Patent ID: 6981595

Claim:
The combination of a plurality of components and a carrier tape for receiving and seating the components, each component having an upper surface, a lower surface, four corners, and a periphery with four side surfaces, the four side surfaces transverse to and intersecting the lower surface at a lower peripheral corner extending around said component, the carrier tape comprising: a flexible body portion having a top surface and presenting a longitudinal axis, and a plurality of pockets spaced apart along the longitudinal axis of said flexible body portion, each pocket for receiving and confining a separate one of the components, the pockets each having four sides, four corners, and a bottom, each of said corners including a corner guide portion comprising a pair of spaced apart generally v-shaped component contact ridges positioned on an incline so that the component contact ridges slope downwardly away from the closest adjacent corner and toward the bottom of the pocket, each component contact ridge including a guide-in portion, a component seating portion, and a subordinate portion below the seating portion, said incline continuous through the guide-in portion, the seating portion, and the subordinate portion, so that when the component is received in the pocket, the lower peripheral corner of the component is engaged with the seating portion of each component contact ridge at substantially a single point of contact with no other portions of the component in contact with the carrier tape, and the lower surface of the component is spaced apart from the bottom of the pocket.