4. My connectors 1955-2022

The beginnings.

In the upper primary school (in the mid-fifties), a teacher (who otherwise taught physics and chemistry) was leading some interested kids in a radio workshop – it was here that I first encountered a pair of banana-plug-banana-socket connectors while building a detector radio. At home I have also seen them on the back of our radios as antennas and even PU connectors. These came up again when I built my first single transistor radio (in a soap box). 3 and 5 pole tuchels (for turntable and microphone connections, one of the first European manufacturers of them (Tuchel Kontakt GmbH) had its name then transposed into a term, so it became simply tuchel, and later, European standardization (after DIN 41524 / IEC/DIN EN 60130-9: DIN stekker), as well the speaker connectors, and the crocodile clip appeared in my life at that time. Also home (domestic) sockets are the telephone socket, the mains plug and socket – and the iron socket with protective earth.

In high school (Kandó technical school in Budapest) I encountered valve sockets (also connectors) and their bigger brothers of the aforementioned tuchels with screw fastenings, and then coax connectors came along while conducting measurements at the university.

 

The engineering years (until 1990).

In the following decades, even with the limited import possibilities in Hungary, a few Western European manufacturers and distributors were able to supply the electronics industry with state-of-the-art equipment, through sophisticated importing companies. Some of the manufacturers (e.g. AMP, Weidmüller) who wanted to supply the electronics industry already in the 1970s tried to introduce their components to Hungarian specialists through Hungarian representative offices, while others – mainly dealers of products from several manufacturers (e.g. COMPEX) – tried to do so through exhibitions. In those days, visiting exhibitions was an important, unmissable programme for developers – the only way to obtain new information. There we received catalogs and sometimes even samples worth a fortune. Next, we, the developers, had to go to our workplaces and make them buy the material we had dreamed up. The import of parts was then the responsibility/privilege of a few importing companies (e.g. EMO, Elektroimpex, Metrimpex,…).

Another way to meet the demand for components in the electronics industry was to manufacture them under license: KONTAKTA produced several SOCAPEX connectors, RAFI and Siemens switches, and the Telecommunications Research Institute (TKI) produced RAFI Hall-generator pushbuttons. A similar transfer of production took place not only in the supply of components: VIDEOTON produced a French (CII) computer.
In these decades, to alleviate the problems of component supply, the companies developing and manufacturing electronic equipment had established a range of components – developers and designers were only allowed to deviate from this range in rare and very justified cases.

I started working at VILATI after university in 1966. My first involvement was in the machine tool control development area: circuits designed from TERTA cubes (second generation circuits containing transistors as active elements in addition to discrete passive circuit elements –  cased in cubic form). Similar cube systems were used at the time in EMG and ELKISZ. These cube systems were the functional predecessors of the first ICs). In VILATI equipment there were soldered onto larger PCBs, which were rack-mounted using SOCAPEX indirect card connectors. At that time (second half of the 60s – first half of the 70s), the connectors had to be connected with soldered wires – followed by Wire-Wrap and then Back-panel technology.

 

The next decades of connectors as seen through the eyes of a development engineer in VILATI:

In-device connectors

• Pin and socket connectors.
  These were then almost exclusively 2.54mm pitch, mostly single or double row connectors, with stamped or turned contacts, for board to board applications
• IC sockets
  Initially only available in sizes to fit the size range of dual-in-line ICs, with turned or stamped contacts (AUGAT, RN,…). Later came PLCC and PGA sockets. The test sockets and EPROM burning sockets are of zero force (ZF) design according to their function (TEXTOOL, YAMAICHI,…).
• Ribbon cable (insulation displacement connectors – IDC) (DIN 41651).
  Were double row connectors with the same density as above for board to cable applications.
  Known manufacturers of the above at that time were BERG, Robinson Nugent (RN), 3M and KONTAKTA (DS 665B).
• Microcard connectors (in many cases, male card connectors.
  Direct edge card connectors (e.g. KONTAKTA, EDAC, SOURIOU) for connecting interchangeable modules, mostly on small slots, with a relatively small number of poles, directly into a larger PCB, possibly accommodating several modules.
• Sliding contact connectors for both cable to cable and cable to board (FASTON in AMP – this name has also been changed to faston).

