EMI/RFI shield assembly cover removal tool

Claim 1

In combination: a circuit board; an EMI/RFI shield base secured to said circuit board, said shield base being a metallic rectilinear box having an open side and being secured to said circuit board with said open side adjacent said circuit board; an EMI/RFI shield cover, said shield cover being a metallic rectilinear box having an open side and adapted to fit snugly around said shield base with said shield cover open side facing said circuit board and wherein the shield cover lateral side distal edges which define said shield cover open side are spaced a predetermined distance from said circuit board; and a tool for removing the shield cover from the shield base, the tool comprising: first and second body members each having a front face and a mating face; at least one guide member cooperating with said first and second body members to orient said first and second body members with respect to each other so that the mating faces face each other and to allow said first and second body members to move toward and away from each other along a line of movement transverse to the mating faces; and first and second gripper members each secured to a respective one of said first and second body members and spaced from the respective mating face, each of said gripper members extending in a plane forwardly beyond the respective body member front face to a shoulder formed on said each gripper member, each said shoulder extending toward the shoulder of the other gripper member and each said shoulder being spaced from the respective body member front face by a distance at least as great as each shield cover lateral side dimension orthogonal to its distal edge, and wherein the distance from each said shoulder to the distal end of the respective gripper member is less than the predetermined distance separating the shield cover lateral side distal edges from the circuit board, the planes of said first and second gripper members being parallel to each other with the shoulders of said first and second gripper members being aligned along a line parallel to said line of movement; wherein said first and second body members of said tool are dimensioned so that said first and second body members can be separated sufficiently to allow said first and second gripper members to be moved along opposed lateral sides of said shield cover toward said circuit board until said shoulders pass said lateral side distal edges, and then said first and second body members are movable toward each other until said shoulders are separated by a distance less than the distance between said opposed lateral sides; whereby subsequent movement of said tool away from said circuit board causes said shoulders to engage said lateral side distal edges to remove said shield cover from said shield base.