Abstract: A circuit board connector is disclosed that has isolator ribs between contact tails, and slots in the edge of a circuit board between circuit pads that communicate with the ribs to avoid pad-to-pad current leakage and high-voltage breakdown. The slots may be between individual circuit board fingers that each include one of the conductor pads.

Abstract: A linear connector contact array is presented with focus on the tails of the contacts that are connected to individual wires. A wire management comb made from dielectric material positions each wire over its contact's tail. The wire is attached to the tail by electrically welding the wire to the tail without removing the insulating material. This is accomplished with a heated welding electrode that melts through the insulator material until electrical contact is made with the wire. A non-heated electrode is beneath the tail to complete this circuit. The wire management comb has deep channels which form insulating ribs between adjacent wires. The weld sites are staggered, and exposed ends of the contact tails are held short of the end of the management comb.

Abstract: A backplane cabling interconnect scheme is provided that includes a wafer based cable termination and an organizer shroud. The shroud complements existing backplane connectors and provides positioning and polarization for the cable terminated wafer. The wafer cable ends can be stacked or arranged in various arrays and are held in place with an integral latch. A permanent latch is provided for high vibration environments.

Abstract: A backplane cabling interconnect scheme is provided that includes a wafer based cable termination and an organizer shroud. The shroud complements existing backplane connectors and provides positioning and polarization for the cable terminated wafer. The wafer cable ends can be stacked or arranged in various arrays and are held in place with an integral latch. A permanent latch is provided for high vibration environments.

Abstract: An electrical cable connector has a latch mechanism wherein the moveable portion is part of the mating receptacle, and the mechanism for unlatching resides in the cable connector. A rocker part is located such that one end extends under the resilient latch member and the other end has a surface which is made to rotate about a pivot point by an externally actuated ramp. The rotation of the rocker lifts the resilient member from its seat and releases the connector latch. The actuating ramp is spring loaded to return to its resting position which is the latched position; it is attached to a loop designed to allow a finger pull action to initiate latch disengagement. Forces and friction resistance is managed such that reliable single-hand operation is achieved, with push to engage and pull to disengage.

Abstract: An electrical cable connector has a latch mechanism wherein the moveable portion is part of the mating receptacle, and the mechanism for unlatching resides in the cable connector. A rocker part is located such that one end extends under the resilient latch member and the other end has a surface which is made to rotate about a pivot point by an externally actuated ramp. The rotation of the rocker lifts the resilient member from its seat and releases the connector latch. The actuating ramp is spring loaded to return to its resting position which is the latched position; it is attached to a loop designed to allow a finger pull action to initiate latch disengagement. Forces and friction resistance is managed such that reliable single-hand operation is achieved, with push to engage and pull to disengage.

Abstract: An electrical cable connector has a latch mechanism wherein the moveable portion is part of the mating receptacle, and the mechanism for unlatching resides in the cable connector. A rocker part is located such that one end extends under the resilient latch member and the other end has a surface which is made to rotate about a pivot point by an externally actuated ramp. The rotation of the rocker lifts the resilient member from its seat and releases the connector latch. The actuating ramp is spring loaded to return to its resting position which is the latched position; it is attached to a loop designed to allow a finger pull action to initiate latch disengagement. Forces and friction resistance is managed such that reliable single-hand operation is achieved, with push to engage and pull to disengage.

Abstract: An electrical coupler includes a connector receptacle having multiple modules. The modules each include a pair of signal conductors and a ground plane or shield, held together by a dielectric module body. The shields are between the pairs of conductors in adjacent modules, and provide electrical shielding between the pairs of signal contacts of different modules. The signal conductors and the shields may be coupled to a board, such as a circuit board. The receptacle may be an angled receptacle, such as a right angle receptacle. The signal conductors of each pair in the receptacle may have a predetermined amount of skew, having different effective electrical lengths. This may allow signal paths through the receptacle and the board to have a combined electrical path that is substantially the same for the signal conductor pair of one of the modules.

Abstract: An electrical connector has a latch mechanism that includes a pair of hooks that move resiliently outward from the center line of the connector, and a pair of axial springs mechanically coupled to latch mechanism. The axial springs provide force in a direction substantially parallel to the center line of the connector. The axial springs are compressed during initial parts of the process of mating of the connector with a receptacle or other connector. The energy from the compressed springs is then used to pull the connector and the receptacle more tightly together after the initial insertion. The spring forces maintain a tight grip between the connector and the receptacle, avoiding the play that is generally found in hook-based electrical connector latching mechanism. The latching mechanism provides a secure mechanical coupling between the connector and the receptacle, such as been previously obtained in screw-based couplings.

Abstract: An electrical coupler includes a connector receptacle having multiple modules. The modules each include a pair of signal conductors and a ground plane or shield, held together by a dielectric module body. The shields are between the pairs of conductors in adjacent modules, and provide electrical shielding between the pairs of signal contacts of different modules. The signal conductors and the shields may be coupled to a board, such as a circuit board. The receptacle may be an angled receptacle, such as a right angle receptacle. The signal conductors of each pair in the receptacle may have a predetermined amount of skew, having different effective electrical lengths. This may allow signal paths through the receptacle and the board to have a combined electrical path that is substantially the same for the signal conductor pair of one of the modules.

