Electrical connector for connecting printed circuit boards

Claim 1

A two part floating connector (1) adapted to be mounted on the surface of a printed circuit board (33), said connector including, a contact housing part (2) having a plurality of first terminal receiving cavities (4); a solder tail housing part (3) adjacent said contact housing part (2) and having a plurality of second terminal receiving cavities (5) in line with the first terminal receiving cavities (4); a plurality of terminals (10), each terminal having a terminal mating section (11), a solder tail section (12) and a flexible connecting section (13), said terminal mating sections held in said first terminal receiving cavities, said solder tail sections held in said second terminal receiving cavities, whereby the contact housing (2) and solder tail housing (3) parts are held together in a plane in a generally sliding relationship with one another by the terminals; the improvement comprising: a mounting recess (30) in said solder tail housing part (3), said mounting recess having a longitudinal axis (A) extending parallel to the plane of the generally sliding relationship, a protective bar (18) extending from said terminal mating section (11) toward said solder tail housing part (3), said protective bar having an arm (20) adapted to be slidably engaged in the mounting recess (30) in a direction parallel to said longitudinal axis (A) of said mounting recess, whereby any force placed upon the terminal mating section (11) attempting to move said contact housing part (2) out of said sliding plane will be met by an opposite force cause by the arm (20) contacting an inner wall (32) of the mounting recess (30) thereby reducing stress on the flexible connecting section (13) of the terminal (10).