Patent ID: 11923633
Assignee: JOHN MEZZALINGUA ASSOCIATES, LLC
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. In a connector having a pair of mating connectors configured to transmit RF signals across an interface, at least one of the mating connectors comprising:
an inner conductor socket for transmitting the RF signals from one mating connector to the other mating connector;
an outer conductor basket, configured to electrically ground the respective one of the mating connectors;
the inner conductor socket and the outer conductor basket each having a plurality of axially projecting fingers separated by a plurality of axial slots; and,
an inhibitor interposing the inner conductor socket and the outer conductor basket and comprising an insert including an outwardly facing flange configured to engage a shoulder formed at the base of the axially projecting fingers of the outer conductor basket and defining a corrugated tube projecting normally from a plane defined by the outwardly facing flange, the corrugated tube having outwardly bulging and inwardly projecting sections which vary in radial dimension from an elongate axis, the insert configured to prevent one of the: (i) insertion of a non-mating connector between the socket and basket of the other mating connector and (ii) misalignment of the pair of mating connectors during assembly of the mating connectors,
wherein the insert inhibits plastic deformation of at least one of the axially projecting fingers of the mating connectors and promotes alignment of the mating connectors.