Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-23
2001-07-17
Kincaid, Kristine (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
C174S095000, C174S098000, C174S09900B, C138S116000, C254S13430R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06262371
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to conduits of the type that might be employed to carry cables, such as fiber optic cables, underground. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus for dividing such conduits into compartments so that multiple cables can readily be carried in the same conduit.
BACKGROUND ART
Modern communication technology utilizes cables, such as fiber optic cables, most often positioned in a conduit or casing which is buried underground. The installation of such an underground cabling network is a tedious and expensive project. First, usually a trench must be dug and then the conduit, typically of two to four inches in diameter and oftentimes extending for miles in length, is positioned in the trench. The communications cable is then installed in the conduit, either by pulling or pushing the same therethrough. The trench is then filled and the communications network is ready to be utilized, being housed in the conduit safe from the environment of water, gnawing animals and the like.
One of the problems with these systems is that a conduit, particularly of a small size, usually only carries one cable which is positioned therein in a random, sinuous path thereby essentially prohibiting another cable from being readily installed in the existing conduit. Thus, if at a later date the communications system needs to be expanded, as by the addition of another cable, the entire installation process needs to be repeated—at a redundant expense. Bigger conduits, such as those of four inches in diameter or larger, often have smaller conduits placed inside of them. But each of these conduits can only house one cable, and in addition, because of the wall thickness of these internal conduits, much space in the larger conduit is wasted.
One solution to the problem, which has been suggested, is to introduce a strip of material, usually formed of a polyethylene plastic, into the existing conduit which effectively pushes the existing cable to one side in the conduit thereby creating a second chamber in the conduit for the unobstructed installation of a second cable. However, while the polyethylene material is somewhat resilient, such a process is at times difficult in that most underground conduits include many bends and turns which even this resilient material has trouble navigating. As a result, a great deal of force must be utilized to move the strip of material past the existing cable, while at the same time taking care that the strip of material does not damage the existing cable.
As a possible solution to this problem, it has been suggested to form the strip of material with a plurality of notches to allow it to be more flexible and to twist as it is navigating the turns in the conduit. While the notched strip of material has been found to make installation easier, its manufacture is more costly and the possibility of damage to the existing cable is still prevalent.
Most fundamentally, there are other drawbacks to the conduit divider systems described above. First, a conduit having such dividers is only divided into two compartments thereby limiting the capacity of the conduit to two cables. While it might be feasible to further divide the already divided conduit by introducing other strips of material, not only would the installation process have to be repeated, but also that process would be more difficult as there would be less operating space to negotiate turns. Second, and importantly, these divider strips themselves take up valuable and potentially useable space in the conduit, space which could, with an effective divider system, be utilized for additional cables.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide such an effective conduit divider system which does not take up significant space in the conduit thereby permitting a larger number of cables to be carried by the conduit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, which utilizes a conduit insert made of a lightweight, thin, pliant, fabric material which can deform to take the shape of the conduit in which it is positioned and the shape of the cable that it may be housing, thereby minimizing unusable space in the conduit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, in which the insert can be configured to form a significant number of cable compartments.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, wherein a cable in a compartment is isolated from a cable in another compartment and is therefore protected when a new cable is being installed into a compartment in the conduit.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, in which the insert is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install into a conduit.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, which can readily be stored on rolls which can be used at the installation site.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a conduit divider system, as above, in which cables and/or pulling ropes or tapes may be preinstalled in the compartments.
These and other objects of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art forms, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements hereinafter described and claimed.
In general, an apparatus for dividing a longitudinally extending conduit into compartments includes a longitudinally extending insert. The insert is formed of at least two layers of a pliant material which are attached to each other along their lateral edges to form at least one compartment between the layers.
The present invention also includes a method of dividing a longitudinally extending conduit into compartments, which method includes the steps of forming at least two layers of a longitudinally extending, pliant material having lateral edges, attaching the lateral edges so as to form at least one compartment between the layers, and inserting the attached layers into the conduit.
A preferred exemplary conduit divider system incorporating the concepts of the present invention is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings without attempting to show all the various forms and modifications in which the invention might be embodied, the invention being measured by the appended claims and not by the details of the specification.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4399319 (1983-08-01), Zinn
patent: 4582093 (1986-04-01), Hubbard et al.
patent: 4729409 (1988-03-01), Paul
patent: 5069254 (1991-12-01), Vogelsang
patent: 5236016 (1993-08-01), Vogelsang
patent: 5399812 (1995-03-01), Woszczyna et al.
patent: 5442136 (1995-08-01), Allen
patent: 5587115 (1996-12-01), Allen
patent: 5922995 (1999-07-01), Allen
Kincaid Kristine
Marc Talon, Inc.
Nino Adolfo
Renner Kenner Greive Bobak Taylor & Weber
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