Edge board connector with positive board lock

Claim 1

A connector for electrically connecting circuits on mother and daughter printed circuit boards, said connector including an elongate dielectric housing with a cavity formed along its length with an opening for receiving said daughter board mating edge and defining opposed front and rear walls in said housing, a plurality of terminals mounted in the housing, each terminal having one end adapted to engage a daughter board circuit and another end adapted to contact a mother board circuit, means on the housing for mounting the connector to said mother board, and latch means formed on the housing for releasably securing said daughter board to said connector, the improvement comprising: said daughter board including a plurality of latch-receiving cut-outs disposed near said mating edge; said integral latch means being a latch assmebly including a corresponding plurality of resilient vertical arm members spacedly disposed within the cavity, each vertical arm member hingeably connected to said rear wall having a forwardly extending latch tab adapted to be received within a cut-out of the daughter board and a manipulable actuator opposite the tab, said actuators being mechanically interconnected by a integrally formed bail bar, said bail bar being disposed outside of the housing in parallel spaced relation to said rear wall to define a tool receiving gap therebetween, said latch assembly being moveable between a normal closed vertical position wherein said tabs are received within said cut outs and a release position wherein said tabs are retracted from said cut-outs, whereby said latch assembly is actuable by rearward movement of said bail bar from a closed position to a release position to permit insertion or withdrawl of said mating edge into the cavity through said opening.