Card with retractable RJ jack

• US 6,115,256 A
• Filed: 12/04/1998
• Issued: 09/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. (ITT, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc. (ITT, Inc.)
• Inventors: Centofante, Charles Alfred
• Primary Examiner(s): Gandhi, Jayprakash N.
• Application Number:
  US09/205,954
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: 361/684-687, 361/724-727, 361/728, 361/736, 361/737, 361/796, 439/131, 439/144, 439/676, 439/946, 206/706, 235/492, 220/4.02
• US Class Current: 361/737
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 12/722 coupling devices mounted on the edge of the printed circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 24/64 for high frequency, e.g. RJ 45
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 35/00 Flexible or turnable line connectors , i.e. the rotation angle being limited rotary current collectors, distributors H01R39/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 41/00 Non-rotary current collectors for maintaining contact between moving and stationary parts of an electric circuit end pieces terminating in a hook or the like H01R11/12; current collectors for power supply lines of electrically-propelled vehicles B60L5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/0273 having extensions for peripherals, e.g. LAN, antennas details of antennas H01Q1/2275
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 439/946 Memory card cartridge

Abstract

A thin electronic card (10) can securely receive and connect to contacts of an RJ or telephone type plug (40). The card has a vertical hole (52) through which the RJ plug can be inserted. The front wall (84) of the hole has downwardly-facing card shoulders (80,82) for abutting the upwardly-facing shoulders (70,72) of the RJ plug latch (62), and the front wall has a rib (96) with an upwardly-facing shoulder(100) that lies below and laterally between the other card shoulders to engage a largely downwardly-facing shoulder (92) on the latch. The hole is formed in an adaptor (50) that can slide forward (F) and rearward (R). The adaptor includes a frame (110) that forms the front wall of the hole and the shoulders thereat, and a separate contact block (112). The contact block slides a shorter distance than the frame when both of them are slid to the fully stowed position within the card frame (32). Contacts (116) on the contact block have resilient front ends that are slideably engaged with traces on the circuit board.

Claims

1. An electronic card with a rear portion for connection to a RJ plug, wherein the card has a small card thickness for fitting into a thin slot of an electronic device, where the length of the RJ plug to be connected is greater than the thickness of said card, and where the RJ plug includes a plug block portion, a plurality of plug terminals with engaging ends lying at a rear of the plug block portion, and a latch merging at a joint lying at a bottom of the plug block portion and extending generally upwardly therefrom in front of said plug block portion, where said latch has laterally opposite sides and a pair of upwardly facing latch side shoulders at said opposite sides and a largely downwardly-facing middle shoulders at the front of the latch at a short distance below said latch side shoulders which is less than said card thickness, wherein:

said card includes an adaptor portion that forms a primarily vertically-extending hole for receiving the RJ plug, said adaptor portion having a hole front wall and a plurality of contacts having plug-engaging contact parts at the rear of said hole;

said adaptor portion front wall forming a pair of laterally-spaced largely downwardly-facing card shoulders for engaging said largely upwardly-facing latch shoulder on the plug latch;

said adaptor portion front wall forms a rib lying below said card shoulders and forming a largely upwardly-facing rib shoulder for engaging said largely downwardly-facing middle shoulder on said latch.

2. The card described in claim 1 wherein:

said latch is resiliently deflectable toward said plug block portion at locations above said joint;

said adaptor portion has rear hole walls that limit rearward movement of said plug in said hole, and said rib projects rearward far enough that walls of said latch that form said largely downwardly-facing middle shoulder cannot pass down behind said rib even when said latch is fully deflected toward said plug block portion.

3. The card described in claim 1 wherein:

said card has a card housing and an electrical connector that is fixed to said card housing;

said adapter portion comprises an adaptor that is slidable in forward and rearward directions in said card housing and projects forward of said card housing when slid to a full forward position;

said adaptor includes a frame that forms said hole front wall, and a contact block that includes a body of insulative material and a plurality of contacts having mounted parts fixed to said body;

said frame and said contact block are separately slidable in said card housing, with said frame being slidable by a greater distance than said contact block is slidable so the front-to rear dimension of said hole is reduced when both said frame and said contact block are fully slid rearwardly into said card housing, to thereby save space in said card housing.

