Itt Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.

Franciscus Cornelis Van Beers

Terry Lee Adams

Gregory Alan Seeley

A sheet metal cover part ( ) whose front end ( ) lies against a surface ( ) of a front connector, behind a projecting ridge ( ), is prevented from deflecting upwardly and creating a &ldquo;smile&rdquo; by deforming a front end of the sheet metal to form a beam of greater height than the thickness of the sheet metal. In one construction, the front edge of the sheet metal is bent over by about over 45&deg; so the sheet metal of 0.2 mm thickness is provided with a front edge where the distance (E) between the top and bottom is 0.3 mm. In another construction, a strip-shaped area ( ) lying slightly rearward of the extreme edge ( C) of the sheet metal is deformed to form a stiffening beam.

PC card with anti-smile cover

A welding fixture (30) can hold a part (12) that is to be welded by a weld head (22) that has a flat head surface (32) that must press against a flat part surface (56), where the fixture automatically tilts to assure that the surfaces lie coplanar so the fixture can be fixed in that position. The fixture has upper and lower assemblies (60, 62) that respectively include upper and lower washers (84, 92) with mating spherical surfaces (96, 98) that allow the upper assembly to pivot about horizontal axes with respect to the lower assembly. The washers have central holes (102, 104), and a bolt (112) extending through the central holes can be tightened to clamp the upper and lower assemblies together after the upper assembly has been tilted to the desired orientation. The spherical surfaces are preferably centered on a sphere center (100) that lies above the fixture, with the spherical surfaces subtending an angle (C) of no more than about 60.degree. with respect to the sphere center.

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Trabuco Canyon, CA, United States of America

Franciscus Cornelis Van Beers