International Business Machines Corporation

Todd A McClurg

Jay H Neer

Rocco J Noschese

Ronald V Davidge

John R Dewitt

Ronald P Sidor

Darryl C Newell

Richard J Nelson

Orlando Pimienta

Heinz Piorunneck

A personal computer includes a frame unit and a top cover mounted to pivot upward and outward to the rear of the system, or alternately, upward to the side. One or more DASD storage devices may be mounted to extend downward from the top cover. A planar board is attached atop the lower side of the frame unit, where flexible mounting hardware allows the attachment of one of several types of planar boards. A central support structure includes a riser card plugged into a connector of the planar board, and a number of card connectors into which option cards can be plugged for electrical connection with the planar board. The central support structure also includes a bracket extending along the rear of the computer, having slots through which port connectors of the option cards can extend. The central support structure is held in engagement with the connector of the planar board by the top cover when this cover is closed. When the top cover is open, the DASD storage devices may be easily replaced, the central support structure may be unplugged from the planar board, and the planar board can be easily replaced or serviced. A front surface of the computer includes a door, which is opened by rotation outward and downward, to be slid inward, providing access for the replacement of media in the storage devices. This door and the top cover are separately lockable using a multi-function lock.

Personal computer with configurational flexibility and service features

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

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.

Growing community of inventors

Boca Raton, FL, United States of America

Todd A McClurg