Abstract: A method of equalizing received packet data in a bus topology network, including: receiving, by a receiver of a second node, a first packet from a first node in a bus topology network in which two or more nodes are connected via a bus; setting, by the receiver, an equalizer coefficient of an equalizer using a first training sequence of the first packet and storing the set equalizer coefficient; receiving, by the receiver, a second packet including a second training sequence shorter than the first training sequence from the first node; and equalizing, by the receiver, the second packet using the stored equalizer coefficient.

Abstract: A printed circuit board wedge assembly having a center section riveted to a printed circuit board. The center section is designed to allow the wedge operating shaft running longitudinally through the wedge assembly to be positioned into the center section opening with no obstructions. A biasing spring is placed through a slot and moved in place along grooves cut into the center section. The spring captivates the operating shaft assembly to the center section and enables all the wedge sections to be aligned.

Abstract: A fastener assembly for securing a first panel member to a second panel member in a spaced-apart relationship. The fastener comprises a tubular shank portion having first and second end portions, a cavity being formed in the shank portion. A first spring member is secured on the outside of the shank portion and has openings near the first end of the shank portion to enable steel ball members to protrude therefrom. Inside the shank portion cavity is a stepped pin member that is spring loaded and held in place by a combination of the shank portion spring ball retention feature and step angles formed on the pin member. A tubular shaped member is positioned adjacent the exterior surface of the ball members to ensure that the ball members do not extract themselves from their position within the cavity in case vibrations exceed time and frequency specifications.

Abstract: There is disclosed a power driven tool for the removal of locking collars of the frangible fasteners used in the aerospace industry. The tool has a drive motor and gear housing with a stationary sleeve which projects from the housing. Within the stationary sleeve are mounted a rotationally driven outer member that distally bears a lead screw and that slidably receives a stationary, telescoping inner member with a spring to bias the inner member into its extended configuration, and a detent to capture the inner member in its contracted, working configuration. A key holder is mounted on the end of the stationary inner member which has a hexagonally broached center bore that receives a key having has an annular groove which receives a detent ball that is secured by a sliding bushing which surrounds the key holder and a spring which biases the bushing into the detent position.

Abstract: A self-adjusting insertion/extraction apparatus is disclosed for inserting and extracting a printed circuit (PC) board into and from an electrical connector mounted at the base of a PC board rack, the apparatus being configured to function effectively regardless of limited variations in the height of the PC board. The apparatus includes a lever and a pawl pivotally secured to the PC board, at an edge of the board opposite the connector. A spring resiliently couples the lever to the pawl such that pivoting the lever from a raised position to a lowered position yieldably biases the pawl into engagement with the PC board rack, to insert the board into the rack connector. Further, raising the lever from its lowered position to its raised position moves a portion of the lever into engagement with the rack, to extract the board from the connector. Limited variations in the height of the board are accommodated by corresponding flexing of the spring.

Abstract: A fastener head having a pair of recesses formed therein, a ledge in each recess being located a short distance axially below the head surface and extending a predetermined angular length from the axial portion of the ledge. The dimension of the ledge is adjustable to accommodate the strength of the fastener material in a manner such that the displacement formation of recess material on the surface of the fastener head is prevented during normal installation procedures. The drive angle on the recess is designed to be zero degrees.

Abstract: A spring clip having two apertured end portions. In the preferred embodiment, the first end portion has an unidirectional clutch formed into the aperture wall, or face. The second end portion provides an aperture wall formed to provide an anti-rotation feature. In one embodiment, the clip is used with fluid adapters, the second end portion face having a serration and shape which raises the serration above the parent material to mate with the serration in the upper portion of the adapter lockring. The second end portion has different shapes depending upon the spring clip application.

Abstract: A captive screw assembly for mounting in flat panels of widely varying thicknesses. The assembly includes an inverted hollow cup with an outwardly extending flange on its lower edge to engage a back surface of the panel and is temporarily held in place by outwardly-projecting spring tabs. A lower portion of the cup extends through the thickness of an aperture in the panel, while center and upper portions of the cup extend above a front surface of the panel. A cylindrical sleeve is seated over the cup, and a threaded screw extends through the sleeve and the cup. When the screw engages a threaded nut, positioned below the back surface of the panel, the head of the screw urges an upper edge of the sleeve downwardly and causes a lower edge of the sleeve to bear against a ring positioned around the exterior of the cup. When the screw is completely tightened, the panel is gripped between the lower cup flange and the ring.

Abstract: A fluid connector and lock combination is described for connecting a tube to a base element. A relatively fixed, threaded base element has a passageway for passing fluid. A threaded mounting connector for surrounding the circumference of a portion of a tube is provided and which also mounts the tube to the relatively fixed, threaded base element through threaded engagement. The connector maintains a seal between the tube and a corresponding surface in the base element when the connector is sufficiently threaded to a sealed position relative to the base element to prevent leakage of fluid across the seal. A linkage is provided between the connector and the base element for preventing unthreading of the connector from the sealed position relative to the base element. The linkage includes a first portion which is linked to the connector and a second portion which engages slidingly in an axial direction the base element for preventing relative rotation between the connector and the base element.

