Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Assembling or joining
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-23
2001-03-13
Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Assembling or joining
C029S754000, C029S235000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199258
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wire mesh grips for strain relief protection of flexible cables, and more particularly, is concerned with a fixture and method for compressing a wire mesh grip to facilitate installation of a flexible cable therethrough.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, wire mesh grips that provide solutions for cable management problems, such as strain relief protection and support of flexible cables (the term “cable” is used in a generic sense to also include conduits, cords, hoses and the like), have been manufactured and marketed by Hubbell Incorporated of Orange, Conn., the assignee of the subject application. Like a woven bamboo finger-trap toy, the wire mesh grip is deceptively simple in design. Nonetheless, the wire mesh grip is extremely effective for supporting and pulling a flexible cable in manner which avoids, or at least minimizes, damage thereto, such as would occur with pulling a cable out from a connection, and thereby extends the life of the cable. Wire mesh grips are widely used in diverse industrial and commercial applications wherever cables go in, out, through and around a wide variety of equipment.
Because of its tubular shape and endless weave construction, the wire mesh grip concurrently increases in axial length and decreases in diameter as it is moved in the axial direction from a compressed condition to an expanded condition. With the wire mesh grip normally disposed in its expanded condition surrounding and gripping a cable, the application of a pulling force on the cable that will tend to pull the cable away from its connection to the equipment will also pull on and tend to further expand the wire mesh grip in the axial direction away from a fixed anchor location. Such expansion of the wire mesh grip will further decrease its diameter and thereby increase its grip on the cable so as to resist the pull on the cable and prevent damage to its connection with the equipment.
To install the wire mesh grip about a cable, the diameter of the wire mesh grip first must be increased to a size greater than that of the cable so as to allow insertion of the cable through the grip. The diameter of the wire mesh grip is increased by decreasing its axial length which, in turn, is brought about by compressing the opposite ends of the wire mesh grip in the axial direction toward one another. Up to the present time, such compressing of the wire mesh grip has been carried out manually by a worker. To compress the grip, the worker has had to push the opposite ends of the grip toward one another against the grip's natural tendency to spring back and expand or elongate to a given greater length and to a diameter smaller than the cable to which it is designed to be applied. It is difficult and tiresome for a worker to so compress the grip and then to hold it in the compressed non-gripping condition as a cable is inserted through it. In some instances, it takes two workers to hold the grip in the compressed non-gripping condition and install the cable through the compressed grip.
Consequently, a need still exists for improvements in the ability of workers to handle wire mesh grips so as to thereby improve the productivity of workers in installing wire mesh grips over cables.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a wire mesh grip installation fixture and method designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs. The fixture and method of the present invention provides a means and technique for effortless and prolonged retention of a wire mesh grip in a compressed non-gripping condition so as to facilitate the installation of the compressed grip over a cable and the relocational movement of the grip relative to the cable.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a fixture for installing a flexible wire mesh grip over an elongated cable. The flexible wire mesh grip is per se of a conventional type which includes an elongated tubular body terminating in a pair of opposite open ends and defining an elongated passageway extending between the opposite open ends through which to receive the cable and an annular collar secured to one of the opposite open ends of the tubular body. The tubular body has a multi-stranded interwoven construction permitting the tubular body to retract and extend in length and correspondingly enlarge and contract in circumference and thereby respectively increase and decrease in diameter by moving the opposite ends of the tubular body toward and away from one another and thereby convert the tubular body between an expanded gripping condition and compressed non-gripping condition with respect to the cable.
The installing fixture of the present invention comprises a base having a pair of spaced opposite end portions and an internal cavity extending longitudinally therebetween. The spaced opposite end portions define respective first and second passages opening into the internal cavity. The internal cavity has a cross-sectional size larger than that of the annular collar and the tubular body of the grip in the compressed non-gripping condition to accommodate the presence of the annular collar and the tubular body within the internal cavity in the compressed non-gripping condition. Also, the internal cavity and first and second passages have respective cross-sectional sizes larger than that of the cable to permit insertion of the cable through the internal cavity and first and second passages. In addition, the cross-sectional size of at least one of the first and second passages is smaller than that of the internal cavity and of the annular collar and the tubular body in the compressed non-gripping condition so as to define an interior shoulder on the base that at least partially surrounds the one passage and against which the annular collar secured on the one opposite end of the tubular body can be placed to facilitate moving of the other opposite open end of the tubular body toward the annular collar and one open end thereof to convert the tubular body from the expanded gripping condition to the compressed non-gripping condition and thereby facilitate movement of the cable through the passageway of the tubular body and thus relative to the grip.
More particularly, in a first embodiment, the base is generally rectangular and, in addition to the pair of spaced opposite end portions, includes spaced opposite top and bottom portions and a pair of spaced opposite side portions. The spaced opposite end portions extend between the top and bottom portions and opposite side portions and respectively defining the first and second passages to the internal cavity. Also, the top portion defines a top opening in the base which leads into the internal cavity. Additionally, in the first embodiment the fixture further comprises a cover pivotally mounted to the base to undergo movement between adjacent and remote positions relative to the top opening therein so as to respectively close and open the top opening to the internal cavity. Further, the cross-sectional size of the other of the first and second passages of the base can be larger than that of the tubular body in the expanded gripping condition and smaller than that of the tubular body in the compressed non-gripping condition and of the internal cavity of the base so as to define an opposite interior shoulder on the base that at least partially surrounds the other of the first and second passages to permit insertion of the tubular body in the expanded gripping condition through the other of the first and second passages while preventing removal of the tubular body in the compressed non-gripping condition through the other of the first and second passages.
In a second embodiment, the base is a continuous annular side wall defining the internal cavity. The continuous side wall has the opposite end portions of the base respectively defining the first and second passages to the internal cavity. Also, in the second embodiment the cover is pivotally mounted to the other of the opposite end portions of the an
'Hubbell Incorporated
Cozart Jermie E.
Hughes S. Thomas
Presson Jerry M.
Swartz Michael R.
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