Apparatus and method for spreading wires in a cable and connecting the wires to terminals

Wire insertion apparatus for inserting wires in a flat cable into cavities of an electrical connector comprises a connector jig and a wire locating jig adjacent to the connector jig. The wire locating jig comprises a stack of side-by-side cable spreading and wire locating fingers. The cable, having its wires on closely spaced centers, is located adjacent to the connector and the stack of fingers is moved relatively towards the cable. The free ends of the fingers move relatively between the wires of the cable and spread the wires until they are in alignment with the cavities in the connector. Thereafter, the wires can be pushed into the cavities and inserted into slots in the terminals in the connector.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to mass wire insertion apparatus for inserting a 
plurality of wires into the wire receiving portions of terminals in a 
connector. The invention is particularly concerned with the insertion of 
wires in a flat cable into terminals in a connector where the 
center-to-center spacing of adjacent wires in the cable is less than the 
center-to-center spacing of the terminals in the connector. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is common practice to connect individual wires to terminals in an 
electrical connector by means of an insertion apparatus of the type shown 
in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,935 which has a connector locating jig for locating 
the connector in a predetermined position, a wire locating jig for 
locating the wires with their axes extending transversely of the cavities 
in the connector, and an insertion means for pushing the wires laterally 
of their axes into the cavities in the connector and into the wire 
receiving slots of the terminals in the cavities. The principles of the 
mass insertion apparatus, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,935, have 
been used in cable making machines as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. 
Nos. 4,043,034 and 4,235,015 and the same principles have been used in 
harness making apparatus of the general type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 
4,194,276. It is advantageous to connect wires to terminals in a connector 
with a mass insertion apparatus for the reason that all of the wires are 
connected to all of the terminals in the connector in a single wire 
insertion operation which can be carried out by simply moving an insertion 
tool towards the wires and the connector. 
The U.S. Patents noted above show wire insertion apparatus which can be 
used only with the discrete wires rather than wires in a flat cable. The 
discrete wires are simply placed in a wire jig or otherwise positioned in 
alignment with the connector cavities and thereafter pushed into the 
cavities. The operation of positioning the wires relative to the connector 
may be carried out manually, by robotics, or by feeding the wires to an 
insertion station as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,043,034 and 4,235,015. 
Flat cable, rather than discrete wires, is being used to an increasing 
extent in the manufacture of electrical harnesses and harness 
sub-assemblies and heretofor, it has not been practical to use mass 
insertion techniques to insert the wires in a flat cable into terminals in 
a connector. A common type of flat cable comprises individual wires which 
are bonded to each other in side-by-side parallel coplanar relationship. 
Such cable may be produced either by extruding cable in its completed form 
or by bonding individual wires to each other. In either event, the wires 
in the cable must be separated from each other before they can be 
connected to terminals in a connector with the mass wire insertion 
techniques discussed above. The task of separating cable wires is 
burdensome and time-consuming and negates, to some extent, the advantages 
of using cable in harness manufacturing operations. 
The present invention is directed generally to the achievement of methods 
and apparatus for connecting wires in a flat cable to terminals in a 
connector by the known mass insertion techniques and particularly, to 
methods and apparatus which avoid the necessity of preparing the cable in 
advance for the wire connecting operations. 
The invention is thus directed to the achievement of a mass wire insertion 
apparatus for inserting a plurality of n wires into the wire receiving 
cavities of an electrical connector or the like, the cavities being in 
side-by-side relationship in a row. The apparatus is of the general type 
comprising a connector jig for holding the connector in a predetermined 
positioning and a wire locating jig proximate to the connector jig for 
locating the wires in side-by-side spaced-apart parallel relationship with 
each wire extending transversely of, and being in alignment with, one of 
the cavities. The invention is concerned with apparatus which is intended 
for use with wires in a flat cable, the wires being in side-by-side 
coplanar relationship with the center-to-center spacing of adjacent wires 
being less than the center-to-center spacing of adjacent cavities in the 
connector. An apparatus in accordance with the invention is particularly 
characterized in that the wire locating jig comprising a plurality of at 
least n-1 cable spreading and wire locating fingers, the fingers being in 
side-by-side relationship in a stack with the axes of the fingers 
extending transversely of the axes of the wires in a cable when the cable 
is located proximate to a connector in the connnector jig with the cable 
axis extending transversely of the row of cavities in the connector. The 
fingers have convergently tapered free ends which are proximate to the 
cable and adjacent fingers in the stack have opposed cable spreading side 
surfaces which extend from the free ends of the fingers. The fingers and 
the cable are movable relatively towards each other so that the free ends 
of the fingers initially move between adjacent wires in the cable and 
thereafter, the side surfaces of the fingers spread the wires of the cable 
until the center-to-center spacing of adjacent wires in the cable is the 
same as the center-to-center spacing of adjacent cavities in the connector 
and the wires are in alignment with the cavities. 