Card connectors

• For users of EMG’s card systems (EDSxxxx), EMG has also produced its own connector: indirect ones for the EDS 4000 and direct for the others.
• Among the direct connectors for KONTAKTA/SOCAPEX DS15xx and 25xx, wire-wrap connectors were introduced.
• The DIN 41617 connectors (13/21/31 p.) are a family of indirect card connectors, usually for industrial applications (e.g. CONEC) – a similar connector family at KONTAKTA is the DS 127 (17/29/33/41 p.).
• The DIN 41612 (more recently DIN EN 60603) C series, also produced under SOCAPEX license at KONTAKTA (DS868), from the early 1980s.

Device connectors

• DIN 41622 connectors (8/12/20/30p.) called KONTAKTA knife-edge (DS 121).
  Our first personal encounter with them was in the autumn of 1967 – we connected elements of an exhibition automatics. Later, in the 1970s, during the installation of the visual passenger information system at Ferihegy Airport (now Terminal 1), I saw hundreds of these used in the flap-panel type boards manufactured by the Czech company PRAGOTRON. At that time, KONTAKTA was made with a metal housing and a mounting bracket, today’s manufacturers mostly sell them with a plastic housing. Robust and reliable construction.
  I knew of DIN 41618 (very similar connector body and contacts to 622, but different contact arrangement), but had not seen its application until recently. Now, in May 2022, it appeared on an FAG68a equipment (manufactured from 1968 by ASSMANN GmbH) on display at the Museum für Kommunikation in Berlin.
  I saw another historical curiosity there: even in the 1980s, the acoustic modem was still used as a device for data transmission on telephone lines.
• KONTAKTA’s connectors, called pin-contact (DS2112, DS 2113), were made with several numbers of poles; the 34p version was used in data transmission equipment. It was manufactured with a metal housing, positioning pin, self-locking springing fixing.
• Modular connectors (different sizes of mounting frames could accommodate different types of connector modules, with smaller or larger number of poles, smaller or larger load capacity, and correspondingly smaller or larger size) had to/could be imported from SOCAPEX, but later KONTAKTA produced a smaller version of this called articulated connector (DS 2167). With plastic housing, with a conductor pin and a central fixing screw.
• The D-sub connectors were used in 9, 15, and 25p versions, probably from CANNON, AMP, SOURIOU for signal/data transmission (e.g. RS485, early display connectors), for VGA display connectors were introduced the 15p HD D-subs.
• CENTRONICS 26p. connectors (similar in shape to D-sub, but using a different contact shape) were used for printer mounting.
• Although XLR connectors were used primarily for audio applications in 3 and 5p versions, they were also suitable for DC input to smaller devices. They had a robust, cylindrical metal housing with reliable individual locking and sized contacts. Their well-known manufacturers at the time were CANNON and NEUTRIK.
• IEC C13/C14 (Mkcf/Mkhf for CONTACT) connectors were used for single-phase supply.
• Where easy connectivity or disconnectivity was not a requirement for the installation of cables in the equipment, we used clamps to take the cable/wire. For smaller devices with a low number of ores, usually screw terminated terminals were used, for larger devices, almost C- or cap rail mounted terminals (e.g. WEIDMÜLLER) were used. These were screw, spring, solder or sliding contact terminals.
• After the traditional 4mm banana plugs, in the 70s we saw the appearance of 2mm banana plugs and sockets and their functional successors, much smaller than the crocodile clips.

 

At the other end – the trading years (1990 to the present)

The change of political regime in Hungary brought major changes to the economy – including the supply of electronic components.

