A continuous strip of spaced-apart electrical contacts is taught. Briefly stated, a mold structure is utilized to position a plurality of contacts in a mold. A polymeric material such as silicone is thereafter injected into the mold which fills the interior portion of the contact as well as encapsulating the exterior upper portion of the contact, thereby producing a strip of spaced-apart electrical contacts having a molded carrier strip of flexible polymeric material. A series of notches or recesses are formed in the walls of the strip which thereby allows for precise indexing and contact spacing for insertion of the contact strip into a circuit board. The polymeric material which is disposed on the interior of the contact prohibits the introduction of contaminants into the interior of the contact as well as providing a reenterable aperture for placing electrical components having terminal leads.

A fastener for cloth and similar materials is secured thereto by means of apparatus which includes an elongated member which is tempered in the form of a coil. Absent restraint the coil will move in a direction which is tangential to the envelope of the coil and carry therewith portions of the fastener and in cooperation with a base and a punch the members of the fastener are assembled.

Cable seals of the type employed in sealed electrical connectors are maintained in a predetermined orientation throughout manufacture and handling of same whereby the cable seals may be presented in a usable form to automatic assembly equipment for manufacture in cable lead terminations employed in such connectors. According to the method of the invention, the cable seals are integrally molded in a belt which provides a handleable product with the seals being maintained by the belt in a predetermined orientation. The cable seals then are punched from the belt and simultaneously inserted into a carrier for subsequent handling while still maintaining the cable seals orientated for use such as in automatic assembly equipment.

A surgical fastener system is disclosed. The system includes a surgical fastener, a surgical fastener holder sized and shaped to receive the surgical fastener at least partially therein, and a surgical fastener driver having a seat sized and shaped to frictionally receive a head of the surgical fastener therein. The fastener driver is constructed and arranged to selectively urge the fastener, and more particularly the fastener head, out of the seat. The surgical fastener driver thus includes an elongate body with the seat defined at an end thereof, and a drive piston disposed within the body. The drive piston has a first retracted position, and a second extended position in which at least a portion of the piston extends into the seat to urge the fastener out of the seat during usage. Also disclosed is a surgical fastener and a surgical fastener holder, respectively, for use with the system.

In a packaging arrangement for smoothly and conveniently providing small hardware items to an assembly line operator, the items are fastened onto a flexible band, lined up in the order in which they are to be installed on an article being assembled. The band is divided into equal segments defined by index marks, each segment containing the hardware items required for the assembly of one article. The items are fastened to the band off-line using securing features fashioned from the band itself in a manner and orientation by which each item can be plucked from the band with a tool that can grasp the item, pull it off the band, transport it to the article being assembled, and install it on the article without intermediate disengagement from the tool. The utilization of the band improves the productivity and reliability of manually assembled articles such as disk drives.