Abstract: An electronic connector assembly in which multiple fine gage, closely spaced ground and signal wires of a matched impedance flat cable are gang terminated on centers by an improved crimp design and method. Each of the many wires in the cable is mechanically crimped by an applicator tooling into a contact which is narrow and thin enough to enable all of the wires to be terminated on the same close centers they have in the cable. The wire contacts can be made with great precision from uniform flat metal stock having the necessary narrowness, thinness, hardness and strength to serve also as high performance output spring terminals for the connector. The metal stock does not have to be as thick as the diameter of the wires to be terminated.

Abstract: An electronic connector assembly in which multiple fine gage, closely spaced ground and signal wires of a matched impedance flat cable are gang terminated on centers by an improved crimp design and method. Each of the many wires in the cable is mechanically crimped by an applicator tooling into a contact which is narrow and thin enough to enable all of the wires to be terminated on the same close centers they have in the cable. The wire contacts can be made with great precision from uniform flat metal stock having the necessary narrowness, thinness, hardness and strength to serve also as high performance output spring terminals for the connector. The metal stock does not have to be as thick as the diameter of the wires to be terminated.

Abstract: An electronic connector assembly in which multiple fine gage, closely spaced ground and signal wires of a matched impedance flat cable are gang terminated on centers by an improved crimp design and method. Each of the many wires in the cable is mechanically crimped by an applicator tooling into a contact which is narrow and thin enough to enable all of the wires to be terminated on the same close centers they have in the cable. The wire contacts can be made with great precision from uniform flat metal stock having the necessary narrowness, thinness, hardness and strength to serve also as high performance output spring terminals for the connector. The metal stock does not have to be as thick as the diameter of the wires to be terminated.

Abstract: A simple and highly effective method and apparatus for field terminating flat power cable such as used in undercarpet wiring systems. Each conductor, with tightly bonded insulation, of a multi-conductor flat power cable is (at the point of installation in-situ) slotted or cut through with thin narrow slots which leave corresponding narrow rectangular openings through the insulation and conductor. Then a thin conductive device or terminal with corresponding ribs which easily though precisely fit into the slots, is placed in the slot openings, is secured in place on the cable by a suitable means, and the assembly then crimped or flattened together to give a pressure-tight high-conductivity, electrically stable termination only about twice as thick as the insulated conductor. The applicator tooling may be a simple punch and die, and a hammer or pliers. An insulating "bandage" is applied over the termination and bonded to the conductor insulation thereby giving a water-tight joint impervious to corrosion.

Abstract: An electronic connector assembly in which high performance output contacts arranged in almost any given spacing and sequence are integral with wire contacts to which multiple fine gage closely spaced ground and signal wires of a matched impedance flat cable are connected on wire centers. Changes in the number, gage and spacing of the wires, and in the wiring pattern, spacing and number of the "ground" and "signal" output contacts are easily accommodated. The output contacts and wire contacts are formed from a thin, flat piece of spring metal stock and may be handled during manufacturing as a unitary assembly thereby increasing quality and uniformity and decreasing cost.

Abstract: A tool for making interconnections between electrical wires and a conductive terminal having wire receiving slots therein in a point-to-point wiring system includes an indexing member for locating and registering wires relative to the slots and a pushing element for engaging such wires and entering the slots to fully insert the wires therein. The indexing member, inclusive of a slotted sleeve axially movable, but rotatively fixed, relative to the pushing element, holds wires for ready alignment with the slots. The pushing element defines a plurality of curved splines at the tip thereof for progressively driving the aligned wires deeper into the center of the terminals than at the peripheries thereof.

Abstract: In interconnecting an electrical wire to a conductive terminal having wire receiving slots therein arranged in intersecting disposition, the wire is indexed to the tool and then to the terminal. The wire is located into the slots, without making connection thereto, by applying a light force transversely thereto by a wire pushing element. The connection is made by forcibly inserting the wires into the slots by the pushing element that is configured with a plurality of intersecting splines or vanes to engage the wires and enter the slots within their boundaries during insertion. Such entering of the slots by the splines on the pushing element provides a uniform force application and a full seating of the wires deeply into the slots along a wire length greater than its diameter such that the wires are deformed and wedged tightly in the bottom of the slots.

Abstract: A point-to-point wire termination system includes a plurality of terminals for receiving wires in insulation removing manner and which may be supported on a circuit board in a high density arrangement. Each of the terminals includes a body portion projecting in low profile above the board surface and which has a plurality of wire receiving slots extending radially from a central opening and across the terminals. These slots permit separate transverse insertion of wires whereby each wire lies approximately at the same close spacing from the board. Formation of the terminal slots to have non-uniform, deeper central portions allows for relative ease of wire insertion, strain relief and, with the intimate contact along the wire length, enhanced protection against wire pull-out.

