Float mounted receptacle contact assembly for card cage
First Claim
1. A contact assembly for use in a card cage to interconnect a power bussing system of the card cage with respective daughter cards inserted into said card cage at respective card locations to become electrically connected with circuit means of a backplane of the card cage, each daughter card including corresponding power bussing means along at least one of an upper and lower edge thereof defining source and return paths associated with source and return circuits of said cage power bussing system, and each source and return path of the card power bussing means including a blade-shaped contact section extending rearwardly from the card, comprising:
- a plurality of contact members mounted to a clevis block mountable to framework of the card cage, said contact members being associated in pairs and insulated from each other, one said contact member of each pair being associated with a corresponding contact means of a source power circuit of the cage power bussing means and the other thereof being associated with a corresponding contact means of a return power circuit of the cage power bussing means;
each said contact member having a body section and including at least a first receptacle contact section facing forwardly at a card location and adapted to receive thereinto a respective said blade-shaped contact section of said card power bussing means, each said receptacle contact section defined by an array of paired opposed spring arms extending forwardly from said body section and having substantial stiffness to generate substantial contact normal force on side surfaces of a said blade-shaped contact section upon mating wherein said spring arms are deflectable apart thereby;
said body section of each said contact member is mounted between adjacent salients of said clevis block and having a width less than the distance between said adjacent salients whereby incremental lateral movement of said body section is permitted between said salients; and
each said body section includes a transverse aperture aligned with shaft-receiving apertures through said salients, and a shaft is inserted through all said aligned apertures in a manner adapted to permit rotatable motion of said contact members about said shaft and securing said contact members to said clevis block electrically isolated between respective pairs of said adjacent salients.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An assembly (42) includes plurality of receptacle contacts (46,44) mounted to a clevis block (66) between respective pairs of salients (86) and along a shaft (64) extending through the salients. The receptacle contacts (46,44) are incrementally moveable after assembly and thus define a floating separable interface for an array of blade shaped contacts (122,124) when assembly (42) is mounted within a card cage (10) and blade shaped contacts are along rearward ends of bus bars (118,116) mounted on upper and lower edges (108,112) of daughter cards (102) insertable into the card cage, defining a system for distributing electrical power from the card cage to the daughter cards. The receptacle contacts (46,44) are float mounted to be easily incrementally moved upon blade receipt during card module (100) insertion, and also easily incrementally moved after blade mating when power connections are established, to then permit precision adjustment of rear card edge (104) in two dimensions so that card edge connectors (106) thereon become aligned with corresponding backplane connectors ( 16) for subsequent high density signal terminal mating.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A contact assembly for use in a card cage to interconnect a power bussing system of the card cage with respective daughter cards inserted into said card cage at respective card locations to become electrically connected with circuit means of a backplane of the card cage, each daughter card including corresponding power bussing means along at least one of an upper and lower edge thereof defining source and return paths associated with source and return circuits of said cage power bussing system, and each source and return path of the card power bussing means including a blade-shaped contact section extending rearwardly from the card, comprising:
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a plurality of contact members mounted to a clevis block mountable to framework of the card cage, said contact members being associated in pairs and insulated from each other, one said contact member of each pair being associated with a corresponding contact means of a source power circuit of the cage power bussing means and the other thereof being associated with a corresponding contact means of a return power circuit of the cage power bussing means; each said contact member having a body section and including at least a first receptacle contact section facing forwardly at a card location and adapted to receive thereinto a respective said blade-shaped contact section of said card power bussing means, each said receptacle contact section defined by an array of paired opposed spring arms extending forwardly from said body section and having substantial stiffness to generate substantial contact normal force on side surfaces of a said blade-shaped contact section upon mating wherein said spring arms are deflectable apart thereby; said body section of each said contact member is mounted between adjacent salients of said clevis block and having a width less than the distance between said adjacent salients whereby incremental lateral movement of said body section is permitted between said salients; and each said body section includes a transverse aperture aligned with shaft-receiving apertures through said salients, and a shaft is inserted through all said aligned apertures in a manner adapted to permit rotatable motion of said contact members about said shaft and securing said contact members to said clevis block electrically isolated between respective pairs of said adjacent salients. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A contact assembly comprising:
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a plurality of integral contact members mounted to a clevis block mountable to framework, said contact members being spaced side-by-side along said clevis block and insulated from each other, each said contact member having a body section and including at least a first receptacle contact section facing forwardly at a card location and adapted to receive thereinto a respective blade-shaped contact, each said receptacle contact section defined by an array of paired opposed spring arms extending forwardly from said body section and having substantial stiffness to generate substantial contact normal force on side surfaces of a said blade-shaped contact section upon mating wherein said spring arms are deflectable apart thereby; said body section of each said contact member being mounted by mounting means of said clevis block between adjacent salients of said clevis block and having a width less than the distance between said adjacent salients whereby incremental lateral movement of said body section is permitted between said salients; and said mounting means being adapted to permit pivotal movement about an axis transverse with respect to each said body section, and said mounting means for all said contact members being aligned so that said body sections are pivotable about a common axis. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification