The present invention relates generally to a tool used with a device for environmentally sealing and securing the interconnection between electrical cables and electronic equipment.
Interconnection junctions, such as the interconnection between two cables or a cable and a piece of electronic equipment, may be subject to degradation from environmental factors such as moisture, vibration and repeated expansion and contraction from daily temperature changes. Outer scaling enclosures that surround or enclose an electrical interconnection have been used to protect such interconnections. Enclosures often apply rigid clamshell configurations that, once closed, may be difficult to open, especially when installed in exposed or remote locations, such as atop radio towers; gaskets or gel seals may be applied at the enclosure ends and/or along a sealing perimeter of the shell.
Elastic interconnection seals are also known. Elastic seals can be advantageous by virtue of being more easily installed over the typically uneven contours of an electrical interconnection. Exemplary configurations are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/646,952, filed Oct. 8, 2012; Ser. No. 13/938,475, filed Jul. 10, 2013; and Ser. No. 14/245,443, filed Apr. 4, 2014, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
As a first aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a tool for facilitating the installation of a sealing boot on a cable. The tool comprises: an arcuate main body having a tapered end, the main body having axially-disposed edges that define a gap therebetween, the main body defining a bore; and a gripping portion attached to an end of the main body opposite the tapered end, the gripping portion extending radially outwardly from the main body.
As a second aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a method of facilitating installation of a sealing boot on a cable. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a tool comprising an arcuate main body having a tapered end, the main body having axially-disposed edges that define a gap therebetween, the main body defining a bore and a gripping portion attached to an end of the main body opposite the tapered end, the gripping portion extending radially outwardly from the main body; (b) inserting the tapered end of the tool into an annular portion of a sealing boot; (c) routing a cable though the annular portion of the sealing boot and the bore in the main body of the tool; (d) adjusting the position of the sealing boot and the tool relative to the cable; and (e) removing the tool from the sealing boot such that the sealing boot remains in a desired position relative to the cable.
The present invention is described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments that are pictured and described herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. It will also be appreciated that the embodiments disclosed herein can be combined in any way and/or combination to provide many additional embodiments.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms that are used in this disclosure have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in this disclosure, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that when an element (e.g., a device, circuit, etc.) is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present.
Referring now to the figures, a sealing boot (designated broadly at 30) to protect an interconnection of coaxial or other electrical connectors is shown in
The boot 30 may be formed of any number of materials, but is typically formed of an elastomeric material, such as rubber, that can recover to its original shape after significant deformation. The boot 30 is typically formed as a unitary member, and in particular may be formed via injection molding.
One issue that can arise with a sealing boot 30 such as that shown in
Referring now to
The tool 100 can be formed of any material, but is typically formed of a thermoplastic material such as polystyrene or ABS. The tool 100 is typically formed as a monolithic component.
In operation, the tapered end 106 of the tool 100 is inserted into the cable section 42 of the boot 30, with the gripping portion 104 adjacent the end of the cable section 42 (
The boot 30 and tool 100 may be installed onto a cable that includes no connector (as is the case with the cable 10—see
In other embodiments, a cable 10′ may have a connector already attached to it along with a sealing boot installed (see
An additional embodiment of a tool is shown in
Those of skill in this art will appreciate that the tools 100, 200 may take different forms. For example, the main body 102 may include holes or slots that may facilitate flexure: as a specific example, the main body 102 may include longitudinal slots open at the tapered end 106, such that the main body 102 has multiple “fingers” that can flex upon insertion into the sealing boot. Also, the gripping portion 104 may define a larger or smaller arc than that shown, and/or may be circumferentially discontinuous. Other variations may also be possible.
Those skilled in this art will also appreciate that other varieties of sealing boots may also be installed with the tools described herein.
The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.
This application is a divisional of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/985,948 filed Dec. 31, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,587,102, which claims priority from and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/103,412, filed Jan. 14, 2015, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62103412 | Jan 2015 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 14985948 | Dec 2015 | US |
Child | 16812756 | US |