Smiths Industries Public Limited Company

Smiths Group Plc

Peter Dent

Brian Shepherd

John Anderson

Paul Hynes

Amanda Jane Wilson

Gavin Harry Mintern

An electrical connector including a first and second assembly that are matable with one another by a sliding push fit to establish electrical interconnection between the two assemblies is disclosed. The first assembly includes a contact pin with a collar extending concentrically around the pin to define a recess therebetween, with the collar supporting on its inner surface a first resilient contact element. The second assembly includes a sleeve open at one end thereof such that the sleeve can be received in the recess of the first assembly, with the sleeve supporting on its inner surface a second resilient contact element. The two assemblies may be arranged such that, when the second assembly is inserted into the first assembly, the first resilient contact element makes sliding electrical contact with an external surface of the sleeve of the second assembly, and the second resilient contact element makes sliding electrical contact with the external surface of the pin of the first assembly.

Electrical connectors

An electrical connector for high current applications has a mating plug and socket assembly. The socket assembly has two sockets arranged coaxially of one another and electrically interconnected. The central socket receives and contacts a pin on the plug assembly; the other socket contacts the external surface of a tubular sleeve surrounding and integrally electrically connected with the pin. The socket assembly also has a third socket electrically insulated from and arranged coaxially outwardly of the other two sockets. The third socket makes electrical contact with the outer surface of a tubular contact extending coaxially of the pin and electrically insulated from it. The sockets each have a hyperboloid configuration of multiple resilient wires to make contact with the pin, sleeve and outer contact.

An optical connector assembly has several optical and electrical connectors mounted in mateable rectangular housings. Each optical connector is resiliently mounted in an alignment sleeve by means of a spring clip encircling the connector and contacting the sleeve. The alignment sleeves are themselves resiliently mounted in passages through the housings by spring clips encircling the sleeves and contacting passages within which the sleeves are mounted.

Optical connector assemblies

An electrical connector has a forward assembly with an outer metal housing supporting several insulative blocks containing the connector contacts. The rear end of each contact has a socket into which is inserted the forward end of conductors contained in a rear assembly. Some of the conductors are filtered and others unfiltered. Connection is made to the rear end of the conductors in the rear assembly by means of plates connected at the end of a cable, the plates supporting contacts that are a push-fit in the rear of the conductors in the rear assembly.

Electrical connector assembly with removable filter block

An electrical connector has a row of metal spring clips mounted on the lower half of its outer shell to the rear of the contact block. Screened cables enter the rear of the connector, each screening sheath being doubled over and trapped between an inner stiffening tube and an outer metal collar. The clips make electrical contact with the screening sheaths via the collars. A clamping member on the upper half of the shell bears on the cables on opposite sides of the clips.

Electrical assembly with spring clips connecting to cable screens

An electrical connector has two parts each with a rectangular shell surrounding contact elements. The outside of one shell and the inside of the other are enlarged in the corners and so that the two shells can only be mated when presented square-on, thereby reducing the risk that the contact elements on one part will be inadvertently contacted by the shell on the other part. The two parts have mating coding members and clamping members located outside the shells, one part having two tower formations in which the coding and clamping members are located. The width of the towers is greater than the width of the shell on the other part.

A compliant contact for insertion in a plated hole in a circuit board is machined from a single piece of metal with a shank at one end, which projects through the hole, and a socket at its opposite end, which can be crimped about a conductor inserted in it. Rearwardly of the shank, the contact has an entry region with two convex surfaces tapering away from one another rearwardly to a compliant region. The compliant region has two flat sides and a slot extending between the sides, which divides the region into two resilient blades, each of which has a flat, parallel outer surface. The flat outer surfaces are divided from the flat sides by turned edge portions formed as a part of a common surface of circular section.

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Enfield, United Kingdom

Peter Dent