Itt Corporation

Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Itt Industries, Inc.

Itt Cannon, Ltd.

Gary C Bethurum

Charles Linsday Bates, Iii

Werner Biermann

Robert J Shiley

Anthony John Knights

Jan Zeyfang

A connector is disclosed for a battery having upper and lower terminals. The connector is in the form of a flexible circuit that is bent around one side of the battery, and includes an upper section overlying the upper terminal of the battery and a lower section below the lower terminal of the battery. The upper and lower sections of the flexible circuit have conductors thereon that engage the battery terminals. The conductors extend to a connecting section of the flexible circuit to make electrical contact with the conductors of an electronic component.

Battery connector

The rear of a thin IC card is provided with a jack (42A, 42B, FIG. 4) that can receive a multi-contact audio type plug (40) having a diameter that is more than half the thickness of the card. The circuit board has a slot (60) that opens into the rear of the card. A U-shaped insulative block (80) is mounted on the card, with the opposite arms of the block lying at opposite sides of the board slot. Sheet metal contacts are mounted on the block and project into the slot in the circuit board, with each contact having a vertically-extending plug-engaging part (120) lying in the circuit board slot. The IC card includes a housing with a rear end cap (140) having a largely cylindrical passage (142A, 142B) that guides an audio-type plug into the slot in the circuit board to engage the contacts thereat. The end cap is constructed to form a rearward extension of the card that projects rearward of a card-receiving host slot, to enable a wide plug handle to be inserted against the rear of the end cap.

Audio/power jack

Audio/power jack for IC card

A connector system includes a receptacle that is small and assures precise alignment of mating contacts and terminals. The receptacle includes a circuit board (32) with a laterally-extending row of traces (42), and a receptacle housing (36) with a top wall (44) lying above the traces to form a cavity (16) between them. A plug front portion has a row of contacts (60) for entering the cavity and engaging the traces. The top wall has a row of cam surfaces (120) while the plug contacts have front portions with cam follower locations (112) that slide down along the cam surfaces. This causes trace-engaging locations (114) on the contacts to move down against the traces. The top wall has a row of downwardly-projecting ribs (72) that form the cam surfaces. The plug housing (62) has a row of separators that fit into the spaces between the ribs. The plug has a coax section (230) that includes a pair of laterally-spaced grounded contacts (246, 248), a signal contact (260) with its front portion (262) lying between the grounded contacts, and a grounded tine (264) that lies under the signal contact.

Low profile connector system

A frameless IC card is provided, with front and rear support structures that each includes an electrical connector, with a sheet metal cover mounted on the front and rear board supports without requiring a separate plastic frame to tie the components together. The rear support structure includes at least one rear connector (11', 12', FIG. 3) fixed to the circuit board rear end (104') and an end cap (16') at the rear of the IC card. The end cap has upper and lower flanges (126T, 126B) that form a recess therebetween that closely receives the rear of the rear connector housing to fix their relative vertical positions. The rear end cap has forwardly-extending legs (47, 48) at opposite sides, with each leg having a lug (51, 52) forming a rearwardly-facing shoulder (150) that fits into a cutout (53) at a side of the circuit board, to prevent forward movement of the connector and circuit board out of the rear end cap. Different types of IC cards have their circuit boards at different heights, which is accomplished by mounting the rear connector at different heights on the circuit board.

IC card rear board-connector support

IC card connector

A frameless IC card is provided, with a rear board support (26) to hold the rear of a circuit board, wherein a single design of rear board support can hold circuit board rear ends (24A, 24B, 24C) at a selected one of a plurality of different heights. The rear board support has top and bottom horizontal flanges (52, 54) and a plurality of vertical ribs (61-66) merging with the flanges, with the ribs being laterally spaced apart. A first set of vertical ribs (61, 62) has horizontal grooves (71, 72) of a first height extending into its front edge, with the grooves being about as thick as the circuit board, to closely receive the rear (24A) of a circuit board and thereby vertically position it. The rear board support includes a second set of ribs (63, 64) with horizontal grooves (73, 74) lying at a different height, to thereby hold a circuit board rear end (24B) at a different height, thereby enabling the same rear board support to hold circuit boards at selected heights. The rear of the circuit board has slots (83-86, 112-113, 115-116, 121-124) that receive ribs that do not closely position the height of the circuit board. The rear board support has forwardly-projecting latch legs (130, 132) that fit into circuit board cutouts (140, 142), so shoulders (144, 146) on the legs and on the cutouts engage to prevent the circuit board from pulling forwardly (F) out of the rear board support.

