Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-10
2001-12-11
Nguyen, Chau N. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Combined
Reexamination Certificate
active
06329601
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of housings for protecting electrical wire splices and the like from water incursion and for allowing ease of re-entry to the housing by a maintenance or repair worker.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, telephone service wires from residences must be spliced to a main telephone cable, and such splicing is typically done where the ends of a service wire are collected loosely within a service box. The service box is typically buried to ground level. Typical service boxes are not waterproof, the covers typically being in the manner of conventional manhole covers which may be easily removed and which are just held in place by their weight. Water and other environmental elements typically foul the bottom of the service box where the service wires are left. When it is required to repair or otherwise attend at the service box to splice service wires to the main cable, it is very time consuming for a worker to have to disentangle the service wires fouled in the bottom of the service box, to determine which residential service wire needs attending to (as often the identifying tags or labels become dislodged) and to attempt to make a watertight seal around the splice before replacing the spliced ends back into the bottom of the service box.
It is known in the prior art to provide closeable housings to enclose the spliced ends of the service wire and main telephone cable, to keep the water from getting into the housing, see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,374. It is known in the prior art to fill such housings with grease and embed the spliced ends into the grease. Because, the grease breaks down, and, if the splice needs to be attended to, not only is it messy but the grease has to be repacked otherwise water will typically get into the housing, these prior art devices are not generally re-used but rather cut-off and thrown away if a splice needs to be re-done. Further, they are generally only considered water resistant rather than waterproof.
Other attempts in the prior art at providing a waterproof seal around spliced ends include the use of butyl tape to wrap around the spliced end.
It is also known in the prior art to provide racks within large manholes, for example, for mounting wires and the like. However, in the prior art it is neither taught nor suggested to provide racks within service boxes for releasable mounting thereto of watertight splice housings.
Applicant's invention is another useful improvement over the plethora of prior art devices, including those of Weagant (U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,382), Ruddell (U.S. Pat. No. 3,209,069), Caulkins (U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,503) and Roney (U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,084), which have attempted a solution to the vexing problem of providing re-usable water tight housings for wire splices.
Weagant, although superficially similar to the present invention as hereinafter described, teaches sealing legs
22
to conductors
10
by means of commercially available heat shrinkable material, whether or not legs
22
are made of such material or whether the heat shrinkable material is dimensioned to slide over the leg so that a conductor passes through the heat shrink sleeve and leg. Specifically, Weagant states starting in column 2, line 1:
The hermetic seal between the legs and the conductor passing therethrough is accomplished by use of heat shrinkable material. In one embodiment of the invention, the legs which are integral with the one cup-shaped member are made of heat shrinkable material while in another embodiment a sleeve of heat shrinkable material is dimensioned to slide over the leg and a conductor passing therethrough so that upon application of heat the sleeve will shrink onto the leg and conductor and seal the two together.
Weagant further teaches typically using a sealant such as a semi-thermal plastic sealant coated on the inside surface of legs
22
. Upon application of heat the sealant softens and the legs shrink onto the conductors so that the sealant flows around the cable and partially out through the contracting ends of the legs forming a permanent mechanical seal (see column 3, lines 15-22). No other method of forming a seal is taught or suggested by Weagant.
For use within the housing, that is, not for use as a seal, Weagant teaches clamping the ends of conductors
10
using mating male and female conical friction clamp components
28
and
34
. The clamp components bind the conductors between corresponding notches
30
and
36
in the clamp components
28
and
34
. Cylindrical adapters
31
and
37
may be provided to improve the friction fit of the conductors being clamped in the notches. The adapters are located internally of the clamp components and thus do not contribute in any way to the sealing of the housing. The drawback of the Weagant method is that the sealing using heat shrinkable material requires the use of a heat source. To the best of Applicant's knowledge, the use of heat sources for example torches, is prohibited in the United States by many companies for use in confined areas such as man-holes or other underground boxes. However, the splicing which is the subject of the present invention is found in such confined areas. This prohibition is presumably is for safety reasons. Thus, the Weagant method of forming a seal is potentially removed from those methods available to a workman.
The disadvantage in having to use liquid sealing compounds is, as referred to by Ruddell et al. in column 3, line 11, among other things, that a user must wait while the sealing compound sets. A further disadvantage of sealing by welding is, among other things, the causing of noxious fumes and gases in an enclosed space such as in a service box which may pose a safety hazard. What is neither taught nor suggested, and what forms one of the distinguishing features of the present invention as further described below, is the use of the sliding mating of resilient sleeves to elongate tubular service wire receptacles so as to form a watertight seal around service wires without the need for liquid resin or welding or the use of heat shrinkable material requiring the use of a heat source. That is, the method of sealing of the present invention is a mechanical seal. The mechanical seal of the present invention, as it does not require a heat source, is neither taught nor suggested by the application of the Weagant teaching. Specifically, what is neither taught nor suggested, and what is an object of the present invention to provide is the use of resilient sleeves which are not heat shrinkable but rather slidably mountable to hollow cylindrical members such as hose barbs or tubes.
The mechanical sealing of the present invention is also neither taught nor suggested in the teaching of Ruddell et al. Rather than releasably sliding resilient sleeves so as to mount them to hollow cylindrical members as in the present invention, Ruddell et al disclose embedding a portion of the ends of cable to be joined in casting resin so as to secure the ends to the base section of the container in a water tight manner (column 1, lines 41-44). The base section of the container is closed at one end and apertures are made therein to permit the cables to be inserted into the container. The apertures are subsequently sealed by the casting resin (column 1, lines 60-64). Further, Ruddell et al teach that where one or several of the cables to be joined is polyethylene sheathed, the portion within the tube is preferably heated in an oxidizing flame (column 2, lines 70-72
6
).
Ruddell et al disclose structures superficially resembling hose barbs, namely, adapter sleeves or protrusions
30
seen in
FIGS. 4 and 5
. Ruddell et al teach that, rather than protrusions
30
being hose barbs:
The internal sizes of the individual cylindrical protrusions
30
are chosen to correspond to the most used standard cable diameters and, in order to provide as great a selection of cable diameters as possible, a number of sleeves are arranged one above the other to form stepped, projecting hollow cylinders, . . . when a
Edwards Antony C.
Nguyen Chau N.
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