Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Single duct conduits
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-11
2002-03-05
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Single duct conduits
C177S065000, C177S151000, C016S002100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06353184
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to telecommunications equipment generally, and more specifically to adapters for connecting a cable to an enclosure, such as a building entrance protector.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
A building entrance protector (BEP) enclosure houses the physical interface between the nodes of a local telecommunications network and a telecommunications cable. For example, a BEP enclosure may house the interface hardware between the telephones of an office building and an exterior telephone cable having a number of twisted copper pairs that carry the voice signals for those telephones. A BEP enclosure is typically mounted in the basement or first floor of the office building. A BEP enclosure may also be used to house the interface hardware for systems based on fiber optical communications. Similarly, BEP enclosures may be used with telecommunications systems carrying signals other than just telephone voice signals.
A BEP enclosure provides two main functions: (1) it houses the hardware that provides connections between a cable and the individual nodes (e.g., telephones) of a local network; and (2) it houses the hardware that provides electrical isolation between the cable and the local network. Electrical isolation is intended to prevent any high voltages and/or high currents that may exist from time to time in the cable from reaching the local network. For example, a BEP enclosure will house isolation components designed to protect telephone users from lightning striking a telephone cable. Such electrical isolation is typically provided by 5-pin plug-in protectors that quickly connect signals to ground upon detection of sufficiently high voltages or currents. Building entrance protectors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,803,292 and 5,907,127, which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The end cap of a BEP may include one or more cable ports, which extend outwardly from the end cap. The cable port allows the cable to enter into the enclosure. If the housing is to be pressurized, then heat shrink tubing is commonly used. The heat shrink tubing secures the cable to the BEP housing, aligns the cable, and provides a seal to protect the fiber enclosure from the outdoor environments.
If the cable port size is too large relative to the cable size, the cable does not remain aligned straight within the port. A wobbly cable could result in damage to the exposed fibers within the enclosure. To alleviate this problem, different sized ports may be required to maintain a firm hold on the fiber cable, typically, small, medium and large. To fit an equal number of small, medium and large ports within the limited space of the enclosure end cap, the number of any port size would be reduced to one third of the total number of cable ports.
FIGS. 1 and 2
show a multi-size adapter
10
according to the prior art. Adapter
10
can accommodate a small, medium or large cable. Adapter
10
has three cable ports
11
,
13
and
15
, with respective cylindrical side walls,
16
,
20
and
24
. Cable ports
11
,
13
and
15
are sized to accommodate large, medium (not shown) and small (not shown) cables respectively. For each cable size, a different portion of adapter
10
is cut away to leave an appropriately sized cable port
11
,
13
or
15
for the cable being accommodated.
For example,
FIG. 3
shows an adapter that has been cut between the ledge
17
and the flat surface
18
to accommodate a large cable
28
. The portion of the adapter
10
to the left of ledge
17
in
FIG. 2
(including side walls
20
and
24
, and flat surfaces
22
and
26
) is cut away and discarded. The remaining portion of adapter
10
includes a mounting flange
12
and a cable port
11
having side wall
16
with a size that is matched to the cable
28
and the heat shrink tubing
30
. The adapter
10
is mounted to the end cap of a BEP
50
using fasteners
14
. The heat shrink tubing
30
is placed over the cable port
11
. The cable
28
is fit through the heat shrink tubing
30
and the cable port
11
of adapter
10
. The tubing
30
is heated, typically using a heat gun, and the tubing shrinks to form a sealed joint around the cable port
11
and the cable
28
.
As best seen in
FIG. 2
, the adapter
10
has a length that is three times the length of an adaptor (not shown) that is designed to accommodate only a single cable size. This may be a disadvantage if, for example, it is desired to install more than one BEP
50
in a small space, or if it is desired to install a BEP near the floor. In either case, the length of the adapter
10
may exceed the available space. A more compact adapter is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an adapter for securing a cable to a housing. The adapter has a flange that is attachable to the housing. The adapter has a plurality of concentric cylindrical side walls, at least one of which is connected to the flange. Each side wall at least partially overlies an adjacent one of the plurality of side walls. The adapter has a plurality of annular surfaces. Each side wall is connected to an adjacent side wall by one of the plurality of annular surfaces.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2383018 (1949-08-01), Shere
patent: 1307295 (1961-09-01), FRX
patent: 3515798 (1970-06-01), Sievert
patent: 3866950 (1975-02-01), Shock et al.
patent: 4211423 (1980-07-01), Resech
patent: 4871599 (1989-10-01), Knorr
patent: 4913522 (1990-04-01), Nolf et al.
patent: 5109756 (1992-05-01), Barboza et al.
patent: 5155794 (1992-10-01), Nolf et al.
patent: 5249253 (1993-09-01), Franckx et al.
patent: 5602954 (1997-02-01), Nolf et al.
patent: 5670223 (1997-09-01), Sadlo et al.
patent: 5803292 (1998-09-01), Daoud
patent: 5907127 (1999-05-01), Daoud
patent: 5988698 (1999-11-01), Bravo et al.
Avaya Technology Corp.
Duane Morris & Heckscher LLP
Estrada Angel R.
Reichard Dean A.
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