Virginia Patent Development Corp.

Virginia Plastics Company, Inc.

Charles E Bogese

Stephen B Bogese, Ii

A low profile, wide body modular plug and a multi-conductor shielded cable for termination therein and use with a low profile modular jack adapted to be mounted on a printed circuit board in a closely-spaced array. The low profile design of the plug features latching arms mounted on the outer side walls which mate with cooperating shoulders formed on the inner side walls of the jack. The plug preferably includes a flip-top door formed in the bottom wall thereof for permitting greater accessibility to the internal cable-receiving cavity of the plug. The flip-top door preferably includes a plurality of cable-engaging projections for increasing the pull-out or retention force of the cable and plug assembly. The plug is particularly designed to receive a multi-conductor shielded cable which includes three round shielded wire assemblies arranged in a planar array within an outer encapsulating jacket. Each shielded wire assembly includes a central filler surrounded by a single layer of insulated wires which are, in turn, wrapped within an outer conductive shield of foil layers or the like. One of the shielded wire assemblies includes an uninsulated ground wire located in the outer layer which serves to effectively shield each of the wire assemblies. In a preferred embodiment, up to 29 insulated conductors can be effectively shielded by a single uninsulated ground wire.

Low profile modular plug

A flexible locking clamp (10) particularly designed for use with a tubular guard (50) for a linear body (58) such as a guy wire, cable, conductor, or the like. The locking clamp includes a relatively rigid body portion from which integrally extends a flexible, serrated strap (20). A substantially rigid, arcuate portion (26) connects the strap to the body and is designed to bias the strap at an angle away from the plane of the body. The body also includes means (28) for receiving the free end of the strap after it encircles the desired linear body. The guard wall is provided with aperture means for mounting the clamp, for example, along one edge of a slit that extends longitudinally in the guard. The biased strap provides automatic centering of the linear body in the clamp and guard and permits easy termination of the clamp despite the relative inaccessibility to the interior of the guard.

Flexible locking clamp used with tubular guard for linear body

A modular connector or coupler (10) for electrically connecting two cordsets each of which is terminated by a modular plug. The coupler is characterized by a central partition (49, 49') extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the coupler for supporting a plurality of side-by-side conductors (70) therethrough. The conductors extend from both sides of the partition into plug-receiving cavities (40, 40') formed on each side of the partition. The ends of the conductors in each cavity comprise spring contacts (76, 76') adapted to mate with correspondingly aligned contact terminals (78, 78') similarly spaced in the mating modular plug (60, 60'). The two plug-receiving cavities may be arranged as mirror images of one another along the partition whereby the signals on the respective contact terminals of the two modular plugs will be positionally transposed. Alternatively, the cavities may be reverse images of one another whereby the signals on the respective contact terminals of the mating plugs will be positionally matched.

Double-ended modular jack

A cable assembly having a shielded conductor. The shielded conductor is formed by bonding a thin layer of conductive material to the outer surface of an insulated wire. The bonding may be achieved by coating the outside surface of the insulated wire with a metallic particle and solvent solution, and then heating the coated wire to flash off the solvent and achieve the desired bond. The outer conductive layer may be grounded by positioning a grounding conductor adjacent thereto prior to encapsulation in an outer insulating jacket. The grounding conductor may take the form of an insulated multi-strand metal wire which has an outer diameter approximately equal to the outer diameter of the shielded conductor. The equal diameters of the shielded and grounding conductors enable the cable assembly to be easily terminated in a miniature modular plug.

Cable assembly having shielded conductor

A cable assembly having a shielded conductor and a method of making same. The shielded conductor is formed by bonding a thin layer of conductive material to the outer surface of an insulated wire. The bonding may be achieved by coating the outside surface of the insulated wire with a metallic particle and solvent solution, and then heating the coated wire to flash off the solvent and achieve the desired bond. The outer conductive layer may be grounded by positioning grounding means adjacent thereto prior to encapsulation in an outer insulating jacket. The grounding means preferably takes the form of a center ground wire surrounded by a semi-conductive material whose outer diameter is substantially the same as that of the shielded conductor. The semi-conductor material contacts the outer conductive layer along its length, and physical and electrical contact is maintained by the outer jacket. One or more unshielded insulated conductors may also be provided within the cable assembly, which is particularly adapted for easy termination in a standard, miniature modular plug that utilizes insulation-piercing conductive terminals.

Cable assembly having shielded conductor and method of making same

An insulating protective cover sleeve assembly for a guy wire consisting of a longitudinally slit sleeve of insulating material having an enlarged bottom end portion. In the lower end portion of the sleeve is secured a clamp, likewise of insulating material. The clamp consists of two opposing jaws integrally connected by a flexible band. The jaws are formed with two sets of different-sized opposing arcuate recesses to receive different sizes of guy wires therebetween. One of the jaws has a counterbore hole to receive a clamping screw which is threadedly engageable in the other jaw to tighten the clamp. The wall of the enlarged sleeve portion has a hole registering with the counterbored hole so that a screwdriver or Allen wrench may be drivingly engaged with the clamping screw. A channel-shaped clip engages over the top corner portions of the sleeve segments adjacent the top of the sleeve slit and is secured to one segment. The assembly allows the sleeve to expand or contract without causing distortion thereof. In a modified arrangement, clamps are provided in both the top and bottom of the sleeve, but the top clamp is loose, allowing unrestricted expansion and contraction of the sleeve. The enlarged bottom end portion may be omitted and the clamp may be secured in the normal cross-section at the bottom end of the slit sleeve.

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Roanoke, VA, United States of America

Charles E Bogese