I have an LCD that I removed from a small digital thermometer. The strange thing is it has no connectors. I can see what looks like connectors faintly in the glass and it has a rubber banded strip with a grey strip sandwhiched between two pink ones (a bit like a long liquorice allsort ?).
It appeared that this made some sort of connection with the PCB but in my haste to dismantle I did not pay any attention to the detail of how.
There are no markings or model numbers on the display. Has anyone seen anything like this before and can some one tell me if it is still usable in any way.
It may have used elastomeric connections. This is a small amount of metal embedded in an elastomer (rubber). That sandwich is attached to the PCB during manufacturing, making the connection.
These are often used in one-time applications (like manufacturing) as a cheap alternative to actual connectors.
The rubber strip is actually a conductive piece - the alternating bands you see are conductive parts separated by non-conducting parts (I can't remember what the technical term for this strip is). These contact the contacts on the glass that you see with the PCB.
In theory, you might be able to use electrically conductive epoxy (small drops) to glue thin wires to the glass; the epoxy is kinda expensive for the amount you get (generally contains silver). The wire you use would probably have to be very thin magnet wire.
The LCD, though, requires an AC voltage signal to drive it; you can't just apply a DC signal to it an expect it to work (indeed, doing this will actually ruin it - the liquid crystals expect a varying voltage). You would need an LCD driver (like a 7-segment LCD driver IC) or something similar to get it to work.
All in all - probably way more effort and money than it is worth, ultimately.
The parts are reffered to as "Zebra" strips in the industry. As cr0sh said, there are multiple small conductive "tracks" embedded between non conductive material embedded in the grey part of the strip when you look at it edge on. These conductors are sized so that there are multiple connecting each pad on the PCB to the LCD but not able to span the spacing between the PCB pads or the LCD conductors. The best way to interface it is by using the PCB from the original product and connecting to the pads then remounting the LCD on the PCB. The original driver chip will likely be either a standard chip on that PCB or a "chip-on-board" under a blob of black epoxy on the PCB. The LCD alone will not have a driver chip on it. Most LCDs have the same zebra strip connectors between the glass of the LCD and the interface PCB, usually under the metal or plastic bezel. There are a very few LCDs on the market which have wires embedded into the glass for interfacing.