The Wiremold Company

Hubbell Limited

Methode Electronics, Incorporated

Methode Development Company

Other

James J Johnston

Joseph Carswell

John Phillip Goodsell

Gordon J Udall

Discrete portions of a carbon fiber tow, selected from a group of tows, ranging in number of fibers from about 1,000 to about 150,000, and terminated by discrete contact portions of a metal conductor within a non-metallic termination assembly formed by the joinder of a cradle and a cap defining opposing parallel clamping surfaces receiving the tow portions and the contact portions in crossing engagement therebetween. Opposing energy directors on the cradle and cap serve as temporary guide rails for positioning the carbon fiber portions before and during assembly. Meltdown of the energy directors during a pressure and ultrasonic welding cycle enable self-leveling of the carbon fiber portions whereby uniform distribution of carbon fiber over the entire cross section of each of the carbon fiber portions of the assembly may be attained. The clamping surfaces remain intact after welding and retain clamping integrity.

Carbon fiber tow termination and method for making

An electrical resistance heating element has an axially elongated flat carbon fiber tow, which includes a multiplicity of continuous axially parallel carbon filaments. The tow is sandwiched between two layers of polyester sheet material and bonded to only one of the layers. The other of the layers overlies the tow in direct contacting engagement with and unconnected relation to the tow and is connected to longitudinally extending marginal portions of the one layer along transversely opposite sides of the tow. The heating element may be produced by a continuous forming process.

Carbon fiber heating element assembly and methods for making

Metallic circuit traces disposed on a substrate of a panel and terminated in a high-density in-line array. Each termination comprises a terminal portion of a circuit trace disposed on and extending along a beam defined by the panel, a portion of a resilient compressible electrical conductor disposed in overlying relation to at least an associated part of the terminal portion, and a cradle assembly including a cradle member and a cap ultrasonically welded together in assembly generally within a common plane of joinder spaced from the substrate. The cradle assembly surround portions of the beam, the terminal portion, and the conductor and maintains the conductor under compression and in electrical contacting engagement with the terminal portion to form an electrical termination.

Circuit trace termination and method

A clock spring wiring harness for an automotive steering apparatus has a resilient flexible flat cable containing flat conductors and terminated at its opposite ends by lead conductors. The flat cable is connected between a reel about which it is spirally wound and a fixed housing which supports the reel for rotation therein. The flat conductor/lead conductor terminations are formed by assembly of a stepped series of cradle assemblies integrally formed on and contained within terminal block ultrasonically welded together in assembly while subjected to a predetermined compressive force. Each lead conductor is normal to and continuously biased into direct electrical contacting engagement with an associated flat conductor in a region of termination defined by an associated one of the cradle assemblies.

Termination assembly formed by diverse angularly disposed conductors and termination method

A portion of a membrane having electrically conductive ink traces printed on a surface thereof is clamped between two members ultrasonically welded together in assembly by welds which pass through apertures in the membrane at opposite sides of the traces thereon. The assembled members maintain the traces in resilient bearing engagement with exposed electrically conductive portions of electrical conductors contained within slots defined by one of the members. Energy directors integrally formed on the two members are welded together through the apertures while compressive force is applied to the members to clamp the membrane therebetween whereby the traces are electrically terminated by direct resilient bearing engagement with the exposed electrically conductive portions of the conductors.

Thin-film electrical termination and method for making

A high density electrical termination assembly made by forming a terminal assembly including separate thermoplastic sections having confronting surfaces. An in-line array of conductor receiving slots open through the confronting surface of one of the sections and a plurality of elongate spaced apart energy directors project from and extending along the confronting surface of the other of the sections. Stacking within the grooves portions of the conductors to be connected are stacked within slots in the terminal section. The thermoplastic sections positioned in juxtaposed stacked relationship to each other along the confronting surfaces with the energy directors extending across the slots in axially transverse relationship to the conductors stacked within the slots. Compressive force applied to the thermoplastic sections urge the confronting surfaces toward engagement with each other and cause the energy directors to apply compressive force at axially spaced apart locations to the conductors stacked within the slots. High frequency vibratory energy applied to the sections while the sections are maintained under compression softens the thermoplastic energy directors and the thermoplastic surfaces engaged by the energy directors providing molten thermoplastic material at the interface between the sections. The application of high frequency vibratory energy cases while the sections are maintained under compression.