Abstract: There is disclosed a direct acting lock mechanism to secure a tool within a driver which is useful for securing open channel sockets used to securing aerospace fasteners in a driver. These sockets have a flatted shank, typically hexagonal in cross section, and are received in a socket receptacle of the driver which has a cross section matching that of the shank. In the preferred embodiment, the flatted surfaces of the shank are formed to have substantially coextensive flats which are displaced through an angular increment of at least about 15 degrees. The flats do not extend the entire length of the shank, however, thus providing a thin shelf which has a cross section which matches the internal flatted surface of the socket receptacle of the driver.

Abstract: A blind rivet assembly comprising a body made with an insertion head at one end and having a setting concave face at the other end, and an axial thread hole in which a screw is located, the screw having a head at one end and a break-away stem at the other end. A deformable, cylindrical socket, or sleeve, with a two-step axial hole is installed on the screw between its head and the setting concave face of the body, the step with the larger inside diameter being located at the side of the body. In order to prevent damage to the composite materials which are being joined and the tearing-off of the screw by limiting assembly loads, the axial hole of the cylindrical sleeve has an additional step with the smallest inside diameter located at the side of the screw head, a predetermined ratio of the thickness of the walls of the additional step and the second step adjacent being provided, the thickness of the wall and the length of the second step also having a predetermined range.

Abstract: An improved lockbolt fastener system wherein the pin has a threaded section with at least one axial slot to provide an anti-rotation lock. The wall of the collar has a plurality of axially extending grooves extending radially outwardly from the collar internal diameter.

Abstract: A fastener assembly for securing a first panel member to a second panel member in a spaced-apart relationship. The fastener comprises a tubular shank portion having first and second end portions, a cavity being formed in the shank portion. A first spring member is secured on the outside of the shank portion and has openings near the first end of the shank portion to enable steel ball members to protrude therefrom. Inside the shank portion cavity is a stepped pin member that is spring loaded and held in place by a combination of the shank portion spring ball retention feature and step angles formed on the pin member.

Abstract: A pneumatic nut installation tool has a plunger assembly which advances from a retracted position near the rear of the tool through a nut pickup station to an extended position extending from the front of the tool. A nut shuttle delivers a nut in front of the plunger assembly before it reaches the nut pickup station and retracts away from the nut pickup station before the plunger assembly moves through that station. The nut is picked up on an assembly that includes a split spring ring which engages the bore of the nut. The spring ring is mounted on a fixed member, which also includes a hexagonal key for preventing rotation of a bolt as the nut is threaded onto it. A rotating nut driver moves over the outside of the nut picked up by the nut pickup assembly for threading the nut onto a bolt.

Abstract: A fastener assembly which includes a nut held loosely by a cage secured to an inaccessible surface of a panel. Serrations in the facing surfaces of the cage and the nut cause them to mutually interlock when pressed together by a tightened bolt passing through aligned apertures in the panel being fastened and the cage. The mutual interlocking of the nut and the cage, either directly or through an intermediate element, causes the assembly to transfer shear loads imposed by the bolt from the bolt aperture in the inner panel to the points where the cage holding the nut is attached to that panel.

Abstract: A tool for installing a retaining ring onto the threaded shank of a bolt to form a captive panel fastener. Alignment tabs formed on the retaining ring are positioned into cutout portions formed in the nose area of the tool. The tool and ring are then engaged onto the bolt from the outer end by first aligning visual markings formed on the tool jaws with longitudinal slots formed on the bolt shank. Force is then applied to the tool to crimp the ring and deform it while forcing tangs on the ring into the slots. The ring is prevented from being removed from the bolt slots while being free to move therealong.

Abstract: A fluid connector fitting nut lock includes a sleeve that fits down over the nut and that has an integral locking mechanism to fix the sleeve in a raised position that allows the nut to be turned and in a locked position that prevents the nut from backing off due to vibration or other external forces. The integral locking mechanism eliminates the need for a separate lockwire or clipwire.

Abstract: Wrenching lobes of an internally threaded nut are separated by circumferential, tapered walls so that the lobes and contiguous portions of the walls deform in radial compression upon reaching a predetermined preload and displace radially inwardly while the central portions of the walls deform radially outwardly, but do not interfere with the tool that sets the nut.

Abstract: Bolt material is orbitally swaged into recesses in the clip while simultaneously swaging bolt material over the clip to develop a torsional interference lock and an axial interference lock, respectively between the clip and the bolt. The recesses are arc shaped, have a center of curvature on a circle having a smaller diameter than a circle that defines lands between the recesses, and number between six and eight.

Abstract: A locking wedge apparatus for fastening a printed circuit board within an elongated slot in a rack. The apparatus comprises a first member having an elongated, flexible portion terminating in first and second apertured end portions, the elongated and apertured end portions forming a rectangularly shaped channel. A rectangularly shaped member having a plurality of ramps formed along the edges of one surface is positioned in a U-shaped member having a plurality of ramps extending from the bottom wall thereof such that the ramps on each member are in engagement. The assembled U-shaped and rectangularly shaped members are positioned in the channel formed in the first member. A screw member extends lengthwise through said first apertured end portion, through a threaded aperture in said rectangularly shaped member and into said second apertured end portion.