Electrical connector with vibration resistance

Claim 2

In a circuit card connector having an insulative body in which is Formed a socket adapted to receive a lower, contactbearing marginal edge of a circuit card, an improved arrangement for supporting both side edges of said circuit card, said improvement comprising a pair of co-extending card guides, each card guide being formed integrally with said insulative body at a different end of said socket and extending outwardly beyond said insulative body and having a heightwise extending, edge-receiving slot formed therein in fixed alignment with said socket to receive a side edge of said inserted card guide, and resilient dampening means on each card guide, each said dampening means having a pair of opposed card-engaging protrusions protruding toward each other into the edgereceiving slot of that card guide for engaging between them opposed faces of said inserted circuit card adjacent the side edge received in that card guide and at a level that is above both said lower card edge and said socket-forming portion of said insulative body, each said dampening means being formed by a single structural element that provides both protrusions of that dampening means.

Claim 3

A connector as defined in claim 1 wherein each said dampening means comprises a pair of heightwise extending fingers disposed within said edge-receiving slot and spaced apart laterally of said socket for receiving said printed circuit card therebetween, and means for securing the lower end of each said finger to said insulative body.

Claim 4

A connector as defined in claim 1 wherein each said dampening means comprises a pair of heightwise extending fingers of electrically conductive material disposed within said edge-receiving slot and spaced apart laterally of said socket to enable a side edge of said circuit card to be inserted therebetween, each said finger having a contact tail formed integrally therewith and extending downwardly through and beyond the bottom of said connector body.

Claim 5

A connector as defined in claim 1 wherein each said dampening means comprises a pair of heightwise extending fingers disposed within each edge-receiving slot and spaced apart laterally of said socket for receiving a printed circuit card therebetween, each finger being bowed at a point intermediate its ends to define an apex which protrudes into said end slot and which constitutes said protruding portion of said dampening means adapted to engage said inserted circuit card, and further comprising means securing the lower end of each said finger to said insulative body for mounting said resilient dampening means at each end of said insulative body and disposing at least a portion of said dampening means in engagement with the face of said inserted circuit card adjacent its side edge and at a level that is above said lower marginal edge thereof.

Claim 6

A connector as defined in claim 4 wherein said apexes of said fingers of each dampening means are disposed at different levels.

Claim 7

A connector as defined in claim 4 wherein said fingers of each dampening means are of unequal length.

Claim 8

A connector as defined in claim 6 wherein said apexes of each dampening means are spaced heightwise with respect to each other.

Claim 9

In a circuit card connector having an insulative body in which is formed a socket adapted to receive the lower marginal edge of a circuit card, an improved arrangement for supporting a side edge of said circuit card comprising, in combination a card guide formed integrally with said insulative body at an end of said socket, said card guide extending outwardly beyond said insulative body and having a heightwise extending end slot formed therein to receive a side edge of said inserted circuit card, resilient dampening means comprising a pair of heightwise extending fingers of unequal length disposed within said end slot and spaced apart laterally of said socket for receiving a printed circuit card therebetween, and means securing the lower end of each said finger to said insulative body, and means mounting said dampening fingers on said insulative body at Each end thereof and disposing at least a portion of said fingers in engagement with said inserted circuit card adjacent its side edge and at a level that is above said lower marginal edge thereof.

Claim 10

In a circuit card connector having an insulative body in which is formed a socket adapted to receive the lower marginal edge of a circuit card, an improved arrangement for supporting a side edge of said circuit card comprising, in combination a card guide formed integrally with said insulative body at an end of said socket, said card guide extending outwardly beyond said insulative body and having a heightwise extending end slot formed therein to receive a side edge of said inserted circuit card, resilient dampening means comprising a pair of heightwise extending fingers of unequal length disposed within said end slot and spaced apart laterally of said socket for receiving a printed circuit card therebetween, and means securing the lower end of each said finger to said insulative body, and means mounting said dampening fingers on said insulative body at Each end thereof and disposing at least a portion of said fingers in engagement with said inserted circuit card adjacent its side edge and at a level that is above said lower marginal edge thereof.

Claim 11

In a circuit card connector having an insulative body in which is formed a socket adapted to receive the lower marginal edge of a circuit card, an improved arrangement for supporting a side edge of said circuit card, said improvement comprising a card guide formed integrally with said insulative body at an end of said socket and extending outwardly beyond said insulative body and having a heightwise extending end slot formed therein to receive a side edge of said inserted circuit card, resilient dampening means comprising a pair of spaced apart and heightwise extending fingers joined at their lower ends at a bight, and means mounting said resilient dampening means on said insulative body at each end thereof and disposing at least a portion of said dampening means for engagement with the face of said inserted circuit card adjacent its side edge and at a level that is above said lower marginal edge thereof and which comprises a retaining member disposed at the bottom of said socket and passing through said bight.

Claim 12

In a circuit card connector having an insulative body in which is formed a socket adapted to receive the lower marginal edge of a circuit card, an improved arrangement for supporting a side edge of said circuit card, said improvement comprising a card guide formed integrally with said insulative body at an end of said socket and extending outwardly beyond said insulative body and having a heightwise extending end slot formed therein to receive a side edge of said inserted circuit card, resilient dampening means comprising a pair of spaced apart and heightwise extending fingers joined at their lower ends at a bight, and means mounting said resilient dampening means on said insulative body at each end thereof and disposing at least a portion of said dampening means for engagement with the face of said inserted circuit card adjacent its side edge and at a level that is above said lower marginal edge thereof and which comprises a retaining member disposed at the bottom of said socket and passing through said bight.

Claim 13

In an electrical connector for a printed circuit card having a contact edge spaced from an outer edge and having two side edges normal to said contact and outer edges, said connector including i. an elongated body having two ends and recessed with a contact-seating channel extending therebetween for receiving said contact edge, ii. two elongated card guides, each of which is fixedly secured to said connector body adjacent an end thereof and extends from said body in the direction in which said channel faces, and each of which is recessed with a slot extending therealong and facing the slot in the other card guide, said card guide guidingly receiving in said slots the side edges of a card inserted into said connector, the improvement comprising a single structural member forming a pair of opposed and conjoined slot-constricting card-engaging means on each said card guide in fixed alignment with said contact-seating channel and protruding on that guide into said slot therein for interferingly engaging with resilient force opposite surfaces of said card adjacent said respective side edge, each pair of slot-constricting means protruding into a card-guide slot at a position along the card guide which is spaced from said connector body to engage said card at a location removed from said contact edge thereof in the direction toward said outer edge thereof.

Claim 14

In an electrical connector for a printed circuit card having a contact edge spaced from an outer edge and having two side edges normal to said contact and outer edges, said connector including i. an elongated body having two ends and recessed with a contact-seating channel extending therebetween for receiving said contact edge, ii. two elongated card guides, each of which is fixedly secured to said connector body adjacent an end thereof and extends from said body in the direction in which said channel faces, and each of which is recessed with a slot extending therealong and facing the slot in the other card guide, said card guide guidingly receiving in said slots the side edges of a card inserted into said connector, the improvement comprising a single structural member forming a pair of opposed and conjoined slot-constricting card-engaging means on each said card guide in fixed alignment with said contact-seating channel and protruding on that guide into said slot therein for interferingly engaging with resilient force opposite surfaces of said card adjacent said respective side edge, each pair of slot-constricting means protruding into a card-guide slot at a position along the card guide which is spaced from said connector body to engage said card at a location removed from said contact edge thereof in the direction toward said outer edge thereof.