Electricity: conductors and insulators – Insulators – Through wall or plate
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-17
2001-07-10
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Insulators
Through wall or plate
C174S068300, C174S068300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259033
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a holding device for sealed cable insertion through enclosure walls, having a holding plate with several cable lead-through openings, which can be mounted on the enclosure wall also having cable lead-through openings, and an elastic sealing plate, which in the mounted state is located between the holding plate and the enclosure wall, having pre-manufactured cable perforation points in true alignment with the cable lead-through openings.
In such a holding device, which is known for example from CH 688 012, a flexible plate is placed between a retainer plate and a counter plate, whereby these three plates are secured on a housing wall by means of a flange. After sealed insertion of the cable, it is pulled back slightly, so that the area of the flexible plate surrounding the cable is pulled into the retainer plate lead-through opening having a smaller diameter, where it gets jammed. This provides the desired cable strain relief and at the same time sealing off of the cable lead-through.
The disadvantage of the known holding device is, on the one hand, that the strain relief is only effective for a very specific cable cross-section, so that cables with different cross-sections necessitate a very complicated arrangement including an exact adjustment of the openings with the respective cable cross-sections. Once such a holding device is installed only the originally intended cables can be used. A further disadvantage is that after the cable gets jammed, it cannot be pulled out backwards; for example, if the wrong cable was inserted accidentally. Finally, the known holding device is complicated and awkward to manufacture and mount, due to the high number of required plates, which also has cost disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a simpler holding device of the aforementioned type, where in each opening cables with different cross-sections can be used and secured with a tight seal.
In the invention, the means for achieving the object of the invention is the holding plate having flexible holding tabs extending sideways into the cable lead-through openings, where each of the tabs is deflected toward the enclosure wall if a cable is led through the appropriate cable opening and, if tensile strain is placed upon the cable, digs into the cable in the opposite direction, whereby the deflection toward the wall remains.
The flexible holding tabs ensure good strain relief, and the deflection to the enclosure wall is different for different cable cross-sections; however, their digging into the cable upon tensile strain is guaranteed in any event. Since the deflection toward the wall remains, basically the holding tabs form slanted support posts that counter the strain relief. A further advantage of the flexible holding tabs is that they can be unfastened in a simple manner, so that the respective cable can be pulled back and out of the respective cable opening easily. Since unfastening can be done from the front side, it is not necessary to dismount the holding device. Due to the holding tabs of the invention, cables with different cross sectional shapes can be secured effectively. Due to the separation of sealing and strain relief, no forces act upon the sealing plate, so that good sealing is given even under tensile strain. Manufacture and installation can be done fast and cost-efficiently, since the holding device consists basically of two components only, namely the holding plate and the sealing plate. The holding plate can have any shape or thickness.
Especially good strain relief and especially secure holding of the cable is ensured in that the free ends of the holding tabs are shaped like blades or are at least pointed. In a particularly simple, cost efficient embodiment of the holding plates the holding tabs are integrally connected with the plate and are formed by two slits in the holding plate. In order to achieve the required springy elasticity, the holding tabs should be thinner than the basically rigid holding plate. Preferably, the holding tabs are attached to the holding plate on that side of the holding plate that points away from the sealing plate, so that the deflection into the respective cable lead-through openings is possible without impairment of the sealing plate.
The cable penetration points are advantageously shaped like blind holes to enable good lead-in of the respective cable and a relatively easy break-through of the bottom area. This bottom area then snuggly closes around the cable.
In an especially simple constructive embodiment, each opening is assigned one holding tab. This offers the advantageous opportunity of arranging several holding tabs parallel next to each other, with the free ends alternately pointing in opposite directions and ending in cable openings that are arranged in two parallel rows. This ensures an especially compact arrangement of the cable openings. For attachment purposes the holding plate and the sealing plate have preferably aligned mount holes, so that the holding plate can be secured to the enclosure wall by means of screws, thereby tightly squeezing the sealing plate between them.
A particularly cost-efficient solution is to make the flexible sealing plate part of a flexible tape that may be cut into sections, so that holding plates of any length can be easily equipped with a suitable sealing plate by cutting this tape.
In order to connect several holding plates in a simple manner in an exact configuration, each holding plate has on its opposed boundary lines notched elements for intermeshed placement of plates next to each other. Here, it is preferable that the opposed boundary lines be designed in such a manner that the holding plates placed next to each other yield a constant spacing of the cable openings in the longitudinal direction. This enables the use of cut partial pieces of a flexible tape as sealing plates.
The holding plate can have cable openings with different diameters and/or different shapes, to hold very different cables. A particularly good sealing effect can be achieved by using neoprene as the sealing plate material. For easy loosening or unfastening of the holding tabs, a pen-like tool is preferable, with which the pertinent holding tab is simply pushed inward.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4605816 (1986-08-01), Jorgensen et al.
patent: 4970350 (1990-11-01), Harrington
patent: 6177633 (1999-06-01), Gretz
Adams, Schwartz & Evans P.A.
Friedrich Lutze Elektro GmbH
Nguyen Hung
Reichard Dean A.
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