Patent ID: 7361042

Claim:
An electrical connector comprising; a housing made of insulator and provided with an opening through which a circuit board is inserted into the housing, a plurality of conductive contacts arranged in the housing, each of said conductive contacts having a fixed part engaging with a board-shaped portion of the housing and an operating part movable to the fixed part, and an actuator provided to be rotatable to the housing for engaging with the conductive contacts and to take up a first station and a second station selectively for moving the operating part of each of the conductive contacts to come into press-contact with one of the connecting terminals corresponding thereto so that the circuit board is held by the conductive contacts when the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon and the actuator is shifted from the first station to the second station and for moving the operating part of each of the conductive contacts to get out of press-contact with the corresponding one of the connecting terminals so that the circuit board is loosened from holding by the conductive contacts when the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon and the actuator is shifted from the second station to the first station, wherein said conductive contacts arranged in the housing include first and second contacts, each of said first and second contacts are configured to have one of substantially the same space between the fixed and operating parts thereof and substantially the same space between the operating part thereof and the board-shaped portion of the housing when the actuator is postured to take the first station and the circuit board is not inserted into the housing, wherein the operating part of each of the first contacts is configured to exert a first temporary holding force on the circuit board inserted into the housing when the actuator is postured to take the first station and the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon, and wherein the operating part of each of the second contacts is configured to exert a second temporary holding force on the circuit board inserted into the housing when the actuator is postured to take the first station and the circuit board is inserted into the housing through the opening provided thereon, the second temporary holding force exerted on the circuit board being different from the first temporary holding force exerted on the circuit board.