GB2103561A

GB2103561A - A carrier for electrical pins, jacks or similar elements

Info

Publication number: GB2103561A
Application number: GB08120728A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roderick Crosby; Raymond Smith; Keith Noel Astin
Original assignee: CAMBION ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS LT
Current assignee: CAMBION ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS LT
Priority date: 1981-07-04
Filing date: 1981-07-04
Publication date: 1983-02-23
Also published as: GB2103561B

Abstract

An extruded strip (1) of resilient synthetic plastics material such as nylon or polythene comprises a thin base (2) from which three ridges (3, 4, and 5) extend. Jacks (6) are inserted through the strip (1) along a line extending longitudinally thereof and the strip is folded about that line. When so folded, ridge (3) becomes interengaged between the other two ridges (4 and 5) so that the strip is held in the folded condition. In this condition the jacks (6) are held in the strip but project therefrom thereby facilitating insertion of the jacks into, for example, a circuit board. After insertion is completed the strip (1) is pulled clear. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A carrier for pins, jacks or similar elements The present invention relates to a carrier for supporting one or more pins, jacks or similar elements in such a position as to facilitate their insertion into, for example, a printed circuit board.

Such jacks are required in printed circuit boards to provide, for example, a plug in facility for multi-pin integrated circuits. In the case of a dual in line sixteen pin integrated circuit, for example, two rows of eight jacks are provided. The jacks are normally individually pushed through the board in the required position and are then soldered in that position by a flow soldering machine. Although not a difficult operation, this form of jack insertion is expensive in both time and labour.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a carrier for a plurality of pins, jacks or similar elements comprising a strip of resilient material having first engagement means disposed on one side of a line running longitudinally along the strip and second engagement means disposed on the other side of the longitudinally extending line such that when the strip is folded along the line the first and second engagement means interengage to maintain the strip in the folded position.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a pin, jack or similar element carrier comprising a strip of resilient material having first engagement means disposed on one side of a line running longitudinally along the strip and second engagement means disposed on the other side of the longitudinally extending line, and one or more pins, jacks or similar elements inserted through the strip substantially on the longitudinally extending line such that the material of the strip displaced by the or each insertion forms a supporting collar for the corresponding pin, jack or similar element such that its axis is held substantially perpendicular to the plane of the strip.

After insertion of the pins, jacks or similar elements, the strip would normally be folded about the longitudinally extending line and the first and second engagement means interengaged. The pins, jacks or similar elements are held securely by the doubled over strip which may be coiled for ease of transport and/or storage.

The first engagement means may comprise a single ridge and the second engagement means two parallel spaced ridges, the spacing of the two ridges being substantially equal to the width of the first ridge. In this way the first ridge may be resiliently received between the two spaced ridges to provide the required interengagement. This interengagement may be made more positive by providing the upper edges of each of the two spaced ridges with inwardly directed hook portions and the upper edge of the first ridge with two hook portions facing outwardly in opposite directions. The material of the strip may be any suitable synthetic plastics material such as polythene or nylon.

The strip may be provided with a series of indentations running substantially along the fold line. These indentations serve to locate the pins or jacks which are, or are to be, inserted into the strip and to facilitate that insertion.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of inserting a plurality of pins, jacks or similar elements into a plurality of complementary spaced apertures including the steps of inserting the pins, jacks or elements at the desired spacing through a strip of resilient material so that they are held firmly by the material of the strip substantially perpendicular to the plane of the strip, placing the strip over the apertures with the pins, jacks or elements inserted therethrough aligned with the apertures, pushing the pins, jacks or elements fully home into the apertures so that the material of the strip is squeezed out from between the pins, jacks or elements and the material defining the apertures and then removing the strip.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, one embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of a section of a carrier according to the invention, Figure 2 shows a cross section through the carrier of Fig. 1 along the line ll-ll, Figure 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the strip of Figs. 1 and 2 in a folded condition, Figures 4a to 4e show in sequence the steps of a method of jack insertion in a board of the form shown in Fig. 3, and, Figure 5 shows a plan view of a part of a printed circuit board.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the carrier, which consists of an elongate strip 1 of resilient material, comprises a thin base 2 from which three ridges 3, 4 and 5 extend in an upright manner. The strip may advantageously be extruded in a substantially continuous manner from polythene, nylon or other suitable synthetic plastics material. A plurality of hollow jacks 6 having rimmed upper edges 6a are inserted through the strip at regular spacings on a line 7 extending substantially along the central longitudinal axis of the strip 1. To facilitate insertion, the strip 1 is formed, along the line 7, with a plurality of small indentations at the spacings required for the jacks 6 which are to be inserted.

As each jack 6 is inserted, the material of the strip 1 around the jack 6 is caused to flow under the insertion pressure and to form a collar 8 which supports the jack 6. The down ward extent of each collar 8 formed may vary from collar to collar but is sufficient to hold the corresponding jack 6 firmly substantially at right angles to the base 2 of the strip 1.

After insertion of the jacks, the strip 1 with jacks 6, which together have the appearance shown in Figs. 1 and 2, may be folded about the line 7 as shown in Fig. 3. On being completely folded over, the ridge 3, which forms first engagement means, is received in an interlocking fashion between the ridges 4 and 5 which form second engagement means.

The upper edges of the ridges 3, 4 and 5 are specially formed for this purpose. Ridge 3 has an arrow shaped upper edge 3a and ridges 4 and 5 each have an inwardly facing lip 4a, 5a when viewed in cross-section.

