JP2002190355A - Locking mechanism of card connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a locking mechanism to prevent a card from being detached carelessly. SOLUTION: The locking mechanism uses a recess (a hole or a groove) provided in the card. A sliding member, movable between a card used position in which the sliding member, is pressed by the card and moves and a card inserted and detached position, in which the card inserted into the card used position is pushed out, is provided with a leaf spring having a locking protrusion which can be engaged with the detached from the recess in the card on its free end. A base has a locking surface changing a contact position, engaged with the leaf spring, and changing easiness of elastic deformation of the leaf spring accompanying the sliding of the sliding member. When the sliding member is in the card-inserted and detached position by the locking surface, the elastic deformation for engaging and detaching the locking protrusion of the leaf spring with/from the recess of the card, by inserting and detaching force applied to the card, is allowed. When the sliding member is in the card usage position, the elastic deformation is disabled, and the locking protrusion and the recess of the card cannot be engaged or detached, even if the inserting and detaching force is applied to the card.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a lock mechanism for a card connector, and more particularly to a lock mechanism for preventing a card having a concave portion from being accidentally dropped from a card use position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a kind of connector for various information recording cards (hereinafter referred to as "cards"), a card is inserted into a card slot of a base member and moved to a card use position together with a slide member. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been known a connector that allows the slide member to be moved to a card insertion / removal position by a moving mechanism so that the card can be inserted / removed. The land group of the card is electrically connected to the contact group of the base member at the card use position, and information is recorded on the card or recorded information is read.

[0003] In this card connector, it is preferable to provide a lock mechanism to prevent the card at the use position from falling off due to disturbance such as vibration. This lock mechanism is required to be miniaturized with the miniaturization of the card, and it has been difficult to sufficiently reduce the size of the conventional product.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a locking mechanism for a card connector having a very simple structure which can cope with miniaturization of a card.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes a lock mechanism utilizing a concave portion of a card having a concave portion (hole or groove). That is, the present invention
Base member having a card slot for inserting and removing a card:
The base member is movably supported in the same direction as the card to be inserted into the card slot and is moved by being pressed by the card. A lock member for the card connector, the slide member being movable between the card use position and the card insertion / removal position. A leaf spring body having a lock projection which can be disengaged with the recess of the card on the free end side and a base fixed to the slide member under the condition that the slide member slides; A locking surface provided on the base member, the locking surface being engaged with the leaf spring body by changing a contact position thereof. When the card is in the card insertion / removal position, the insertion / removal force applied to the card allows elastic deformation for engaging and disengaging the lock projection of the leaf spring body with the recess of the card. The present invention is characterized in that the elastic deformation of the leaf spring body is not allowed even when a force is applied, so that the lock projection and the recess of the card cannot be engaged or disengaged.

As a slide member moving mechanism, a heart cam mechanism and a swing lever mechanism are conventionally known, and any of them can be adopted.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a base member 10 made of synthetic resin is fixed on a substrate B. The base member 10 has a substantially U-shaped plane having both side walls 11 and a contact support wall 12 connecting one end of the both side walls 11, and a card slot is formed between the both side walls 11.

The contact support wall 1 of the base member 10
2, a plurality of contacts 20 are supported. One end of each contact 20 is soldered and soldered to a land on the board B, and the other end is in contact with the land of the card M which is inserted between the side walls 11 and reaches the regular card insertion position. The contact leg 22 is formed.

One of the side walls 11 of the base member 10 has
As shown in FIG. 2, a slide guide cylinder 13 and a guide rail 14 of the slide member 30 are formed. The guide rails 14 are formed above and below the slide guide tube 13, respectively, in a direction parallel to the side walls 11.

On the other hand, the slide member 30 has an engagement portion 31 that engages with the front end portion of the card M, and a slide guide portion 33 that has a guide groove 32 that slidably engages with the guide rail 14. It is substantially L-shaped. Therefore, the slide member 30 can move in a direction parallel to the direction of the side walls 11. The base member 10 includes a spring hook member 15.
(FIG. 1) is fixed. The slide member 30 has a heart cam 35 and a spring hook 36 on a side surface (a wall facing the slide guide cylinder 13) 34 of the slide guide portion 33.
Are formed. A tension coil spring 39 is stretched between the spring hook member 15 on the base member 10 side and the spring hook projection 36 on the slide member 30 side, and the slide member 30 (card M) is discharged from the base member 10. Biased in the direction.

