Termination of contact tails to PC board

A termination arrangement comprising:

• a circuit board having top and bottom faces lying in substantially horizontal planes and having laterally extending front and rear rows of conductive pads on said top face;
• a connector which includes a dielectric housing lying rearward of said circuit board, said dielectric housing lying closer to rear row of conductive pads than to said front row of conductive pads, said connector also including upper and lower laterally extending rows of contacts mounted in said housing, said rows of contacts comprising upper and lower contacts respectively including upper and lower contact tails, said tails having front ends joined to said conductive pads, with rear ends of said upper tails lying above the level of said circuit board top face and above the rear ends of said lower tails;
• said lower tails are longer than said upper tails, and the front ends of said upper tails are joined to said conductive pads of said rear row of pads while said front ends of said lower tails are joined to said conductive pads of said from row of pads;
• each of said lower tails has a rear portion with a part that extends at an upward-forward incline and a front portion with a part that extends at a downward-forward incline.

A method for attaching the front ends of the tails of contact to conductive pads, where the pads lie in staggered front and rear laterally-extending rows on a top face of a circuit board, and the contact tails comprise upper and lower tails that have rear ends lying respectively in upper and lower rows at the rear of a connector housing, and the connector housing lies rearward of said rows of conductive pads, with said connector housing lying closer to said rear row than to said front row characterized by:

• bending said upper tails so they generally extend at a downward-forward incline between said rear and front ends thereof;
• bending said lower tails so said front ends of said lower tails lie forward of the front ends of said upper tails;
• positioning said tails so said front ends of upper tails lie on said pads of said rear row and the front ends of said lower tails lie on said pads of said front row, and soldering said tail front ends to said pads;
• said step of bending said lower tails includes bending them so rearward portions of said lower tails extend at an upward-forward incline from said rear ends thereof, and forward portions of said lower tails extend at an upward-rearward incline from said front ends thereof.