Itt Corporation

Itt Cannon, Ltd.

Itt Coporation

Eric J Paulus

Clarence L Clyatt, Iii

Gerald R Nieman

John R Moore

Albert Ragl

Scott A Zehrung

Scott Allen Zehrung

Apparatus is described for transmitting signals between electric terminals through photo diodes to electrically isolate circuits connected to the terminals, which is compact and rugged. The apparatus includes a metal shell, (24, FIG. 2) a pair of circuit boards (40, 42) mounted in the shell and axially spaced apart, pairs of terminals (12, 14) with one terminal of each pair mounted on a different one of the circuit boards, and pairs of photo diodes or other optoelectric transducers (16, 18). Each transducer of a pair is mounted to a different circuit board and connected to a corresponding terminal, and the two transducers are aligned and extend toward each other. A separator element (90) of opaque material occupies most of the space between the circuit boards and has holes (92) that receive the two transducers of each pair. The separator element prevents the leakage of light between different pairs of transducers, and also helps to assure alignment of each pair of transducers.

Optoelectric coupler

An optoelectric connector (12, FIG. 2) is described, which has an outer end (96) constructed to efficiently couple to an optical fiber connector (14) and which has an inner end (47) with electrical contacts (46) for passing currents representing modulated light received or transmitted to an optical cable (20) attached to the optical connector. The optoelectric connector (12) includes a stub (80) or short length of optical fiber with an outer end (82) held at a coupling that couples to the optical fiber (24) of the cable in the same manner as a pair of long optical fibers are connected to minimize losses. The stub has an inner end (84) optically coupled to the optic face (42) of a photoelectric transducer (40) which is coupled to an electrical contact (46). The outer end (82) of the stub is preferably movable slightly to enable facewise contact with the end of a mating optical cable fiber (24), and the stub has a middle (102) that extends in a curve to enable its outer end to move slightly while its inner end remains fixed in position.

Optoelectric connector

A connector with filter contacts enables removal of an individual surge suppression contact from the mating front end of the connector. The connector includes inserts (30-36, FIG. 1 ) forming contact-receiving passages (60), with the inserts inserted through the rear of a shell (14) until a frontmost insert (30) abuts a flange (40) at the front of the shell. The frontmost insert has a cavity (50) that holds a contact-retention clip (100), with the clip oriented so its band (102) is frontmost and its tines (104) extend rearwardly therefrom. A suppression contact (62) in each passage has a front end (64) projecting forward of the frontmost insert and has a forwardly-facing shoulder (110) lying substantially against the rear ends of the retention clip tines. The rear end (66) of each contact engages a wiring terminal (132) in a pin-and-socket connection. A suppression contact is removed by inserting a tool into the front end of the passage or cavity to expand the tines of the retention clip, and pulling out the contact through the front end of the connector.

Surge suppression filter contact connector

A connector is provided of the type which has replaceable contact assemblies, including a contact assembly (14, FIG. 3) with a circuit component (70) thereon that has three terminals (72, 74, 76), one (72) connected to the body (54) of the contact assembly, a second (74) connected to a first clip (80) which engages a ground plane (50) of the connector, and a third terminal (76) which engages a second clip (82). A circuit board (52) is mounted in the connector in a plane normal to the axes (31) of the contact assemblies, the circuit board having holes (110) that each receive a different contact assembly. A hole that receives the component contact assembly, is plated and holds a spring clip device (120) that has fingers (124) that bear against the second clip.

Interchangeable contact connector

Connector with interchangeable contacts

A connector contact is described, of the type that has a platform (50, FIG. 2) which holds a circuit component (52) and a grounding conductor (54), which provides hermetic sealing of the component. The circuit component has bottom and top terminals (70, 72, FIG. 5) each joined by a coupling layer (74, 76) of high surface energy material such as solder, respectively to the platform and to a finger (60) of the grounding conductor. Each coupling layer overhangs the circuit component to leave a surrounding layer portion (80, 82). An encapsulant includes a moisture-proof inner portion (90) which surrounds the component and which extends between and bonds to the surrounding portions (80, 82) of the lower and upper coupling layers.

Connector with sealed component contact

A contact assembly for installation in an electrical connector, provides effective electromagnetic filtering in a simple, compact, and rugged construction that facilitates in-field replacement of a damaged contact assembly. The contact assembly includes a signal conductor, a diode for diverting high voltages on the signal conductor to ground, and a 'pi' filter for filtering out unwanted frequencies. The 'pi' filter includes a ferrite bead inductor coupled to the signal conductor and a first capacitor coupling a location of the signal conductor on a first side of the inductor to ground. The other capacitor of the 'pi' filter is formed by the capacitance of the diode, with the diode connected to a signal conductor location on a second side of the inductor, and with the capacitance of the diode similar or equal to that of the first capacitor. The diode is mounted in a notch of the signal conductor, the ferrite bead inductor lies immediately forward of the notch, and the first capacitor lies immediately forward of the ferrite bead. A ground conductor has a sleeve portion that immediately surrounds both the first capacitor and the ferrite bead, and has a finger contacting the diode. Solder holds the finger of the ground conductor in place both mechanically and electrically. A quantity of epoxy fills the remaining notch area and forms the middle of the assembly with a cylindrical periphery to facilitate insertion and removal from a long narrow hole in the connector.

Growing community of inventors

Scottsdale, AZ, United States of America

Eric J Paulus