On 27 Aug 2012 02:44:25 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2012-08-26, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...


BTW There is a rather rare quick disconnect where identical
terminals are crimped on each of two wires, the two are crossed,
and then brought out to straight, causing a J-hook on each end
to clasp the flat blade on the other end. Slide some Vinyl
sleeving over the joined pair. I call them "handshake splices"
but I don't know the official name. I've only seen them made by
AMP.


Enjoy,
DoN.

These are becoming the standard low voltage DC connectors for winches,
ham radio and model airplane battery packs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Powerpole

http://tinyurl.com/92bhlve

Those are nice things -- but not what I was talking about.

It is not sure whether they are still made. The blades look
somewhat like this:
__
(___ End view

__
:__:__,------{=====} (top view with the 'U' shown in the upper one
at the left hand end here. The crimp barrel
is the "{=====}" part and should be shown
larger than it is.
_
/ |___ ______
|_|___:______{=====}

The hook at the end grips both sides of the opposite blade. The
place marked ',' in the second drawing and ':' in the third is
an offeset bend to bring the blade in line with the middel of
the hook.

The only size that I have seen was with the red crimp barrel
(22-16 ga). And the only place I have seen them used in a commercial
product was in the Ampex rack-mount 10-1/2" reel to reel tape decks, for
connecting the brake solenoids and the pinch roller solenoid to the rest
of the wiring.

Aha! I *do* still have a pair (and would love to find more).
Check out this for images of mine -- *much* better than my attempts at
ASCII graphics above.

http://www.d-and-d.com/misc/AMP-handshake/index.html

They normally have a vinyl sleev slipped over them after mating.

Gawd, I haven't seen those since the early '70s, Don! Ancient
historical items, eh? I called 'em knife-switch connectors.

--
The human brain is unique in that it is the only container of which
it can be said that the more you put into it, the more it will hold.
-- Glenn Doman