Abstract: A shroud is provided for an electrical connector having a plug interface for mating with a plug assembly and a component interface engaging an electrical component. The shroud includes a body having side walls defining a connector cavity configured to house the connector therein, wherein the side walls engage the connector. A plug opening is defined by a guide surface, and the opening provides access to the connector cavity and defines a mating window that is larger than the plug interface of the connector. A component surface extends substantially parallel to and spaced apart from the plug opening. The component surface is configured to engage the electrical component when the shroud is secured to the component.

Abstract: An electrical connector assembly is provided including a plurality of wafers having ground and signal traces with the signal traces being arranged in differential pairs, a first connector housing including channels adapted to retain a first group of wafers, and a second connector housing including channels adapted to retain a second group of wafers. The electrical connector assembly also includes signal contacts joining the differential pairs of the signal traces on the first group of wafers with corresponding differential pairs of the signal traces on the second group of wafers. The first and second connector housings join the first group of wafers in a non-parallel relationship to the second group of wafers.

Abstract: An electrical connector assembly is provided including a plurality of wafers having ground and signal traces with the signal traces being arranged in differential pairs, a first connector housing including channels adapted to retain a first group of wafers, and a second connector housing including channels adapted to retain a second group of wafers. The electrical connector assembly also includes signal contacts joining the differential pairs of the signal traces on the first group of wafers with corresponding differential pairs of the signal traces on the second group of wafers. The first and second connector housings join the first group of wafers in a non-parallel relationship to the second group of wafers.

Abstract: A modular jack for receiving an RJ-45 plug and for blocking insertion of an RJ-11 plug is disclosed. The modular jack has stamped and formed deflection members having retention sections, ramp surfaces and blocking tabs extending from ends of the ramp surfaces. The blocking tabs project laterally inwardly toward the plug-receiving cavity and block an RJ-11 plug from being inserted into the modular jack. An RJ-45 plug is wider than the RJ-11 plug and engages the ramp surfaces of the deflection members to deflect the blocking tabs away from the plug-receiving cavity, thereby allowing insertion of the RJ-45 plug.

Abstract: A strain relief for ribbon cable (12) or discrete cables (82,84) in a connector (10). Strain relief insert (32) provides a recess (34) having a narrow entrance (36) into which is urged a fold (44) of cable (12) while the insert portions (42) are temporarily flexed or pivoted apart, or the fold is insertable from an end of the recess; a retention rod (46) is inserted into the fold above the cable from the side, such that a cable loop (50) extends around the rod at bend (44). The assembly is then urged into a shell pocket (24) adjacent the cable exit (20), with the pocket sidewalls (52) preventing the insert portions (42) from spreading apart at the narrow entrance after assembly. Strain from the cable (12,82,84) onto the connector tends to urge the cable loop (50) and rod (46) against the constriction of the narrow recess entrance (36) but they are trapped in the recess. A self-sustaining strain relief member (92) may be secured to a connector at its cable exit.

Abstract: The present invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to cam levers for injecting and ejecting a connector from another part.

Abstract: A flex circuit and cable assembly for interconnecting printed circuit boards includes a flexible insulating substrate having a conductive ground plane formed on one side and first and second sets of longitudinally extending and interdigitated conductive traces on the other side. The traces of the first and second sets alternate with and are laterally spaced from one another and are provided with an array of connection pads formed on the conductive traces for connection to the tails of an electrical connector or header. Each connection array is defined by a first set of laterally enlarged connection pads associated with each conductive trace of the first set of conductive traces and formed along a first lateral axis and by a second set of laterally enlarged connection pads associated with each conductive trace of the second set of conductive traces and formed along a second lateral axis that is longitudinally spaced from the first lateral axis.

Abstract: A multi-row right-angle type header is mounted upon a printed circuit board and includes a series of leaf-type spring contacts positioned on opposite sides of the pin field and are designed to effect electrical connection with the conductive shroud of the connector telescopically received within the housing. The spring contacts each include respective tail portions that extend rearwardly of the housing and are connected to the printed circuit board in such a way that the adverse effects of electric fields is attenuated. In another form of the invention, a shield structure is connected to the tail portions of the spring contacts to provide an additional increment of shielding. The present invention advantageously provides for the shielding of the terminal leads of headers and connectors in the context of right-angle mountings so as to attenuate electric field radiation from and between the various circuits and attenuate the effect of external fields on those circuits in a cost-effective manner.

Abstract: A connector having a plurality of terminals formed therein with the mating ends of the terminals forming stacked pairs across one surface of the connector is characterized by the tail ends of the terminals forming a linear array across another surface of the housing, linearly adjacent pairs of tail ends corresponding to stacked pairs of mating ends. Each tail end has a first and a second conductor mounting surface thereon.

Abstract: Cables having interspersed co-planar signal and ground wires are terminated at a planar circuit board by stapling the cable to the circuit board with a bus member, mechanically and electrically connecting the signal wires to signal wire termination sites which are downstream from the bus member, folding the ground wires back over the bus member, and mechanically and electrically connecting the ground wires to the bus member.

Abstract: This invention relates to terminations (e.g., connectors) for coaxial cables, and more particularly to terminations for cables made up of several co-planar signal wires, each of which has its own coaxial shield including a ground wire in the plane of the signal wires.

Abstract: An electrical connector containing a switch which makes or breaks an electrical connection when the connector is plugged into or unplugged from a mating connector. The switch is located in an aperture in the electrical connector. It is capable of limited reciprocal motion parallel to the longitudinal axis of the aperture. The switch includes at one end a pair of normally touching contacts and a dielectric finger. Electrical connection is broken when the switch reciprocates so that the dielectric finger is interposed between the normally touching fingers and, likewise, electrical contact is made when the reciprocation movement of the switch removes the finger.

Abstract: Cables having interspersed co-planar signal and ground wires are terminated at a planar circuit board by stapling the cable to the circuit board with a bus member, mechanically and electrically connecting the signal wires to signal wire termination sites which are downstream from the bus member, folding the ground wires back over the bus member, and mechanically and electrically connecting the ground wires to the bus member.

Abstract: An ejecting latch for selecting holding an electrical connector member to a header member or ejecting the connector member from the header member. The latch is operable even if several connectors are mounted very close together.

Abstract: Coaxial cables made up a plurality of co-planar individual coaxial cables, each having a signal wire and a coaxial conductive sheath including a ground wire co-planar with the signal wires, are terminated by inserting the end of the cable in a housing for receiving an array of insulation displacement contacts along an axis transverse to the plane of the cable. Each signal wire and each ground wire is electrically contacted by a respective one of the insulation displacement contacts. The cable is secured to the housing, and the housing is secured to the structure which supports the contacts.

Abstract: A two row coax cable connector having an interior and exterior housing. The interior housing contains two rows of entrance openings for receiving drain wires in one row and signal wires in the other row. The interior housing also has two rows of exit slots for receiving an electrical terminal capable of terminating the drain wires in one row and the signal wires in a second row. The exterior housing encloses the interior housing and has a latch opening for engaging a latch from a strain relief member.