Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Patent
1985-08-23
1987-02-03
Goldberg, Howard N.
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
30 901, 30 908, 81 944, 81 951, H01B 1320, B26B 2700
Patent
active
046400095
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a tool suitable for preparing the end portion of an elongate member having a core and at least three layers therearound, by stripping the layers back to expose the core and other layers from the end of the member. The invention further relates to a method for preparing the end portion of such a member. In particular, but not exclusively, the invention relates to a tool specifically intended to assist the preparation of the end portion of an electric co-axial cable to permit the electrical termination thereof, for example by a jointing technique or by the attachment thereto of a co-axial cable connector, and also relates to a method specifically intended to prepare such an electric co-axial cable, successively to expose the core and overlying layers, from the end of the member.
Though the tool and method of this invention may be used to strip layers from multi-layered elongate members other than electric co-axial cables, it will in the following be described with specific reference to electric co-axial cables. However, it will be appreciated that the tool and method does have other applications--for instance, the preparation of end portions of fibre optic cables--and the term "co-axial cable" as used herein should be construed accordingly.
A typical electric co-axial cable has three layers around a central conducting core--namely, an insulating first layer, a conducting second layer and an insulating third layer or outer sheath. Any of these layers may be formed as a group of two or more distinct sub-layers--for example, the conducting second layer may comprise a first sub-layer of copper foil wrapped around the insulating first layer and a second sub-layer of braided copper strands laid over the copper foil; and the insulating third layer may comprise two or more sub-layers in order to impart to the completed cable the required electrical and mechanical properties. The invention is of course applicable to such multi-layered cables, and a reference hereinafter to any particular layer of a cable is intended to apply equally to a group of layers, where such a group serves the function of a single layer and so should be removed as a single layer when preparing the end portion of the cable.
The stripping of the end portion of an electric co-axial cable to prepare it ready for termination presents considerably greater problems than those encountered in preparing a conventional single conductor wire. In a manufacturing concern, such problems may be overcome by appropriate automated machinery which is both complex and relatively expensive. However, for on-site installation of co-axial cables, or for relatively small scale users of such cables, the use of automated machinery is not appropriate and the preparation of an end portion of a co-axial cable can present certain problems. The usual manual method of preparing the end portion of a co-axial cable is by using a sharp hand-held knife--and with some experience, an operator may prepare the end portion of a co-axial cable with complete satisfaction. This action may be assisted with a wire stripper, perhaps especially adapted to the cable to be prepared. Nevertheless, the preparation of the cable still takes some considerable time, and quite often the conductors are accidentally "nicked" by the knife being used to remove the insulation. Also, the operator may inflict a serious wound on himself, by using an open sharp knife blade to perform the actions firstly of removing a relatively long length of outer insulation from the co-axial cable, and subsequently removing a shorter length of outer conductor and inner insulator.
It is a primary object of this invention to provide a tool suitable for preparing the end portion of an elongate multi-layer member and specifically an electric co-axial cable, which tool is very simple to use and yet is able reliably and consistently to cut selectively through either only an outer layer (e.g. the outer insulating layer of a co-axial cable) or more than just the outer layer (e.g. the outer insulating layer,
REFERENCES:
patent: 3486216 (1969-12-01), Cimolino
patent: 3614905 (1971-10-01), Bieganski
patent: 4130031 (1978-12-01), Wiener et al.
patent: 4366619 (1983-06-01), Bieganski
patent: 4526068 (1985-07-01), Undin et al.
Arbes Carl J.
Goldberg Howard N.
Weingram Edward R.
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