International Business Machines Corporation

Ronald V Davidge

Jay H Neer

John R Dewitt

Paul J Galinis

Rocco J Noschese

Thomas H Newsom

Francis A Kuchar, Jr

Todd A McClurg

Ronald P Sidor

Darryl C Newell

Richard J Nelson

Carl A Queener

Heinz Piorunneck

Kevin K Cooke

David K Gibson

George W Van Cleave

Frederick W Johnson

Robert B Barker

James T Vanderslice

Thomas H Newson

Dorris D James

An electrical connector for removably receiving a daughter card includes a first group of contact springs, which extend in their free, undeflected state into a card-receiving slot, and a second group of contact springs, which are displaced from this slot in their undeflected state. This connector also includes an actuator, which can be moved to engage the second group of contact springs so that they are moved into the card-receiving slot. The actuator can be left in a position in which it is not so engaged when a first type of daughter card is inserted in the connector, with slotted portions of the daughter card passing over surfaces of the actuator. The actuator is moved into this engagement with the insertion of a second type of daughter card as surfaces on the daughter card push on surfaces of the actuator. The actuator also includes means by which it is locked to this second type of daughter card so that it is restored to its unengaged position as the daughter card is withdrawn from the connector. In an alternative embodiment, the engagement of the actuator is not controlled by the surfaces of the daughter card, but rather by manual movement of an engagement lever.

High density connector with sliding actuator

A daughter card is provided with an insertion portion, including a row of contact pads on each side of an edge prepared for insertion into the slot of card edge connector, and a contact structure extending from one or both sides of the card. Contact terminals of the contact structure extend parallel to the insertion portion of the card, being electrically connected to circuits within the card. On a mother board, a connector is provided with a first slot for removably receiving the insertion portion of the daughter card, and with one or two slots for removably receiving the contact terminals. The mother board and the daughter card include essential circuits, which are connected through the contact pads, and non-essential circuits, which are connected through the contact terminals. The daughter card may be plugged into a standard type of card edge connector, having only a single, central card-receiving slot, with the contact terminals extending outside the outer surfaces of the connector. A standard type of daughter card, with contact pads on an insertion portion but without the contact terminals extending outward from the card, can be plugged into the first slot of the connector.

High density interconnection system

Cover assemblies, capable of being locked and unlocked by means of a key, are configured to be placed over the connectors at each end of an external computer system cable. When these cover assemblies are locked in place, the cable cannot be unplugged from the connector ports of the system devices. When these cover assemblies are unlocked, they can be removed from the cable, and the cable can then be unplugged from the connector ports. A first type of cover assembly is designed to operate with a connector which is fastened in place in its plugged position by means of a pair of screws, while a second type of cover assembly is designed to operate with a connector which is fastened in place by means of a pair of rotatable wire bails. These cover assemblies may also be used to prevent access to connector ports to which cables are not attached by locking in place terminators commonly used on such ports, or by locking in place shells configured for this purpose, if such terminators are otherwise not required.

Cable locking covers

Lockable covers are used to cover either of two types of shield blocks to prevent access to circuits within either of two types of external ports on computing devices. Each such shield block covers the port contacts associated with these circuits, includes locking surfaces for holding the lockable cover in place, and is itself held in place by the attachment features provided on the external port for holding an external cable in place. One such shield block is held in place by a pair of screws extending into threaded holes in the external port, while the other such shield block is held in place by a pair of flexible wire bails rotatably mounted in the external port.

Device-port locking covers

An electronic connector is configured to removably receive either a circuit card of a first type, having one row of contacts per side, on an insertion tab adjacent to an insertion edge, or a circuit card of a second type, having two rows of contacts per side. Two rows of spring contacts are provided for this purpose on each side of a central card-receiving slot. Interposing means are also provided to prevent contact between a daughter card of the first type fully inserted in this slot and one of these rows on each side. These interposing means may consist of a slotted interposer structure slid over a portion of the insertion tab of the card, or alternately of a pair of pivotable interposers mounted along the length of the connector, to be pivoted by sections of daughter cards of the first type so that vanes extending from these interposers will push these springs away from the card. An electronic device, such as a connector of this type, includes solder tails for attachment within holes of a mother board, aligned in several parallel rows. Individual solder tails in each row are displaced by a first distance. Individual solder tails in adjacent rows are displaced by a second distance, which is a submultiple of the first distance less than half the first distance. This second distance may also be a multiple of the first distance divided by the number of rows.