On the side wall 11 of the base member 10, one end of a leaf spring member 40 forming a pair with a heart cam 35 formed on the opposite wall 34 of the slide member 30 and constituting a heart cam mechanism is fixed. The heart cam mechanism of this embodiment includes only the heart cam 35 and the leaf spring member 40 (and the fixing pin 41 for fixing the leaf spring member 40 to the side wall 12). The leaf spring member 40 has a fixing hole 42 at one end thereof fixed to the side walls 11 by a fixing pin 41, and has a pin portion 43 at the other end engaging with the heart cam 35. In the middle of the leaf spring member 40, a biasing spring portion 44 is formed as a cut-and-raised piece so as to project in a direction opposite to the pin portion 43, and the pin portion 43 biases the side wall 11. It contacts the wall surface 16. As a result, the end of the leaf spring member 40 on the pin portion 43 side is urged to move toward the heart cam 35, and the pin portion 43 is engaged with the heart cam 35.

The shape of the heart cam 35 is well known.
When the card M is inserted into a card slot formed by both side walls 11 of the base member 10 and is brought into contact with the engaging portion 31 of the slide member 30 and further pushed in against the force of the extension coil spring 39, the slide member 30 Is pushed with the card M. Then, as shown in FIG.
Enters the second section b relatively through the first section a of the heart cam 35. When the force pressing the slide member 30 is released after the pin 43 enters the second section b, the pin 43 relatively returns to the second section b to reach the stopper recess c. This position is the card use position. Next, when the slide member 30 is pushed again, the pin portion 43 relatively moves to the third section d.
When the force is released there, the tension coil spring 39 returns to the original position. This return position is the card insertion / removal position. This operation is a well-known operation obtained by changing the depth of each section of the heart cam 35, and the pin portion 43 and the heart cam 35 do not relatively move in the opposite direction to the above operation. In this embodiment, the heart cam mechanism constitutes a slide member moving mechanism for moving the slide member 30 from the card use position to the card insertion / removal position.

The present embodiment is characterized by a card lock mechanism for preventing the card M inserted in the card use position from being accidentally dropped in the card connector described above.
This card lock mechanism utilizes a concave portion MX formed on a part of the side surface of the card M. A leaf spring body 50 that is long in the insertion direction of the card M has a lock convex portion 51 that can be engaged with and depressed with the concave portion MX of the card M at a free end portion on the entrance side of the card slot (the side near the inserted card M). Is formed, and the other end fixing portion (base portion) 52 at the back is fixed to the slide member 30.

When the slide member 30 is at the card insertion / removal position, the base member 10 allows the plate spring body 50 to be elastically deformed to allow the lock projection 51 and the recess MX of the card M to be engaged and disengaged. On the other hand, when the slide member 30 slides to the card use position, a lock surface 18 (FIG. 4) is formed to suppress the elastic deformation of the leaf spring body 50 and prevent the lock convex portion 51 from coming out of the concave portion MX. I have. In other words, the locking surface 18 changes the position of contact with the leaf spring body 50 and engages with the sliding movement of the slide member 30, thereby changing the ease of elastic deformation of the leaf spring body 50.

Referring to FIG. 4 (and FIG. 3), the relationship between the leaf spring body 50 and the lock surface 18 will be described. In FIG. 4, to facilitate understanding of the position of the slide member 30, the leading end is denoted by 30F and the rear end is denoted by 30R. FIG. 5A shows that the slide member 30 is at the card insertion / removal position,
3 shows a state in which the card M is being inserted close to the slide member 30 (see the upper part of FIG. 3). At this time, most of the leaf spring body 50 is located on the relief recess 19 of the base member 10 and can be elastically deformed relatively freely. When the card M is further inserted from the state shown in FIG. 2A, the lock projection 51 is pressed by the lower surface of the card M, so that the plate spring body 50 is elastically deformed (FIG. 2B).
When the X and the position of the lock projection 51 match, the lock projection 5
1 enters the concave portion MX (FIG. 2C). This (C)
Is a card insertion / removal position where the leading end of the card M is correctly engaged with the engagement portion 31 of the slide member 30 (see the lower part of FIG. 3).

