Securing electrical conductors

Abstract

An elongated electrical cable or flexible circuit board includes an electrically conductive path and an insulating body encompassing and electrically isolating the conductive path, the insulating body including an exposed surface having an array of fastener elements extending therefrom, the fastener elements arranged and constructed to engage mating fastener elements associated with a supporting surface to selectively secure the cable or flexible circuit board to the supporting surface. The fastener elements can be loop-engageable fasteners and/or loops. Such a cable or flexible circuit board is continuously formed by introducing an electrical insulating material including a thermoplastic resin into a gap formed adjacent a peripheral surface of a rotating mold roll, the mold roll defining an array of cavities therein, the insulating material being introduced under pressure and temperature conditions selected to cause the insulating material to at least partially fill the cavities to form fastener element stems integrally with and extending from one broad side of a strip of said insulation material; while introducing conductive wires and/or a conductive path formed on or within a substrate to the gap so as to cause the insulating material to envelop and electrically isolate the conductive path and/or to cause the conductive path to become an integral part of the strip of insulation material from which the fastener element stems extend.

1 - 67 . (canceled)  
     
     
         68 . A method of forming an electrical cable, the method comprising: 
 introducing a plurality of longitudinally extending electrical conductors into a gap defined adjacent a pressure roll; and    introducing moldable resin into the gap under conditions that cause the resin to encapsulate the electrical conductors;    wherein the pressure roll defines a plurality of recesses and the electrical conductors are substantially aligned with the recesses.    
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68  wherein the gap is a nip defined between a mold roll and counter-rotating pressure roll.  
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 69  further comprising solidifying the resin on a peripheral surface of the mold roll and stripping the solidified resin and encapsulated electrical conductors from the mold roll.  
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 69  further comprising molding fastener stems integrally molded with and extending from a resin base.  
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 71  wherein molding fastener stems comprising molding fastener stems with integrally molded loop engageable heads.  
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 68  wherein the recesses are substantially circumferentially extending grooves.  
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 73  wherein the grooves extend around a diameter of the pressure roll.  
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 68  further comprising introducing the resin and encapsulated electrical conductors into a nip defined between a second pressure roll and a mold roll; and 
 molding fastener stems on the resin encapsulating the electrical conductors.    
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 68  further comprising guiding the electrical conductors into alignment with the grooves using a guide plate.  
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 68  wherein each groove is sized to receive the aligned conductors.  
     
     
         78 . The method of  claim 68  wherein the conductors comprise wire.  
     
     
         79 . The method of  claim 68  wherein introducing the moldable resin into the nip comprises introducing the moldable resin into the nip such that the resin separates adjacent electrical conductors.  
     
     
         80 . The method of  claim 68  further comprising controlling the lateral position of the electrical conductors by introducing a supporting substrate into the nip between the electrical conductors and the pressure roll.  
     
     
         81 . The method of  claim 80  wherein the supporting substrate spaces the electrical conductors from the pressure while allowing the resin to fill the grooves.  
     
     
         82 . A method of forming an electrical cable, the method comprising: 
 introducing a plurality of longitudinally extending electrical conductors into a nip defined between a mold roll and a pressure roll;    introducing moldable resin into the nip under conditions causing the resin to enter mold cavities defined in the peripheral surface of the mold roll; and    attaching the electrical conductors to the resin;    wherein the electrical conductors have sufficient flexibility to conform to a peripheral surface of the mold roll, the pressure roll defines a plurality of substantially circumferentially extending grooves, and the electrical conductors are introduced into the nip substantially aligned with the grooves.    
     
     
         83 . The method of  claim 82  further comprising solidifying the resin on a peripheral surface of the mold roll and then stripping the resin and attached electrical conductors from the mold roll.  
     
     
         84 . The method of  claim 83  wherein solidifying the resin comprises forming fastener stems integrally molded with and extending from a resin base.  
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 84  wherein forming fastener stems comprising molding fastener stems with integrally molded loop engageable heads.  
     
     
         86 . The method of  claim 82  further comprising guiding the electrical conductors into alignment with the grooves using a guide plate.  
     
     
         87 . The method of  claim 82  wherein each groove is sized to receive the aligned conductor.  
     
     
         88 . The method of  claim 82  wherein introducing the moldable resin into the nip comprises introducing the moldable resin into the nip such that the resin separates adjacent electrical conductors.  
     
     
         89 . The method of  claim 82  wherein attaching the electrical conductors to the resin comprises encapsulating the electrical conductors in the resin.  
     
     
         90 . A method of forming a laminate with fastener elements, the method comprising: 
 introducing a substrate into a nip defined between a mold roll and a pressure roll, the mold roll including mold cavities defined in a peripheral surface of the mold roll;    introducing moldable resin into the nip under conditions such that at least a portion of the resin enters the mold cavities while encapsulating at least surface features of the substrate with the resin;    forming features integrally molded with and extending from a resin base;    solidifying the resin to form a laminate including the resin base and the substrate; and then    removing the laminate from the mold roll;    wherein the pressure roll defines a groove that aids in aligning the substrate in the nip.    
     
     
         91 . The method of  claim 90  wherein the substrate comprises an electrical conductor.  
     
     
         92 . The method of  claim 90  wherein introducing the substrate comprises aligning the electrical conductor with the groove.  
     
     
         93 . The method of  claim 90  wherein the pressure roll defines a plurality of grooves and introducing a substrate comprises introducing multiple parallel substrates into the nip with each of the parallel substrates aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of grooves.  
     
     
         94 . The method of  claim 93  wherein the multiple parallel substrates each comprise an electrical conductor.  
     
     
         95 . The method of  claim 94  further comprising guiding multiple electrical conductors into alignment with the grooves using a guide plate.  
     
     
         96 . The method of  claim 94  wherein the conductors comprise wire.  
     
     
         97 . The method of  claim 90  wherein forming the features comprise forming stems of fastener elements.  
     
     
         98 . The method of  claim 97  wherein forming the stems comprises molding loop engageable heads on the fastener stems.  
     
     
         99 . The method of  claim 90  wherein the groove substantially circumferentially extending around a diameter of the pressure roll.  
     
     
         100 . The method of  claim 90  wherein solidifying the resin comprises solidifying the resin on the mold roll with the resin and substrate remaining on the peripheral surface of the mold roll through a partial rotation of the mold roll.