Amp LLC

The Whitaker Corporation

John E Lucius

Glenn E Bennett

David S Szczesny

Leon T Ritchie

Frederick H Rider

Roger N Polk

John K Daly

Robert K Grebe

Donald A Berry

David James Fabian

George H Douty

John C Asick

David A Babow

Linn Stephen Lightner

Larry L Leitzel

Steven Edward Kain

An electrical connector assembly ( ) for establishing a mated electrical connection with a plug-in unit ( ), has an electrical connector ( ) mounted on rails ( ), and a resilient spring mechanism ( ) urged in compression in response to movement of the connector ( ) rearwardly to realign its position when mated with an inaccurately aligned plug-in unit ( ).

Connector assembly adapted for axial realignment

A tappable conductive bus bar (11, 11') has a longitudinal slotted recess (17, 19) receiving at least one louvered spring strip (22, 23). At least one tab (26) is received through a gap (21) in the bus bar (11) to engage the louvered spring strip (22, 23). The bus bar (11) supplies current, with minimum wiring and parts, to one or more tabs (26), and the spacing between adjacent tabs (26) is not critical. Thus, the bus bar (11) is completely tappable.

Tappable bus bar

A system for distributing electrical power to side edges (108, 112) of a daughter card (102) upon insertion into a card cage (10) includes a pair of source and return bus bars (118, 116) mounted on at least one of the side edges and electrically connected by arrays of terminals (172) to power circuits of the card, insulated by a cover (120) having a rail (126) for following the guide channels (18, 20) of the card cage at each card location. Rearward ends of the bus bars have blades (122, 124) which are received into receptacle contacts (46, 44) mounted in the card cage above and below the backplane (14), which are mounted at each card location and electrically connected to source and return busses (68, 58) of the card cage. The receptacle contacts (46, 44) are float mounted to be easily incrementally moved upon blade receipt during card module (100) insertion, and also easily incrementally moved after blade mating when power connections are established, to then permit precision adjustment of rear card edge (104) in two dimensions so that card edge connectors (106) thereon become aligned with corresponding backplane connectors (16) for subsequent high density signal terminal mating.

Card edge power distribution system

A bus bar assembly (110) includes a pair of source and return bus bars (118,116) mounted on at least one of the side edges (108,112) of a daughter card (102) and electrically connected by arrays of terminals (172) to power circuits of the card, for use in a system for distributing electrical power to the daughter card module (100) upon insertion into a card cage (10). The pair of bus bars (118,116) is insulated by a cover (120) having a rail (126) for following the guide channels (18,20) of the card cage at each card location. Rearward ends of the bus bars have blades (122,124) which are received into receptacle contacts (46,44) mounted in the card cage above and below the backplane (14), which are mounted at each card location and electrically connected to source and return busses (68,58) of the card cage, with the receptacle contacts (46,44) preferably being float mounted to be easily incrementally moved upon blade receipt during card module (100) insertion.

Card edge bus bar assembly for power distribution system

An assembly (42) includes plurality of receptacle contacts (46,44) mounted to a clevis block (66) between respective pairs of salients (86) and along a shaft (64) extending through the salients. The receptacle contacts (46,44) are incrementally moveable after assembly and thus define a floating separable interface for an array of blade shaped contacts (122,124) when assembly (42) is mounted within a card cage (10) and blade shaped contacts are along rearward ends of bus bars (118,116) mounted on upper and lower edges (108,112) of daughter cards (102) insertable into the card cage, defining a system for distributing electrical power from the card cage to the daughter cards. The receptacle contacts (46,44) are float mounted to be easily incrementally moved upon blade receipt during card module (100) insertion, and also easily incrementally moved after blade mating when power connections are established, to then permit precision adjustment of rear card edge (104) in two dimensions so that card edge connectors (106) thereon become aligned with corresponding backplane connectors ( 16) for subsequent high density signal terminal mating.

Float mounted receptacle contact assembly for card cage

A monolithic transition adapter terminated to a flat power cable has one or two plate sections extending forwardly from the termination which conclude in an array of first and second alternating spring contact arms deflectable downwardly and upwardly respectively. The spring arms are formed to include free ends having arcuate contact sections convex in opposing directions comprising a lead-in to receive thereinto a blade-like contact member from forwardly thereof, and facilitating the deflection by the mating contact of the spring arms in the respective opposing directions. A monolithic contact member matable with the transition adapter includes a planar body portion having a forward blade contact and a plurality of terminal sections rearwardly thereof such as for interconnecting with a printed circuit board. In one such contact member the blade contact shares providing for an assured lead-in for mating by including a plurality of blade sections in an array of alternating first and second blades angled to define alternating downward and upward ramps to engage respective free ends of the transition adapter's spring arms and initiate the deflection of the spring arms in appropriate opposing directions for mating; this enables the vertical distance between the free ends of the deflected spring contact arms after mating to be minimized, reducing the vertical profile of the mated interface.

