Plug receiving connector

Plug-receiving apparatus, comprising:

• a plastic molded connector housing having plastic housing walls forming a forwardly-opening cavity with opposite sides, said plastic housing walls including vertical side walls each lying in a primarily vertical plane and said plastic housing walls include top and bottom walls each lying in a primarily horizontal plane;
• a contact arrangement that includes a row of contacts that have mating ends lying in said cavity and that have tails;
• wherein
• said top and bottom walls of said housing have a pair of aligned slits at each of said sides of said cavity;
• and including
• a sheet metal bracket mounted on said housing, said bracket having a pair of sheet metal holding tabs that each projects through one of said slits of a pair and at least into the other slit of the pair with each of said slits having substantially the same length as the part of a tab lying therein to prevent relative movement of bracket and said housing along said slits.

A method for use with a plastic molded connector housing lying on a circuit board, where the housing has top, bottom, and side walls that form a cavity with a forwardly-opening end, to mount the housing on the circuit board, comprising:

• forming said top and bottom walls with a pair of aligned slits where the slits open into said cavity at locations adjacent to said side walls and where each slit is elongated in a forward-rearward direction;
• mounting a sheet metal bracket on said housing and on said board to hold said housing to said board, where said bracket has a top plate part with opposite sides and has a pair of downwardly extending sheet metal parts at each of said sides with one metal part being a holding tab and the other being a sheet metal side, where said holding tabs lie between said sheet metal sides and where each sheet metal side is spaced from a corresponding tab by slightly more than the thickness of one of said side walls;
• said step of mounting also including projecting said holding tabs down through a slit in said housing wall, through said cavity and at least into a slit in said housing bottom wall, while moving said sheet metal sides outside and beside said housing side walls, and attaching said sheet metal sides to said circuit board;
• said step of forming said slits and holding tabs includes forming them so they have the same lengths in forward-rearward direction, so the holding tabs can prevent movement off the plastic housing in forward and rearward directions.