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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?"

11 of 524 comments (clear)

  1. Re:FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Only post too. Gues this topic is just not that interesting!

  2. Just Asking For Trolls by jonman_d · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Is it me, or does anyone feel like this article was just begging for immature teenager trolls?

  3. Re:The eternal question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    AAAAAAAannnnnnnnnh!

    It is Bayonet Eill Concelman and named for amphenol's Carl Concelman.

  4. Re:The eternal question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    big n00b connector

  5. Re:The eternal question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Damn you sticky 'n'.

    I meant 'Neill'

  6. Re:Honestly.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    err... a flying bitch? :o)

  7. Re:Honestly.. by JonOnSlashdot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    dont mind me im on crack

  8. Re:Cable connections by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I love it when a question that is easily answered by a simple google search gets to be a story on slashdot!

  9. Re:connector genders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    so, it wasnt until 17 that you realized girls had vaginas and boys had penises?

    wow , i feel for you.

  10. Re:connector genders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Vaginas and penises? What are you a doctor or something? They're called dicks and pussies

  11. Re:FP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You must be new around here.