Electrical connector

An electrical connector straddle mounted on a printed circuit board comprising:

• a housing having a mating side face of the housing used to mate with a mating connector and a mounting side face opposing to the mating side face abutting against one edge of the printed circuit board;
• at least two support subassemblies with a plurality of signal contacts and ground members disposed thereon being installed into the housing as the main engagement parts of the connector with the mating connector and the printed circuit board;
• wherein
• portions of the ground members disposed on different support subassemblies respectively extend out of the ground members in order to electrically connect with each other and stop the further movement of the support subassemblies when the support subassemblies are installed to the predetermined positions inside the housing;
• wherein the portion of any ground member for electrical connection to another ground member and stopping mechanism is a holding element in a hook shape formed on one edge side of the ground member;
• wherein every holding element of the ground member is hooked against the mounting side face and is partially inserted into a corresponding aperture formed on the mounting side face.

An electrical connector straddle mounted on a printed circuit board comprising:

• a housing having a mating side face of the housing used to mate with a mating connector and a mounting side face opposing to the mating side face abutting against one edge of the printed circuit board;
• a support subassembly comprising signal-carrying conductors being inserted into the housing from the mounting side face to the mating side face in order to have one end of each conductor being exposed to the mating side face to electrically connect to the mating connector and the other end of each conductor extending from the mounting side face in a suspended status to be electrically engaged with the printed circuit board;
• wherein
• at least two fixing mechanisms are formed on the support subassembly, one of the fixing mechanisms is used to engage with a portion of the housing to prevent the support subassembly from further movement in the insertion direction of the support subassembly, and the other is used to engage with a portion of the housing to prevent the support subassembly from further movement in a reverse direction of the insertion direction after the support subassembly is assembled in a predetermined position inside the housing;
• wherein the conductors of the support subassembly include a plurality of signal contacts and a plane ground member;
• wherein said ground member includes several holding elements formed in a hook shape on an edge side thereof near the mounting side face in order to hook against the mounting side face as a stop in the insertion direction of the support subassembly;
• wherein said ground member further includes two tabs formed on the middle portion of the ground member and extending laterally in a predetermined length to latch on a corresponding recess inside the housing as a stop in the reverse direction;
• wherein the base of every support subassembly includes a bar portion transversely protruding from the middle part of one surface of the base along its lengthwise direction to be engaged within the housing as a stop in the insertion direction;
• wherein the base of every support subassembly includes a protrusion formed on one surface of the base in order to be engaged within the housing as a stop in the insertion direction.

An electrical connector straddle mounted on a printed circuit board comprising:

• a housing having a mating side face of the housing used to mate with a mating connector and a mounting side face opposing to the mating side face abutting against one edge of the printed circuit board;
• a support subassembly comprising a plurality of signal contacts and ground members and being installed in the housing, each signal contact comprising an engaging end extending near the mating side face to mate with the mating connector and a tail end extending out of the housing to be electrically engaged with a corresponding pad formed on the printed circuit board, and each ground member having at least one contacting leg extending out of the housing to be electrically engaged with a corresponding pad formed on the printed circuit board;
• wherein
• the tail end of the contact and the contacting leg of the ground member are staggered with each other along the lengthwise direction of the housing so that any of the tail ends and contacting legs does not pass over other pads on the printed circuit board before it reaches its own corresponding pad when the connector is being straddle mounted on the board.

An electrical connector straddle mounted on a printed circuit board comprising:

• a housing having a mating groove to receive portions of a mating connector;
• at least two support subassemblies each having a plurality of signal contacts and at least one ground member and being installed in the housing to mate with the portions of the mating connector and electrically engage with the printed circuit board;
• wherein
• the two support subassemblies are symmetrically arranged in the mating groove so that the signal contacts of these two support subassemblies are electrically separated by any one of the ground members disposed on the support subassemblies;
• wherein the ground members of said two support subassemblies include holding elements not only mutually electrically and mechanically engaged with each other but also mechanically engaged with the housing for holding the corresponding subassemblies in position in the housing;
• wherein each of said subassemblies includes a base with the corresponding signal contacts and the corresponding ground member located on two opposite surfaces thereon;
• wherein the ground member is sandwiched between the housing and the corresponding base, while the signal contacts are located in the base without direct engagement with the housing.