Connector housing
AssigneeGTE Products Corporation
InventorThomas M. Lynch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A connector housing for use with a flex board having openings therethrough completely surrounded by the flex board surface. The housing includes a top portion which pivots to open and closed positions relative to a bottom portion. Ribs extend from the bottom portion for flex board alignment and ribs extend from the top portion which interdigitate with the bottom ribs and cause the conductors on the flex board to be electrically coupled to respective contacts of the connector housing.
Claims19
A connector housing for electrically coupling to a flex board having a plurality of spaced openings extending therethrough, each opening being completely surrounded by said flex board, said flex board further having a respective conductor of a plurality of conductors on at least one side of said flex board and positioned between respective spaced openings of said plurality of spaced openings, comprising:
- a top portion including a plurality of spaced first ribs extending therefrom;
- a bottom portion removably coupled to said top portion and including a plurality of spaced second ribs extending therefrom, said first ribs of said plurality of first ribs being interleaved with said second ribs of said plurality of second ribs when said top portion is coupled to said bottom portion;
- a plurality of contacts, individual of said contacts being positioned between respective second ribs of said plurality of spaced second ribs and having a contact area extending towards a respective first rib of said plurality of spaced first ribs;
- and
- means associated with said top portion and said bottom portion for removably coupling said top portion to said bottom portion so that when said flex board is inserted between said top portion and said bottom portion a respective second rib of said plurality of spaced second ribs can extend through a respective spaced opening of said plurality of spaced openings, and a respective conductor of said plurality of conductors can be urged into electrical contact with a respective contact of said plurality of contacts by a respective first rib of said plurality of spaced first ribs, and wherein said top portion is pivotally coupled to said bottom portion for pivoting to an open position to insert said flex board between said top portion and said bottom portion and to a closed position to electrically couple a respective conductor of said plurality of conductors to a respective contact of said plurality of contacts, said coupling means including (1) a first hinge pin extending from one end of said top portion and a second hinge pin extending from an opposite end of said top portion, and (2) a corresponding first bore into which said first hinge pin is insertable at one end of said bottom portion and a corresponding second bore into which said second hinge pin is insertable at an opposite end of said bottom portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.