Multiconductor coaxial cable assembly and method of fabrication

A flat multiconductor cable assembly of unlimited length comprising:

• (a) a plurality of signal conductors positioned in longitudinally parallel and co-planar relation, said signal conductors being electrically insulated from one another and arranged in clusters of one or more, each of said cluster being co-axially surrounded by an electrically conductive shield, the individual shielded clusters being transversely spaced from one another;
• (b) at least one uninsulated conductor extending in the longitudinal direction parallel to said shielded clusters for grounding the shields of said clusters, said uninsulated conductor being transversely spaced from said shielded clusters;
• (c) a transverse conductive element for electrically interconnecting the shields of said shielded clusters and said uninsulated conductor in the transverse direction, said transverse conductive element bieng interwoven among the transversely spaced shielded and extending intermittently in the longitudinal direction in the spaces between said shielded clusters;
• and
• (d) an insulating and protective covering encapsulating said shielded clusters and said uninsulated conductor together with said transverse conductive element, said covering including a pair of sheets positioned one on each side of the plane defined by said shielded clusters and bonded together in the portions of the spaces between adjacent spaced clusters not occupied by said transverse conductive element,
• whereby said shielded clusters are arbitrarily geometrically arranged on said transverse conductive element.

Method for fabricating a flat multiconductor cable assembly of unlimited length having at least one ground wire conductor wherein a plurality of insulated signal conductors are positioned in longitudinally parallel and transversely co-planar relation with the ground wire conductor, and wherein the signal conductors are arranged in clusters of one or more, and the individual clusters are coaxially surrounded by an electrically conductive shield, the shielded clusters being physically spaced from, but electrically interconnected with, one another and the ground wire conductor in the transverse direction, the method comprising:

• (a) dividing sources of the unlimited length individually shielded clusters into two groups positioned proximate a pair of pinch rollers;
• (b) continuously feeding the shielded clusters into the bite of the pinch rollers, the shielded clusters from one of said groups being interspersed with the shielded clusters from the other of said two groups across the transverse width of the bite, and the shielded clusters from one group being fed from one side of a plane passing through the bite of the pinch rollers and the shielded clusters from the other group being fed from the other side of the plane;
• (c) concurrently feeding at least one continuous uninsulated grund wire conductor of unlimited length into the bite of the pinch rollers parallel with, and transversely spaced from, said clusters;
• and
• (d) concurrently feeding an uninsulated transverse conductive element of unlimited longitudinal length into the bite of the rollers along said plane and between the shielded clusters being fed from the two source groups, the transverse conductive element transversely spanning and electrically interconnecting the shields of the clusters and the uninsulated ground wire conductor, the transverse conductor having sufficient flexibility in the transverse direction to conform to a serpentine transverse conductor element path shape wherein the transverse conductive element passes alternately to one side, between, and to the other side of the interspersed clusters with respect to said plane, said transverse conductor extending intermittently in the spaces between interspersed clusters along the entire longitudinal length of the cable assembly.