Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
17 INTRODUCTION
18 Several electrical devices have first and second insulating
19 supports thiat each carry parallelly extendlng conductive lines
that are to be joined in face to face contact by securing the
21 two insulating supports together. This invention is particularly
; 22 intended for a gas panel, which has very difficult requirements
23 for such a connection. In a gas panel, two glass plates-each
2~ have a set of parallel extending conductive lines and the plates
are arranged with their lines extending at right angles in closely
26 parallel planes to form an array of light emitting cells at each
27 point where a line of one set crosses a line of the other set.
28 When suitable voltages are applied between two crossing conductors,
29 light is emitted from the cell. These conductors extend beyond
~0 the viewing region formed by the cross-overs to the edge of the
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1 glass plate where they are individually connected to the
2 circuits that select a line for a display operation. Since
3 a viewer sees an image as a set of illuminated points in the
4 array formed by the crossovers, the resolution of the display
; 5 is improved by decreasing the spacing between lines. By the
6 known techniques of photolithography, lines can be formed with
7 a spacing that is much closer than the spacing to which the
8 second electrical conductor can easily make contact. One
9 problem occurs because the dimensions of the second conductor
assembly may change so that the lines of the second set cannot
11 be positioned to contact the lines of the first set. A specific
12 object of this invention is to provide an improved connection
13 between the lines at the edge of a gas panel plate and a con-
14 ductor assembly that has similarly spaced lines formed on a
flexible insulating support.
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16 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
17 According to this invention, conductive lines are formed on
18 two supports in a pattern that causes the lines of the second
19 set to skew across the lines of the first set so that contact
is made at some point along the length of the lines of the first
21 set regardless of the normal variations in the spacing between
22 the lines. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the
23 lines of the first set have close spacing and extend generally
24 parallel, as is conventional in a gas panel and many other
electrical devices; the lines of the second set converge from
26 a spacing that is wider than the spacing between lines of the
27 first set to a spacing that is less than the spacing between
28 lines of the first set. The combination of such a set of
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1 lines and its support will be called a "conductor assembly".
2 Insulation is located between the two conductor assemblies.
3 During the manufacturing operation of interconnecting the first -~
4 and second conductor assemblies, the two conductor assemblies , ~ '
and the insulation are relatively positioned to establish
6 electrical contact between lines of the two sets at a sel-
7 ected crossing point. The two assemblies and thP insulation ~ ~ ,
8 are then clamped or otherwise held in position.
9 THE DRAWING
FIGURE 1 shows a portion of a first conductor assembly.
11 FIGURE 2 shows a thin layer of insulation.
12 FIGURE 3 shows the insulation of FIG. 2 assembled with
13 the conductor assembly of FIG. 1.
14 FIGURE 4'shows a second conductor assembly.
FIGURE 5 shows an assembly of the components of the
16 preceding figures with parts cut away to better show the
17 sequence of components. ',:
18 FIGURE 6 is an edge view of the assembly of FIG. 5 and
19 the preferred clamp along line 6-6 of FIG. 5.
~' The Connector of the Drawing
21 FIG. 1 shows a portion of a glass plate 11 of a gas panel. ;,~
22 A set 12 of lines 13 through 19 of a conductive material such ' ,
23 as copper are formed by conventional techniques on plate 11 ''
24 in a generally parallel array. The width of the lines and
the spacing between the lines depends on the particular
26 application for the lines, and the drawing is not to any - ~,
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27 particular scale. The lines that are formed on the glass plate
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1 of a gas panel are highly accurate and the spacing between
2 the lines does not vary significantly from the ideal situation
3 that the drawing represents. In the more general case, however,
4 the width of the lines and the spacing between the lines depends
on the accuracy with which these lines can be formed and main-
6 tained. A wide variety of devices use the construction of FIG. 1,
7 and from a more general standpoint, FIG. 1 shows a first set of
~` 8 generally parallel conductive lines 12 formed on a surface of a
9 first support 11. For some applications for this invention,
support ll may be flexible.
11 FIG. 2 shows a layer of insulation 21 for the structure of
12 FIG. 1 with a window 23 for exposing a selected region of each
13 conductive line 12. FIG. 3 shows insulation layer 21 of FIG. 2
14 located on the conductor assembly of FIG. 1. Layer 21 may be a
thin material such as glass deposited on the structure of FIG. 1
16 and etched to form the windows. Alternatively, layer 21 may be
~17 formed as a discrete insulating component and then applied to the
~18 structure of FIG. 1 by suitable means such as an adhesive. (Some
~19 gas panels have a layer of glass covering lines 12 and adjacent
portions of plate 11; this layer may be etched to form window 23
21 or, as the drawing represents, a larger area is etched and is
22 later insulated and sealed by layer 21.) Thus, insulation layer ?l
23 and window 23 may be located at a predetermined place on the first
24 conductor assembly without regard to the relationship of a second
conductor assembly or it may be located at an individually selec-
26 ted position during final assembly. A variety of techniques are
27 well known for forming an insulating layer in the shape shown
28 in FIG. 2.
