Electronic key assemblies

摘要

An electronic key assembly comprising an insulating plug body having a front mating end for receipt in a jack and a rearwardly spaced, chip carrier receiving cavity. A series of contacts having first contact portions are mounted in body recesses at the mating end for engagement with spring contacts of a complementary jack and second spring contact portions which extend into the cavity are for engagement with respective leads of a chip carrier received therein. Releasable latch arms extend rearwardly from the mating end and, in some examples, a sleeve-form shield moulded or latched in the fingerpiece is received on the body to surround a rear end and the chip carrier. Anti-overstress hooks or eyes extending from the fingerpiece hook over the latch arms to prevent excessive movement of the latch arms away from the body. In one example, the shield includes a window having a rim surrounding the first contact portions and the fingerpiece includes a tongue which extends forwardly within the shield to a location adjacent the first contact portions partly to close the window. In another example, a grounding plate extends through a slot in the plug body into contact with a printed circuit board in the cavity.