The Whitaker Corporation

Amp LLC

Richard C Schroepfer

Iosif Korsunsky

Dimitry G Grabbe

Monte L Kopp

Edward E Knisely, Jr

Daniel Robert Ringler

Tracy Lee Smith

Alexander William Hasircoglu

James Albert Leidy

David F Miller

Steven P Bateman

Alex Hasircoglu

An electrical connector 12 is provided for receiving a card edge into a card-receiving slot 13. A series of contacts 20 are disposed inside contact-receiving cavities 14 which are provided along the card-receiving slot 13. The contacts 20 have a cantilever arm 42, a tail section 40 and a contact section 48 which is lanced from the cantilever arm 42. The contact section 48 is profiled to have a contact point 50 located at a distance from the cantilever arm 42 near a free end 44.

Card edge connector and contact

An electrical connector 10 having a configurable ground plane 60 is provided. The connector 10 features an insulative housing 20 having an upright section 30 and a board receiving section 28. The board receiving section has open top and bottom outer surfaces 29, 27 for allowing insertion of contacts 50, 52 into contact receiving passages 34, 32. The ground plane 60 is disposed over the top set of contacts 50 and is profiled to engage selected ones of the contacts 50 in the upright section of the passages 34. The ground plane 60 is configurable in that it can be easily adapted to achieve various signal to ground contact ratios by locating contacts 92, 94 at selected positions on fingers 88 which extend into the upright section of the passages 34.

Configurable ground plane

An electrical connector 2, suitable for use as a plug for a Universal Serial Bus cable assembly, includes a plurality of terminals 4 that are partially insert molded in a nonconductive housing 36. A distal end 6 of each terminal 4 is recessed from the front end 38 of the housing 36. The terminals 4 are insert molded while still on a carrier and a weakened section 14 is formed at the distal end 6. After the housing 36 is molded, a tensile force is applied to fracture each terminal 4 at the weakened section 14 so that the distal end 6 of each terminal is recessed where it cannot inadvertently contact shields 54, 64 on the plug 2 or a mating receptacle 62. The rear of the housing is overmolded, and the insert molded housing 36 includes sections completely surrounding the terminals 4 so that the overmolded material cannot flow onto a housing mating surface 42 or onto a terminal mating section 10.

Electrical connector with insert molded housing

An electrical connector assembly 2 for use in connecting parallel printed circuit boards includes a receptacle connector 4 and a plug connector 6. The receptacle connector 4 includes receptacle contacts 8, each of which includes a surface mount solder tail 16 and a mating contact section in the form of a resilient arm 26 on opposite sides of a sealing pad 18 that seals a contact insertion opening 38 when the receptacle contact 8 is fully inserted. The mating contact portion is therefore isolated from contaminating materials, such as solder flux during surface mount solder operations. The height of the connector assembly 2 can be adjusted by using plug connectors 6 of different heights with a universal receptacle connector 4. The height of the side walls 60 on the plug housing 12, between a plug mating section and contact retention section is changed for different plug connector heights. The length of the plug contact 10 can also changed because the plug contact solder tail 56 is bent into its final position after the plug contacts 10 are mounted on the plug housing 12.

Adjustable height sealed electrical connector

An electrical cable assembly (1) comprises, an electrical connector (2) terminated to an electrical cable (3), an insulating housing (4), a moveable latch (5) on the connector (2) for latching removably to another mating electrical connector, and an overmold (8) adhered to the housing (4) and at least partially overlapping a portion of the moveable latch (5) to prevent snagging of the latch (5).

Method of fabricating an overmold onto an electrical cable assembly

An electrical connector made of overlapping layers of flexible film 8 carrying conductive traces 9 for interconnecting pins 1 to connection pads 10 on a printed circuit board surface 2a. Cylindrical elastomeric bodies 11 having parallel spaced apart conductors 25 thereon connect the traces 9 to the pads 10. Pins 1 impinge a rigid backing plate 18 upon axial forces to the pins 1 which resists axial movement of the pins 1 relative to solder joints 19 between the pins 1 and the traces 9.