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1 Insulating layer 21 has a region 24 that extends from the window
outward over the free ends of lines 12, a region 25 that covers the
region of lines 12 just before the window, and regions 26, 27 that
connect these two regions across the ends of the window. Regions 26 and
27 cooperate with the other regions to form a seal to prevent contam-
ination of line 12. Regions 26 and 27 are spaced from adjacent con-
ductors 13 and 19 sufficiently to be flat on plate 11 and to allow for
variations in the distance between these outermost lines, Region 24
additionally permits a selected length of line 12 to extend beyond the
window. Thus applications that do not require these advantages may use
only the region 25 or two separate regions 24 and 25.
FIG. 4 shows a second insulating support 29 with a set 30 of lines
31 through 37 of conductive material such as copper. In the assembled
apparatus, each line of set 30 makes electrical contact with a cor-
responding line of set 12. Insulating support 29 is preferably a thin,
flexible, plastic material to provide a mechanically flexible connection
between the components of glass plate 11 of a gas panel and other com-
ponents that are mounted independently of plate 11. It is a character-
istic of such materials that the lines cannot be formed and maintained -~
as accurately as the lines on glass plate 11. As the components are
shown in the drawing, each line of sèt 30 is formed on the underside of
support 29 and support 29 is transparent or semitransparent (as is
common), so that an assembler can see the lines distinctly through
insulator 29, as FIG. 4 represents. Except for the shape of the in-
sulating layer 21 and the conduc~ ~`
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tive lines 30 in FIG. 4, the components of FIGS, 1-4 are
2 conventional and illustrate a variety of conductors with
` 3 which this invention will be useful. The shape of lines 30
4 in FIG. 4 will be explained next.
FIG. 5 shows the conductor assembly of FIG. 4 mounted
6 on the conductor assembly and insulation structure of FIG. 3
7 with parts broken away to better show the relationship of the
8 layers. Conductive line 34 is in the same unbent configuration
9 as the conventional lines of FIG. 1, and the assembly of the
'10 components of FIGS. 3 and 4 to form the structure of FIG. 5
11 may be begun by aligning conductor 34 with corresponding
12 conductor 16 of FIG. 3. The structure of FIG. 4 can then-be
13 further adjusted by moving conductive line 34 vertically along
14 conductive line 16 of gas panel plate 11.
In a conventional structure of this type, lines 30 would
16 be made as accurately as possible in the same configuration as
17 lines 12 in FIG. 1, adjacent lines having nearly equal spacing
18 along their length. In assembling such a conventional struc-
ture it would often occur that the spacing of the second set
is in fact closer or wider than the spacing of the first set
21 so that a satisfactory connection could not be made all along
22 the width of the conductor assemblies. In the conductor
23 assembly of FIGS. 4 and 5, the lines 30 have a region 40
24 where they are generally parallel with a spacing that is greater
than the spacing of the lines 12 in the case of worst shrink-
26 age or least expansion. In a regLon 41, lines 30 converge
27 to a spacing that is less than the spacing of lines 12
28 in the case of least shrinkage or worst expansion of support 29.
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1 m us, at some position in region 41 there is a horizontal line
2 across lines 30 where the spacing equals the spacing of lines 12.
3 In the assembly method in which layer 21 is located on plate 11
4 at a position that is independent of the second condùctor
assembly, the conductor assembly of FIG. 5 is adjusted in
6 position until lines 30 cross the corresponding lines 12 at
7 window 23; the structure of FIG. 5 is then secured in position.
8 Alternatively, the two conductor assemblies are aligned both
9 laterally and vertically and insulation layer 21 is adjusted
to the position where lines 12 and 30 meet at the window.
11 Window 23 and a representative line of set 12 are shown by
12 dashes to illustrate this alignment; in an actual structure,
13 portions of lines 12 would be visible through support 29 and -
- 14 window 23 for the alignment step of assembly. Alternatively,
the structure can be tested for proper electrical contact
`~16 between each pair of conductors. FIG. 5 shows a few lines
17 converging about a central unbent line 34. A typical appli-
18 cation for this invention has a large number of lines which
;19 can be arranged about a single central unbent line, all to
one side of an unbent line, or other equivalent configurations.
21 Similarly, patterns of this type can be repeated in structures
22 having more lines.
23 In FIG. 6, a clamp 45 has two complementary parts 46 and
;24 47 that are interconnected by a rivet 48 and pivot along a
line 49 to apply a predetermined clamping force to the struc-
26 ture of FIG. 5 through pads 50, 51 which are of a suitable
27 resilient material such~as rubber. Additional insulation 52
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for the second conductor assembly is shown.
From this description of the preferred embodiment of
the invention, those skilled in the art will recognize
suitable modifications to apply the invention to a variety
of well known connector assemblies within the scope of the
claims.
What is claimed is:
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