A flat flexible circuit conventionally includes an elongated flat flexible dielectric substrate having laterally spaced strips of conductors on one or both sides thereof. The conductors may be covered with a thin, flexible protective layer on one or both sides of the circuit. If protective layers are used, cutouts are formed therein to expose the underlying conductors at desired contact locations where the conductors are to engage the conductors of a complementary mating connecting device which may be a second flat flexible circuit, a printed circuit board or the terminals of a mating connector.
A wide variety of connectors have been designed over the years for terminating or interconnecting flat flexible circuits with complementary mating connecting devices. However, there has not been a reliable and cost effective system for electrically connecting a plurality of discrete electrical wires to flat flexible circuitry. Part of the problem resides in the fact that the terminals must somehow be biased against the flat circuitry. The present invention is directed to satisfying that need and solving the problems associated therewith. The present invention is extremely simple, inexpensive and reliable.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds