Abstract: The array ferrule of the present invention has a main body having a fiber receiving cavity which extends therethrough from a mating face to a rear end. A pair of pin slots is formed in opposing side walls of the main body being precisely located with respect to the fiber receiving cavity. In communication with each pin slot is a retention member slot for receiving a pin retention member. A plurality of fibers is precisely positioned within the fiber receiving cavity and an encapsulant substantially surrounds the fibers to substantially fill the fiber receiving cavity. A method of making the array ferrule begins with providing a ferrule blank having a pair of preformed slots extending inward from the opposing side walls. The blank is precisely aligned on a mandrel which is placed within the fiber receiving cavity. Pin slots are broached in each side surface in the area of the preformed slots to form the ferrule main body.

Abstract: Disclosed is an electrical connector having an insulative housing and conductive connector wherein conductive connector has a distal end which is angled and generally rectangular in shape with the four corners of the rectangular shape of the distal end bent to receive a fusible material. The fusible material will generally be a solder ball. Also disclosed is a product made by the process of bending the rectangular shape of the distal end of the contact so as to receive a solder ball.

Abstract: The array ferrule of the present invention has a main body having a fiber receiving cavity which extends therethrough from a mating face to a rear end. A pair of pin slots is formed in opposing side walls of the main body being precisely located with respect to the fiber receiving cavity. In communication with each pin slot is a retention member slot for receiving a pin retention member. A plurality of fibers is precisely positioned within the fiber receiving cavity and an encapsulant substantially surrounds the fibers to substantially fill the fiber receiving cavity.

Abstract: The invention provides an array ferrule for use in an optical array connector wherein a main body is profiled to have a fiber receiving cavity extending from a mating face to a rear end between a pair of side surfaces. At least one pin slot is precisely located with respect to the fiber receiving cavity and extends inward from a respective side surface. A plurality of channel plates are formed from the same tool to have a plurality of fiber receiving channels in at least one major surface thereof. Fibers are each positioned within respective fiber receiving channels of the channel plates and located within the fiber receiving cavity to form the array ferrule.

Abstract: The array ferrule of the present invention has a main body having a fiber receiving cavity which extends therethrough from a mating face to a rear end. A pair of pin slots is formed in opposing side walls of the main body being precisely located with respect to the fiber receiving cavity. In communication with each pin slot is a retention member slot for receiving a pin retention member. A plurality of fibers is precisely positioned within the fiber receiving cavity and an encapsulant substantially surrounds the fibers to substantially fill the fiber receiving cavity. A method of making the array ferrule begins with providing a ferrule blank having a pair of preformed slots extending inward from the opposing side walls. The blank is precisely aligned on a mandrel which is placed within the fiber receiving cavity. Pin slots are broached in each side surface in the area of the preformed slots to form the ferrule main body.

Abstract: This invention provides a method of forming a mold (20) including the steps of segmenting a surface to be molded into discrete adjacent linear sections, forming a profile of each section on an edge of a planar material to define a plurality of blades (30, 40, 50), and; stacking each blade (30, 40, 50) such that their profiled mold edges (34, 44, 54) together form the surface to be molded. The blades (30, 40, 50) are secured in a mold body (20) and selected ones of the blades (30, 40, 50) may be articulated to eject the molded article from the mold (20).

Abstract: An apparatus and method of forming balls includes a metering device 2, a melting device 14 and a cooling device 20. The metering device 14 stamps a desired volume of solid material in the form of a slug 12 which passes through the melting device 14 where it is caused to levitate and transform state from a solid to a molten liquid. The molten liquid material 13 is released from the melting device 14 and descends through the cooling device 20 where it transforms state once again from a molten material to a solid material while maintaining a ball shape. A forming gas is passed over the molten material 13 in a direction opposite to the falling molten material 13. The balls 15 are finally cooled in a cooling bath 32.

Abstract: An improved ground plane for use in an electrical connector features a plurality of contact receiving openings (64) which are stamped into a sheet of conductive material. A spring contact (65) is disposed adjacent each opening (64) and is positioned to undergo both torsional and cantilever beam deformation upon insertion of a filter element (50) in order to urge the filter element (50) against a reference surface (66).

Abstract: An apparatus and method of forming balls includes a metering device 2, a melting device 14 and a cooling device 20. The metering device 14 stamps a desired volume of solid material in the form of a slug 12 which passes through the melting device 14 where it is caused to levitate and transform state from a solid to a molten liquid. The molten liquid material 13 is released from the melting device 14 and descends through the cooling device 20 where it transforms state once again from a molten material to a solid material while maintaining a ball shape. A forming gas is passed over the molten material 13 in a direction opposite to the falling molten material 13. The balls 15 are finally cooled in a cooling bath 32.

Abstract: An electrical connector 10 having a configurable ground plane 60 is provided. The connector 10 features an insulative housing 20 having an upright section 30 and a board receiving section 28. The board receiving section has open top and bottom outer surfaces 29, 27 for allowing insertion of contacts 50, 52 into contact receiving passages 34, 32. The ground plane 60 is disposed over the top set of contacts 50 and is profiled to engage selected ones of the contacts 50 in the upright section of the passages 34. The ground plane 60 is configurable in that it can be easily adapted to achieve various signal to ground contact ratios by locating contacts 92, 94 at selected positions on fingers 88 which extend into the upright section of the passages 34.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for establishing a reliable compressive electrical connection between an electronic package and surface mount pads (6) of the printed circuit board (4) are disclosed. Contact pads (2) are solderable to pads (6) of the printed circuit board (4) and have electrically compatible metallurgy on the contact surface (10). These contact pads (2) are solderable to the pads (6) on their mounting surface (12). The contact pads (2) are assembled to the printed circuit board (4) by first adhesively attaching an array of contact pads to a film (20) and then placing the array over the pads (6) of the printed circuit board (4) and finally reflowing solder (7) which was previously attached to the pads (6) to complete the attachment.