In this folded condition, the strip 1 and jacks 6 may be easily stored and/or tran sported. As the jacks 6 now lie substantially in the central plane of the folded strip 1, the strip may be wound into coils with the jacks 6 projecting out from one coiled edge of the strip 1.

To insert the jacks 6 into a printed circuit board 10, with apertures 9, such as is partially shown in Fig. 5, the coiled strip is first uncoiled and unfolded and then placed over the board in the position required. Naturally, the spacing of the jacks 6 in the strip 1 will be chosen having regard to the spacing of the apertures 9 in the board 1 0. Also the jacks 6 may be grouped in the strip 1 as desired having regard to the use to which they are to be put. For example, the jacks may be in groups of 8, 10 or 1 6 to match up with the number of pins of integrated circuits which will eventually be inserted into them once in position in a printed circuit board.

Referring to Figs. 4a to 4e, after uncoiling and unfolding of the strip 1, an insertion punch 11 (see Fig. 4a) having an end spigot 1 2 of an external diameter less than the internal diameter of the jacks 6 is pushed into the jack 6 to be inserted (see Fig. 4b). The punch 11 then presses the jack 6 still held by its collar 8 in the strip 1 into the desired aperture 9 in the board 10 (see Fig. 4c).

Pressure is maintained by the punch 11 until the material of the collar 8 is pushed out to the periphery of the rim 6a of the jack 6 (see Fig. 4d). Thereafter the strip 1 is freed and may be simply pulled away leaving the jack 6 in position in the board. Normal!y, all the jacks 6 required to be inserted from a strip 1 into a board 10 will be pressed in before the strip 1 is pulled away. After insertion of the jacks 6 and of any other circuit components in the required positions in the board, the board is flow soldered on the side opposite to the jack insertion side in the usual manner.

It will be appreciated that the above described embodiment provides an extremely advantageous arrangement for storing and/or transporting pins, jacks and similar elements and for holding them in a suitable upright position to facilitate insertion into a board.

It will also be appreciated that variations and modifications within the scope of the invention may be made.

Dimensions of both strip and jack are of course chosen as desired. In the described example, the jacks are provided for the rectangular pins of a dual in line integrated circuit (DILIC). The pins are 0.46 x 0.28. External diameters of the jack body and jack rim are 1.24 and 1.52 and minimum hole depth is 5.26. The external depth of the body of the jack and of the rim are 5.38 and 0.38 respectively. The jack comprises a flanged, heat treated, berylium copper insert which is captivated by swaging the body over the flange of the insert. The jack is of copper and both body and insert are gold plated. The strip has a thickness of 0.5 and a width of 20.0. The ridges are 2.5 high and 1.0 wide and the pair of ridges are 2.0 apart.

Claims

1. A carrier for one or more pins, jacks or similar elements comprising a strip of resilient material having first engagement means disposed on one side of a line running longitudinally along the strip and second engagement means disposed on the other side of the longitudinallty extending line such that when the strip is folded along the line the first and second engagement means interengage to maintain the strip in the folded position.

2. A carrier as claimed in Claim 1, in which the first engagement means comprises a ridge and the second engagement means comprises two parallel spaced ridges, the spacing of the two parallel ridges being substantially equal to the width of the ridge of the first engagement means whereby that ridge may be resiliently received between the two spaced ridges to provide the required interengagement.

3. A carrier as claimed in Claim 2, in which the free edges of each of the two spaced ridges have inwardly directed hook portions and the free edge of the edge of the first engagement means has hook portions facing outwardly in opposite directions to provide for more positive interengagement of the first and second engagement means.

4. A carrier as claimed in Claim 1, 2 or 3, in which one or more indentations are provided su! stantially along the fold line which serve to locate pins, jacks or similar elements to be inserted into the strip.

5. A carrier as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the strip is extruded.

6. A carrier as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the strip is made of synthetic plastics material.

7. A carrier as claimed in Claim 6, in which the synthetic plastics material is nylon.

8. A carrier as claimed in Claim 6, in which the synthetic plastics material is polythene.

9. A carrier as claimed in any preceding claim and including one or more pins, jacks or similar elements inserted through the strip substantially on the longitudinally extending line.

10. A carrier as claimed in Claim 9, in which the pins, jacks or similar elements are inserted in such a manner that the material of the strip displaced by insertion forms a supporting collar for the or each corresponding pin, jack or similar element inserted.

11. A pin, jack or similar element carrier comprising a strip of resilient material having first engagement means disposed on one side of a line running longitudinally along the strip and second engagement means disposed on the other side of the longitudinally extending line, and one or more pins, jacks or similar elements inserted through the strip substantially on the longitudinally extending line such that the material of the strip displaced by the or each insertion forms a supporting collar for the corresponding pin, jack or similar element such that its axis is held substantially perpendicular to the plane of the strip.

12. A method of inserting a plurality of pins, jacks or similar elements into a plurality of complementary spaced apertures including the steps of inserting the pins, jacks or elements at the desired spacing through a strip of resilient material so that they are held firmly by the material of the strip substantially perpendicular to the plane of the strip, placing the strip over the apertures with the pins, jacks or elements inserted therethrough aligned with the apertures, pushing the pins, jacks or elements fully home into the apertures so that the material of the strip is squeezed out from between the pins, jacks or elements and the material defining the apertures and then removing the strip.

1 3. A carrier for pins, jacks or similar elements substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 4. A carrier with jacks substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A method of inserting one or more pins, jacks or similar elements substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.