In accordance with a further embodiment, the fingers are normally in a 
packed condition in which the opposed side surfaces of adjacent fingers 
are substantially against each other and the center-to-center spacing 
between the free ends of adjacent fingers is equal to the center-to-center 
spacing of adjacent wires in the cable. The fingers are movable from the 
packed condition to a spread condition in which the opposed side surfaces 
of adjacent fingers are spaced apart by a distance equal to the diameters 
of the wires in the cable, the thickness of an individual finger plus the 
diameter of an individual wire being equal to the center-to-center spacing 
of adjacent cavities in the connector. The fingers are movable from the 
packed condition to the spread condition upon relative movement of each 
finger between adjacent wires in the cable whereby the wires are spread 
apart. 
In accordance with a further embodiment, the fingers in the stack are in 
spaced-apart and fixed relationship to each other and the central pair of 
adjacent fingers in the middle of the stack have their free ends closest 
to the cable. The pair of corresponding fingers on each side of the 
central pair have their free ends spaced from the cable by a distance 
which is slightly greater than that of the central fingers and successive 
pairs located at increasing distance from the central pair have their free 
ends located at increasing distances from the cable. Upon relative 
movement of the fingers towards the cable, the central pair of fingers 
straddle a central wire in the cable and spread cable laterally from the 
central wire. As successive pairs of corresponding fingers move against 
and partially through the cables, the wires on each side of the central 
wire are separated from the cable and spread. 
In accordance with a further embodiment, the individual wires in a cable 
are spread apart by a method in which spreading fingers are moved against 
a cable located proximate to a connector and as the free ends of the 
fingers move through the cable, the wires in the cable are spread apart by 
the wedging action of the fingers.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
In the following description, the principles of the invention are explained 
with reference to FIGS. 1-10 which show the essential parts of apparatus 
for practicing the invention. Thereafter, description is presented showing 
specific apparatus for connecting the wires in a cable to terminals in a 
connector which is part of a light bulb housing. 
FIG. 1 shows a portion of an electrical harness 2 comprising a flat cable 4 
which is composed of side-by-side parallel conductors 6, 8, 10, 12, and 
14. The conductors are held in the cable and bonded to each other by bands 
16 of adhesive which extend across the wires in the cable so that the 
wires can be spread apart between the bands and the adhesive may be broken 
to spread the wires if necessary. Two connectors 18, 20 are installed on 
the cable, the connector 18 containing five terminals and the connector 20 
being a four position connector so that the connector 6 extends around the 
endwall of the connector housing. FIGS. 2-7 show generally, an apparatus 
for installing the connector 20 on the cable. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the connector 20 comprises an insulating housing 22 
having a lower or mating end 24, a wire receiving upper end 26, oppositely 
facing sidewalls 28, 30 and oppositely facing endwalls 32. Four cavities 
34 extend through the housing from the end 26 to the end 24 and a terminal 
36 is contained in each cavity. The terminals are of the type having 
spaced-apart plate-like sections connected to each other by connecting 
straps 44 and having wire receiving slots 38 so that a wire can be moved 
into the slots to establish contact between the wire and the terminal. The 
sidewalls 28, 30 are provided with openings adjacent to the end 26 so that 
the wires can pass entirely through and beyond the housing. The connector 
20 is of the type having a cover or closure member 40 which is assembled 
to the housing at the end 26. The cover 40 has spaced-apart wire inserters 
42 depending from its underside and also has depending sections 46, 48 on 
each side of the row of inserters 42. Slots 50 are provided in the cover 
to permit the wires to be dressed normally of the plane of the cover, if 
desired. The cover 40, when assembled to the housing, serves to push the 
wires into the slots 38 of the terminals and the cover is secured to the 
housing body by locking ears 52 (FIG. 3) on the ends of the cover which 
cooperate with locking shoulders 54 adjacent to the endwalls of the 
housing body. Additionally, barriers 56 extend from the sidewall 28 and 
barriers 58 are provided on the cover which have additional ears 60 on 
their lower ends that cooperate with shoulders 62 on the barriers 56. 