High density circuit connector

Cover assemblies, capable of being locked and unlocked by means of a key, are configured to be placed over the connectors at each end of an external computer system cable. When these cover assemblies are locked in place, the cable cannot be unplugged from the connector ports of the system devices. When these cover assemblies are unlocked, they can be removed from the cable, and the cable can then be unplugged from the connector ports. A first type of cover assembly is designed to operate with a connector which is fastened in place in its plugged position by means of a pair of screws, while a second type of cover assembly is designed to operate with a connector which is fastened in placed by means of a pair of rotatable wire bails. These cover assemblies may also be used to prevent access to connector ports to which cables are not attached by locking in place terminators commonly used on such ports, or by locking in place shells configured for this purpose, if such terminators are otherwise not required.

A cable connector, terminator, or shield is fastened in place over a port connector in a unit having a lockable cover, by fastening means which can only be accessed when the cover is unlocked and opened or removed. In a first version, the cable connector, terminator, or shield includes a pair of tabs extending into the unit through a slot at each end of the port connector, with each tab having a notch which forms a latching surface. A rotatable bracket, engaging these latching surfaces, prevents the removal of the connector, terminator, or shield. With the cover opened or removed, this bracket can be rotated into a position in which the latching surfaces are released. In a second version, a locking bracket is provided to extend around an outer portion of the cable connector, terminator, or shield. This locking bracket includes a shaft extending through a hole into the unit, to be fastened in place by a nut engaging a threaded portion of the shaft. The nut can be accessed to release the shaft from within the unit only when the lockable cover is opened or removed. In a third version, the connector, terminator, or shield includes a pair of slidably mounted shafts, which extend through holes at each end of the port connector to engage holes within a latching bar. When the lockable cover is opened or removed, the latching bar can be manually slid from a locked position in which these shafts are held in place, to an unlocked position, in which they are released. Thus, in all versions, physical access to electronic circuits within the port connector is prevented as long as a cable connector, terminator, or shield is held in place with the lockable cover locked in its closed position.

Means for locking cables and connector ports

Electrical grounding is provided for an optional device in a computer system, and a gap of varying width adjacent to the device is filled with a conductive shield, by means of a flexible grounding spring having a folded central section from which tabs extend in one direction to contact a conductive surface of the device and in the opposite direction to contact a conductive surface of the machine framework. This grounding spring is held by means of a mounting bracket having a slot through which the folded central section extends to be held in place by locking tabs formed in this section.

Device grounding spring

In a xerographic image transfer device, copy sheets are sequentially aligned and position sensed before introduction to the image transfer zone. The position sensing is used to compare the copy sheet location with the position of the image panel on a moving photoconductor. The timing and velocity profile of the copy sheet drive after the position sensing is arranged so that the copy sheet arrives in registry with the image panel and at the same velocity.

Electronically gated paper aligner system

Documents are automatically recirculated for copying by a copier from a stack which is accessed top document downward. Documents are stacked faceup in an upper tray and moved as a group to a lower tray where they are stacked facedown, with the first document in the upper tray appearing in a facedown position at the bottom of the lower tray. The top document in the lower tray is then removed for copying and returned to the bottom of the upper tray, thus peserving the original document order for further copying. The copier normally scans stationary documents placed on a glass platen; for example, individual sheets of paper or book pages may be placed on the glass platen and held stationary while the optics causes light to scan the page. During automatic recirculation of stacks of the documents, however, the scanning optics is 'parked' and documents removed from the lower tray are imaged while scanned past a fixed exposure area on the glass platen on the way back to the upper tray.

Recirculating document feed for electrophotographic apparatus

A photoconductor member is cleaned by a rotating fiber brush. The cleaned particles are knocked from the brush by a knock-off bar causing substantial wear on the brush. To compensate for the wear, both the knock-off bar and the fiber brush are adjusted for maintaining cleansing contact between the photoconductor member and the brush, plus the brush with the knock-off bar. In a preferred form of the invention, the fiber brush also is an air impeller for entraining cleaned particles from the photoconductor drum into a disposal station which, by way of example, may contain a scavanging roll and an air filter. The adjustments are such that the air impeller properties of the rotating brush are maintained throughout the life of the brush.

Growing community of inventors

Coral Springs, FL, United States of America

Ronald V Davidge