Shorting plug for an integrating circuit socket

Abstract

A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts for an integrated circuit socket includes an elongated housing made of electrically insulated material having an opening in which is disposed a U-shaped electrically conductive pin, with the leg portions of the pin extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing in order to engage two opposed contacts of an integrated circuit socket for effecting shorting of such contacts. In addition, formed integral with the elongated housing, and extending from the opposite surface of the housing to the leg portions of the metallic pin is a pair of spaced insulated storage ears which may also be inserted into two opposed contacts of an integrated circuit socket for storage of the shorting plug when not in use.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to shorting plugs for use with integrated circuits sockets, and more particularly, a low profile shorting plug having means for storage of the plug when not in use.

Miniturized circuits have been in use for some time and are employed on an ever-increasing scale in complex electronic equipment. The practices in the technology have evolved such that it is now common practice to use what has become known as integrated circuits, or physically small units contained an entire circuit (rather than a single electric terminal), and to mount these integrated circuit packs or units to printed circuit boards and the like. It was early practice to solder the electrical contacts or terminals of these integrated circuits directly to points on the integrated circuit board. In other cases the electronic packs were mounted directly to a dielectric board with terminals extending through the board for connection to other conductors.

Through a gradual evolutionary use of these techniques, it is now more common and desirable to mount electronic integrated circuit units to a terminal board or printed circuit board for easy removal and exchanging of individual units. Accordingly, sockets are now often provided for receiving the pins (contacts) ot the integrated circuit pack. These sockets generally include a dielectric housing supporting electrical contacts for receiving the pins of the integrated circuit packs, the contacts having long pins, or posts, extending from the lower part of the housing for insertion through holes in the printed circuit board. When the socket is mounted in place on the circuit board, the terminal posts extend to the back side of the printed circuit board, providing posts for receiving a wrapped wire or other common type of conductor connection for joining the integrated circuit to other components on the same or other circuit boards.

During the assembly of a printed circuit board including sockets and integrated circuit packs, it is often desirable to conduct preliminary tests. For certain tests it is often necessary to effect the shorting of certain contacts of the various sockets in the circuit board assembly. Realizing the size of the miniturized elements in a circuit board, it is apparent that a single shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated socket is of very small size, and not readily manually manipulated. Furthermore, when the shorting plug is removed, and placed at a location near the technician's station, it often happens that the shorting plugs become dirty, misplaced, etc. In addition, during the assembling of an integrated circuit panel board, it is often necessary to employ shorting plugs which remain in place, and in order to maintain miniaturization of the overall panel board, it is particularly desirable that the shorting plug have a low profile, and of course because of the miniaturazation required, it is difficult to achieve the low profile, while still providing a shorting plug that is capable of being manually handled by the technician or assembler of the integrated circuit panel board.

Accordingly, there are several attributes considered desirable in a shorting plug including: the ease of replacement of shorting plugs; means for storing the shorting plug when not in use; and having the shorting plug of a configuration which provides a low profile. It is an object of the present invention to provide all of these attributes in a single shorting plug, and to this end, to obviate the shortcomings of the prior art devices to satisfy one or more of these requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In general, these and other object of the invention are met by a low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of the integrated circuit socket, which shorting plug basically comprises an elongated housing made of an insulated material having an opening extending along the longitudinal axis thereof, and with a U-shaped metallic connector pin disposed in the opening of the elongated housing and having its leg portions extending from the housing perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the housing. The leg portions of the U-shaped metallic connector pin may readily be inserted into opposed contacts of an integrated circuit socket for effecting shorting of the connectors. In addition, extending from the opposite surface of the elongated housing, and preferably formed integral therewith, are a pair of spaced insulated storage ears which may also be inserted into two opposed contacts of the integrated circuit socket when the subject low profile shorting plug is not in use.

From the construction of the subject invention, there is achieved the desirable attributes of a low profile shorting plug, as well as a shorting plug having storage capabilities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, together with the further objects and advantages thereof, the following detailed description of preferred embodiments in the drawings may be referred to, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional integrated socket, together with one embodiment of a shorting plug made according to the subject invention;

FIG. 2 is a frontal view of the shorting plug of FIG. 1, partially in section, wherein the shorting plug as mounted in the socket is in the stored position;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the shorting plug of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of second embodiment of a shorting plug of the subject invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the shorting plug of FIG. 4 taken along line 6--6 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the shorting plug of FIG. 4 taken along line 7--7 in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is a frontal view, partially in section, of a third embodiment of a shorting plug made according to the teachings of the subject invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, an integrated circuit socket is shown at 10 and includes a base portion 12 and a mating upper housing 14. Extending from the lower portion of the integrated circuit socket 10 are a plurality of a terminal contacts or pins 16 which include receptacle portions 20, (see FIG. 2) disposed within the mating upper housing 14. Openings 18 in the upper surface of upper housing 14 provide access to the receptacle portions 20 of pins 16. Integrated circuit socket 10 is of the type disclosed in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,732,529 which issued on May 8, 1973 and is assigned to the assignee of the subject invention. As is readily apparent, the low profile shorting plug of the subject invention may likewise be employed with other types of integrated circuit sockets.

