Emc Corporation

John Palker

Robert P Wierzbicki

Albert F Beinor, Jr

Keith Clifford Johnson

Joseph P DeYesso

Melissa Silvestro

Described is an equipment tray having integrated rail guides. The tray has a base sized for supporting a unit of electronic equipment, a back wall extending perpendicularly from the base at a back end of the tray, and opposing side walls spatially separated by the base. Each side wall extends from front to back to meet the back wall. Each side wall has at least one upper rail guide and at least one lower rail guide extending laterally from that side wall. The at least one lower rail guide is spatially separated from and opposite to the at least one upper rail guide. The upper and lower rail guides slidably engage a portion of a side rail when the tray is installed in the cabinet rack. Each side wall also has a flange at the front end for attaching the tray to a mounting rail of a cabinet rack.

Tray with integrated rail guides for facilitating installation of equipment units into a cabinet rack

Described are an apparatus and method for blind mating electrical connectors. A connector-alignment collar includes a frame with a multi-sided base portion. The sides of the base portion define an area within which to receive a connector closely. A guide cantilever extends substantially perpendicularly from the base portion at a first side of the frame, and an alignment cantilever extends substantially perpendicularly from the base portion at a second side of the frame opposite the first side. The connector-alignment collar is placed around a first electrical connector on a first circuit board. The alignment cantilever is inserted into an alignment hole in the second circuit board while a guide notch in an edge of the second circuit board is urged against the guide cantilever. After the alignment cantilever is inserted into the alignment hole in the second circuit board, the first electrical connector on the first circuit board mates with the second electrical connector on the second circuit board.

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South Grafton, MA, United States of America

John Palker