Abstract: A smart card reader 10 is disclosed having a base 12 which is profiled to have a card receiving area 20. Contacts 22,23 are disposed inside a contact receiving 32 of the base and are pivotable about a leg 40. Insertion of a smart card 60 causes the contacts 22,23 to pivot about the pivot point 42 in order to cause contact points 50 to engage contact pads of the smart card 60.

Abstract: A tool accelerator is disclosed that is cooperatively disposed in a stamping and forming machine that is adapted to operate on a strip of relatively hard material. The tool accelerator generally includes a trigger punch having a proximal end and a distal end. A tool is coupled to the proximal end of the trigger punch and is adapted to perform work on a strip of relatively hard material. A spring is disposed between a portion of the stamping and forming machine and the proximal end of the trigger punch, the spring being capable of being compressed by a predetermined amount in response engagement of the distal end of the trigger punch with the strip of relatively hard material.

Abstract: A stamping and forming machine (10) is disclosed having a feed mechanism for incrementally feeding a strip of material (32) along a feed path and momentarily stopping the strip in proper position within tooling (20, 22) during the stamping and forming operation. The feed system includes a feed drum (36) and is arranged to move between a driving position where the feed drum (36) is in engagement with the strip of material (32) for effecting the movement thereof along the feed path and a remote position out of feeding engagement therewith. A misfeed detection and feed release mechanism is provided for moving the feed drum (36) from the driving position to the remote position upon detection of a misfeed where the strip of material (32) is displaced from the proper position. The feed drum (36) is spring loaded toward the remote position. A first sear (190) is in engagement with the feed drum so that it is held in the driving position against the urging of the spring (174).

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for attaching balls to a substrate for forming a ball grid array. The apparatus consists of two pole pieces, a magnetizing coil, and an excitation coil. The first pole piece has an alignment plate having a plurality of openings, and a plurality of tips which can be magnetized by the magnetizing coil to attract a ball into each opening. Once the balls are attracted into the openings, excess balls are removed and the substrate is aligned with the balls such that each ball is in contact with a respective pad on the substrate. The first pole piece having the balls and substrate position thereon is then placed into a receiving area of the second piece. An excitation coil is excited with a high frequency signal to heat the balls and reflow solder that has been previously applied thereto. The assembly is then cooled and removed from the device and the ball grid array is complete.

Abstract: A connector (10) for interconnecting circuitry (12, 16) of two circuit boards (14, 18) which carry relatively high frequency signals, includes a receptacle connector (20) and a mating plug connector (24). The receptacle connector (20) includes shield plates (56) between each adjacent pair of signal contacts (58) and the mating plug connector (24) includes a central elongated ground plate (136) that electrically engages each of the shield plates (56). The ground plate (136) includes a plurality of leads (142) along its length that engage ground pads on the circuit board (18). The plug connector (24) includes an outer shield (146) that substantially surrounds the plug connector (24) and includes leads (148) that are attached to the leads (142) of the elongated ground plate (136).

Abstract: An electrical connector 10 is disclosed for connecting two printed circuit boards 50,60. The electrical connector 10 features a insulative housing 12 having a plurality of contacts 18 disposed in contact-receiving slots 32. The contact-receiving slots 32 extend between the mating faces 22,24 and back to a curved end wall 30. A retainer pin 16 is pressed into a retaining slot 14 of the housing to hold the contacts 18 firmly against the curved end wall 30 at a center point 28. Upon mating, the contact will experience a wiping action across the pads 52,62 of each of the circuit boards.

Abstract: A high speed stamping and forming machine (10) is provided having a ram (34) capable of sustained high speed operation. The ram (34) is pivotally attached to a connecting rod (36) which is eccentrically coupled to a drive shaft by means of an eccentric (40) and hydrostatic bearing (50). The drive shaft (30) is journaled in hydrostatic bearings (84, 86) in the frame (12) of the machine. The ram reciprocates toward and away from a bolster plate (20) within a ram bearing (138) having hydrostatic bearings therein.

Abstract: An electrical connector assembly 2 for use in connecting parallel printed circuit boards includes a receptacle connector 4 and a plug connector 6. The receptacle connector 4 includes receptacle contacts 8, each of which includes a surface mount solder tail 16 and a mating contact section in the form of a resilient arm 26 on opposite sides of a sealing pad 18 that seals a contact insertion opening 38 when the receptacle contact 8 is fully inserted. The mating contact portion is therefore isolated from contaminating materials, such as solder flux during surface mount solder operations. The height of the connector assembly 2 can be adjusted by using plug connectors 6 of different heights with a universal receptacle connector 4. The height of the side walls 60 on the plug housing 12, between a plug mating section and contact retention section is changed for different plug connector heights.

Abstract: A substrate mating assembly has a first substrate with at least one socket mounted thereon. The at least one socket has contact retention points provided thereon which extend into a contact receiving opening thereof. A second substrate is provided with at least one mating contact mounted thereon. The at least one mating contact has an arcuate surface and is dimensioned to be received in the contact receiving opening of the at least one socket. As the first substrate and the second substrate are electrically mated together, the at least one mating contact is received in the contact receiving opening and maintained in position therein by the cooperation of the contact retention points with the arcuate surface of the at least one mating contact.