An apparatus in accordance with the invention comprises a jig assembly 64, 
a pair of cable pushing members 98, 98', (FIG. 6), a pusher member 100 for 
the cover 40, and cable positioning means in the form of channel members 
96, 96'. 
The jig assembly 64 serves as a connector jig for positioning the connector 
and a wire jig for locating the wires in alignment with the terminals in 
the cavities 34 of the connector. The jig assembly 64 comprises a pair of 
U-shaped plates 66 and a second pair of U-shaped plates 68. The plates 66, 
68 are substantially identical excepting for their upper ends, as 
described below. Each plate 66 thus has a web portion 70 and a pair of 
arms or fingers 72, 72'. The upper edges 74 of the plates above the web 
portion 70 form a supporting surface for the lower end 24 of the housing 
and the opposed edges 76, 76' of the arms 72, 72' also locate the housing 
in that they bear against portions of the sidewalls 28, 30. These surfaces 
thus function as the connector locating jig. The arms 72, 72' act as the 
fingers in a wire locating jig, each arm having an upper or free end 78 
which is tapered to an edge 84. The upper ends of the arms 72, 72' are 
tapered leftwardly, as viewed in FIG. 5, while the upper ends of the arms 
or fingers of the plates 68 are tapered rightwardly. These opposite tapers 
on the fingers 66, 68 control the movement of the wires when the wires are 
split and spread as will be described below. The upper edges 84 of all of 
the arms are inclined downwardly and away from the centerline of the 
assembly. This inclination also facilitates movement of the free ends of 
the arms into the cable and spreading of the wires in the cable. A shown 
in FIGS. 5 and 7, adjacent fingers of the plates 66, 68 have opposed 
surfaces 86, 88 between which the individual wires are moved when the 
cable wires are spread to the positions of FIG. 7. 
The plates 66, 68 are mounted on rods 89 which extend through oversize 
openings in the plates adjacent to the lower edges thereof, so that the 
plates can move freely to spread positions shown in FIG. 7. Nuts 90 are 
threaded onto the ends of the rods and springs 94 are provided between the 
nuts and the surfaces of the outside plates of the stack so that the 
plates 66, 68 are resiliently biased to the positions shown in FIGS. 1, 3 
and 5. PG,11 
Spacers 92 are mounted on the rods 89 between the inner opposed plates 66, 
68, the thickness spacers being slightly greater than the diameter of the 
central wire 10 in the cable. It will be apparent from FIG. 4 that this 
central wire 10 can therefore move downwardly and between the opposed 
surfaces of the inner plates 66, 68 and into the slots 38 of the adjacent 
terminal. 
When the connector 20 is to be installed on the cable 4, the cable is 
located with its axis extending transversely of a connector positioned in 
the connector jig, that is, a connector held between the fingers 72, 72', 
as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Location of the cable is accomplished by means 
of channel-shaped cable positioning blocks 96, 96' which are recessed as 
shown at 97, to receive the cable. It is also desirable to clamp the cable 
at locations beyond the blocks 96, 96' and a suitable clamping means is 
described below with reference to FIG. 12. After the cable has been 
properly located, the cable pushing members 98, 98' are moved downwardly 
to the positions of FIG. 6 and during such movement, the cable will move 
relatively past the edges 84 of the free upper ends 78 of the stacks of 
fingers 72, 72'. Referring to FIG. 5, the wire 10 will move directly 
downwardly and be received in the slot 38 of the second terminal from the 
righthand end of the connector housing. The wire 8 will move downwardly 
and rightwardly over the inclined surface of the upper end of the fingers 
on the inner plate 66, while the conductor 12 will similarly move 
downwardly and leftwardly over the upper end of the fingers of the inner 
plate 68. The conductor 6 will be moved downwardly and rightwardly over 
the inclined upper end of the fingers on the outside plate 66 and the 
conductor 14 will move downwardly and leftwardly over the fingers on the 
outside plate 68. 