Electrical terminals for flat power cable

An adapter substrate (40) for carrying one or more electrical components (80,90), includes plated circuitry to which the components are connectable, to comprise a member securable between a chip carrier socket (20) and a printed circuit panel (14) and provide electrical interconnection therebetween. The electrical components are connected to selected ones of the interconnections between the socket and the panel in order to modify, effect or sense the selected interconnections. While the other interconnections are passed through the substrate such as by plated through-holes (44), the selected interconnections are interrupted by the dielectric material of the substrate (40) and are plated blind holes (46) connected by path segments (120) to be electrically connected to the one or more electrical components; completing the connection to the socket's contacts are plated through-holes (116) and path segments (128) to contact pads (52). Into the plated through-holes and plated blind holes alike can be inserted post members (42) matable with plated through-holes (16) of the panel; contact sections connectable with the socket's contacts (28 ) can be pads (52) for surface mounting. One such adapter can be used to fabricate an assured backup power supply (10) for an IC chip carried in the socket (20), when a battery (80) and a logic chip control circuit (90) therefor are the electrical components.

Component-carrying adapter for chip carrier socket

A connector assembly is disclosed for effecting mass insulation displacing termination of a plurality of conductors into a like plurality of terminals which are pre-loaded into a housing in a single aligned row. The subject connector assembly includes a housing having a plurality of terminal passages therein opening, in a forward direction, onto a mating face normal to the axes of the passages and, in a rearward direction, opening outwardly toward one side of the housing. A terminal is mounted in each passageway with a matable portion directed toward the mating face and an insulation displacing, conductor engaging portion lying in the outwardly open rear portion. The subject connector assembly also has a cover with one end edge engageable with the housing at the outward opening of the passageways and the other end enclosing the rear of the housing.

Mass terminatable single row connector assembly

An electrical terminal is disclosed for use in the insulation displacing termination of conductors having substantially any center spacing. The terminal is provided with two spaced apart and substantially parallel side beam members which define a conductor receiving channel therebetween. Each side beam has at least one insulation piercing extension perpendicularly formed therefrom to extend into the channel toward a corresponding extension formed from the opposite side beam. As the conductor is moved laterally of its axis and into the channel, the edges of the corresponding insulation piercing extensions serve to pierce the insulative covering of the conductor and establish electrical and mechanical contact between the terminal and the conductor. Termination tooling for use in terminating the conductor is also disclosed and includes a pressing bar, and a block having supportive means for reinforcing the terminal side beams during the termination procedure.

Insulation displacement terminal

A cover kit is disclosed for use in enclosing an open portion of a housing for a known electrical connector. The cover kit includes a first cover member one end of which engages one side of an elongated connector housing with the other end extending across the rear edge of the housing and a second mating cover member selected from a group of cover members each having distinguishing features. The second cover members each have a first end which engages the opposite side of the connector housing and a second end which engages the other end of the first cover member to securely enclose the connector housing. The second cover members provide keying, polarization, profile alteration, and latching for the connector.

Electrical connector cover kit

A method is disclosed for effecting mass insulation displacing termination of a plurality of conductors by a like plurality of terminals which have been pre-loaded into a housing. The housing has a plurality of terminal passageways therein opening onto a mating face and each passageway receives a terminal with a matable portion directed toward the mating face and an insulation displacing conductor engaging portion which lies in a rear portion of the passage having an opening to the side of the housing. The housing further includes a pair of hermaphroditic cover members which enclose the rear portion of the housing and also provide a strain relief function for the conductors when assembled on the housing.

Connector assembly for mass termination

An interconnect system is disclosed which enables the interconnection of a plurality of modules, each terminating a different cable, in a single connector. Each module can be used to terminate an individual cable and an assembly of modules are secured together in a single interconnect housing. Thus it is possible, with this connector, to intermix cables of different types such as ribbon cable, jacketed cable, etc., as well as cables of different numbers of conductors and cables having different wire sizes and wire types, for example stranded or solid conductor.

Modular interconnect system

A connector system is disclosed for effecting mass insulation displacing termination of a plurality of conductors by a like plurality of terminals which have been pre-loaded into a housing. The subject assembly includes a housing having a plurality of terminal passageways therein opening onto a mating face. Each passageway receives a terminal having a matable portion directed toward the mating face and an insulation displacing conductor engaging portion which lies in a rear portion of the passage having an opening to the side of the housing. The housing further includes a pair of hermaphroditic cover members which enclose the rear portion of the housing and also provide a strain relief function for the conductors when assembled on the housing.

An improved strain relief assembly is disclosed for use with cables of a wide variety of cross-sectional areas. The assembly includes a pair of hermaphroditic housing members each of which receives therein one of a plurality of cable engaging members having a profiled cable engaging face and being of such dimension as to provide, in combination with another member, a wide variety of cable receiving openings. In an alternate embodiment, the cable engaging members include a resilient portion whereby the members are self biasing. The housing members have intermating latching members to secure them together in an assembled condition. The housing members also include a profiled forward end having connector housing engaging means whereby the strain relief assembly may be secured to a known connector.

Strain relief assembly

An improved mounting means is disclosed for removably mounting electrical connectors and the like in openings in a panel with the mounting and dismounting taking place from either side of the panel. The mounting means can compensate for various thickness panels as well as for variations in the thickness of a panel.

Growing community of inventors

Glendale, AZ, United States of America

John E Lucius