Smart card adapter latch
AssigneeITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.
InventorDouglas Reid Gastineau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An adapter is described for receiving a smart card (16) and for electrically connecting smart card pads (24) to terminals (44) at the rear of a PC card (40), which includes a simple and reliable latch (72) for locking the adaptor to the PC card. The latch is slidably mounted on the connector, and has a rear part (74) positioned to be pushed forward by the leading edge (80) of a smart card, and a front part (62) in the form of a pin that causes a pair of arms (54, 56) of the adaptor to lock to the PC card. The rear part is in the form of a flat bar that lies in the plane of the smart card-receiving slot (14), the flat bar extending across the width of the adaptor and having handles (100, 102) at its opposite sides that project from opposite sides of the adaptor housing for manual movement of the latch.
Claims13
An adaptor for receiving thin a card that has a card leading edge, and for connecting to a PC card rear connector and locking to a strike of the PC card, comprising:
- a latch having a latch rear part positioned to be moved at least partially forward by said card leading edge, said latch having a latch front part moveable by said rear part to lock said latch to said PC card strike.
A smart card adaptor for connecting pads on a face of a planar smart card that has a leading edge, to terminals of a PC card rear connector that lies at the rear of the PC card, and for mating with the PC card, where the PC card rear connector has a strike, where the adapter has a housing with guide walls forming a slot for receiving the smart card, and where the adaptor has a plurality of contact means with first contact ends for engaging the smart card pads and second contact ends coupled to said first contact ends for engaging the PC card rear connector terminals, wherein said adaptor includes:
- a latch mechanism which includes a latch that is moveable between a locked position wherein it locks said adaptor to said strike when said adaptor and PC card rear connector are mated, and a release position wherein it releases said adaptor from said locked position;
- said latch mechanism includes a latch with a front part that is movably mounted on said housing between a locked position wherein it maintains said latch in said locked position and a release position, and a rear part that is positioned in the path of said smart card leading edge to be moved by said leading edge, with said rear part being coupled to said front part to hold said front part in said locked position when said rear part has been moved to said locked position by said leading edge.
A smart card adaptor for receiving a smart card that has pads and a leading edge, wherein the adaptor includes an adaptor housing with a front portion and with a pair of forwardly-projecting arms that have front ends with lugs thereon with said arms being deflectable toward and away from each other and forming a pin-receiving space between them, said adaptor including a latch that includes a pin that can move forward and rearward between said arms between lock and release positions, wherein:
- said housing includes a rearwardly-opening smart card slot that can receive the smart card when it is inserted forwardly to a full insertion position, said adaptor including a plurality of contacts for engaging the pads when the card is in said full insertion position;
- said latch has a rear end lying in line with said slot and lying a plurality of millimeters rearward of the card leading edge of the fully inserted card in said release position of said pin and lying even with said card leading edge of the fully inserted card in said lock position of said pin.
A smart card adaptor for connecting pads on a face of a planar smart card that has a leading edge, to terminals of a PC card rear connector that lies at the rear of the PC card, and for mating with the PC card, where the PC card rear connector has a strike, where the adapter has a housing with guide walls forming a slot for receiving the smart card, where the adaptor has a plurality of contact means with first contact ends for engaging the smart card pads and second contact ends coupled to said first contact ends for engaging the PC card rear connector terminals, and where the adaptor has a switch with a switch actuator lying rearward of the front end of a path of said smart card leading edge to be moved by the smart card leading edge as the smart card approaches a fully installed position wherein said adaptor includes:
- a latch mechanism which includes a latch that is moveable between a locked position wherein it locks said adaptor to said strike when said adaptor and PC card rear connector are mated, and a release position wherein it releases said adaptor from said locked position;
- said latch mechanism includes a latch with a front part that is movably mounted on said housing between a locked position wherein it maintains said latch in said locked position and a release position, and a rear part that is positioned in the path of said smart card leading edge to be moved by said leading edge, with said rear part being coupled to said front part to hold said front part in said locked position when said rear part has been moved to said locked position by said leading edge;
- said housing has a width and has opposite sides;
- said rear part of said latch is slideably mounted on said housing and has a plate-like portion lying in the path of said card leading edge and extending across the width of said housing, and forming handles at said housing opposite sides;
- said plate-like portion has a recess and said switch actuator lies in said recess.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.