Electrical connector assemblies

A shielded electrical connector assembly, comprising:

• an insulating housing have a top, a bottom and opposite sides;
• top and bottom conductive shield sections tamped and formed from metal material and positionable over the top and bottom, respectively, of the housing, each shield section including side walls overlying at least portions of the sides of the housing;
• and
• complementary interengageable latch means between the sides of the housing and the side walls of each of the shield sections for holding the shield sections on the housing, said latch means including only one channel molded in and extending along each side wall generally parallel to said top and bottom of the housing, and at least one latching tab formed from each side wall of the shield sections, each latching tab snapping into one of the channels on the housing.

A shielded electrical connector assembly for mating with an appropriate mating connector assembly, comprising:

• an insulating housing having a top, a bottom and opposite sides;
• a stamped and formed shield member including separate top and bottom conductive shield components positioned over the top and bottom respectively, of the housing, each shield component including side walls overlying at least portions of the sides of the housing;
• latch arms integrally formed from said shield member and folded rearwardly from front edges of the side walls of the shield member for latching the connector assembly to said appropriate mating connector assembly, said latch arms extending rearwardly outside the periphery of said insulative housing and having latching tabs thereon, the latch arms being movable between an operative latching position when the connectors are mated and an inoperative unlatching position to allow unmating of the connectors,
• an outer cover about at least a portion of the housing and movable relative thereto in a mating/unmating direction, said outer cover including recess means for accommodating the latch arms in their operative latching position;
• and
• complementary engageable cam means between the outer cover and the latch arms for moving the latch arms to the inoperative unlatching position when the cover is moved relative to the housing in the unmating direction and for allowing movement of the latch arms to the operative latching position when the cover is moved relative to the housing in the mating direction.

An electrical connector, comprising:

• an inner connector assembly including a stamped and formed metal shield and a pair of spring latch arms integrally formed with and folded rearwardly from front edges of said shield for latching the connector assembly to an appropriate mating connector, the latch arms being movable between an operative latching position when the connectors are mated and an inoperative unlatching position to allow unmating of the connectors, the latch arms further being normally biased outwardly of the inner connector assembly toward said operative latching position;
• an outer cover about at least a portion of the inner connector assembly and movable relative thereto in a mating/unmating direction, said outer cover including recess means for accommodating the latch arms in their outwardly biased operative latching position;
• and
• complementary engageable cam means between the outer cover and the latch arms for moving the latch arms to the inoperative unlatching position when the cover is moved relative to the inner connector assembly in the unmating direction and for allowing movement of the latch arms to the operative latching position when the cover is moved relative to the inner connector assembly in the mating direction.