling electrical connection to a printed circuit board (not shown) and a contact portion 322 extending into the plug-receiving receptacle 312. Inner housing part 302 includes slots 314 and channels 316 for retaining contact/terminal members 306. Contact/terminal members 306 are �forward-facing� in the sense that the contact portion 322 has a front end closer to the entrance of the receptacle 312, and which is situated within a recess in the outer housing part 304, and is obliquely inclined rearward toward the inner housing part 302. Outer housing part 304 including a spring mounting member 308 which retains back-up springs 310. Each spring 310 engages with the contact portion 322 of a respective one of the contact/terminal members 306 to provide a resilient force thereto. Features of the outer housing part 42 and inner housing part 36 described above may be incorporated into the outer housing part 304 and inner housing part 302, respectively. The use of forward facing contact/terminal members, in combination with the rearward facing contact/terminal members 34,250 described above provides certain advantages with respect to crosstalk reduction as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,266 (Patel).
FIG. 26 shows a cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of a modular jack in accordance with the invention designated generally as 400. Jack 40 includes an outer housing part 402, an inner housing part 404 defining at least one plug-receiving receptacle 416 and contact/terminal members 406, each having a terminal portion 412 electrically connected to a printed circuit board 414 and a contact portion 410 extending into the plug-receiving receptacle 416. Inner housing part 404 includes slots 408 for retaining contact/terminal members 406. Contact/terminal members 406 are �forward-facing� in the sense that the contact portion 410 has a front end closer to the entrance of the receptacle 416, and which is situated within a recess in the outer housing part 402, and is obliquely inclined rearward toward the inner housing part 404. Features of the outer housing part 42 and inner housing part 36 described above may be incorporated into the outer housing part 402 and inner housing part 402, respectively. The use of forward facing contact/terminal members, in combination with the rearward facing contact/terminal members 34,250 described above provides certain advantages with respect to crosstalk reduction.
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