Patents by Inventor James Thomas Holton

James Thomas Holton has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6077090
    Abstract: A connection device interconnecting a pair of circuit cards or circuit boards or circuit card to a circuit board is provided for connecting the circuitry on one of the cards or boards to the circuitry on the other of the cards or boards and wherein each of the cards and/or boards has contact pads. The circuit device includes a sheet of flexible circuit having a first and a second end, and a first set of contacts arranged to correspond to the contact pads on one of said circuit boards or cards and a second set of contacts arranged to contact the contact pads on the other card or board. Circuit traces connect the first and second contacts. A flexible circuit support member is provided which includes a body and a frame slidably mounted on said body for movement toward and away from a first face on the body and having an elastomeric member carried thereby. The body also has a second face extending from and substantially normal to the first face, with an elastomeric member mounted thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Scott Campbell, James Thomas Holton
  • Patent number: 5871362
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electrical connector assembly and method for connecting a flexible circuit to a substate with the contact pads of each in precise alignment. The connector assembly has at least one floating frame member which has first and second exposed surfaces. At least one fine or precise alignment pin extends from the first surface which is configured to mate with an alignment opening in the flexible circuit. A support member is provided which has a support surface which slidingly engages the second surface of the floating frame member to permit sliding movement thereon by the sliding frame member. A registration or coarse alignment pin is provided which is operatively associated with the floating frame member and the support member and configured to engage the substrate to roughly align but allow relative sliding movement of the floating frame member with respect to the substrate when the registration pin engages the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 16, 1999
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Scott Campbell, James Thomas Holton