Abstract: A rectangular cage formed of near identical grooved support panels (290,292,294,296) slidably mounts horizontal and vertical stacks of circuit boards and circuit board frame assemblies (280,282), with each board of one stack connected to some or all boards of the other stack in edge to edge relation. The cage is open at both front and rear to slidably receive the circuit board frame assemblies that are latched in place by a lever (208) operated cam (210) arrangement on each board frame that engages pairs of latch rods (218) on front and rear edges of the support panels. The support panels are apertured (302,304) to allow air to be blown over the circuit boards and two of the panels (290,292) carry mid-plane terminating panels (342,330) for support of cable connector sockets (38).

Abstract: An arrangement is provided for mounting double ended hermaphroditic signal mode modules (10) that includes an elongated carrier (68) having longitudinal walls (70, 77) and transverse walls (71, 74) that define pockets to receive the connectors (10) and position them accurately so that one set of contact arrays (59) engages contact arrays (86) of a printed circuit board (69) attached to one side of the carrier by a clamping bar (82). Grounding means (87) may be provided at the connections to the printed circuit board (69). The other contact arrays (56) of the connectors (10) face outwardly on the other side of the carrier (68) to engage identical connectors (10). The carriers (68) may be attached to a frame (92) to interconnect printed circuit boards (69) positioned at 90 degrees relative to each other on opposite sides of the frame (92). The carrier (68) may include means (73) to support another connector for supplying power to the printed circuit board (69).

Abstract: A multiple circuit board assembly includes stacks (50,52) of printed circuit boards each having a series of hermaphroditic edge connector nodes (46,46a, 82) that electrically connect a printed circuit board (56) of one stack to a plurality of boards of a second stack. Each board edge also includes a service cable connector (74) having electrical power and fiber optic input/output connector elements (161,163) that connect the board to a spring mounted service module connector receptacle (42) in a housing structure (16) that carries the assembled stacks of printed circuit boards.

Abstract: A rigid rectangular frame module (44,66,52,80) mounts a printed circuit board (40) and provides a number of edge connector nodes (46) mounted in a multi-connector node carrier (110) forming one structural element of the frame. Service cables, including power lines (200) and input/output fiber optic lines (202) are carried in a guide channel (80) at one side of the frame and coupled to a service cable connector plug (154) fixed in the frame adjacent the multi-connector node carrier (220). Locking cams (210) in frame handles (60,62) are lever actuated to firmly position the frame in a support structure to enable interconnection of its edge mounted connector modules (46) with edge mounted connector modules of a plurality of similar frame mounted printed circuit boards. The printed circuit board and frame module assembly is arranged for use in a closely packed stack (22) of such printed circuit board and frame module assemblies.

Abstract: An hermaphroditic electrical connector (10) is provided for interconnecting printed circuit boards (69) which includes a housing (11) of dielectric material and two pressure tables (28, 35) which are biased outwardly by springs (30, 34) in directions perpendicular to each other. Each pressure table (28, 35) includes a flat surface (48, 51) over which is a resilient pad (47, 50). A flexible circuit (46) has contact arrays (56, 59) over the flat surfaces (48, 51) and pads (47, 50) with conductors (57) in the intermediate portion that extends through the housing (11). A grounding clip (61) may be provided with the forward pressure table to give 360 degree shielding.

Abstract: Boards of a first group of mutually parallel circuit boards (200,206) are directly connected to boards (27a,22b) of a second group of mutually parallel circuit boards by interfitting hermaphroditic connectors (24,26,28,30) mounted on edges of the boards. The boards of one group are all perpendicular to the boards of the other group and are positioned in edge-to-edge relation. Each board has a plurality of hermaphroditic connectors secured to its edge, with each connector adapted to mate with an identical hermaphroditic connector secured at an edge of a board of the second group. The hermaphroditic connectors are each substantially U-shaped (24,26,28,30) in one embodiment and J-shaped (126,128,130) in another embodiment.

Abstract: A quick-release interfacing assembly (165) comprising first and second carriers (53, 53a), a plurality of module assemblies (11) carried by the first and second carriers (53, 53a) and a coupling (73, 75) for joining the first and second carriers (53, 53a) together to form a double cartridge assembly (71). A panel receiver (91) receives the double cartridge assembly (71) and couples the double cartridge assembly (71) to a test device. Each of the module assemblies (11) includes a connector body (13), a pressure member (27), and a flexible sheet (17) carrying contacts (21, 23) thereon.