Abstract:
An electrical connector for connecting a sheet-like member includes terminals ( 2  or  2′ ) each comprising a base portion ( 20  or  20′ ), a bearing beam ( 21  or  21′ ) and a contact beam ( 22  or  22′ ) substantially parallel extending from the base portion; a housing ( 1 ) including an upper wall ( 11 ), a lower wall ( 12 ) and a rear wall, and having an inner surface defining a mouth ( 10 ) for receiving the sheet-like member and an exterior surface provided with a number of grooves ( 13 ) thereon, each groove comprising an upper groove ( 131 ) defined along the upper wall for accommodating the bearing beam, a lower groove ( 132 ) defined along the lower wall for accommodating the contact beam, and a rear groove defined on the rear wall for accommodating the base portion; and an actuator ( 3 ) pivotally engaging with the bearing beams for establishing electrical connection between the sheet-like member and the contact beams.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector for a sheet-like connection member such as a flexible printed circuit or cable (FPC), a flexible flat cable (FFC) and so forth. All of these cables and circuit hereafter will be generally referred to as “FPC” for simplification. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   A conventional FPC connector generally includes a plurality of terminals each comprising a contact beam provided with a contact portion adapted for contacting an FPC and a pivot beam extending substantially parallel to and opposed to the contact beam, a housing adapted for holding the terminals and comprising opposite lower and upper walls defining a cavity therebetween for receiving the FPC. For fixing the terminals, the housing defines a plurality of grooves each comprising an upper section defined in the under surface of the upper wall to communicate with the cavity and a lower section defined in the upper surface of the lower wall to communicate with the cavity. Each terminal has the pivot beam thereof accommodated in the upper section of the groove and exposed to the cavity and the contact beam thereof accommodated in the lower section of the groove and exposed to the cavity, while the top surface of the pivot beam is shielded by the upper wall of the housing and the bottom surface of the contact beam is shielded by the lower wall of eth housing. Such kind of FPC connectors can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,893,288, 6,755,682 and 6,099,346. 
   However, as the upper wall is required to shield the top surface of the pivot beam, an extra thickness of the upper wall above the pivot beam is required, and likely, an extra thickness of the lower wall under the contact beam is required as a result of having to shield the bottom surface of the contact beam. That increases a height of the whole connector. 
   Otherwise, there is a conventional FPC connector in which terminals are assembled to the housing from an underside of the housing, and the top and bottom surfaces of the terminals are shieldless, yet are exposed to exterior, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,897. However, such kind of FPC connectors are required to have a large width dimension in a direction along which an FPC is inserted, since the terminal has a long tail extending rearwards from a contact beam or pivot beam of the terminal. That does not meet the minimization requirement for the FPC connector as well. 
   Therefore, it is desired to have a new FPC connector with minimized profile. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the present invention is to provide a new FPC connector with minimized profile. 
   In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an FPC connector for connecting an FPC in accordance with preferred embodiments of the present invention includes terminals each comprising a base portion, a bearing beam and a contact beam substantially parallel extending from the base portion; a housing including an upper wall, a lower wall and a rear wall, and having an inner surface defining a mouth for receiving the FPC and an exterior surface provided with a number of terminal-receiving grooves thereon, each groove comprising an upper groove defined along the upper wall for accommodating the bearing beam, a lower groove defined along the lower wall for accommodating the contact beam, and a rear groove defined on the rear wall for accommodating the base portion; and an actuator pivotally engaging with the bearing beams for establishing electrical connection between the FPC and the contact beams. 
   Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present 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 
       FIG. 1  is an assembled perspective view of an FPC connector in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3A  is a cross-sectional view of  FIG. 1  taken along line  3 — 3 , wherein an actuator is placed at an open position; 
       FIG. 3B  is a cross-sectional view similar to  FIG. 3A , but wherein the actuator has been rotated to a closed position; 
       FIG. 4  is a partly magnified view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 1 , specially showing installation of terminals in a housing, and a rotation-preventing design between the terminals and the housing; 
       FIG. 5  is a partly cut out perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a view showing a second kind rotation-preventing design; 
       FIG. 7  is a view showing a third kind rotation-preventing design; 
       FIG. 8  is an assembled perspective view of an FPC connector in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 9  is a partly cut out perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 8 , showing the assembling of first terminals; 
       FIG. 10  is a partly cut out perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 8 , showing the assembling of an actuator; 
       FIG. 11  is a partly cut out perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 8 , showing the further assembling of the actuator; and 
       FIG. 12  is a partly cut out perspective view of the FPC connector shown in  FIG. 8 , showing the assembling of second terminals. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention will be discussed hereafter in detail in terms of the embodiments of the present invention. However, any well-known structure or feature is not shown in detail in order to avoid unnecessary obscurity of the present invention. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1–5 , description will be made as an FPC connector according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The FPC connector comprises an insulative housing  1 , a plurality of terminals  2 , an actuator  3 , and a pair of support members  4  and is provided with an FPC insertion slot  10  at the front portion thereof. A lower portion of the FPC insertion slot  10  is provided by a bottom wall  12  of the housing  1 , and an upper portion of the FPC insertion slot  10  is designed to be opened and closed by the actuator  3 . 
