Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Other

David Eugene Dye

James Francis McIntire

Scott Jeffrey Thiel

Brian Erik Haug

A coaxial connector assembly ( ) for mounting on a circuit board, which can be constructed at low cost and which provides low losses. The connector assembly, which can include three connectors ( ), includes a cast metal housing ( ) having a front mating end ( ) and having a rear end ( ) that terminates to a circuit board ( ). Each connector includes a combination ( ) of a center conductor ( ) with a horizontally-extending front portion ( ) and a downwardly-extending rear portion ( ), and an insulator ( ) that surrounds the inner conductor. The housing is a metal cast member with its front portion forming two concentric sleeves ( ) at each connector ( ), the inside ( ) of the inner sleeve forming the front portion of a through passage ( ) whose rear portion extends downwardly. The combination of center conductor and insulation is installed by pressing it forwardly into the housing passage. Then, a metal retainer ( ) is forced upwardly into the rear of the housing passage to lock the combination center conductor and insulator in place and to provide a ground around the rear of the center conductor.

Board mounted coax connector assembly

A connector assembly with front and rear bodies ( ) and a surrounding shell ( ), has a potting material ( ) that is molded around the cable ( ) and within a rear body passageway ( ) in a manner that avoids leakage of the potting material. The shell outside surface has outwardly-projecting ridges ( ) for effectively grasping the connector, and the front body is latchable to the shell with robust latch arms ( ). An O-ring ( ) lying forward of the threading connections ( ) of the bodies limits leakage of the potting material flowed under pressure into the passageway. The outer shell is molded with ridges ( ) extending in loops that facilitate correct gripping and avoid slipping of the thumb on the connector. The front body has slots ( ) forming latch arms that latch to openings in the shell, the arms being formed by slots with enlarged ends ( ).

Connector with overmold seal/robust latch

An electronic card (10) of the type that fits into a slot of a computer, has top and bottom cover halves (32,34) that each includes flat sheet metal parts (64, 66) and plastic overmolding frames (70, 72) at the edges, where the sheet metal is exposed at groundable regions (50, 52) at the opposite sides of the card. The plastic overmolding forms columns at the top and bottom with the columns (80, 82) having abutting joined surfaces (84, 86) that can be sonically welded together to seal the cover closed. The top sheet metal piece has a downwardly-extending ear (100) supported by the plastic top column, while the bottom sheet metal piece has an upwardly-extending tab (94) supported by the bottom column, with the tab and ear engaging each other to connect the pieces of sheet metal at the top and bottom covers. The tab lies on the outside of the lower column to provide an exposed sheet metal region that can be engaged by a contact on the computer to ground the card. At the grounding region, the bottom column includes a chimney (110) that extends upwardly and immediately outside the top column, with the tab extending up along the outside of the chimney and being bent around the top of the chimney.

Electronic card with sheet metal and overmolded plastic frame parts

A device (70) is provided for a pair of clip lock connectors (12, 14), wherein the device can be slid forward (F) from a release position to a locked position, only when the connectors are fully mated, and which then prevents connector unmating unless the device is slid back to its release position. The device has a pair of bars (80) which, in the release position, lie rearward of spring sides (24, 26) of a spring clip (20). During initial mating of the connectors, the spring sides block forward movement of the bars. When full connector mating is reached and the spring sides snap into slots, the device can be slid forward to its locked position and the bars lie immediately outside the spring sides. The device has deflectable arms (92, 110) and is initially held in its release position by a wall (102) on an arm projection (90), which lies behind a barrier (94). As the connectors mate, a cam (96) on the second connector engages a cam follower (106) on the arm projection to deflect it so the wall disengages the barrier and the device can be slid forwardly to its locked position.

Growing community of inventors

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, United States of America

David Eugene Dye