Firstly, by ending the import monopoly of state-owned companies, any company that was able and brave enough could import the materials they needed. In Hungary, the manufacturers’ own sales offices (e.g. AMP, AMPHENOL, HIRSCHMANN….) and some Western European parts distributors’ offices (e.g. SPOERLE, SETRON, MICRODIS, DISTRELEC, COMPEX…, later TTI, MOUSER, ENDRICH…) appeared. Domestic companies specialized in the import of components (e.g. FDH, SMD TECHNOLOGY) have been set up, partly from the commercial and handling specialists of the former importing companies. Of the newly established trading companies, almost only those which, in addition to trading, were supported by a team of experts who advised customers on the choice of components were able to survive (e.g. COMPEX, FARMELCO, Q-TECH, HOELLER..).

Important players in today’s market are Hungarian companies with decades of experience and stockholding, operating in the small and wholesale sector (CHIP-CAD, LOMEX, KONTEL, INCOMP, RET) – most of them also with expertise to assist sales – and increasingly powerful trading companies (TME, SOS), which started in Eastern Europe and are fast suppliers from substantial stocks.

The market of components was also positively influenced by the emergence of LEMO (REDEL Ltd), which acquired KONTAKTA’s connector and switch factory – where, in addition to its own connector production, traditional KONTAKTA products were also manufactured for several years. The supply of components was little affected by factory acquisitions/openings which were primarily aimed at expanding the production capacity of the parent companies and making it more economical. The products manufactured there were not necessarily sold for the domestic shelves (AMP/TYCO, FCI, T@B).

The next big step was later our entry into the EU and the usage of the euro (alongside HUF). Both the absence of customs clearance and the possibility for businesses to have euro accounts with banks (so they could invoice in euros) made it easier for many to get parts. Later, Western European dealerships appeared with offices that only linked the domestic buyer to their parent company: the buyer buys the parts from the parent company (e.g. RUTRONIK).

 

In the 70s I started a durable relationship with an Austrian COMPEX GmbH, which I met at an electronics component exhibition (probably the first  one in Hungary). During my engineering years I often got advice on components selection (RN connectors, C&K switches, HAMLIN reed relays and PAPST fans) from the company manager Mr Tersek.

It is likely that I learned one of the – perhaps most important – elements of the dealer’s ethos (how to address the developers) at these meetings. Another memory, also from the 70s, which has positively influenced my outlook today: while making choices of connectors, I visited the then well-known AMP representative in this country, Mr Ervin Kovács. Of course, I received a proper answer to my question, but after a conversation of no more than half an hour, I was left with the feeling “how could I have lived so far without AMP”?
Both encounters suggested that a company representative (later a distributor) must have the material knowledge, construction sense, empathy and intelligence to turn the people who come to them into committed users.

Mr Tersek started expanding into Eastern Europe in 1990, setting up offices in Prague and Budapest – I worked in the latter from the beginning until 2000.

 

Connectors in COMPEX

We successfully sold ROBINSON NUGENT (RN) ribbon cable connectors, pin and socket connectors, dual-in-line, PGA and PLCC IC sockets to companies developing and manufacturing mainly telecom and medical equipment until 3M acquired RN in the late 1990s. 3M merged most of RN’s portfolio into its own. It became difficult to sell them as its European distribution network was completely reorganized.

At that time, DIN 41612 connectors played the main role in EPT production. We mainly sold C and R series to companies developing and manufacturing telecommunications equipment.

CLC: a company from the Far East. We sold their products of proven quality, but at a lower price than the above.

We started selling SAMTEC parts in my last years at COMPEX, but as the components came in through several hands, our success was limited.

