The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 03, 1990
Filed:
Mar. 11, 1988
Rodney L Derbyshire, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Metcal, Inc., Menlo Park, CA (US);
Abstract
A connector (33) which acts upon itself contains a fusible bonding material (35,37) the connector (33) forming a part of a temperature autoregulating electrical heater whereby upon application of a generally constant a.c. current to the heater, the temperature of the heater rises to and is maintained at slightly above the melting temperature of the fusible material (35,37). The circuit which includes the autoregulating heater may take many forms, and in one embodiment a crimping tool forms part of the circuit; in another embodiment, a wire or wires to be joined to the connector as well as the connector form part of the heating circuit; while in another embodiment, a heat shrinkable conductor or plastic or fusible plastic may be employed to grasp an object to be joined to the connector or other object or block the flow of fusible material while in still another embodiment, the fusible material, upon flowing to a prescribed final location, disconnects the system from the current source, and/or may connect a second heating circuit to a source. Autoregulation is achieved at about the Curie temperature of a magnetic material incorporated in the system as a connector, as a layer of a connector, as the jaws of the crimping tool, as part of a member to be joined to another member and the like. In some embodiments, the connector serves as the secondary of an inductive source.