International Business Machines Corporation

Michael J Huck

Brian Alan Trumbo

Karl Klaus Dittus

Michael Sven Miller

Edward N Dials

Steven E Howell

Andrew S Heinzmann

Cynthia Michelle Grosser

Susan Pohl Wise

Ronald Gary King

Richard P Southers

Courtney Long

Suzanne E Pail

A component assembly in accordance with the present invention is disclosed. In a first aspect, the assembly includes at least one component and a bracket for holding at least one component. The bracket has a first side, a second side, and formed features for holding at least one component to the first side of the bracket. The assembly includes a wire spring assembly for securing at least one component to the second side of the bracket. In a second aspect, the component assembly comprises a first component and a second component. The component assembly further includes a bracket for holding the first and second components on the first and second sides of the bracket. The first and second sides of the bracket are oppositely disposed to each other. The bracket includes formed features on the first and second sides for retaining the first and second components. The system further includes first and second wire spring assemblies on each of the first and second sides for securing the first and second components to the bracket. Accordingly, an improved assembly for components and method for mounting is described which overcomes the problems of conventional component assembly and mounting methods. By providing an assembly for components utilizing an improved bracket designed with formed features, and a wire spring assembly the screws associated with mounting the components are minimized. In addition, the components can be attached to the bracket quickly and easily. The assembly is less expensive since the number of parts necessary for assembly is reduced. Finally, the design of the bracket allows for a robust design when mounting the component assembly within a housing.

Assembly for components and method for mounting

A computer has at least one adapter card slot for receiving an optional adapter card. A cover plate is rotatable hinged and has open and closed positions. In the closed position, the cover plate covers the adapter card slot and inhibits the insertion or removal of an adapter card. When the cover plate is raised into the open position, a tab on the back of the cover plate is rotated out of the slot of an optical switch, and the optical switch then signals circuitry to remove power and bus signals from the adapter card slot; thereby permitting the adapter card to be removed from or inserted into the slot without removing power to the entire computer. When the cover plate is returned to the closed position, the tab is reinserted into the slot of the optical switch, which in turn signals the circuitry to return power and bus signals to the adapter card slot. A locking tab firmly clamps the adapter card bracket to the housing bracket; thereby providing a good ground connection from the adapter card to the computer housing.

Hot plug adapters using optical switches

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Apex, NC, United States of America

Michael J Huck