Shielded flat communication cable

Abstract

There is provided an improved flat electrical communications cable which includes a plurality of coplaner pairs of elongated, insulated conductors. The pairs of conductors are embedded in a jacket which supports the cable and maintains the spacing among the conductors and pairs. The spacing between conductors in a pair is substantially less than the spacing between each adjacent pair. The jacket is thicker in the regions around each pair and thinner in the regions between each pair, thus forming the valleys and ridges on each side of the jacket. An elongated metal shield covers at least one side of the jacket. The shield conforms to and is contiguous with the valleys and ridges resulting in somewhat of a sinusoidal cross-sectional appearance of the shield. Each conductor includes a dual insulation, the inner insulation being made from a flame retardant material and the outer insulation being made from a different material from the jacket.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.