Trw Limited

Switchcraft, Inc.

Emma Basov

Igor Grois

Mark Margolin

James R Bailey

Frederick L Lau

Arnold A Case

Alan Berg

A terminal contact assembly comprising a dielectric sleeve of flexible material having a midportion provided with a transverse integral partition wherein a keyway slot extends from an open end thereof communicating with a longitudinal slot in a defining wall portion of the sleeve, through a restricted portion of the keyway slot, to a larger closed end portion thereof centrally disposed in the partition. This assembly also comprises an elongated rigid contact of electrically conductive material having a midportion with an hour glass configuration including a narrow neck portion or key which is inserted laterally through the longitudinal slot in the sleeve and enters the open end of the keyway slot. The key is pressingly urged through the restricted portion of the keyway slot, by virtue of adjacent portions of the sleeve and the integral partition flexing momentarily to widen the restricted portion, and snaps into the larger closed end of the keyway slot thereby locking the contact axially within the sleeve. The dielectric sleeve supporting the contact is press-fitted longitudinally through a suitably configured and sized hole in a rigid mounting plate to have the defining wall portions of the sleeve held tightly about the axially disposed contact.

Terminal contact assembly

A phone jack assembly comprising a piggy-back array of two phone jack housings made of moldable dielectric material and having integral walls defining respective axial cavities wherein a phone jack plug may be inserted; and a plurality of pairs of wire terminals extending downwardly from the lower housing of the array for insertion into respective apertures in a connecting device. Each of the wire terminals is recessed within a respective groove molded into the outer side surfaces of the housings and one of each pair has a portion extended into a cavity of one of the housing for electrical engagement with a portion of a phone jack plug inserted into the cavity. Also each of the wire terminals is provided with a laterally bent portion for pressingly engaging side wall surfaces of the respective groove to support the wire terminal when being inserted into or withdrawn from said respective aperture in the connecting device. The lower housing of the array may have an upper surface provided with a ridge which fits snugly into a channel in the lower surface of the overlying housing in the array; and some of the wire terminals recessed in said groove extend over the top surface of the upper housing in the array to aid in holding the housings of the array together as an assembly when being mated to or disconnected from said connector device.

Stacked electrical jacks

A connector concurrently connects electrical conductors and optical fibers terminated in the connector to electrical conductors and optical fibers respectively terminated in an array of electrical contacts and optical fiber connecting elements, such as in a similar connector. The connector includes a housing having a mating end with electrical contacts supported in the housing and exposed at the mating end. An optical fiber is clamped within the housing and a fiber encompassing member extends from the clamp toward the mating end of the housing for abutment with fiber connection elements of the connecting array. The clamp and the fiber encompassing member are mounted within the housing for retractive movement in a direction away from the mating end relative to the electrical contacts of the connector. Upon the mating engagement of the connector with the array of electrical contacts and optical fiber connecting elements, the clamp and the fiber encompassing member cooperate to gauge the connections between an optical fiber held by the clamp and another optical fiber of the array independently of the connection between the electrical contacts of the connector and mating electrical contacts of the array.

Hybrid optical/electrical connector

An optical fiber clamp comprises two clamping portions with rounded fiber clamping surfaces for clamping an optical fiber therebetween. Each clamping portion includes a semicylindrical projection which extends normal to the axis of the clamped fiber and is complimentary to the projection of the other clamping portion to form a laterally extending support stud when a fiber is clamped. The stud is inserted in a mounting block to secure the fiber a fixed distance above and parallel to the upper surface of the mounting block. A cantilevered fiber support extends from the first and second clamping portions and comprises a three-quarter round cylindrical section extending from one side of the first clamping portion and a reversed three-quarter round cylindrical section extending from the opposite side of the second clamping portion. The clamping portions are preferably interconnected by a hinge portion in a unitary structure to facilitate wrapping the clamping portions about a fiber.

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Des Plaines, IL, United States of America

Emma Basov