Apparatus for detecting the presence of components on a printed circuit board
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorGeorge J. Whitley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An array of reciprocating rods are aligned with circuit board lead apertures and are normally biased to engage the printed circuit board apertures. When leads are present the rods abut the leads. Circuit connectors attached to the rods close a circuit path when a missing lead is sensed. When one or more of the leads of a given component are missing, a circuit is closed and an indicator lights.
Claims9
Apparatus for detecting the possible absence of any one of a plurality of components of a printed circuit board, the components, when present, each having at least one lead passing through a corresponding aperture in the board, said apparatus comprising:
- a support structure;
- means for aligning said board and said corresponding aperture relative to said support structure;
- means secured to the support structure aligned with said at least one lead of each component by said means for aligning for sensing the presence and absence of any of said at least one aligned lead corresponding to said aligned aperture;
- and
- indicating means coupled to said means for sensing for providing an indication of the absence of one or more of said components.
In an apparatus for simultaneously detecting the presence of a plurality of components in a printed circuit board of the type having a plurality of sets of apertures, each set for receiving the leads of a different component comprising:
- support means;
- means for aligning said board relative to said support means;
- a plurality of sensor means secured to said support means for moving in a given direction in alignment with said leads adjacent said apertures when said board is aligned, said sensor means including elements positioned to engage corresponding ones of said aligned leads of said plurality of components;
- circuit board means having a plurality of sets of conductors each of which sets forms a circuit path to first and second terminals, said circuit path being discontinuous adjacent each aperture of a set;
- and
- a plurality of conductor contacts, each contact being secured to a different element and positioned to engage one of said conductors to close the circuit path adjacent the aperture corresponding to that element in the absence of said corresponding aligned leads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.