Harness assembly test system
First Claim
1. The method of making a wiring harness of the kind in which each conductor of a group of conductors, each having a first end and a second end, is to extend from a respectively associated first place at which a respectively associated electrically conductive element is located to a respectively associated second place at which a respectively associated electrically conductive element is located, which method comprises the steps of:
- applying an initiating signal to the electrically conductive element at one of said first places;
sequentially examining the conductive elements at said first places for the presence of an initiating signal;
terminating said sequential examination upon finding a conductive element at a first place which is subjected to an initiating signal;
providing an indication to identify the second place associated with the first place which is subjected to said initiating signal; and
terminating said initiating signal and said indication by completing connection of said one conductor such that its first end is connected to the conductive element at the first place at which the initiating signal appeared and such that its second end is connected to the conductive element at the associated second place.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wiring harness in which each of a number of conductors is to have a first end connected at a first place and its other end connected to a respectively associated second place is produced by applying an initiating signal to one of the first places. All of the first places are examined in sequence and the sequencing is stopped when an initiating signal is found. An indication is provided at the second place which corresponds to the first place at which sequencing is stopped. Then, unless previously done, a conductor is connected with its first end at said first place and the other end of that conductor is connected to the corresponding second place whereupon the indication is terminated and the sequencial examination continues.
That method may be practiced with an apparatus which is connected between all first places and second places and which "looks" at pairs of first and second places in sequence. When an operator selects a first place, or a conductor whose first end is connected to that first place and touches it with a signal source, a lamp is illuminated at the second place at which the second end of the conductor is to be connected. The lamp is extinguished when the connection of the conductor is complete.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. The method of making a wiring harness of the kind in which each conductor of a group of conductors, each having a first end and a second end, is to extend from a respectively associated first place at which a respectively associated electrically conductive element is located to a respectively associated second place at which a respectively associated electrically conductive element is located, which method comprises the steps of:
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applying an initiating signal to the electrically conductive element at one of said first places; sequentially examining the conductive elements at said first places for the presence of an initiating signal; terminating said sequential examination upon finding a conductive element at a first place which is subjected to an initiating signal; providing an indication to identify the second place associated with the first place which is subjected to said initiating signal; and terminating said initiating signal and said indication by completing connection of said one conductor such that its first end is connected to the conductive element at the first place at which the initiating signal appeared and such that its second end is connected to the conductive element at the associated second place. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. In a wire harness production apparatus, in combination:
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an apparatus having a plurality of input terminals and a plurality of output terminals associated with said input terminals, respectively, said apparatus further comprising sensor means for causing an output signal to appear at each of said output terminals when a given signal appears at its respectively associated input terminal; a plurality of first electrically conductive places and a plurality of second electrically conductive places associated with said first places, respectively, and having an indicating means associated with each second place, respectively, operable to provide an indication; connecting means for connecting said input terminals to respectively associated ones of said first places; and operating means responsive to said output signals for operating the indicating means associated with the second place which is associated with the input terminal at which a signal appears; and reversing means responsive to interconnection of said first place and said second place for reversing said indicating means. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. In a wire harness production apparatus in which a first end of a conductor is to be connected at an electrically conductive first place and in which a second end of said conductor is to be connected at a second electrically conductive place, means for providing a display at said second place upon subjecting said first place to a given signal and for terminating said display upon completion of said connections comprising, in combination:
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a first electrically conductive place and a second electrically conductive place, and an indicator; a circuit path for energizing said indicator; sensor means responsive to application of a given signal at said first place for completing said circuit path until termination of said given signal; and means responsive to completion of a connection from said first place to said second place for terminating application of said given signal at said first place. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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- 20. The invention defined in claim 20 which further comprises means independent of opening of said main current path for applying a potential of said one polarity to said first place.
Specification