Abstract: There is provided a plastic collar integral with the outer jacket of a cable. The plastic material includes a mixture of a plastic and an electrically conductive material such as carbon black. The plastic is melt bonded to the cable jacket by applying electric current through the material, thus melting the material onto the jacket of the cable. Upon melting, the semi-conductive plastic may be molded into the desired form, and upon cooling, it becomes bonded to the cable jacket. The collar may be used as a seal for the ends of a cable splice closure as well as a shoulder for securing a sealing gasket to a cable for use in such closures. The collar also may be used as strain-relief for the conductors which are inside the cable as well as other uses.

Abstract: A connector-cable assembly in which a flat, multiple wire cable is secured in a connector body through a transverse, sharply angled rib, and the stripped wire ends are terminated into a plurality of plate members disposed in parallel planes and spaced longitudinally of the wires to provide mounting and working space. Each wire is terminated by being progressively urged and then forced into an open throated slot formed in one of the plate members. The slots are formed so that there is intimate, large area contact, and wedge resistance to linear pull-out. The plate members are plated for corrosion resistance and a heating step following mechanical connection causes melting or intermetallic diffusion. The rib not only provides strain relief, but also indexes the cable end for assembly and anchors the cable for partial stripping--the latter permitting simultaneous and convenient positioning of the wires.

Abstract: There is provided a device and method for terminating a flat cable having at least one elongated substantially rectangular insulated conductor by punch and die action. The device includes opposing semi-cylinderical metallic jaws which may be attached to and aligned with one another through a tab. The curved portion of each jaw is in the form of alternating grooves and lands with the grooves of one jaw adapted to receive corresponding opposing lands of the other jaw when the cable is terminated. To terminate the cable, the insulated conductor is placed between the aligned jaws and inward force is applied on the back sides of the jaws forcing the lands into the grooves. The cable insulation is pierced and adjacent portions of the conductor are elongated and sheared by the meshing of the grooves and lands, much like a punch and die process, forming embossed strips on the conductor.

Abstract: A cable-connector assembly of the type having wires progressively forced into plate slots, in which a common bus plate has slots along opposite edges that are offset and hour-glass shaped so that a high wire density from either side of the plate can be terminated in the slots. The assembly also includes two parallel arrays of pin sockets having slotted, slightly offset termination plates. The plates of each array are offset in opposite directions and brought to a common plane to receive their respective wires.

Abstract: A cable-connector assembly comprising a housing with a double array of pin sockets having plate members, an intermediate ground bus plate member, a cable locked in the housing and having a plurality of wires spaced in a plane, and all of the plate members being slotted to a width somewhat narrower than one of the wires, the ends of the wires being forced longitudinally into respective ones of the slots without lateral spreading of the wires. Vertical movement of the wires into the slots is facilitated by the plate member portions defining the outer ends of the slots being bent to define tapered wire guides. The assembly is convertible in the sense that a second cable providing additional ground wires may be locked in the housing and attached to a second bus plate with the wires forced into slots in the second bus plate.

Abstract: There is provided a plastic collar integral with the outer jacket of a cable. The plastic material includes a mixture of a plastic and an electrically conductive material such as carbon black. The plastic is melt bonded to the cable jacket by applying electric current through the material, thus melting the material onto the jacket of the cable. Upon melting, the semi-conductive plastic may be molded into the desired form, and upon cooling, it becomes bonded to the cable jacket. The collar may be used as a seal for the ends of a cable splice closure as well as a shoulder for securing a sealing gasket to a cable for use in such closures. The collar also may be used as strain-relief for the conductors which are inside the cable as well as other uses.

Abstract: A connector-cable assembly in which a flat, multiple wire cable is secured in a connector body through a transverse, sharply angled rib, and the stripped wire ends are terminated into a plurality of plate members disposed in parallel planes and spaced longitudinally of the wires to provide mounting and working space. Each wire is terminated by being progressively urged and then forced into an open throated slot formed in one of the plate members. The slots are formed so that there is intimate, large area contact, and wedge resistance to linear pull-out. The plate members are plated for corrosion resistance and a heating step following mechanical connection causes melting or intermetallic diffusion. The rib not only provides strain relief, but also indexes the cable end for assembly and anchors the cable for partial stripping--the latter permitting simultaneous and convenient positioning of the wires.

Abstract: An improved, very thin flat telephone cable having closely spaced parallel wire pairs surrounded by a plastic jacket, the plastic having processing and mechanical properties of standard jacket material yet being highly conductive relative to standard material, the wire pairs being on centers spaced close enough for gang-termination in standard telephone connectors yet the electrical cross-talk between pairs within the cable or from cable to cable being lower than the cross-talk of a standard, round twisted-pair telephone keyset cable.

Abstract: An apparatus for applying progressive force to a wire positioned in a plate slot in which the plate is positively positioned against stops on a reciprocating carrier and the force is applied by arcuate feet on a journalled roller, the roller and the carrier being mounted on a rigid frame and coupled to maintain a predetermined angular position of the roller for every linear position of the carrier, thus assuring proper relative movement when the roller is turned by a crank.