Interconnection pin for multilayer printed circuit boards
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorPeter James Tamburro
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A connector is disclosed for interconnecting multiple conductive layers in a printed circuit board. The connector includes a pair of elongated electrical terminals and a compliant section in between. A plurality of generally parallel raised pressure ridges are included on an outer surface of the compliant section. The connector may be advantageously divided into a plurality of semiseparate segments thereby enabling interconnection of an axially aligned stack of printed circuit boards.
Claims17
A connector for electrically interconnecting multiple conductive layers in a circuit board having at least one aperture therein with electrically conductive material about its periphery including
- first and second means for receiving electrically conductive elements,
- unitary compliant means, intermediate said first and second means and gradually increasing in cross-sectional thickness from a first end point to a midpoint and thereafter gradually decreasing in cross-sectional thickness from said midpoint to a second end point, for producing a nearly uniform radial pressure on said electrically conductive material on the periphery of said aperture upon the insertion of said connector into said aperture,
- means, integral with and abruptly increasing the cross-sectional thickness of an intermediate region along the length of said unitary compliant means at a plurality of discrete radial points, for engaging said conductive material about said aperture periphery at said plurality of discrete radial points,
- means, integral with said unitary compliant means, for segmenting said compliant means into a plurality of semiseparate segments, each of said segments engageable with a separate circuit board in an axially assigned stack of such boards, and
- said engaging means on each of said segments are radially offset from one another.
A connector for electrically interconnecting multiple conductive layers in a circuit board having at least one aperture therein with electrically conductive material about its periphery comprising
- first and second end portions for receiving electrically conductive elements,
- a compliant portion intermediate said first and second end portions, said compliant portion having a generally cuplike-shaped cross section lying in a plane perpendicular to a plane containing an axis of symmetry of said connector, said cuplike-shaped cross section having a gradually increasing cross-sectional thickness from a first end point to a midpoint and thereafter having a gradually decreasing cross-sectional thickness from said midpoint to a second end point, said compliant portion further including at least one pair of oppositely directed notches extending from end points of said cuplike-shaped cross section to intermediate points in said compliant portion, said notches oriented at a predetermined angle with respect to said axis of symmetry of said connector and separating said compliant portion into at least two semiseparate segments each of which is engageable with a separate circuit board in an axially aligned stack of such boards, and
- a plurality of generally parallel pressure ridges on an outer surface of an intermediate region along the length of said compliant portion, said pressure ridges abruptly increasing the cross-sectional thickness of said compliant portion at a plurality of discrete radial points, for engaging said conductive material about said aperture periphery at said plurality of discrete radial points, said pressure ridges being generally parallel with an axis of symmetry of said connector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.