Abstract: A latch end for an electrical connector latch has a low coefficient of friction latch mating surface that engages with a mating slot in a mating electrical connector. The latch pivots around a central pivot point to move the latch end inward toward the center of the connector to engage the mating slot, or outward away from the center of the connector to disengage from the slot. The low friction mating surface may be a plastic overmold or a low friction coating on a metal hook of the latch end. The metal hook provides strength to the latch end. The low friction mating surface provides for a lower coefficient of friction and perhaps a larger contact area between the mating surface and the mating slot or protrusion. The latch engages a mating structure in the mating electrical connector. The mating electrical connector may have prongs that engage corresponding receptacles.

Abstract: A latch end for an electrical connector latch has a low coefficient of friction latch mating surface that engages with a mating slot in a mating electrical connector. The latch pivots around a central pivot point to move the latch end inward toward the center of the connector to engage the mating slot, or outward away from the center of the connector to disengage from the slot. The low friction mating surface may be a plastic overmold or a low friction coating on a metal hook of the latch end. The metal hook provides strength to the latch end. The low friction mating surface provides for a lower coefficient of friction and perhaps a larger contact area between the mating surface and the mating slot or protrusion. The latch engages a mating structure in the mating electrical connector. The mating electrical connector may have prongs that engage corresponding receptacles.

Abstract: An electrical connector includes a cable end connector which mates with a board mount connector. The cable end connector includes a plurality of header modules that each include pivotal contact-bearing headers. The headers are coupled to ribbon conductors in a parallel planar array. One end of each of the headers has conductors prepared to accept the welding of ribbonized coaxial cables. The other end of the conductors form compliant contacts for engagement with other compliant contacts or with pads arranged on the edge of a circuit board. Headers of each module have posts that emanate from lateral sides of a header body, distal from the compliant contact ends, that function as cam sliders. The cam sliders are located in slots, and engage ramps, which may be moved to urge the contacts of the headers together or apart.

Abstract: A connector assembly includes a female dual row connector, and a male dual row connector configured to be inserted into the female dual row connector. The female connector is configured to be compression mounted onto a circuit card, and has conductive tails for being brought into contact with traces on the card or circuit board. The female connector may have a stiffener to help it maintain its shape. The rows of contacts of the male connector may be selectively brought together (collapsed) or moved apart (expanded). The rows of contacts are collapsed during insertion or removal of the male connector from the female connector, thus allowing zero force insertion of the male connector into the female connector. The collapsing and expanding of the rows for the male connector may be accomplished through any of a variety of mechanisms.

Abstract: A high density electrical cable connector has a primary structural support or spine that is made of an electrically conducting material. The cable connector has a strain relief or cable retainer attached at one end of the spine for securing a cable to the spine. The cable connector has electrically conductive terminals at an opposite end, the terminals having contact portions for receiving and electrically connecting to other terminals, such as pins or other contacts on an electronic or electrical device such as a circuit board and/or another electrical connector. An intermediate layer of non-conducting material between the terminals and the spine electrically isolates the terminals from the spine. Wires from the cable may be attached to the terminals, so as to form an electrically conductive path between the cable and other terminals connected, e.g., pins, received by the terminals. One of the wires from the cable may also be attached to the spine to maintain the spine at a ground or other reference voltage.

Abstract: An electrical interconnect system allows high signal density with means of electrical isolation to minimize degradation of electrical signals. The electrical interconnect system includes signal conductors which are surrounded by multiple reference or ground conductors, a given signal conductor for example surrounded by four reference conductors. The interconnect system includes a reference element with two sets of reference conductors, one of the sets offset a distance from the other set.

Abstract: A test interface is used to connect an electronic device under test (“DUT”), such as a computer chip, to a tester. The interface utilizes a combination of spring forces and air pressure forces to extend and retract pogo pins, respectively. The pogo pins when extended contact conductive pads which are electrically connected to the DUT, perhaps via a DUT board. Springs are biased to extend the pins to contact the pads, and air pressure is used to retract the pins. Thus no air pressure or vacuum is required to maintain the pins in contact with the pads. When retracted, the pogo pins are shielded from damage by a shield, such as a board with holes in it for the pogo pins to pass through.

Abstract: An interface connector and method of connection provides balanced resilient contact force of sufficient magnitude for maintaining secure electrical connections between stacked circuit boards in high stress conditions, for example, at high acceleration, using a feed through connection while substantially minimizing size requirements.

Abstract: An outdrive system for water craft includes in an embodiment use of plastic or other relatively flexible material, e.g., compared to metal, as a housing material, and techniques which enable and/or at least facilitate use of such housing material. Several of those techniques employ a flexible member, such as a belt, to couple power between the input and output of an outdrive, and heat conducting back bending surfaces to urge the belt legs toward each other and to remove heat from the outdrive, an anti-shear stuffer or fence to reduce energy losses such as heat, and lubricant requirements, and/or an eccentric mechanical tensioning device for the belt. The invention also relates to use in a vehicle drive, especially for water craft, of housing materials a substantial part of which are not subject to corrosion, galvanic action and the like.

Abstract: It is an object of the current invention to provide a trim cylinder that is cost effective; it is further an object of the invention to provide a cylinder that has few parts, less than one-third the number of parts of present art; it is further an object of the invention to provide a unique and simple check valve for operation as a shock absorber and further to provide passages integral of the extruded or molded body allowing plumbing to be attached at one end only of the cylinder; also to eliminate the plastic shroud which normally covers unsightly plumbing.