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. 24, 2001
Filed:
May. 05, 2000
Thomas Alexander, Trenton, MI (US);
Stefano Spadoni, Dearborn, MI (US);
Alcoa Fujikura Limited, Brentwood, TN (US);
Abstract
A monolithic terminal interface for supporting, and establishing electrical contact to, components such as relays and fuses includes a terminal board fabricated from a self-supporting sheet of resilient, electrically insulating material. The terminal board includes one or more terminal sockets, each being defined by a terminal slot formed through the board. The terminal slot creates opposed contact beams which include contact portions spaced by a distance less than the thickness of a terminal. The contact portions of the contact beams engage a terminal inserted therebetween, and because of the resilient nature of the material of the board, maintain contact pressure with the terminal. A pattern of metalization extends across at least one face of the board and into the terminal slot so as to cover the contact regions in this manner, electrical contact can be established through the conductive metal pattern to a terminal inserted in the slot. The monolithic terminal interface can be used to fabricate a power distribution box for a motor vehicle.