   The housing  1  is provided with a plurality of terminal receiving grooves  13  on an exterior surface thereof, each of which comprises an upper groove  131  defined in an upper wall  11  of the housing  1  and a lower groove  132  defined in a bottom wall  12  of the housing  1 , and a rear groove (not labeled) defined in the rear surface of the housing  1  to communicate with both the upper and lower grooves  131 ,  132 , wherein the upper grooves  131  are notched in the top surface of the upper wall  11  which also is the top surface of the FPC connector and give birth to a plurality of spaced spines (not labeled) on the upper wall  11 , and the lower grooves  132  are defined through the bottom wall  12  along the thickness direction thereof. The terminals  2  are forwardly inserted into the terminal receiving grooves  13  from a rear side of the housing  1  and are arranged in the housing  1  in side-by-side relationship with a predetermined pitch. 
   As best shown in  FIG. 3 , each terminal  2  has a base portion  20 , a bearing beam  21  and a contact beam  22  substantially parallel extending from the base portion  20  in cantilever fashion, and a solder foot  23  extending down from the base portion for being soldered to a board, wherein the contact beam  22  is slightly curved up at its root end  221  connecting to the base portion  20  to assure a distance about 0.15 mm to the solder pad (not shown) on which the solder foot  23  is mounted, thereby reducing solder wicking risk. As best shown in  FIGS. 3–5 , upon being installed in the housing  1 , the bearing beam  21  extends within the upper groove  131  and has the top surface thereof upwardly exposed to exterior and substantially leveled with the top surface of the upper wall  11 . The contact beam  22  extends within the lower groove  132  and has the upper surface thereof upwardly exposed to the FPC insertion slot and the bottom surface thereof downwardly exposed to exterior and substantially leveled with the bottom surface of the lower wall  12 . 
   With this design, the extra thickness of the upper wall  11  above the bearing beam and the extra thickness of the bottom wall  12  under the contact beam  22  no long exist. So such a structure design minimizes thickness of the upper wall  11  and bottom wall  12  of the housing  1  and thus would reduce the whole height of the FPC connector, thereby forming a lower profile FPC connector. Otherwise, as the bearing beams  21  are upwardly exposed and there is no support above the terminals  2  against upward rotation, the terminals  2  are apt to upwardly rotate during opening or closing operation of the actuator  3 . Thus it is required to have a rotation-preventing design between the terminals  2  and the housing  1 , which can be embodied by providing a cutout  15  communicating with the terminal receiving groove  13  at the rear portion of the housing  1  and a protuberance  25  sideward protruding from the base portion  20  of the terminal  2  to be fitted in the cutout  15  as shown in  FIG. 4 , or providing an aperture  25 , such as a cutout or a through hole, in the base portion  20  of the terminal  2  and a protuberance  15  protruding from the housing  1  to be fitted in the cut out or through hole  25  as shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , or else like design. Through such a rotation-preventing design, the terminals  2  are firmly fixed in the housing  1  and prevented from upward rotation. 
   Additionally, the housing  1  is provided with finger portions  14  between every other bearing beams  21 . The finger portions  14  integrally extend forwards from the upper wall  11  of the housing  1  and each has a T-shaped enlarged head defining a pair of inwards opened recesses  140  for respectively receiving the tip end of the bearing beam  21  disposed therebeside. 
   The actuator  3  is formed with a plurality of wedge portions  31  operable as cam portions each interposed between every other bearing beams  21  without the finger portion interposed therebetween. Each of the cam portions  31  is provided with a pair of shaft portion  32  respectively extending from two sides thereof so as to respectively engage with the bearing beams disposed therebeside, wherein the shaft portions  32  extending from different cam portions  31  align with each other along a longitudinal direction of the actuator  3 , and the shaft portions  32  extending towards each other respectively from two adjacent cam portions  31  are spaced to define a gap  33  therebetween for lodging the finger portion  14  of the housing  1 . 
