Patents Examined by Hien D. Vu
  • Patent number: 5409397
    Abstract: An adapter plug including a central rectangular body having integral loop handles extending laterally from the opposed sides thereof and defining finger accommodating grips to assist in inserting and removing the adapter from a power source, wall receptacle or the like. Conductor prongs extend from one end of the adapter plug body for engagement within a wall receptacle while the other end of the adapter body includes conductive sockets for the semi-permanent mounting of an appliance plug thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: Environmental Associates, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregg Karman
  • Patent number: 5409394
    Abstract: A locking element fixes a removable connector to a complementary fixed connector provided in a wall. The locking element is provided with first locking means engageable by sliding in a predetermined direction perpendicular to the axis of the removable connector and the fixed connector, with complementary locking means of the removable connector. The locking element is provided with second locking means engageable by sliding in the predetermined direction, with complementary locking means of the wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Christian Astier
  • Patent number: 5409390
    Abstract: A contact connector is disclosed, which comprises an insulation body defining a contact chamber, a first pin hole, and a second pin hole, the contact chamber being defined inside the insulation body, the first pin hole and the second pin hole being defined on the front surface of the insulation body, the first pin hole being spaced apart from the second pin hole, the second pin hole extending along a first line which passes the first pin hole, the second pin hole having a width at least twice the height thereof, the first pin hole and the second pin hole being connected to the contact chamber, a first contact, disposed in the contact chamber, having at least one elastic contact piece traversing the first pin hole along the first line, and a second contact, disposed in the contact chamber, having at least one elastic contact piece traversing the second pin hole along the first line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: Hosiden Corporation
    Inventor: Noboru Yoshida
  • Patent number: 5409400
    Abstract: Shielding for an electrical connector comprises, a front shell (6) and backshells (12, 12) that nest one with the other, short anchoring flanges (90) and long anchoring flanges (91) that interlock in recesses (64) of a strain relief, and walls (54, 55) that interlock at a second location on the backshells (12, 12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: The Whitaker Corporation
    Inventor: Wayne S. Davis
  • Patent number: 5409393
    Abstract: A locking mechanism that includes a plurality of female pins that can slide into the locking apertures of corresponding male pins, to secure a male connector to a female connector. The female pins are located within corresponding alignment apertures in the female connector and are oriented to be essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the apertures. The alignment apertures receive the male pins which have cam surfaces that engage the female pins and move the female pins from the first position to the second position. The male pins are inserted into the alignment apertures until the female pins are aligned with the locking apertures, wherein the female pins slide into the locking apertures and interlock the connectors. The female pins are connected to a handle by a chassis that can move between a first position and a second position. To disengage the connectors, the handle can be depressed to push the female pins out of the locking apertures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: Laurence/Wayne, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard W. Perkins, Bradley L. Read
  • Patent number: 5409398
    Abstract: A lighted adapter for use in an electrical system which includes a male connector and a mateable female connector connectable in a given line circuit. The connectors include complementary interengaging terminals. The adapter includes a housing having a female end for mating with the male connector and a male end for mating with the female connector. An electronic package is located within the housing and includes adapter terminals for engagement with the terminals of the connectors when the housing is mated between the connectors, whereby the electronic package is electrically coupled to the line circuit through the adapter. A light source is provided in the housing and coupled in the circuit therethrough. A light transmitting lens is associated with the housing and arranged in proximity to the light source to provide external viewing of a lighted condition of the light source and, thereby, a line circuit condition through the adapter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1995
    Assignee: Molex Incorporated
    Inventors: Richard Chadbourne, Robert A. Miller, Donald F. Worden, Thomas C. Zinchuk
  • Patent number: 5407367
