Thin smart card connector

Apparatus for mounting on a circuit board that has an upper board face with a plurality of solderable traces thereon, and for engaging contact pads on a card that is moved to a position closely over and in a plane parallel to said upper board face, and for detecting the presence of the card, comprising:

• a plurality of first contacts having portions lying on said circuit board and solderable to one of said solderable traces, with each of said first contacts having a blade extending at an upward incline to engage one of said card contact pads;
• said circuit board having a switching trace;
• a switch contact having a portion lying on said circuit board and soldered to one of said solderable traces, with said switch contact having a deflectable switch beam with a beam location lying over said switching trace but initially out of engagement with said switching trace, but being depressable against said switching trace;
• said switch contact includes a blade extending higher above said circuit board than said switch beam and connected to said switch beam, so said switch beam is depressed when said blade is depressed by said card but said switch beam is not depressed primarily by direct engagement with said card.

Apparatus for mounting on a circuit board that has an upper board face with a plurality of solderable traces thereon, and for engaging contact pads on a card that is moved to a position closely over and in a plane parallel to said upper board face, and for detecting the presence of the card, comprising:

• a plurality of first contacts having portions lying on said circuit board and solderable to one of said solderable traces, with each of said first contacts having a blade extending at an upward incline to engage one of said card contact pads;
• said circuit board having a switching trace;
• a switch contact having a portion lying on said circuit board and soldered to one of said solderable traces, with said switch contact having a deflectable switch beam with a beam location lying over said switching trace but initially out of engagement with said switching trace, but being depressable against said switching trace;
• said switch contact has a pair of laterally-spaced blades that generally extend at an upward incline and that have card-engaging locations that are positioned to be depressed by said card;
• said switch beam has one end coupled to said blades to be depressed when said card-engaging locations on said blades are depressed, with said beam location lying sufficiently below said card-engaging locations of said blades, so said beam location lies below said blade locations even when said beam location engages said switching trace.