Thomas & Betts International LLC

Elastomeric Technologies, Inc.

Andrew H Strange

Kimberly Van Horn

Wayne Stewart Alden, Iii

Stephen D DelPrete

Leonard S Buchoff

Daniel W Rassier

Arthur Millay

Steven K Mac Innes

William P Sharpe

Locking strap with handle structure

A locking strap comprises a resilient finger grasp for facilitating assembly of the locking strap around one or more articles. The locking strap includes an elongate member at one end, a tail at the other end, and a central flexible strap body therebetween. A resilient finger grasp is located between the tail and the central strap body and facilitates fastening of the locking strap.

Locking strap with handling structure

An electrical interconnect includes a woven mesh in which an array of parallel wires is retained in spaced relation by a transverse array of nonconducting strands, the mesh being enclosed or encased within a resilient matrix. The conductive wires are on a close pitch to yield greater current carrying capacity and achieve a lower more stable resistance. With this construction a great number of wires are in contact with each contact pad to yield greater current carrying capacity and corresponding lower resistance. The closer pitch wires also provide greater redundancy of contact points. This structure can be custom configured in as many layers or in a variety of shapes as is desirable to achieve a given electrical performance. The woven mesh can be wrapped around a shaped substrate to provide electrical connections in a desired shape. The woven mesh interconnect can be integrated as part of a boot, wherein the boot receives an electrical device therein and the woven mesh interconnect provides electrical connection from the device within the boot to outside the boot. The woven mesh interconnect can be layered and shaped to form an interconnect which not only provides electrical interconnection but also provides a biasing force due to the shape of the device.

Woven mesh interconnect

A high-speed connector for interconnecting circuit boards to a backplane or interconnecting a mother board to daughter board. The connector includes a housing, biasing elements, a flex film, conductive elastomeric contact modules and biasing modules. The conductive elastomeric contact modules comprise a substrate which includes a plurality of individual conductive elastomeric contacts such as Metallized Particle Interconnect (MPI), or a polymer containing a plurality of conductive particles disposed therein. The first side of the conductive elastomeric contact modules interface to the flex film, and the second side of the conductive elastomeric contact module interface to a printed circuit board (PCB) set of contacts. Alternately, the conductive elastomeric contacts could be molded directly onto the flex film to eliminate the conductive elastomeric contact modules. The flex film includes conductive traces for providing electrical communication from a first conductive elastomeric contact module to a second conductive elastomeric contact module. The flex film could be realized as a multilayer film and include ground planes and/or strip line traces. Further, the conductive elastomeric contact modules could also include power and ground contacts.

High speed backplane connector

An elastomeric connector provides shielded electrical connection between first and second circuit boards or other surfaces. Each circuit board includes an array of parallel conductive signal traces and an interposed array of parallel conductive ground traces. The elastomeric connector is comprised of an elongated generally rectangular body having an inner layer of conductive elastomeric material for providing selective electrical conduction between a first face and an opposite second face of the body. Electrically insulating elastomeric layers are provided on each side of the center conductive layer and elastomeric ground planes are provided on the respective opposite surfaces of the body orthogonal to the contact surfaces of the body. To provide shielded connection between the circuit boards, the elastomeric body is disposed between the confronting circuit boards in a direction generally perpendicular to the signal and ground traces, and with the conductive inner layer of the structure in electrical contact with the signal traces of the first and second circuit boards, and with the ground planes of the elastomeric structure in an electrical contact with the ground traces of the circuit boards. An electrically insulating coating is provided over portions of the signal traces which underlie one or both of the elastomeric ground planes to prevent shorting of the signal traces by the ground plane. The circuit boards and the interposed elastomeric structure are maintained in the engaged position by an appropriate alignment and locking mechanism.

Elastomeric shielded connector

An interface connector which facilitates connection between a miniature card and a host device is disclosed. The interface connector includes an elastomeric connection device, an insulating body and electrical contacts. The elastomeric connection device and electrical contacts provide electrical pathways between corresponding pads and contacts (e.g., data, power and ground) on the miniature card and the host. The insulating body is adapted to be received by the host and to receive the miniature card, and includes a castellated side wall which protects the elastomeric connection device from foreign objects. The insulating body also includes location pins which facilitate proper insertion and alignment of the connector with regard to the host device. A keying feature is provided to prevent insertion of incompatible miniature cards. A write protect feature is disclosed for use with writable miniature cards. A combined latch-card detection switch is also disclosed.

Miniature card interface connector

There is provided an apparatus for connecting an electrical component, such as a chip carrier to a printed circuit board. The connector is made up of a housing having a recess for receiving the chip carrier. The housing also contains a passage in which strips of elastomeric elements are fitted. When a chip carrier is positioned within the connector, contact is made between the chip carrier and the elastomeric elements at the lateral sides of the chip carrier. The elastomeric element strips also make contact with the printed circuit board to effect electrical connections between the chip carrier and the printed circuit board.

Growing community of inventors

Eagleville, PA, United States of America

Andrew H Strange