Abstract: Apparatus for manufacturing ribbon cable having a plurality of filamentous elements comprises a wheel having a circumferential surface interrupted by a plurality of parallel grooves in which the elements are seated over a common arc. Elements are supplied tangentially toward the wheel as the wheel is rotated and plastic is extruded at a point on the common arc to form a ribbon cable with elements exposed where they lay in the grooves. Elements are entrapped in cable by plastic bridges formed in lateral channels or recesses which interrupt the grooves and permit plastic to flow around elements, by fiber mat which the plastic impregnates, by melt-bonding to plastic insulated wire, by adhesive, or by nearly complete entrapment of elements resulting from a shallow groove profile. An additional layer of plastic may be extruded onto the cable so produced to yield a conventional fully insulated ribbon cable, or for some cable profiles the cable may be mated to like cable for a close centerline spacing of elements.

Abstract: A rotatable wheel has cavities formed in the perimeter thereof. Movable coring pins are also mounted on the wheel perimeter and have cam track follower means which ride in stationary cam tracks positioned adjacent the wheel and which move the coring pins in and out of said cavities as said wheel rotates. An extruding means has a nozzle positioned adjacent the wheel perimeter and forces molten plastic into the cavities as they pass thereby with the coring pins inserted therein. The configuration of, and spacing between, the wheel perimeter and the nozzle produces plastic links between the plastic products formed in the cavities to provide a continuous strip of such parts secured to a common carrier, which strip can be wound upon a take-up reel directly from the wheel. Alternatively, movable coring pins positioned radially with respect to said wheel, or at other angles, can be moved in and out of the cavities as the wheel rotates.

Abstract: A continuous strip of thermoplastic articles, such as electrical connecting device housings, has first and second portions defined by bands which extend along the entire length of the strip. The first band is of a first thermoplastic material which has optimum properties and characteristics for the parts of the articles which lie in the first band and the second band is of a second thermoplastic material which has optimum properties and characteristics for those portions of the article which lie in the second band of the continuous strip. In the case where the articles are connector housings, the first band may be of a material which has superior crimping characteristics while the second band may be of a material having optimum firmness and strength.