Electrical connector assembly

An electrical connector assembly comprising:

• an electrical connector including a pair of insulative half housings discrete from and opposite to each other in a longitudinal direction to commonly form a receiving cavity;
• each of the half housings including a first side wall extending along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a pair of second side walls extending in the longitudinal direction to commonly form a U-shaped periphery wall in a top view;
• in each of the half housings, the first side wall forming a locking recess in an exterior face;
• and
• a one-piece pick-up cap including:
• a plate dimensioned to cover both the half housings in both the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, and
• around corresponding edge regions of the plate, a pair of first claws each downwardly extending from the plate to engage the corresponding locking recess of the first side wall of the half housing, and a plurality of positioning blocks each downwardly extending from the plate into the receiving cavity to cooperate with the corresponding first claw for snugly sandwiching the corresponding first side wall therebetween in the longitudinal direction so as to secure the half housing to the pick-up cap in the longitudinal direction, wherein
• in each of the half housings, the pair of second side walls form a pair of second locking recesses in corresponding exterior faces, respectively, and the pick-up cap forms two pairs of second claws respectively engage the corresponding second locking recesses of both half housings, respectively, so as to secure the half housings to the pick-up cap in the transverse direction.

A method of assembling a pick-up cap to an electrical connector, comprising steps of:

• providing a pair of insulative half housings which are discrete from each other, each half housing including a first side wall extending along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a pair of second side walls extending in the longitudinal direction to commonly form a U-shaped periphery wall in a top view;
• forming a first locking recess in an exterior face of the first side wall;
• forming a second locking recess in each second side wall;
• providing a one piece pick-up cap with a plate and a pair of first claws on opposite short sides and two pairs of second claws on opposite long sides, and at least one pair of positioning blocks around the opposite short sides;
• wherein
• the pick-up cap is assembled upon both the pair of half housings with the first claws are engaged within the corresponding first locking recesses, the second claws are engaged within the corresponding second locking recesses, and the positioning blocks are received within the receiving cavity to cooperate with the corresponding first claws to sandwiched the corresponding first side walls therebetween in the longitudinal direction for securement whereby the pair of half housing are capable of being secured to the pick-up cap independently and individually without mutual influence.