    Abstract: A dual level terminal assembly for use in connecting closely packed leads to a circuit board. The assembly includes an elongated base support and a lower barrier terminal strip mounted on a from portion of the support, and an upper barrier terminal strip mounted on a rear portion of the support which faces the from portion and which is at a higher level that the front portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 18, 1995
    Assignee: Vernitron Corporation
    Inventor: Gary Robertson
  • Patent number: 5403210
    Abstract: Narrower connecting strips and wider connecting strips, which each has plural connecting tips and are of different widths, are fixed such that the narrower ones are superposed on the wider ones thereby making combined connecting strips, which are mounted by a rivet in each compartment provided on an insulator base. Thus desired small, medium and large numbers of the connecting tips on combined connecting strips of common electric connections are obtainable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 4, 1995
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Osamu Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 5403209
    Abstract: An electrical connector has a housing and spring contacts. The housing has uniform straight, cross-sectional T-shaped contact receiving slots. The spring contacts have middle sections fixedly mounted to the housing in head sections of the T-shaped slots and top sections. The top sections have contact areas deflectably located in base sections of the T-shaped slots and pre-load tabs movably confined in the head sections of the T-shaped slots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 4, 1995
    Assignee: Burndy Corporation
    Inventor: Thomas G. Lytle
  • Patent number: 5403199
    Abstract: A low insertion force, high current connector terminal for vehicular applications. The terminal includes a receptacle connector member having means for varying the inside diameter of a socket thereof, and a pin connector member insertable therein. The receptacle connector member includes an outboardly displaceable resilient finger having a first stop surface engageable with a second stop surface formed on the pin connector member to prevent accidental axial displacement of the two connector members. A slot and mating guide are disposed on, respectively, the receptacle connector member and the pin connector member, said slot and guide serving as both a guide means when the members are connected and also as an indexing means to prevent the connection of two non-mating connector members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 4, 1995
    Assignees: Electrical Mechanical Products Inc., Chrysler Corp
    Inventors: Dewey Mobley, James P. Burgess, Frank R. VanWulfen, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5401191
    Abstract: A modified lamp includes first and second filaments contained in an envelope to which power is selectively provided individually or conjunctively to obtain three distinct light levels. A contact member in the lamp base is modified to include a planar surface over a major portion of its radial width. Additionally, a lead wire opening that receives one of the lead wires extending from one of the filaments, is spaced from the planar surface to limit the potential for electrical contact with a tang of an associated socket. In one preferred embodiment, the lead wire opening is disposed in a recess that has a maximum circumferential dimension less than the cross-section of the tang to preclude advancement of the tang into the recess. A flat is provided along the outer periphery of the contact member to provide accurate orientation of the contact member during lamp assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Harvey W. Krage, Jr., John R. Agoston, Ronald E. Maier, Ronald DeCubellis, David W. Allen, James L. Lannan, Glenn H. Kuenzler
  • Patent number: 5401175
    Abstract: Several embodiments are shown for a quick connect/disconnect microwave coaxial connector which is held together under magnetic force. In one embodiment, the ends of coaxial cables are provided with annular magnets and the end faces ground flat. A good low SWR coaxial connection is made and held by simply pushing the ends together. In another embodiment, ring magnets are employed to hold standard coaxial ends together while enabling their disconnection by pulling them apart. A magnetic adapter is used to facilitate coaxial connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Assignee: M/A-Com, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Guimond, Stuart J. MacNeill
  • Patent number: 5401190
    Abstract: A rotating-telescoping base structure for lamps or light bulbs is described. The structure may be rotated up to 320.degree. and may be telescoped outwardly from the base structure. This enables use in applications where a longer neck dimension is needed or alignment of the fixture without unscrewing it from a socket is to be carried out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Assignee: Philips Electronics North America Corporation
    Inventors: Harish F. Gandhi, Robert E. Cassidy
  • Patent number: 5399108
