Board mounted electrical connector with improved ground terminals

An electrical connector for mounting on a printed circuit board, comprising:

• an elongated dielectric housing having a front mating end and a rear terminating end;
• a plurality of ground plates mounted on the housing and spaced longitudinally thereof, each ground plate including a body portion, a front portion projecting forwarding of the body portion at the mating end of the housing and a tail portion projecting rearwardly of the body portion at the terminating end of the housing for connection to an appropriate ground trace on the printed circuit board;
• and
• a plurality of signal terminals mounted on the housing between at least some of the ground plates, each signal terminal including a contact portion at the mating end of the housing for contacting an appropriate terminal of a complementary connecting device, the contact portions of the signal terminals being substantially within the longitudinal profiles of the front portions of the ground plates longitudinally of the housing, each signal terminal including a tail portion at the terminating end of the housing for connection to an appropriate signal circuit trace on the printed circuit board, the tail portions of the signal terminals being substantially within the longitudinal profiles of the body portions of the ground plates longitudinally of the housing.

An electrical connector for mounting on a printed circuit board, comprising:

• an elongated dielectric housing having a front mating end and a rear terminating end;
• a plurality of signal terminals mounted on the housing and spaced longitudinally thereof, each signal terminal including a contact portion at the mating end of the housing in a body portion for contacting an appropriate terminal of a complementary connecting device and a tail portion at the terminating end of the housing for connection to an appropriate signal circuit trace on the printed circuit board the signal terminals being mounted in a pair including a top and bottom signal terminal, the body portion and the contact portion of the signal terminals located in a single plane perpendicular to the printed circuit board;
• a plurality of ground plates mounted on the housing between at least some of said signal terminals, each ground plate including a body portion, a front portion projecting forwardly of the body portion at the mating end of the housing and a tail portion projecting rearwardly of the body portion at the terminating end of the housing for connection to an appropriate ground trace on the printed circuit board, the signal terminals being mounted in a pair including a top and bottom signal terminal, the body portion and the contact portion of the signal terminals located in a single plane perpendicular to the printed circuit board;
• and
• said signal terminals being substantially within the longitudinal profiles of the body portions and front portions of the ground plates in a direction longitudinally of the housing, with the tail portions of the ground plates projecting rearwardly of said profiles and the tail portion of the signal terminals including a horizontal and vertical portion joined by a right angle bend and a lateral bend, the lateral bend of the top and bottom signal terminals being opposite one another allowing the tail portions of the signal terminals to be located in planes different from said single plane.