As the wire 8, moves downwardly, it will spread apart the fingers of the 
plate members 66 and as the wire 12 moves downwardly, it will spread apart 
the fingers of the plate member 68, as shown in FIG. 7. The plate members 
will not remain parallel to each other as they are spread, but will tend 
to assume a fanlike configuration, as shown in FIG. 7, because of the fact 
that the rods 89 extend through oversize openings in the plates. 
It will be apparent from FIGS. 5 and 7 then, that the wires cam the fingers 
from their close packed condition to their spread apart positions of FIG. 
7 and in doing so, the wires themselves are spread apart until the wires 
8, 10, 12, and 14 are in alignment with the cavities in the connector 2. 
The wire 6 is moved rightwardly beyond the righthand endwall 32 of the 
housing and is not connected to a terminal in the connector. 
After the wires have been spread, the cover member 40 is pushed downwardly 
by the pusher 100 and the inserters 42 push the wires fully into the slots 
in the terminals. After spreading and before assembly of the cover, the 
wires are captured in the upper portions of the terminals and properly 
located in alignment with the terminals. 
It will be understood that the essential structural elements required for 
the practice of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 2-7, can be 
incorporated into a variety of cable making machines, as described above 
in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,043,034 and 4,235,015, and they can also be 
incorporated into the tooling used to manufacture harnesses on a harness 
board, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,276. The fingers can, of 
course, be entirely separate from, but adjacent to, the connector jig and 
an embodiment is described below in which that arrangement is used. The 
elements of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 2-7 would ordinarily be mounted 
on a part of a press device designed to carry out the particular type of 
harness making operation being practiced. 
While two stacks of fingers are provided in the jig assembly 64 of the 
embodiment of FIGS. 2-7, it is entirely practical to spread the wires by 
the use of only a single stack of wire spreading fingers and an embodiment 
having only a single set of fingers is shown and described below. 
As an alternative to having the fingers movable from a closely packed 
condition to a spread-apart condition when the cable is spread apart as 
described above, it is also possible to provide the fingers in fixed 
positions as shown in FIGS. 8-10. In this embodiment, the cable has 
conductors 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, and 114 which are bonded to each 
other as previously described. The cable is supported on a support 
assembly 116 having a surface composed of the upper ends of plates 115, 
117, 117', 119, 119', and 121, 121'. The plates are all mounted on rods 
123 which extends through their lower portions and in the plane of the 
plates. The plates to the right of the center plate 115 are inclined 
leftwardly towards the center plate, while the plates to the left of the 
center plate 115 are inclined rightwardly. These plates are capable of 
moving from their inclined positions of FIG. 8 to positions in which they 
approach vertical orientations, as shown in FIG. 10. 
The stack of spreading fingers comprises an associated pair 118, 120 of 
central fingers which have lower ends 122 that are relatively close to a 
cable supported on the support assembly 116. The intermediate associated 
pair of fingers 124, 126 are spaced from the fingers 118, 120 
respectively, and have lower ends or free ends 122 which are spaced from 
the cable by a distance greater than the free ends of the central fingers 
118, 120. The outermost pair of fingers 128, 130, in turn, have lower free 
ends which are spaced a still further distance from the cable. 
All of the spreading fingers of the embodiment of FIG. 8 are fixed to a 
suitable reciprocable head and they move in unison from the position of 
FIG. 8 to the position of FIG. 10. Also, the space between adjacent 
fingers is sufficient to receive one of the individual wires of the cable 
and the center-to-center space of adjacent fingers is equal to the 
center-to-center spacing of the terminals in the connector. 