Removable high density connector

Overmold strain relief and snag prevention feature

An electrical connector (2) has a dielectric housing with contact terminals (22) which extend therethrough. The contact terminals (22) are provided to electrically connect a mother board (4) to a daughter card (6). A board-receiving opening (20) is provided in the housing for reception of the daughter card (6) therein. Proximate to the board-receiving opening (20) are latch receiving openings (24) which are dimensioned to receive insertable latch members (40) therein. The latch members (40) are manufactured from material having the desired resilient and strength characteristics, thereby insuring that the latch members (40) will be effective over many cycles. Each latch member (40) has a resilient section (42) for cooperating with the daughter card (6) and a mounting section (44) for cooperating with the mother board (4). The resilient section (42) is able to accommodate a range of board sizes without taking a permanent set. If required the latch members (40) can have enhanced electrical characteristics so that the power and ground connections between the mother board (4) and the daughter card (6) can be made through the latch members (40).

Insertable latch means for use in an electrical connector

Edge connector for a circuit board has stamped and formed latch members at each end of the connector housing. The circuit board extends at an acute angle from the board receiving face of the housing when the board is in its fully inserted functional position. Each latch member is U-shaped and has one arm which has a shoulder. The shoulders overlap side edge portions of the board and are directed towards the board receiving face. The housing has internal support members which are against the bight portions of the U-shaped latch members thereby to enhance the board retaining effect of the latch members. Each latch member has a convex camming surface along which the edge of the board moves when the board is pivoted from an initial insertion position to its functional position.

Circuit board connector having improved latching system

A socket for interconnecting an electronic module to a circuit board includes an insulative housing having a plurality of terminals applying a moment to the module. A U-shaped latch is positioned within a pocket at each end of the insulative housing. The U-shaped latch is of metal and has two legs joined by a bight, the two legs being flexible as the module is rotated into a slot in the insulative housing. The U-shaped latch includes a tab extending around an upwardly extending projection on the backwall of the housing to provide additional support to the latch. The latch thus provides means for holding the module securely within the housing after rotation to an upright position.

Electronic module socket with resilient latch

A connector (2) has reliable projections (4, 6) which extend from the housing (12). Each projection (4, 6) has cavities (12, 34) which are provided proximate thereto. Ribs (26, 50) extend from the sidewalls of the cavities toward the projections. The ribs (26, 50) cooperate with intermediate portions (20, 46), such that as forces are applied to free end portions (22, 48) of the projections (4, 6), the intermediate portions (20, 46) engage the ribs (26, 50). The engagement of the intermediate portions and the ribs insures that the moment, which is created by force (F), will be distributed to the intermediate portions rather than to a fixed end portion (18, 44) of the projection, thereby insuring that a reliable structural interconnection is made.

Post means for use with a molded connector

An extraction tool (2) for removing circuit boards (4) from connectors (6) comprises printed circuit board retaining channels (52, 52') for frictionally engaging the circuit board (4) and camming member (54, 54') for cooperation with latching arm (18) of the connector (6). The tool (2) is made from two body portions (20, 22), the body portions (20, 22) being movable with respect to each other, enabling the tool (2) to compensate for various sizes of circuit boards (4). As the tool (2) is inserted onto the circuit board (4), channels (52, 52') provided in legs (46, 46') of the tool (2) frictionally engage edges of the circuit board (4). As insertion continues, the camming arms (54, 54') engage the latching arms (18) of the connector (6), thereby moving the latching arms (18) from the circuit board (4). With the latching arms (18) disengaged from the board (4), the tool (2) is retracted. The frictional engagement between the channels (52) and the edges of the board (4) causes the board (4) to be removed as the tool (2) is retracted. The operation of the tool (2) provided for the easy removal of the circuit board (4) from the connector (6), even when the connectors (6) are closely spaced together.

Extraction tool

A hand tool (10) for loading semiconductor chip carriers (30) from a supply magazine (32) into respective sockets (200) for connection to electronic circuitry is disclosed. The hand tool (10) has a loading channel (114) at the front of the load head (110) through which each chip carrier (30) passes as they are loaded into the socket (200). In order to facilitate the loading of each chip carrier (30), admitting slots (162) are provided in the walls of the loading channel (114). The admitting slots (114) are dimensioned to correspond to spaces provided between individual terminals (34) of the chip carrier (30), so that as each chip carrier (30) is loaded from the supply magazine (32) into the socket (200), the admitting slots (162) cooperate with the terminals (34) of the chip carrier (30) to insure that the chip carrier (30) will be precisely positioned in the socket (200). This permits an operator to accurately and rapidly load the chip carrier (30) directly from the supply magazine (32) into the socket (200).

Growing community of inventors

Thompsontown, PA, United States of America

Richard C Schroepfer