TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Xircom's New Tractor Belt Improves Adapter

by Charles P. Koontz

I first saw Xircom Inc.'s new line of pocket LAN adapters at NetWorld in Boston, and I was immediately charmed by the new tractor belt--the most clever mechanical idea to turn up at NetWorld.

INSTALLATION
To install the adapter, you simply insert it into the parallel port on the PC and rotate the tractor belt. You can do it with your eyes shut and without a screwdriver.

The tractor belt looks like a tread from a Caterpillar tractor. It wraps completely around the adapter and has teeth on the inside that mesh with teeth on the two screws that fasten the adapter to the laptop. As you rotate the tractor belt, it turns both screws simultaneously to attach the adapter to the parallel port.

I wish all connectors worked like this. I get tired of looking for the small screwdriver and fumbling with it in dark corners behind a unit. On a desktop PC, I usually have to turn the whole box around to make room for the screwdriver.