4. The card described in claim 1 wherein:

said card has a card housing, and has a circuit board lying in said housing and fixed in place therein;

said adapter portion comprises an adaptor that is slidable in first and second longitudinal directions in said card and said hole lies outside said housing when said adaptor is fully slid in said second direction;

said adaptor includes a frame that forms said hole front wall, and a contact block with a body and with said contacts fixed to said body;

said frame front wall extends at least about 80% of the height of said housing, while said body of said contact block has a rear portion that extends longitudinally by at least half the longitudinal length of said body and said body extends in a height direction by no more than 60% of the height of said housing, and said circuit board lies vertically beyond said body rear portion, whereby to enable said board to extend over more area of the card.

5. The card described in claim 1 wherein:

said adaptor portion includes a contact block having a body of insulative material with said contacts having middle portions fixed to said block, said block being slidable in rear and front directions between deployed and stowed positions;

said card includes a circuit board with a plurality of traces, and said contacts have rear ends in the form of resilient beams with free ends that are biased toward said traces to press firmly against said traces in said deployed position of said contact block.

6. The card described in claim 5 wherein:

said card has a card housing;

means coupled to said card housing for positioning said contact rear ends away from said traces as said contact block moves toward said deployed portion and for positioning said contact rear ends firmly against said traces as said contact block closely approaches said deployed position.

7. The card described in claim 5 wherein:

each of said traces has a short exposed trace portion, and including a film of material having a lower sliding friction than said trace portion against said beam free ends, with said film extending rearward of said exposed trace portion.

8. The card described in claim 1 wherein:

said card has a card housing;

said adapter portion comprises an adaptor that is slidable in forward and rearward longitudinal directions in said card housing between deployed and stowed positions, and said adaptor projects from said card housing when slid fully forward to said deployed position; and

including

a bendable pullout strap device which has a rear end connected to said adapter, a front portion extending in a lateral direction that is perpendicular to said longitudinal directions along the front end of said card housing in the stowed position of said adaptor, and a middle part that is bendable.

9. A combination of an electronic card (10) and an RJ plug (40), where the card has a height (E) of no more than 5 mm and where said plug has a plug block portion with a height (A) of more than 5 mm and with front and rear ends and with a plurality of plug terminals (56) at said rear end of said plug block portion, and said RJ plug has a latch (62) with a lower end merging (64) with a bottom of said plug block portion and extending generally upward therefrom and being resiliently deflectable rearwardly against said plug block portion from an initial undeflected state, where said latch has a pair of laterally opposite primarily upwardly-facing latch side shoulders (70, 72) and has a largely downwardly-facing middle latch shoulder (92) at the front of the latch and at a distance (H) of less than 5 mm below said latch side shoulders, wherein:

said card has a largely vertical hole (52) with a card hole front wall and said plug extends primarily vertically through said hole with said latch lying in substantially said initial state;

said card hole front wall having opposite sides with largely downwardly facing card shoulders (80,82) thereat that substantially abut said primarily upwardly-facing latch side shoulders, and said card hole front wall having a rib (96) with a largely upwardly facing rib shoulder (100) that lies below and has a portion that lies laterally between said card shoulders with said rib shoulder lying closely under said middle latch shoulder (92) to prevent upward movement of said plug, and with said card having a plurality of contacts (116) that engage said plug terminals.

10. The combination described in claim 9 wherein:

said card includes a card housing (32) and includes an adapter (50) that forms said largely vertical hole, with said card housing having a front end with a passage (102) therein and with said adaptor being slideable rearwardly and forwardly into and out of said passage between stowed and deployed positions when said plug is not in said hole, with said adaptor lying substantially completely within said housing in said stowed position;

said adaptor including a frame (110) that forms said card hole front wall (84), and said adaptor including a contact block (112) with a dielectric body (114) that forms at least part of a rear wall of said hole;

said frame and said contact block being slideable independently of each other with said frame being slideable further than said contact block between said stowed and deployed positions of said adaptor.

11. The combination described in claim 9 wherein:

said card includes a card housing and includes an adapter that forms said largely vertical hole, with said housing having a rear end with a passage therein and with said adaptor being slideable rearwardly and forwardly into and out of said passage between stowed and deployed positions when said plug is not in said hole, with said adaptor lying substantially completely within said housing in said stowed position;

said adaptor including a frame that forms said card hole front wall, and said adaptor including a contact block with a dielectric body and said plurality of contacts;

said card includes a circuit board fixed in said card housing and having a plurality of traces (142), with said contacts having rear ends (122) resiliently biased into engagement with said traces at least when said adapter lies in said stowed position, and with said contact rear ends slideable forward and rearward with respect to said traces.