Electrical connection

A patch cord assembly for plugging connection with an in-line array of insulation displacement connectors (IDC's) on a 110 cross-connect panel includes a plugging connector defining a plurality of plug receptacles separated from each other by contact supporting walls. Each supporting wall supports an associated elongated contact which defines a portion of the wall and has elongated contact surfaces exposed at opposite sides of the wall. The contacts extend in to the hollow housing and are terminated therein by individually insulated electrical conductors. An ultrasonic welding process strips insulation from end portions of the electrical conductors and simultaneously terminates the stripped end portions at the contacts and within the housing while the housing sections are being joined together in assembly by the ultrasonic welding process.

Connector assembly and method for making

A cross-connect bus for plugging engagement with a cross-connect panel having a plurality of rows of projecting insulation displacement connectors.

Cross-connect bus

Method for making an electrical connection

A cross-connect bus for plugging engagement with a cross-connect panel having a plurality of rows of projecting insulation displacement connectors includes first and second rectilinear axially extending resilient spring wire contact elements having outer end portions supported in fixed positions and in coaxial alignment with each other by spaced apart receptacles defined by a common support base. The inner end portions of the contact elements are supported in cantilever position by the outer end portions and have overlapping free ends biased into electrical contacting engagement with each other. Plugging elements cooperate with the support base to disable, monitor or test circuits completed by the cross-connect bus without removing the bus from plugging engagement with an associated cross-connect panel. The bus is made by mounting opposite end portions of a rectilinear axially elongate spring wire conductor in fixed positions of coaxial alignment on a common support base, severing the conductor to form two contact elements including inner end portions supported in cantilever positions by the opposite end portions and having free ends, deflecting the inner end portions in an axially transverse direction relative to each other to move the free ends out of alignment with each other, and moving the contact elements relative to each other to bring the free ends into overlapping relation while the inner end portions are deflected.

Method for making cross-connect bus

A field terminable modular telecommunications jack assembly includes a modular jack containing a plurality of spring wire contact members mounted in cantilever position and configured to cooperate with an industry standard modular plug to minimize the length of circuit paths through the jack. Double ended insulation displacement connectors connected to fixed end portions of the spring wire contact members and projecting from the jack cooperate in plugging engagement with insulated solid wire conductors terminated by a field terminable coupling and compensating member which facilitates field termination of the jack. The solid wire conductors terminated by the coupling and compensating member are arranged within the compensating and coupling member to cancel signal coupling within the jack assembly. The double ended insulation displacement connectors are axially aligned with both the solid wire conductors and spring wire contact members.

Modular telecommunication jack assembly

A cord assembly including an insulated electric cord containing a plurality of twisted pairs of insulated solid wire conductors and terminated by a plug having an inner part and an outer part. Terminal end portions of the conductors wrapped about an inner part and trapped between the inner and outer parts extend across an opening in the plug for direct releasable plugging connection with an inline array of insulation displacement contacts (IDCs) carried by a mating connector block mounted on a cross-connect panel. An assembly jig is used to position the conductor terminal end portions and supports the inner part while the terminal end portions are wrapped about the inner part.

Cord assembly and method for making

A contact assembly formed from an array of insulated resilient solid wires arranged in spaced apart side-by-side relation to each other and retained in assembly by an ultrasonically assembled two-part carrier strip which extends transversely of the wire array. Notches formed in the wires by grinding define exposed conductive surfaces at selected locations. The conductive surfaces are plated with precious metal to define contact surfaces on the wires which are formed to contact configurations.

Growing community of inventors

Newington, CT, United States of America

James J Johnston