Electrical distribution and connection system for use on aircraft

Claim 1

In an electrical distribution and connection system for an aircraft and the like, having a cabinet provided with a bottom wall and arranged to receive line receptable units, a plurality of apparatuses each comprising: (a) a rack connector carried by said bottom wall, having a shell, electrically insulating means received in said shell and formed with a plurality of passages parallel to an axial direction and a plurality of connection pins each removably retained in one of said passages and each having a forward portion for receiving a mating contact of a line receptable unit and a rear portion which projects out of said electrically insulating means, said connection pins distributed with a predetermined mutual spacing; (b) a printed circuit board securely connected to said shell, having electrically conducting paths each connecting a first contact arranged for electrical connection with the rear portion of a respective one of said pins and a respective one of a plurality of second contacts, such second contacts being distributed in a regular pattern at a mutual distance greater than said mutual spacing. (c) a plurality of stems each connected to one of said second contacts and projecting from said printed circuit board through a covering plate in a direction opposite to said rack connector, said stems being distributed in parallel rows and having a rectangular cross-section at least in a portion thereof close to said printed circuit board and said covering plate being in contact with and secured to said printed circuit board; (d) a plurality of connections between pairs of said stems consisting of lengths of single wire insulated conductors having end portions wrapped on said portions of rectangular cross-section of the stems of said pairs; and (e) a plurality of routing connectors each having a plurality of removable contacts for mating engagement on terminal portions of a sub-group of said plurality of stems; (f) said covering plate having a plurality of projections arranged between the parallel rows of said stems, constituting a receiving frame for the routing connectors and defining channels receiving said single wire insulated conductors.