Edge connector
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board consisting of traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into an edge connector socket.
An edge connector socket, often popularly referenced simply as a "slot", is any type of female electrical connector for use with printed circuit boards having matching edge connectors. They consist of a plastic "box" open on one side, with pins on one or both side(s) of the longer edges, sprung to push into the middle of the open center.
The edge connector is a money-saving device because it only requires a single female connector, and they also tend to be fairly robust. For a time they were used in the vast majority of connectors found in computers, but modern computers have demanded many more pins than can easily be accommodated on the edge of a reasonable size board, and today more traditional male/female connectors are more common.
