Importance

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Abstract

A printed circuit board card cage contains upper and lower perforated sheet metal plates, having a plurality of mutually opposed staggered patterns of bumps, that are configured to form guide channels for guiding printed circuit boards into engagement with respective card slot backplane connectors, thereby eliminating the need for attachment of a separate set of card guides. The patterns of card guide bumps or `upsets` are arranged so as to direct, yet constrain, the travel paths of printed circuit boards from their points of insertion through grooves in rails at the front of the chassis to the backplane connectors, while providing minimal interruption of a gridwork of cooling air flow perforations through the sheet metal plates. The upsets themselves do not penetrate the sheet metal plates, and the size of the perforations are such that there are no EMI leaks, thus eliminating the need for and assembly of additional perforated plates. The staggered pattern of upsets is the same for each card slot, so that a single punch tool can be configured to be engaged in a processor controlled press, with the pitch between bumps programmably variable.

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First Claim