 

Connectors in FARMELCO

In 2000, after leaving COMPEX, I started my own specialized trading business, taking 34 years of study and production practice: I founded FARMELCO Ltd. Professionally, I stayed in the field I had learned in COMPEX, electromechanical components, and we started to deal mainly with electronic connectors and switches. One of my first tasks was to find reliable suppliers, so as a connector manufacturer, the first contact I made was with SAMTEC. Within a short time I managed to establish direct contact and became a direct factory distributor.

Our first activity with SAMTEC was the application of simple pin and socket connectors in telecommunication instruments. This project is still running today – after several development steps of course. In the early 2000s, we found applications in several companies developing and manufacturing telecommunications equipment. These were initially designed to complement and improve traditional telephone exchanges – later, the spread of mobile telecommunications generated new application opportunities. In the automotive industry, we first encountered the mass production application of SAMTEC connectors. Medical, industrial electronics and later space technology applications expanded our range of applications.

Initially, we fulfilled other connector orders (D-Sub and DIN 41612) as resellers for various manufacturers (AMP/TYCO, FCI, MOLEX, AMPHENOL, ITT CANNON, COMM-CONN, L-COM, MAXCONN) and distributors, but in the autumn of 2000 – helping by EUCON – we became a distributor for FCT (German D-Sub manufacturer). FCT was until then only available through catalog dealers, but then, with FCT’s exceptional product range, the help of the Munich-based trading company EUCON (who handled almost all FCT’s foreign trade) and our expertise, we were able to introduce and distribute their connectors and accessories in many areas (telecommunications, medical and industrial electronics). Both the factory’s and EUCON’s large stocks, the ability to order even the smallest components in any quantity and short delivery times have played a major role in this success. Another key to success was the extremely sophisticated range of waterproof and mixed contact terminals, plastic and metal housings and other accessories (screws, spacers..).

Around 2008-2009, sensing the wind of electromobility, FCT developed its own version of the Type I and Type II connectors for AC charging. These were first introduced in Austria and Israel, after the necessary local testing, of course. Around 2010 we also sold cabled versions of these in Hungary, mainly to ELMŰ. After a few years of production, FCT sold the whole business to LEONI (a major cable assembly supplier to the automotive industry), who continued sales through their own already existing channels.

In 2013, MOLEX acquired FCT, and although it kept the brand name, it narrowed the product range, closed the factory warehouse and based the dealership on MOLEX practices. This made our job as distributors more difficult. Our German partner, EUCON, is trying to fill the gap with a new flexible supplier with high quality products similar to FCT’s: the Swiss DELTRON seems to be the right choice – but that’s another story…

We soon agreed on direct access to products with the German factory HARTING. In addition to the traditional industrial (Han) connectors, we have been successful with almost all versions of the DIN 41612 series and other electronic connectors for industrial and medical electronics as well as for the automotive industry.

In 2010, we were approached by the American company OMNETICS. During a visit of their development director, after 2-3 days of discussions and joint customer visits, we were offered the distribution of their company in Hungary. Although I had seen their connectors on the Internet and knew only roughly what they were about, I can’t say that I agreed to the offer with deep knowledge of their connectors. The past decade has proven that I was not wrong: the Hungarian brain research and space industry has proven to be a good field not only for selling connectors, but also for increasing our knowledge of applications.

In addition to successful sales of FCT, SAMTEC, OMNETICS and HARTING, we have had good sales of BULGIN IEC and Buccaneer connectors, CLIFF audio and power connectors, PANCON MAS-CON, SCOLMORE IEC-Lock connectors, FELLER application-specific power cords and PTR terminal blocks. We also sold a visible quantity of FFC connectors and SIM card connectors from several manufacturers (MOLEX, YAMAICHI, JST, SAMTEC).

In the automotive (railway and electrical) sector, we sold HARTING, AMPHENOL and SOURIOU components.

To put it mildly, we have had very modest successes with products from TOGHCON, OSSI and MT CONNECTIVITY.

We can say that the vast majority of our turnover was due not only to the quality of our reliable suppliers and our customer service, but also to our competence and our willingness to solve problems.