Patents by Inventor Robert M. Fife

Robert M. Fife 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: 5101318
    Abstract: A connector for mounting an i.c. unit on a circuit board is made by providing an electrically insulating, thermoplastic body with a plurality of apertures arranged in a pattern and with contact members disposed in the apertures so that terminal portions of the members extend from the apertures at one side of the body. A heated tool having hollow cylindrical portions spaced in the same pattern at one side of the tool is advanced to accommodate the extending terminal portions of the contact members in the hollow portions of the tool and to engage ends of the hollow cylindrical tool portions with individual parts of the body surrounding the respective apertures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 1990
    Date of Patent: March 31, 1992
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Robert M. Fife
  • Patent number: 4776804
    Abstract: A circuit board system resiliently mounts a plurality of daughter boards with high circuit interconnection density on a mother board using pairs of mating connectors having welded contact members accommodated in novel arrangements in the respective connectors to permit high density of electrical interconnection with convenience and reliability. Contact parts of substantial size are welded into contacts in one connector to detachably interconnect with contact parts of similar size in mating connector to improve interconnection releability. Novel contact arrangements permit accommodation of those parts of substantial size in the mating connectors. Sheet metal spring or post parts welded into the contacts in both connectors permit the contacts to be conveniently loaded into connector bodies and permit large numbers of contact springs or posts to be soldered to terminal pads or circuit paths on mother or daughter boards with high density.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 11, 1988
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Larry K. Johnson, Austin S. O'Malley, Robert M. Fife, Walter L. Walas, Robert K. Peterson, Larry J. Mowatt, Maurice M. Guy
  • Patent number: 4685031
    Abstract: An edgeboard connector having a large number of contacts accommodated in a housing cavity is adapted to mount one or more printed circuit boards having lesser numbers of contacts pads and to assure that the contact pads on the boards are electrically engaged with predetermined ones of the connector contacts by attaching one or more detachable members to the housing within the cavity to engage lateral edges of the printed circuit boards as they are inserted into the connector cavity to position the boards in the cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 4, 1987
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert M. Fife, Dennis Ross, Richard F. Shaw