In order to electrically interconnect two opposed contacts 16, 16 of the integrated circuit socket, the subject low profile shorting plug is provided. The shorting plug is designated by the numeral 30 and basically comprises an elongated housing 32 made of an electrically insulating material, such as Nylon, and having an opening 34 therein, which opening 34 extends along the longitudinal axis of housing 32. Disposed in the opening 34 is a U-shaped metallic pin 36. The housing 32 includes an upper surface 38 and a lower surface 40, as well as two opposed side surfaces 42 and 44, and end surfaces 46, 48. The leg portions of the U-shaped metallic pin 36 extend from the lower surface 40 of the elongated housing, and are spaced so as to engage opposed receptacle portions 20, 20 of the integrated circuit contacts 16, 16 of socket 10. Extending from the upper surface 38 of the housing 32 are a pair of spaced, electrically insulated storage ears 50, 52 which, as shown in FIG. 2, may be inserted into opposed receptacle portions of the contacts of the integrated circuit socket when the low profile shorting plug 30 is in the stored, or non-electrically conducting, position.

In operation, in order to interconnect or electrically short two opposed contacts of the integrated circuit socket, the shorting plug 30 is inserted into opposed contacts 16, 16, with the leg portions of the U-shaped metallic member 36 extending into the receptacles 20, 20 of the contacts. When the shorting plug is not in use, the shorting plus is stored in the position as indicated in FIG. 2, thereby insuring that the shorting plug is maintained in a safe position, as well as in a readily accessible place for possible future use.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, elongated slots 60 may be provided in the respective side walls 42 and 44 of the shorting plug 30 (see FIG. 3) for affording greater flexibility of the leg portions of U-shaped pin 36.

The elongated housing 32 is made of an insulating material, such as Nylon or other suitable dielectric material, and preferably the storage ears 50, 52 are formed integral with the elongated housing.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, a second embodiment of the subject low profile shorting plug is indicated by the numeral 70 and comprises an elongated housing 72 having an opening extending longitudinally therethrough. As shown in FIGS. 4 through 7, the housing 72 is internally formed so as to have two lower shoulders 74, 74 and an upper shoulder 76 against which the U-shaped metallic pin 78 is maintained. The leg portions of the U-shaped metallic pin 78 extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the elongated housing 72 and are suitably spaced to engage opposed contacts of an integrated circuit socket.

In the third embodiment of FIG. 8, the housing 72 is provided with integral, spaced, insulated storage ears 80, 82 extending from the top surface 73 of the housing 72.

In the assembly of the low profile shorting plug 70 of the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 4-7 and FIG. 8, one leg of the U-shaped pin would be pre-bent, and the opposite leg would be inserted through the the longitudinal opening within the elongated housing 72, and after the first leg is securely positioned, the second leg 78 would be bent downwardly to the final position, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8. It is noted that the upper and lower internal shoulders 76 and 74 are operative to positively engage the U-shaped metallic pin 78 for maintaining the integrity of the low profile shorting plug, even after repeated insertions and removals from opposed contacts of an integrated circuit socket.

In summary, the subject invention provides a new and improved shorting plug having the desirable characteristics of a low profile, as well as having inherent storage capability.

Although the invention has been described with reference to preferred and specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations in form and detail, might occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, all such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket comprising:

an elongated housing made of an insulated material having an opening extended along the longitudinal axis thereof, which housing includes an upper surface and a lower surface;

a U-shaped metallic pin disposed in the opening of said elongated housing and extending from the lower surface and having its leg portions perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said housing; and

a pair of spaced insulated storage ears extending from the upper surface of the housing, with the spacing and size of said storage ears being substantially equal to the spacing and size of said leg portions of said U-shaped metallic pin whereby either the leg portions of the U-shaped metallic connecting pin or the storage ears may be inserted into two contacts of an integrated circuit socket.

2. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket as in claim 1 wherein the storage ears are formed integral with said elongated housing.

3. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket as in claim 2 wherein said elongated housing is made of Nylon.

4. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket as in claim 1 wherein the elongated housing includes internal shoulders against which the metallic pin is maintained.

5. A low shorting plug for interconnecting to contacts of an integrated circuit socket comprising:

an elongated housing made of an insulated material having an opening extending along the longitudinal axis thereof, said elongated housing further including an upper surface and a lower surface, with a pair of integral, spaced insulated storage ears extending from the upper surface of the housing; and

a U-shaped metallic connector pin disposed in the opening of said elongated housing and having spaced leg portions extending from the lower surface of the housing perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof, with the spacing and size of said storage ears being substantially equal to the spacing and size of said leg portions of the U-shaped metallic connector pin, whereby either said leg portions or said storage ears may be inserted into two contacts of an integrated circuit socket.

6. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket as in claim 5 wherein the housing and integral storage ears are made of Nylon.

7. A low profile shorting plug for interconnecting two contacts of an integrated circuit socket as in claim 5 wherein the elongated housing includes side walls disposed between the upper and lower surfaces thereof, each of which side alls includes an elongated slot therein extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the elongated housing.