Abstract: A connector assembly for metallic wires comprises a tapered spring coil member made from stiff elastic wire having a distended end at the apex and a thermoplastic member having an elongated shell with a central bore closed at one end by a wall and having on the other end a substantially circular opening. The inside of the bore is substantially tapered such as to be adapted to house the tapered spring coil member. Two recesses are provided in the tapered inside wall of the thermoplastic member running on opposite sides substantially parallel to the central axis of the bore for providing a locking position to the distended end of the inserted spring coil member. A protrusion near the open end of the thermoplastic member retains the tapered spring coil member inside of the thermoplastic member. The thermoplastic member preferably on its outside forms a frustrum of a cone with, in addition, two substantially conical section planes being provided to allow for easy gripping of the connector assembly.

Abstract: A connector assembly for metallic wires comprises a tapered spring coil member made from stiff elastic wire having a distended end at the apex and a thermoplastic member having an elongated shell with a central bore closed at one end by a wall and having on the other end a substantially circular opening. The inside of the bore is substantially tapered such as to be adapted to house the tapered spring coil member. Two recesses are provided in the tapered inside wall of the thermoplastic member running on opposite sides substantially parallel to the central axis of the bore for providing a locking position to the distended end of the inserted spring coil member. A protrusion near the open end of the thermoplastic member retains the tapered spring coil member inside of the thermoplastic member. The thermoplastic member preferably on its outside forms a frustrum of a cone with, in addition, two substantially conical section planes being provided to allow for easy gripping of the connector assembly.

Abstract: In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a tape reel has a hub tape-anchoring mechanism defined by the structure thereof, preferably defining a slit of which one side face of the slit is a friction-engaging surface against which a tape end becomes pressed to be thereby clamped against withdrawal from the slit, and of which a second side face of the slit is composed of a to and fro advanceable and retractable friction face of a wedge element slidably movable along axially an elongated axis thereof at a slit-intersecting angle defined between the elongated axis and the distal anchored end of the tape with the result that the wedge element, lightly spring-biased against the tape face, becomes increasingly clamped thereagainst when the reel rotates in a normally forward direction, the slit having its elongated axis extending substantially radially and tangentially inwardly from a circumscribing periphery of the hub structure at an angle that intersects a radius at a radially inward acute angle, by which relati