   The actuator  3  further has a pair of bosses  34  on both ends thereof to be held on the support member  4  installed in both side portions of the housing  1  for constantly maintaining the engaging condition of the shaft portion  32  and the bearing beam  21 . Assembling of the actuator  3  is performed by placing the shaft portions  32  each below a corresponding bearing beam  21  and behind the enlarged head of a corresponding finger portion  14 . Then the support members  4  are respectively plugged into the side portions of the housing  1  to support the bosses  34  of the actuator  3  from downward movement, and therefore to maintain engagement between the shaft portion  32  and the bearing beam  21 . In assembly, gaps between every two adjacent bearing beams  21  are alternatively interposed with the finger portions  14  of the housing  1  and the cam portions  31  of the actuator  3  and the shaft portions  32  are respectively supported below the corresponding bearing beam  21  from upward movement and supported behind the bottom wall of the recess  140  that receives said corresponding bearing beam  21  from forward movement. Thus the actuator  3  is rotatable between an open position as shown in  FIG. 3A  where an FPC (not shown) is allowed to be inserted into the FPC insertion slot  10  and a closed position as shown in  FIG. 3B  where the FPC is urged to electrically contact the contact beams  22  of the terminals  2 . During the insertion of the FPC or the rotation of the actuator  3 , both the bearing beam  21  and contact beam  22  of the terminal  2  are deflectable freely because there is nothing shielding above the bearing beam  21  or under the contact beam  22 , wherein each beam (the bearing beam  21  and the contact beam  22 ) provides roughly half of the required deflection. 
   Turning to  FIGS. 6–10 , description will be made as an FPC connector according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Similar parts are designated by like reference numbers. 
   The second embodiment discloses an FPC connector with a lower profile structure achieved by a similar manner as to the first embodiment, that is to have the top surface and bottom surface of the terminals exposed to exterior so as to reduce the thickness of the upper wall  11  and the bottom wall  12  of the housing  1 . However, in the second embodiment, the engaging manner of the actuator  3  and the terminals is different from the first embodiment. There are two kinds of terminals, first terminals  2  and second terminals  2 ′, alternatively arranged in the housing  1 , wherein the first terminal  2  has a pivot shaft  210  integrally bent from the tip end of the bearing beam  21  and the second terminal  2 ′ has no such a pivot shaft. Accordingly, the actuator  3  has a pressing edge (not labeled) formed with a plurality of upward compartments  36  defined by a plurality of partition walls  35 . Each partition wall  35  defines a pivot hole  350  for pivotally receiving a corresponding pivot shaft  210 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 9–12 , assembling of the connector according to this embodiment is detailed hereafter. Firstly, as shown in  FIG. 9 , the first terminals  2  are inserted into the terminal receiving groove  13  from the rear of the housing  2  along a direction designated as arrow A. Secondly, as shown in  FIG. 10 , the actuator  3  is positioned to have the pivot shaft  210  of each first terminals  2  be accommodated in a corresponding compartments  36  to align with the corresponding pivot holes  350 . Thirdly, as shown in  FIG. 11 , the actuator  3  is laterally shifted along a longitudinal direction B until the pivot shaft  210  is fully received in the pivot hole  350  and one side of the partition wall  35  abuts against the bearing beam  21 . Fourthly, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the second terminals  2 ′ are forwardly inserted into the terminal receiving groove  13 ′ along the back-to-front direction A to have the bearing beam  21 ′ thereof support against the other side of the partition wall  35 . Therefore the first and second terminals  2  and  2 ′ are alternatively arranged in the housing  1 , and each partition wall  35  is confined between the bearing beam  21  of the first terminals  2  and the bearing beam  21 ′ of the second terminals  2 ′ which are respectively located in two adjacent compartments  36 . Finally, the support members  4  are respectively plugged into the side portions of the housing  1  to support the bosses  34  of the actuator  3  to secure engagement between the actuator  3  and the terminals  2  and  2 ′. 
   Thus the actuator  3  is accurately secured in the left and right positions and prevented from shifting in the longitudinal direction, yet is pivotable freely between an open position and a closed position. After inserting the FPC in the connector, the actuator  3  can stably pivot from the open position to the closed position. While at the closed position, an underside of the pressing edge of the actuator  3  urges the FPC to tightly contact with the contact beams  21  (or  21 ′) of the first and second terminals  2 ,  2 ′. 
   There is also a rotation-preventing design between the terminals  2  (or  2 ′) and the housing  1 , which can be realized by any one of designs list in the first embodiment, and is actually specialized in this illustrated embodiment by providing a cutout  15  communicating with the terminal receiving groove  13  at the rear portion of the housing  1  and a protuberance  25  sideward protruding from the base portion  20  of the terminal  2  to be fitted in the cutout  15 , as shown in  FIG. 11 . 
   However, the disclosure is illustrative only, changes may be made in detail, especially in matter of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention.