TABLE OF CONTENTS Electronic hardware has evolved from earlier electrical hardware, and it still includes many of the same products such as wire, cable, connectors, insulating blocks, and fasteners. However, over the years new kinds of hardware have been developed specifically for electronics, such as specialized connectors, sockets, and adapters, and this is an ongoing process. The transition from electron-tube to solid-state circuitry reduced the operating voltages of circuits and permitted lightweight circuit boards to be substituted for metal chassis with their rows of tube sockets and heavy transformers. This, in turn, largely eliminated point-to-point wiring and allowed smaller connectors, cases, and enclosures.
Demand continues for conventional electronic hardware such as insulated hookup wire, telephone and flexible cords, coaxial and flat-ribbon cable, and knobs that have been available for years. But the imposition of international safety standards and requirements for component interchangeability has had an impact on the design and manufacture of all electronic products for sale in the expanding global market. Meeting the demand for reliable, low-loss, and low-cost parts has led to an astonishing variety of interconnection products. This part of the electronics industry continues to meet ever-changing and more challenging requirements for interconnection products and sockets with ever-finer pitch and lower profiles.
The most popular forms of wire are hookup wire, wire-wrap or backplane wire, and twisted pairs. The discussion in this section will be limited to those categories. However, other types of wire include antenna wire, high-voltage leads, magnet wire, and test-probe wire.