IC card rear board support

Interconnector

An IC card is provided which can be constructed at low cost and which allows adjustment of circuit board position. The circuit board (30, FIG. 2) has forward and rearward end portions (34, 36) which are mounted directly on forward and rearward connectors (12, 14), without a separate frame to mechanically hold them together. A cover (60) with upper and lower parts (66, 68), is mechanically mounted to the connectors and is coupled to the circuit board only in an electrical ground. Each connector is mounted to a circuit board end by pegs (90, 92) that lie on laterally opposite sides of the row of connector contacts (46), with each peg being received in a hole (100, 102) of the circuit board. The pegs can be separate parts (270, FIG. 12) that project through holes (254) in the board and into holes (250) in the connector, and washers (262) can lie between the board and each connector at locations adjacent to the pegs.

IC card with board positioning means

An IC card is provided which can be constructed at low cost and which allows adjustment of circuit board position. The circuit board (30, FIG. 2) has forward and rearward end portions (34, 36) which are mounted directly on forward and rearward connectors (12, 14), without a separate frame to mechanically hold them together. A cover (60) with upper and lower parts (66, 68), is mechanically mounted to the connectors and is coupled to the circuit board only in an electrical ground. Each-connector is mounted to a circuit board end by pegs (90, 92) that lie on laterally opposite sides of the row of connector contacts (46), with each peg being received in a hole (100, 102) of the circuit board. The pegs can be separate parts (270, FIG. 12) that project through holes (254) in the board and into holes (250) in the connector, and washers (262) can lie between the board and each connector at locations adjacent to the pegs.

A plug connector is provided that has a latching mechanism for locking to a receptacle connector at the rear of an IC card, wherein the latching mechanism occupies a minimum of space which otherwise could be occupied by additional contacts. The latch mechanism includes a pin-shaped latch (40, FIG. 3) which is rotatable about a latch axis (80) and which has a pair of radial projections (84, 86) at its forward end, so when the projections are inserted into the receptacle housing and turned 90.degree., the projections prevent withdrawal of the latch and therefore prevent withdrawal of the plug connector. An actuator (44) for operating the latch, includes a pair of handles (46, 48) at opposite side edges of the plug connector and a crossbar (104) that connects them and that has a pin (106) which extends into a helical groove (102) at the rear of the latch. The hole (116, FIG. 10) in the receptacle connector housing is an undercut hole which forms a pair of forwardly-facing shoulders (112) for abutting shoulders (90) at the rear ends of the projections.

Latch for IC card connector

A cover assembly for an IC card includes top and bottom covers (52, 54) with overlapping side rails (70, 80). At each side of the card, a downwardly-extending top side rail (70) lies facewise adjacent to an upwardly extending bottom side rail (80), and a layer (90) of solder is sandwiched between the rails and is bonded to each of them. The solder layer extends along most of the height of each cover side, so the two rails and the solder layer between them serve as a single rigid beam. The cover assembly can be, instead, spot welded at a plurality of locations at each side of the card, to weld the two rails facewise together.

IC card rigidized cover

An IC card has a frame (14, FIG. 2) that protects the circuit board-and-connector assembly (12), wherein the frame is sturdy and of low cost and provides good EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding. The frame includes lower and upper sheet metal shield halves (50, 52) each having large area sheets (60, 80) covering the bottom and top of the circuit board-and-connector assembly. The lower shield half has a pair of upstanding lower rails (70, 72) that extend along most of the length of each side, while the upper shield half has a pair of depending rails (86, 88) at its opposite sides that lie facewise against the outer surfaces of the lower rails. The lower ends (100, FIG. 4) of the upper rails are bent 90.degree. to lie under the lower sheet, and the upper ends (112) of the lower rails abut the upper sheet. The circuit board and connector assembly is placed in the lower shield half, and the upper shield half is positioned with its rear end aligned with the front end of the lower shield half, with the upper shield half then being slid rearwardly to its final position.

IC card protective cover

A connector assembly is disclosed having a latching mechanism for locking the assembly to the rear of an IC (integrated circuit) card. The assembly incorporates an actuator for operating the latching mechanism. The actuator is rotatably mounted at the rear portion of the housing of the connector assembly, which allows the assembly to have a short profile. The cable for the assembly is connected to one side of the housing.

Connector assembly for IC card

An IC card is provided which can be constructed at low cost and which allows adjustment of circuit board position. The circuit board (32, FIG. 2) has forward and rearward end portions (34, 36) which are mounted directly on forward and rearward connectors (12, 14), without a separate frame to mechanically hold them together. A cover (60) with upper and lower parts (66, 68), is mechanically mounted to the connectors and is coupled to the circuit board only in an electrical ground. Each connector is mounted to a circuit board end by pegs (90, 92) of support parts (91, 93 and 95, 97) that lie on laterally opposite sides of the row of connector contacts (46), with each peg being received in a hole (100, 102) of the circuit board and with the circuit board resting on a board-receiving surface (150, FIG. 4) lying adjacent to the peg. The pegs can have two or more steps (140, 142, 144) to hold the circuit board at different heights.

Growing community of inventors

Laguna Niguel, CA, United States of America

Gary C Bethurum