When the card M is further pushed in from the card insertion / removal position (C), the card M and the slide member 30 slide together to the card use position. In this process, the immovable lock surface 18 changes the engagement position (contact position) with the leaf spring body 50 to make the leaf spring body 50 less likely to be elastically deformed. That is, the lock surface 18
Since the contact position of the slide member 30 from the card insertion / removal position to the card use position is changed toward the lock convex portion 51 as the slide member 30 slides, the leaf spring body 50 is elastically deformed. It becomes difficult to do. Then, when finally reaching the card use position, the elastic deformation of the leaf spring body 50 that only causes the lock convex portion 51 to escape from the concave portion MX becomes impossible ((D) in the same figure). Therefore, the card M does not accidentally fall off due to vibration or other disturbance. Note that FIG.
In the movement of the slide member 30 from (D) to (D), the pin portion 43 of the above-described heart cam mechanism relatively enters the second section b through the first section a of the heart cam 35, and further enters the second section b.
Corresponds to a section which returns to the stopper recess c. In the card use position, the land of the card M and the land on the substrate B are in contact with the contact 20 supported by the base member 10.
Conducts correctly via

When the card M is pushed in to eject the card M and the slide member 30 is moved from the state shown in FIG. 2D to the state shown in FIG. 2E, the pin portion 43 of the heart cam mechanism relatively moves. When the force is released from the third section d to the fourth section e, the slide member 30 (card M)
The force of the extension coil spring 39 reaches the card insertion / removal position in FIG. The position of (F) is the same as the position of (C). Therefore, when a pulling force is applied to the card M, the leaf spring body 50 is elastically deformed, and the lock convex portion 51 comes off the concave portion MX.

In the above-described embodiment, the heart cam mechanism is exemplified as the slide member moving mechanism for moving the slide member 30 (card M) from the card use position to the card insertion / removal position. The present invention can be similarly applied to a mode using a swing lever mechanism for moving a slide member from a card use position to a card insertion / removal position.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, a card lock mechanism can be formed by merely adding a leaf spring member to a slider member, and the present invention can be easily applied to a card connector of a miniaturized card. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a card lock mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the main part.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a relationship between the card and a slide member.

FIGS. 4A to 4F are cross-sectional views illustrating the operation of the card connector locking mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a heart cam mechanism as a slide member moving mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 B board M card MX concave portion 10 base member 11 both side walls 12 contact support wall 13 slide guide tube 14 guide rail 15 spring hook member 16 urging wall surface 18 lock surface 19 escape concave portion 20 contact 21 soldering 22 contact leg 30 slide member 31 Joint part 32 Guide groove 33 Slide guide part 34 Opposing wall 35 Heart cam 36 Spring hook projection 39 Tension coil spring 40 Leaf spring member 41 Fixing pin 43 Pin part 44 Urging spring part 50 Leaf spring body 51 Lock convex part 52 Other end fixed part (base)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B058 CA04 KA24 YA20 5E021 FA05 FA11 FA16 FB02 FB18 FC36 HC09 HC37 JA04 KA05

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A base member having a card slot for inserting and removing an information recording card: a card supported by the base member so as to be movable in the same direction as a card inserted into the card slot, and moved by being pressed by the card. A slide member movable between a use position and a card insertion / removal position for pushing out a card inserted into the card use position; a slide member moving mechanism for moving the slide member from the card use position to the card insertion / removal position A locking mechanism for a card connector comprising: a recess formed in a part of the card; a locking projection which can be disengaged from the recess of the card at a free end side, and a base fixed to the slide member. A leaf spring body provided on the base member to be engaged with the leaf spring body by changing a contact position with the leaf spring body as the slide member slides. The lock surface has an elastic deformation for engaging and disengaging the lock convex portion of the leaf spring body with the concave portion of the card by an insertion / removal force applied to the card when the slide member is at the card insertion / removal position. When the sliding member is in the card use position, the leaf spring body is not allowed to be elastically deformed even when an insertion / removal force is applied to the card, so that the locking convex portion and the concave portion of the card cannot be disengaged. Lock mechanism for card connector. 2. The card connector lock mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the slide member moving mechanism is a heart cam mechanism.