Cicoil Invents the Ribbon Cable
Cicoil was founded in 1956 with an innovative new product for the early mainframe computers – the flat ribbon cable. The ribbon cable allowed companies like IBM to replace bulky, stiff round cables with sleek, flexible ribbon cables. Cicoil’s innovative engineers figured out how to use a new material, proprietary Flexx-Sil™, to ‘mold’ a flat cable containing multiple conductors of the same size. Named ribbon cables, variations of these flat cables are still used today in most computers, printers, and many electronic devices.
Cicoil’s ribbon cables helped America put a man on the moon, as the lightweight cables were integral to the first space walk in 1965, and the Lunar landing in 1969. In the decades that followed, Cicoil flat cables have performed on every US fighter jet, most commercial airplanes, and in many demanding missile and land-based applications
Flexx-Sil™ Material and Patented Extrusion Process
Servo-controlled automation systems need cables that are able to continuously flex for millions of cycles, are lightweight, and that fit in increasingly compact spaces. To meet these new needs, Cicoil developed a new extrusion process, able to make continuous lengths of flat cable with a unique, crystal clear material named Flexx-Sil™. Representing a quantum leap from Cicoil’s original molded flat cables, the new Flexx-Sil™ material and extrusion process created a wide variety of high performance, cost-effective flat cable solutions for the semiconductor, motion control and medical automation industries worldwide.
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Flat cables for electric powered aircraft
June 1, 2021 6:48pmOver the past half-century, Cicoil has supplied tens of thousands of compact cable assemblies for both commercial and military aircraft and offers reliable solutions for electric-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft (eVTOL, Air Taxis, UAV’s) as well. Cicoil’s lightweight Flexx-Sil jacketed power cables offer exceptional all-weather flexibility, mechanical durability and are ideal when ease of routing is required. […]
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Flat cable solutions for guided missile applications
May 21, 2021 4:10pmOver the decades, Cicoil has supplied thousands of compact cable assemblies for the most sophisticated guided missile systems on the planet, and today continues to build upon its legacy by continuing to offer innovative solutions for growing new technology applications. Its proprietary Flexx-Sil encased flat cables are designed to provide uninterrupted electrical and signal operation, […]
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Fungus-resistant Flexx-Sil flat cables for extreme environments
April 13, 2021 11:07pmIn 1998, Cicoil developed an ultra-pure cable jacketing material which is ideally suited for highly flexible and high-performance flat cable applications. This Cicoil-exclusive material named Flexx-Sil, is a unique, engineered polymer that includes the best aspects of silicone rubber, without the impurities and additives found in common silicone polymers. Cicoil’s Patented Flexx-Sil rubber offers a […]
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