In the practice of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 8-10, the fingers 
are moved downwardly from the position of FIG. 8 until the central fingers 
118, 120 straddle the central conductor 108 and as these two central 
fingers move into the cable, the conductors 102, 104 and 106 are displaced 
rightwardly while the conductors 110, 112 and 114 are displaced leftwardly 
as shown in FIG. 9. Upon further downward movement of the fingers, the 
finger 124 will move between the wires 104, 106 and the finger 126 will 
move between the wires 110, 112. As the result, the wires 104 and 102 will 
be moved rightwardly a further distance and the conductors 112, 114 will 
be moved leftwardly as shown in FIG. 10. It will be apparent from FIG. 10 
then, that upon still further downward movement of the fingers, the wires 
102 and 114 will be spread from the wires 104 and 112 and the individual 
wires of the conductors will all have been spread to the extent required. 
Downward movement of the fingers is permitted in this embodiment by virtue 
of the fact that the plates which comprise the support 116 can move apart, 
as shown in FIG. 10. 
FIGS. 12-15 show an apparatus in accordance with the invention for 
installing a lamp socket 132, FIG. 11, on a cable 133 having six wires, 
three of which are to be connected to terminals in the lamp socket. The 
lamp socket has a socket body 140 having an integral back wall 138 at one 
end of which there is provided an integral connector 134 having three 
side-by-side cavities 136. The connector 134 is generally similar to the 
connectors 18, 20 excepting that it is provided on the lamp socket and it 
will be understood that the terminals in the cavities 136 have contact 
portions that extend into the socket body and which contact a bulb 
inserted into the socket body. A lamp socket as shown at 132 will be 
provided on an automotive harness, where required, along with other 
electrical connectors. 
The apparatus of FIG. 12 comprises a lower insertion tooling assembly 142 
and an upper tooling assembly 144. The lower assembly 142 may be mounted 
on the platen of a press and the ram 160 of the upper assembly may be 
connected to the press ram so that the upper assembly can be moved 
downwardly from its position shown in FIG. 12. 
The lower assembly 142 comprises generally a tooling support block 146 
having a recess 147, 148 adjacent to the lefthand end as viewed in FIG. 12 
which receives the lamp socket 132. The connector 134 of the lamp socket 
is located against the lefthand side of a wire jig assembly 152 which 
comprises a single stack of fingers rather than two stacks of fingers as 
in wire jig assembly shown at 64 in FIG. 2. FIG. 14 shows the manner of 
mounting the springs for the wire jig in the tooling block 146. The wire 
jig assembly 152 is adapted to spread the six-wire cable and located three 
of the wires of the cable in alignment with three cavities of the 
connector. The recess 147, 148 thus serves in this embodiment as the 
connector jig for locating the connector adjacent to the wire jig 
assembly. On its righthand side, as viewed in FIG. 12, a lower cable clamp 
154 is provided which is supported by a spring 158 so that this cable 
clamp can move downwardly from the position shown in FIG. 12. Cable clamp 
154 is separated from the wire jig assembly 152 by a spacer block 156 
which provides clearance for the righthand upper cable pusher 186. 
The upper tooling assembly 144 comprises a ram 160 which is coupled to a 
suitable actuator, such as a ram of a press or a pneumatic 
piston/cylinder. The upper assembly further comprises a carrier block 162, 
a plate 164, a lefthand upper wire clamp 166, and a righthand upper wire 
clamp 168, as viewed in FIG. 12. The carrier block 162 and the wire clamps 
166, 168 are carried by the plate 164 and secured thereto by fasteners 
170. The wire clamps comprise movable clamping members which are spring 
loaded by springs 172 thereby to permit over-travel of the ram 160 as 
described below. The left-hand wire clamp 166 moves against clamping 
surface portions 174 of the block 146 and the righthand wire clamp 168 
moves against the lower righthand wire clamp 154 so that the cable is 
clamped on each side of the lamp socket. 
Carrier block 162 has a central opening 176 through which the ram 160 
extends and which permits relative movement of the ram with respect to the 
carrier block. The opening 174 extends to opposite sides 163 of the block 
162 and the block has upwardly laterally facing support surfaces 178 at 
its lower end adjacent to the sides 163. The ram 160 has laterally 
extending ears 180 which are opposed to, and in alignment with, surfaces 
178. Springs 182 are provided between the surfaces 178 and the ears 180, 
these springs 182 being relatively stiff as compared to the springs 172, 
so that they will not be compressed until there is some compression of the 
springs 172. 
