Seal for a joint or juncture – Seal between fixed parts or static contact against... – Contact seal for a pipe – conduit – or cable
Patent
1998-04-28
2000-09-12
Knight, Anthony
Seal for a joint or juncture
Seal between fixed parts or static contact against...
Contact seal for a pipe, conduit, or cable
277619, 277624, 277627, 277633, 277637, 277640, 138149, F16J 1512
Patent
active
061166146
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sealing member which can be spirally wrapped around an elongate article (e.g. a telecommunications or electrical cable or a pipe), for example to form a seal between the elongate article and a surrounding article (e.g. a cable splice closure casing or a duct). The invention also relates to a kit of parts for forming a cable splice closure, which includes one or more such sealing members.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
German patent no. 4135570 C1 describes a sealing band for wrapping around a cable passing through a duct, to create a seal between the cable and the duct, in which at least the inside of the band turned towards the cable has a roughened surface, preferably formed from projecting friction elements. The friction elements may be fine-grained corundum or emery, or they may be metal or plastic and anchored in the material of the sealing band.
International patent application WO 94/05935 (Raychem) discloses a sealing member comprising (a) a sealing material having a cone penetration between 80 and 400 (10.sup.-1 mm) and an ultimate elongation of at least 100%, and (b) an elastomeric retaining member for the sealing material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a sealing member which can be spirally wrapped around an elongate article, comprising: material and extending beside a longitudinal edge thereof; elongate article around which it is spirally wrapped.
The sealing member according to the invention has the advantage that because it has a series of gripping elements situated adjacent to the strip of sealing material and extending beside a longitudinal edge of the strip of sealing material, rather than being embedded or anchored in the sealing material (as is the case with the sealing band of DE 4135570 C1), the sealing effectiveness of the sealing material is normally not impaired by the gripping elements.
The sealing member preferably further comprises a second series of gripping elements situated adjacent to the strip of sealing material and extending beside a longitudinal edge thereof opposite the edge beside which the said series of gripping elements extends. This has the advantage of enabling the sealing member to grip an elongate article, around which it is spirally wrapped, on both axial sides of the spirally wrapped strip of sealing material, which can aid in the retention of the sealing material in place around the elongate article.
According to preferred embodiments of the invention, the sealing member further comprises a support strip to which the strip of sealing material and/or the or each series of gripping elements is/are attached. Advantageously, the support strip may comprise a single piece of polymeric, preferably elastomeric, material, e.g. natural or synthetic rubber. Additionally or alternatively, the support strip may comprise a plurality of fibres, strands, wires or the like, particularly in the form of a woven or a non-woven fabric, e.g. formed from polyamide, polyolefin, polyester, glass and/or metal.
The support strip may advantageously be resiliently stretchable. This can have the advantage of enabling a compressive force to be applied to the sealing material by the support strip once it has been stretched (i.e. such that it exerts an opposing retractive force).
The support strip (and preferably also the sealing material together with the support strip) may advantageously be pre-stretched in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction. Preferably such pre-stretching causes an opposing retractive (and therefore compressive) force to be applied to the sealing material. In use, a pre-stretched sealing member will normally attempt to contract, thereby applying compression to the sealing material. This is often advantageous, since some sealing materials, notably gels and mastics, usually perform best when they are put under compression. It is particularly preferred for the sealing member to be pre-stretched in the longitudinal direction, causing the sealing member to att
REFERENCES:
patent: 2616736 (1952-11-01), Smith
patent: 3703297 (1972-11-01), Gignac
patent: 5290073 (1994-03-01), Chen
patent: 5340123 (1994-08-01), Griffiths
Houdard Thierry
Wambeke Alain
Burkard Herbert G.
Knight Anthony
N.V. Raychem S.A.
Patel Vishal
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