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Connectors: A History of Their Technology?
dpbsmith asks: "It seems like a simple engineering problem--construct a device for easily and safely connecting several dozen wires at the same time--but the variety and creativity in their design over the years has been amazing, and, clearly there have been trends, fashions, and styles. In the fifties and sixties, virtually all connectors were roughly similar to the D-Sub design used for RS-232. A stiff, straight pin engaged a springy socket that contacted and bore against it on all sides. There were minor variations in shape and placement; the Amphenol Blue Ribbons (think Centronics), the connectors into which circuit boards engaged, but they were all variations on a theme. I was absolutely astounded the first time I saw a modular RJ-11 connector. Cheap, effective, and utterly unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Who invented these? Western Electric? Recently, we have the USB connector and the Firewire connector, obviously members of the same family (and a cheap-and-cheesy-seeming family it seems); on the other hand, my telephone and my digital camera have connectors that are very small and snap in with a positive lock that must be released with a squeeze, obviously yet another fundamentally different design. What do people know about the design, history, and engineering behind connectors over the years? Is it all hidden away, trade secrets of the connector companies, or is their a story that can be told?"
Ben Brown obviously likes big connectors http://www.benbrown.com/switch/
I was six when i first heard of the term "male" and "female" connectors. Even though I keep pestering my dad about
1) which one is male / female, and
2) why they name it something stupid like that
he just kept "umm... ahhh"-ing and never answered.
I was like 17 when it finally dawned on me why they named it that way. ha! then it all made sense.
moral of the story are:
a) who says electrical engineers / connector designers are not perverted?
b) to save yourself trouble, don't talk about male/femail connectors in front of little kids.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Huh? Try Barrel Nut Connector. That's what BNC, in the RF sense, has always stood for.
Yes I'm sure there's a Bulgarian Nympho Club, but thats beside the point.
It might be easier if we switched from 60Hz to something around 20kHz.
You want to overclock the power lines?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
This reminds me of a hopefully not-too-offtopic joke.
Two officers (let's have them be British and American) are in a restroom taking a leak. The American finishes and walks to the door, skipping the sink on the way out. The Brit says "You know, chap, in the British military, they teach us to wash after using the restroom." The American responds "That so? Interesting. In the US military they teach us not to piss on our hands."
I've never heard of anyone shocking themselves, despite how "easy" it may appear.
Bah.. on your scale, i'd score BNC connectors a 13 - you have to consider play value here - I challenge anyone who's ever built a 10base2 net *not* to have built castles/spaceships/whatever out of t-pieces and terminators.. man those things feel gooood going together (shiver) ;]
On a similar note.. you gotta hand it to ZIF processor sockets.. those with the "klunky" levers.. a real feeling of staisfaction/amazement that they dont bust up the teensy lil' pins!
Tom Newton
Table-ized A.I.
I'm guessing from this last Ask Slashdot that the section exists solely for the Chinese and other censored citizens who can no longer access google.com ... I propose that we replace the Ask Slashdot submission form with a cgi interface to google, it could act like a proxy. This would solve the problem quite neatly.
A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
Cut both cables with scissors.
Strip the wires about an inch (with your teeth of course).
Twist the right ones together.
Electrical tape and solder optional.
M@
Krispy Cream is people
I had no idea that there was any need to connect anything to British Navels. I had an English girlfriend 20 years ago and don't remember anything about any _electrical_ connections anywhere. Seemed like a pretty standard bellybutton to me. It this part of some new broadband in the womb initiative?