12. An electronic card that includes a card housing with front and rear ends, a circuit board that has traces and that lies in and is fixed to said card housing, and an adaptor with a largely vertical plug-receiving hole for receiving a plug and for connecting terminals of the plug to said traces of said circuit board, wherein:

said adaptor includes a frame and a contact block that are each slideable in rearward and forward longitudinal directions between a stowed position wherein substantially all of said frame and said contact block lie in said card housing and a deployed position wherein a rear end of said frame projects a plurality of millimeters rearwardly of said card housing;

said contact block comprises a dielectric body and a plurality of contacts fixed to said body and connected to said board traces and having free front ends;

said frame and said contact block respectively form rear and front walls of said plug-receiving hole with said contact free front ends lying at the rear of said hole;

said frame and said contact block are separately slideable with said frame being slideable by a greater distance between said deployed and stowed positions of said adaptor than the distance of sliding of said contact block between said deployed and stowed positions, so the longitudinal length of said hole is smaller in said stowed position than said deployed position, to thereby minimize the space occupied by the stowed adapter.

13. The card described in claim 12 wherein said plug-receiving hole is designed to receive an RJ type plug that includes a plug block portion, a plurality of plug terminals with engagable ends lying at a rear of said plug block portion, and a latch merging at a joint lying at a bottom of a rear of the plug block portion and extending generally upward therefrom and lying forward of said plug block portion, where said latch has opposite sides and a pair of upwardly facing latch side shoulders at said opposite sides and a largely downwardly-facing middle shoulder at the front of said latch at a location below said latch side shoulders, wherein:

said front wall of said hole formed by said frame, includes a pair of laterally-spaced largely downwardly-facing frame shoulders for engaging said largely upwardly-facing latch shoulders;

said front wall of said hole also including a rib lying below said frame shoulders and forming a largely upwardly-facing rib shoulder for engaging said latch middle shoulder.

14. The card described in claim 12 wherein:

said contacts have largely rearwardly-projecting free ends that are slideable with respect to said traces on said circuit board and that bear against said traces at least in said deployed position of said adapter.

15. The card described in claim 14 wherein:

said boards have at least one film of a low sliding friction material having a lower sliding friction than said traces, lying under most of the path of said contact free ends, with said traces exposed only at a front end of said path.

16. An electronic card for insertion into an electronic device, where said card includes a card housing having front and rear ends, and said card includes a circuit board that has traces and that lies in and is fixed to said card housing, and said card includes an adaptor for connecting to a plug and for connecting terminals of the plug to said traces on said circuit board wherein:

said adaptor has a front portion and said adaptor is slidable between rear and front positions wherein said adaptor front portion respectively lies substantially completely within said card housing, and projects by at least 5 mm rearward of a rear end of said card housing;

said adaptor has a plurality of adaptor contacts with front ends projecting forward of said card housing front end in said forward position of said adaptor and lying rearward of said card front end in said rear position of said adaptor, with said adaptor contacts having resiliently deflectable rear ends that are slideably engaged with said circuit board traces.

17. The card described in claim 16 wherein:

said adaptor includes a contact block comprising a dielectric body and said adaptor contacts with said adaptor contacts have portions fixed to said body;

said card includes means for raising at least a rear end of said dielectric body when said adaptor slides from said front position toward said rear position, to minimized wear on said rear adaptor contact rear ends.

18. The card described in claim 16 including:

means positioning said contact rear ends away from said circuit board traces and against said circuit board traces as said adaptor moves respectively between said rear and front positions.

19. An electronic card for insertion into a slot in an electronic device, where said card includes a card housing and said card has front and rear ends and an adaptor that can slide rearward and forward between a rearward position wherein said adaptor lies substantially completely within said card housing and a forward position wherein said adaptor projects at least 5 mm forward of said card housing, including;

an elongated pull strap device having a front end that is attached to said adaptor and having a rear end that forms a handle for manually pulling out said adaptor from said card housing, and having an elongated part connected said front and rear ends with said elongated part being flexible at least at part of its front end;

said card housing front end forms a handle retainer into which said handle can be placed and retained until manually pulled out.