Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Single duct conduits
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-03
2002-08-20
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Single duct conduits
C174S0720TR, C174S101000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06437243
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to wireway systems and more particularly to such a system including a channel-shaped duct and a cover having a plurality of flexible coextruded hinges and latching elements which is reenterable following installation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wireway systems including channel-shaped ducts having upstanding fingers constituting slotted sidewalls have come into prominent general use in recent years because of their convenience in channeling, selectively routing and retaining the various wires of a wire bundle interconnecting the components of an electrical system. These ducts typically have a cover for retaining the wires in the duct after completion of the wiring.
The problem encountered with the use of such ducts and semi-permanent covers is that after a channeling and routing installation has been completed, making any changes thereto requires the entire cover member be completely disconnected and removed from the duct and set side in order for any work to begin. Of course, after any changes have been made, the large cover must be reinstalled on the duct, which is a rather difficult and laborious task. As the above slotted duct-type of wire routing system has become the preferred system for the electrical, communication and data transmission industries over the years, and more electrical, communication, and data products have been introduced into the marketplace, the frequency with which the changes to channeling or routing occurs has increased considerably, often daily, and sometimes hourly. Thus, previous designs which require the entire semi-permanent cover member to be completely removed from the duct section, use inflexible one-piece duct systems or have a separate cover with a flexible hinge which is permanently secured to the base and designed to mimic an inflexible one-piece duct have proven to be cumbersome, time consuming, prone to failure, expensive to manufacture or replace, and a general nuisance to installers.
One such prior art design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,459 to Caveney, commonly assigned to Panduit Corp., which discloses a slotted duct having a basically permanently installed cover which encloses the duct by either snap-fitting or sliding the cover into engagement with the retaining flange on the distal ends of the duct fingers. The cover must be completely removed in order for an installer to make any changes to the routing of any wires contained therein and likewise reinstalled after changes have been made. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,459 is incorporated herein by reference.
Another example of prior art duct which attempted to solve the above cumbersome design integrally extruded the channel and channel cover. The two members are interconnected by a thin hinge section, which also forms part of the integral extrusion and is fabricated from the same relatively rigid plastic material forming the associated channel and cover. The hinge is made “thin” to obtain the desired flexibility. This system performs acceptably as long as repeated access to the duct channel is not required such as, when additional cables or cable rewiring is attempted. Hinges extruded from the same material as that of the channel and cover are inherently brittle and are easily fatigued after relatively few closure cycles. Thus, this design is substandard and inadequate in view of the frequency with which wire routing changes are currently observed.
A more recent prior art design essentially permanently combines a conventional U-shaped solid wall or non-slotted duct channel with a cover member having a flexible hinge, in order to simulate the previous one-piece duct arrangement. The advantages of multiple access are afforded by a dual-durometer extrusion on the permanently attached cover, which largely eliminates the breakage problems of the prior art. However, this design also has inherent flaws and shortcomings, most notably, the difficult, expensive, and complex mold shape, the inability to quickly remove either side of the cover, because of the permanent installation and the lack of installation flexibility, two-way opening, or convenience for technicians caused by a cover which only opens in one direction. This design will in fact restrict the capabilities of slotted duct, when installed as taught by Santucci et al., which requires the pivotable cover to be permanently attached to one side of the duct. Slotted duct as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,459 to Caveney above is designed to have wires entering and exiting from both sides of the duct. The installation and rerouting flexibility afforded by this slotted design makes this type of duct so popular. Access to the slots disposed on each side of the duct is absolutely required for the highest level of performance of the duct. Santucci et al. cannot pivot in both directions in order to expose the slots on both sides for manipulation, channeling or routing of the wires contained therein. Consequently, this prior art design is not capable of being incorporated into the slotted duct assembly, since one is incompatible with the design, purpose, and operation of the other.
Therefore, in the design of accessible reenterable wireway system, a simple, partially or completely removable, non-permanent, convenient and flexible design is desired and improvement in the art of wireway systems is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an accessible, reenterable wireway system in which the combination of a bi-hinged cover and slotted duct channel function as a two-piece wireway system permitting the installer to repeatedly open and close the cover from either side, as required to facilitate the replacement or rerouting of wires and cables therein, while still allowing the cover to be removed from the duct channel, which is desirable.
It is a further object that the present wireway system, when installed on a slotted duct channel, facilitate substantially unlimited access to the duct from either direction, in which the cover may be opened and reclosed on either side numerous times, thereby permitting reconfiguration of the wiring and cables therein.
It is a still further object that the bi-hinged arrangement be provided within the cover assembly, and further that such hinges be integrally formed with the cover such that they will not fatigue or otherwise break upon multiple opening and closing cycles of the wireway system.
It is a still further object that the cover be provided with multiple discrete latches disposed on each side of the cover which releasably engage the slot between adjacent duct fingers.
It is a still further object that the duct cover be integrally molded to be biased in a “remain open” position, whereby the cover when attached to the duct channel will be biased to remain open until closed and latched on an opposite side by the installer.
Briefly, the reenterable wireway system of the present invention includes a channel-shaped slotted duct, an integrally co-extruded U-shaped cover and discrete latches. The duct has an elongate base and two substantially parallel duct walls extending generally perpendicularly from the base with each of the walls disposed adjacent respective longitudinal edges thereof. The duct walls include at least a pair of adjacent duct fingers which define a slot permitting selective routing of wires of the bundle. The cover has an elongate planar center element with a plurality of hinges disposed adjacent respective longitudinal edges thereof, and a plurality of corner elements disposed adjacent respective longitudinal edges of each hinge. The corner elements have a first component co-planar with the central element, and a second component depending normal to the first component disposed adjacent a longitudinal edge of the first component. The orientation of the first and second components may be changed when the cover is molded to be biased in a “remain open” position. A plurality of discrete latches are disposed at spaced locations and secured on each respective second component havin
VanderVelde Charles F.
Wiencek Donald C.
Clancy Christopher S.
McCann Robert A.
Panduit Corp.
Reichard Dean A.
Saltzman Jay A.
LandOfFree
Wireway system having a pivotable cover does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Wireway system having a pivotable cover, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Wireway system having a pivotable cover will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2890041