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:
Oct. 05, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 26, 1998
Paul Yu-Fei Hu, Tucson, AZ (US);
Rudolph Manuel Lopez, Tucson, AZ (US);
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a strain relief clamp for supporting one or more flexible ribbon cables. A first stiff member has an indentation wider than a flexible ribbon cable, and a height less than the thickness of a flexible ribbon cable. Stacked pliant members are stacked on the first stiff member. Each pliant member has an indentation on the side facing away from the first stiff member. The indentations are substantially equal in width and height to the indentation of the first stiff member. A second stiff member is located on the end of the stack opposite the first stiff member and has a protrusion at least as wide as a flexible ribbon cable facing the indentation of the adjacent pliant member. The protrusion height is such that the sum of its height and the thicknesses of the flexible ribbon cables is greater than the sum of the heights of the indentations of the first stiff member and of the stacked pliant members. Thus, upon clamping the members together, the flexible ribbon cables are compressed when placed in the indentations of the first stiff member and the stacked pliant member adjacent the second stiff member protrusion, providing strain relief of the flexible ribbon cables. The surfaces of the members engaging the flexible ribbon cables each may be textured to improve the friction characteristics.