    Abstract: An electrical socket (10) includes an insulative housing (12) with cavities (14) extending vertically therethrough and a plurality of contacts (30) retained in the cavities (14), respectively. An engagement bar (22) is positioned proximate the upper open end of each cavity (14) so that when the contact is assembled in each corresponding cavity (14), the front portions of the spring arms (40) of each contact (30) can move along a guiding pin (62), which is inserted into the cavity (14) from the top open end temporally only for the sake of assembling of the contacts (30) within the socket (10), and be deflected outwardly so that the tips (44') of the spring arms (40) of the contact (30) can pass the engagement bar (22) and be positioned by the sides of the engagement bar (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Assignee: Tongrand Limited
    Inventors: Sidney Lu, Ching-ho Lai
  • Patent number: 5399100
    Abstract: A transmission wire connector assembly incorporating a live contact test access position comprises a recess within the body of the assembly into which a connector extends, the recess being arranged to contain a non-conductive elastic self-healing sealant gel for providing a seal of the live connector with respect to the environment; and an electrically conductive contact member arranged to be disposed at least partially within the recess but normally held separated from the live connector and therefore non-live; the contact member being so disposed and arranged that upon applying a test probe thereto the contact member is moved into contact with the live connector to enable testing thereof to take place, the contact member being so arranged that upon removal of the probe the contact member returns to its normal position separated from the live connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Assignee: A.C. Agerton Limited
    Inventors: Andrew P. C. Dooley, Derec Sheals
  • Patent number: 5397241
    Abstract: Disclosed is a high density connector for providing electrical connection between a circuit pack and backplane. The connector is formed from at least two modules, each coupled to a different surface of the circuit board and having a different array of connection types.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 14, 1995
    Assignee: AT&T Corp.
    Inventors: Loren A. Cox, Michael G. German, Constance R. Pallas
  • Patent number: 5395255
    Abstract: An IC socket includes a socket board having a plurality of contacts, and an IC platform vertically movably disposed on the socket board and adapted to support thereon an IC having a plurality of leads projecting sidewards from a body thereof so as to be contacted with the contacts. Inclined wall surfaces are formed at both ends of a row of the contacts and are adapted to guide the leads onto vertical wall surfaces formed at lower ends of the inclined wall surfaces. To this end, the contacts at the ends of the row are guided onto the vertical wall surfaces by the inclined wall surfaces when the IC platform with the IC body supported thereon is lowered, so that the leads are brought into contact with the contacts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Assignee: Yamaichi Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yuji Kato
  • Patent number: 5395267
    Abstract: The invention relates to shielded cables and in particular to an electrically conductive junction between the conduit which shields the cable and the electrical connector at the end of the cable which serves as the cable termination. The invention comprehends an EMI/RFI adapter-ring pair each member of which surrounds the terminations of the plurality of central conductors within one of the cables to be connected and which is in electrical contact with the outer shield of the cable throughout its periphery. An annular projection on one member of the adapter-ring pair coacts with an annular cavity or groove on the other member, so that a tight fit results when the connector is pushed together. One or both sides of the cavity and projection may be of a sloping configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Inventor: William L. Tregoning
  • Patent number: 5395259
    Abstract: The connector includes a support plate for the major face of the card opposite the face which carries contact zones. It defines a path for the insertion of the card in a given direction and includes an end-of-travel microswitch which is actuated by the front edge of the card when the latter reaches and exceeds a given position. A rocker is rotatable on the microswitch housing about an axis which is orthogonal to the direction of insertion of the card, parallel to the support plane on the plate and distant from the support plane. The rocker has, opposite the rotation axis, a finger for the front edge of the card and it has a projection for controlling the microswitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Assignee: Framatome Connectors International
    Inventor: Calude Casses
  • Patent number: 5393237
    Abstract: An electric plug locking device (10), which remains affixed to an electric plug (13) for preventing unsupervised use of electrical equipment, has an upper housing member (11) movably mounted to a lower housing member (12). The upper housing member which has an opening (23) for receiving a plug terminal (15) moves from a position that shields the terminal to prevent it from being inserted into an electrical socket to a position that unshields the plug terminal to permit it to be inserted into the socket.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: William J. Roy
    Inventors: William J. Roy, Michael C. Mayne