Patent attributes
A micro-browser has pair of rods each rod entering a corresponding bore in a sleeve that retains them, and that may itself be carried by a grip shaped to be rotated between a thumb and a finger. The edge of a small circuit board is soldered at the distal end of the rod. One of the rods is allowed to rotate within its bore in the sleeve, while the other is held stationary by a notch in the sleeve. The rotatable rod has a captive spring that resists the force of probe contact. Each board carries a coupling network connected to a short sharp probe tip bent downward away from the plane of its board, allowing the distance between the probe tips to be a function of the amount of rotation. The other end of each coupling network is coupled to a short length of a respective 50 Ω coaxial cable that passes through an axial slot in the grip to enter an amplifier pod that drives a main cable leading to test equipment. The rods may be held within the bores by friction created by slight bends in the rods. The circuit boards each include shields connected together at a location that is as close as possible to the probe tips by arranging that the rods touch each other near the probe tips. If the rods are parallel, then there is a slight bend in the non-rotating rod at the location where it passes the non-probe-carrying edge of the circuit board, such that it touches the corresponding portion of the rotatable rod. If the rods are both straight, then the axes of the rods are coplanar but convergent.
