Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

Chabin Corporation

James C Pilny

John N Tengler

Steven Feldman

Dennis M Brunner

An edge mount connector includes a connector body having solder tails extending from a back side, and receptacles formed in a front side, opposite the back side. The solder tails have terminal ends aligned along a solder plane extending through the front and back sides and intersecting the body between a top and a bottom surface. Recesses are integrally formed to extend into the front and bottom sides of the body. The recesses include a rest surface extending along the solder plane. The connector body is suspended within a cut-out formed in a circuit board panel. The body is maintained substantially level with the solder tails engaging solder pads formed on one portion of the panel whereas another portion of the circuit board panel adjacent the cut-out, is simultaneously in engagement with the rest surfaces of the recesses.

Edge mount connector having location recesses for solder tail

A solder mask is useful in the preparation of circuit boards when the boards are to be subsequently stacked and a removable plug supported by the solder tail of the contact initially joined to the board affords facile manufacture of the contacts and solder mask and facile assembly of the boards.

Through board connector having a removable solder mask

A modular electrical connector system provides relatively high density pin out capability for high speed signal transmission and coupling while maintaining discrete wire capability. The system includes plural cable terminators, plural connector blocks, each having plural cells to receive and hold respective terminators with the contacts thereof aligned for connection with further contacts inserted to engage the same, and a frame to hold the connector blocks securely in relative position to each other. Each cable terminator includes one or more contacts for electrically connecting with the cable conductor, electrical insulating molded about the junction of the contact and conductor, and a flexible locking mechanism to facilitate locking and removal of the terminator from its connector block cell, preferably from the back thereof, without disturbing other terminators in the connector block. Means are provided to probe the signals carried by respective terminators while positioned in the connector block, and for such probing and for the inserting/removing function special tools are provided. Methods also are disclosed for servicing such electrical connector systems to insert and/or to remove respective terminators without affecting others and for probing electrical signals carried via respective terminators.

Modular electrical connector system

In a cable termination system, there is provided a terminator pair for terminating conductors of respective cables. Each terminator comprises a body of insulating material having a pair of contact anchor portions joined by a diagonal web portion at one end of the body and diagonally spaced at the other end of the body to receive the diagonal web portion of the other terminator for mating compact interengagement, and at least one contact anchored in each contact anchor portion for connecting a respective signal conductor of the respective cable to another member. The contact anchor portions are substantially rectangular in transverse profile and occupy respective quadrants of the terminator pair which correspondingly are substantially rectangular for mating receipt in a cavity in a housing or holder. The terminator pairs constitute basic building blocks for the system and are insertable into housings to provide a high density multi-connector pin-out configuration. Each terminator also includes a lock for locking the terminator pair in a housing provided with a resilient locking tab capable of being flexed to provide selective release of the terminators from the housing.

Growing community of inventors

Painesville, OH, United States of America

James C Pilny