Electrical connector having inetrengaged grounding contacts

An electrical connector comprising:

• a terminal module including an insulative housing with two rows of terminals and a metallic shielding plate therein, the terminals in each row arranged in a transverse direction while each of said terminals extending along a front-to-back direction perpendicular to said transverse direction, said shielding plate located between the two rows of terminals in a vertical direction perpendicular to both said transverse direction and said front-to-back direction;
• said shielding plate being made via a metal insert-molding process and having a pair of projections on two lateral sides in said transverse direction, each of said projections extending away from a flat supporting portion in said vertical direction;
• wherein
• in each row, said terminals include a pair outermost grounding contacts at two opposite ends in said transverse direction, and at least one of said pair of grounding contacts includes a hook structure to grasp the corresponding projection for both mechanical and electrical connection therebetween.

An electrical connector comprising:

• a terminal module including an insulative housing with two rows of terminals and a metallic shielding plate therein, the terminals in each row arranged in a transverse direction while each of said terminals extending along a front-to-back direction perpendicular to said transverse direction, said shielding plate located between the two rows of terminals in a vertical direction perpendicular to both said transverse direction and said front-to-back direction;
• in each row, said terminals include a pair outermost grounding contacts at two opposite ends in said transverse direction, each of said grounding contacts having a hook structure to mechanical and electrical connect to either the shielding plate or another grounding contact opposite to said shielding plate in said vertical direction;
• and
• each row of terminals being integrally formed within a corresponding insulative housing unit vi an insert-molding process;
• wherein
• said hook structure of the grounding contact in one row of said terminals grasps the insulative housing unit integrally formed with the other row of terminals so as to have the two housing units associated with said two rows of terminals are assembled together with the shielding plate therebetween in the vertical direction.