As shown best in FIG. 15, the carrier block 162 is formed of two 
substantially identical halves which are surrounded by the cable clamps 
166, 168. These halves of the carrier block are bolted to the plate 164 
(which is omitted from FIG. 15 for reasons of clarity) and are thereby 
held in assembled relationship. The cable clamps are fastened to each 
other by fasteners which extend through opening 167 and serve as a guide 
for the block 162. The springs 172, FIG. 12, surround guide rods 173 which 
are threaded into the cable clamps and which extend slideably through 
openings in the plate 164. The wires in the cable are clamped by 
projecting portions 175 of the cable clamps 166, 168. 
Left and righthand cable pushers 184, 186 are secured to the downwardly 
facing surface of the carrier block 162 and move against the cable when 
the upper tooling assembly is moved downwardly from the position of FIG. 
12. The cable pusher 186 extends downwardly beyond the lower end of the 
cable pusher 184 thereby to push the cable into the cavities in the 
connector 134. The function of the cable pushers 184, 186 is essentially 
the same as that of the cable pushers 98, 98' shown in FIG. 6. 
The cover 188 for the lamp socket connector 134 is releasably held against 
the lower end 190 of the ram 160 by holding fingers 192 which are 
pivotally connected at 193 to spaced-apart extensions 194 of the block 
162. The holding fingers are biased to the position shown in FIG. 12 by 
leaf springs 196 which are secured to the outwardly facing surfaces of the 
extensions 194. The arrangement is such that when the cover 188 is being 
pushed into the connector, the ram 160 will move relative to the block 162 
and the extensions 194 and the cover will be pushed from the fingers 192. 
In use the cable 133 is positioned beween the upper and lower tooling as 
shown in FIG. 12, a lamp socket is placed in the recess 147, 148, and a 
cover is placed against the end 190 of the ram 160. The ram 160 is then 
moved downwardly and the entire upper tooling assembly 144 moves as a unit 
until the cable is clamped by the upper and lower clamping members 166, 
168, 174, and 154. Thereafter, the ram 160 moves downwardly relative to 
the block 162 and the cover 188 is pushed into the connector. During 
initial downward movement of the upper tooling assembly 144, the cable is 
moved past the upper end of the cable spreading fingers of the wire jig 
assembly 152 and the individual wires of the cable are aligned with the 
cavities into which they are to be inserted. 
It is desirable to have the lower wire clamp 154 on the righthand side of 
the apparatus spring loaded as shown, in order to permit some relative 
movement of the cable relative to the wire clamp as the cable wires are 
pushed between the fingers of the jig assembly 152. 
The cable clamping arrangement shown in FIG. 12 can be used with the 
apparatus shown in FIGS. 1-8; alternatively, other types of cable clamps 
can be used as dictated by the circumstances under which the invention is 
practiced. 
The embodiment of FIG. 12 demonstrates that under some circumstances, a 
wire jig can be used compressing only one stack of fingers rather than the 
two stacks as shown in the embodiment of FIGS. 2-7. It will also be 
apparent that the connector jig can take a wide variety of forms which 
will be determined by the circumstances under which the invention is 
practiced and the type of cable making operations that are being carried 
out. 
Although the cables described above comprise side-by-side wires which are 
bonded to each other at spaced intervals, the invention can be practiced 
with cables composed of wires which are continuously bonded to each other. 
The edges of the fingers can be sharpened so that they will cut into the 
bonding material between adjacent wires if required, and the wires will be 
separated by tearing of the bonding material as the fingers pass through 
the cable. The invention can also be practiced with cables composed of 
wires in side-by-side relationship which are not bonded to each other. The 
cable can be produced by feeding the discrete wires to a terminal 
installing station and holding the wires in suitable guides which maintain 
the wires in side-by-side relationship. If desired, bundle tie devices can 
be placed on the wires at selected locations between the connectors. 
The term "cable" as used in this specification and in the appended claims 
is intended to refer to the wires which are connected to the terminals in 
a connector and when the word is used in that context, the "cable" may be 
a portion of another cable containing a greater number of wires. For 
example, the cable which is connected to the connector 20 of FIG. 1 
consists of the wires 8, 10, 12, and 14 and is a part of the cable 4 which 
contains, in addition, the wire 6.