Patent Application
20090114418
n/a
n/a
The present invention generally relates to electrical wires and cables, and in particular, to an indicia-coded electrical cable having an easily removable outer jacket of a first characteristic indicia and an inner jacket of a second characteristic indicia.
Identifying types of electrical wires by color-coding or indicia-coding the outer cable jacket is common in the art. It is common practice for DC and/or AC power wiring to utilize wires with different color jackets to indicate positive or negative. Electrical cables are often color-coded for safety reasons and to help properly identify the conductive wires contained therein. This reduces confusion and prevents accidental misconnection or accidents during use. For example, the color white typically identifies a “neutral” wire, black and red wires are generally considered to be “hot” wires, while green or un-insulated wires are generally known as “grounding” wires. Further identifying indicia may be needed when it is desirable to identify high voltage (typically brown, orange and yellow) and low voltage (e.g. red and blue) wires.
However, providing distinctive indicia on a conductor's outer cable jacket for each type of wire has its drawbacks. In particular, companies are required to stock many wires, each having their own visually-distinctive cable identifier. In order to accommodate customer orders that require color or indicia-coded cable jackets, companies must stock large numbers of wires having every distinctive color or indicia. Since usage of positive or negative wires is not always equal, the resulting stock imbalances and excess waste can be detrimental to the financial health of a company. The result will lead to inventories overflowing with wires that may never be used, as well as storerooms that quickly run out of available space.
What is needed is a method and apparatus that can reduce the number of wires needed to be available to accommodate customer orders while still providing customers with indicia-coded wires.
The present invention advantageously provides a method and apparatus for allowing one wire type to be used for multiple designations by providing a wire with multiple insulation jackets, each of a different characteristic, whereby outer jackets can be removed thus revealing an inner jacket.
In accordance with an embodiment, a wire is provided and includes at least one conductive wire. A first insulation layer having a first characteristic circumferentially surrounds the at least one conductive wire. A second insulation layer having a second characteristic circumferentially surrounds and is separable from the first insulation layer. The first characteristic differs from the second characteristic.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method of making a wire is provided. A first insulating layer is positioned onto at least one conductive wire in which the first insulating layer has a first characteristic. A second insulating layer is positioned onto the first insulating layer. The second layer has a second characteristic different from the first characteristic. The second layer is separable from the first layer.
In accordance with still another embodiment, a wire having a convertible outer layer is provided in which the wire includes at least one conductive wire. A first insulation layer having a first color circumferentially surrounds the at least one conductive wire. A second insulation layer has a second color different from the first color. The second insulation layer has a longitudinal groove and circumferentially surrounds the first layer. The second insulation layer is separable from the first insulation layer.
A more complete understanding of the present invention, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
The present invention provides a wire and method to reduce the number of color-coded or indicia-coded wires in inventory while still providing the purchaser with the safety and convenience associated with coding wires by a distinctive color and/or indicia. A first, inner insulation jacket is positioned around, e.g., wrapped around, extruded onto, etc., one or more conductive wires. The inner insulation jacket includes a first characteristic. A second, outer insulation jacket is then positioned around, e.g., wrapped around, extruded onto, etc. the inner insulation jacket. The outer jacket includes a second characteristic that is different from the first characteristic. The characteristics may be a particular color or texture, or may include a pattern or distinctive markings. The outer jacket also includes a groove or other feature that enables the user to easily remove the outer jacket to reveal the inner jacket and its characteristic. Other means could be used to remove the outer jacket including a removable tear strip. A color-coded indicator strip can be removably affixed to the outer jacket to provide an indicator that corresponds to the characteristic of the inner jacket, which initially, is not visible until the outer jacket is removed.
Referring now to the drawing figures in which like reference designators refer to like elements, there is shown in
Inner jacket 10 and outer jacket 20 each include a different corresponding characteristic 40, 45 respectively. The characteristic could be one or a combination of any features that can be identified by any one of a user's senses. For example, a characteristic could be a particular color. Outer insulation jackets for electrical conductors are often color-coded to provide the user with a visual indication as to what purpose the wires contained within the jacket are to be used for. For example, in building applications, the color white typically identifies a “neutral” wire, while a black or a red jacket typically identifies “hot” wires. A green jacket may signify a “ground” wires. Further identifying colors are often used to identify high voltage (typically brown, orange and yellow) and low voltage (e.g. red and blue) wires.
As another example, a wire constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention can use a red outer jacket 20 and a black inner jacket 10 or vice versa. The colors red and black wires are prevalent in low voltage applications for power and ground connections, respectively. For example, such a low voltage application is the automotive audio/video industry for the power and ground connections to audio (and/or video) components.
Another type of characteristic is a visually-discernable design or pattern, as shown in
In an embodiment of the present invention, outer jacket 20 has a particular characteristic 45 that is different from the characteristic 40 of inner jacket 10. Further, outer jacket 20 is easily removable from its initial orientation around inner jacket 10. Thus, by providing an inner jacket 10 and an outer jacket 20 having differing characteristics 40, 45 and an outer jacket 20 that can be removed to reveal inner jacket 10 underneath, the present invention allows the user to essentially use the same conductors for different purposes by simply selecting one of the two insulation jackets.
Thus, in its simplest application, the convertible cable apparatus of the present invention allows the seller of electrical wire to stock only one type of cable, which can be used to identify two different types of wire usage, e.g., positive and negative wire usage. The cable of the present invention allows the user to quickly and easily designate a particular usage for the wire simply by leaving the outer jacket 20 in place, or by removing the outer jacket 20 and discarding it, leaving the inner jacket 10 and its characteristic 40, exposed.
The invention is not limited to only two concentric jackets. The invention allows an unlimited number of jackets to be placed around each other. In this fashion, the supplier of the cable need not stock excessive amounts of wires, each of a particular characteristic. Instead, the seller can sell conductor wire with, for example, multiple jacket color layers, thus allowing the purchaser of the wire to simply remove jacket layers until the proper color, i.e. the color corresponding to the wire's designation, is exposed.
The groove 25 illustrated in
For example, as shown in
In
The present invention is an apparatus and method that provides users of electrical wires with the ability to utilize the wires for a number of different wire designations by keeping or removing one or more outer insulation layers. Each layer has a distinctive characteristic, such as but not limited to color, texture, or design or a combination of two or more of these features. Instead of stocking wires, each having a particular jacket of a single characteristic, wire providers can now sell wires with dual or multiple-jackets thus significantly reducing their inventory.
On the customer side, a benefit of this arrangement is that users of wire for installations that typically result in unequal use of wire types, e.g., power and ground wires in automotive audio/video applications where power (red) wire use is typically greater than ground (black) wire used, can likewise stock a single supply of multi-purpose wire. Rather than try to guess the ratio of power (red) wire to ground (black) wire used over a period of time and stock wire in that ratio, users need not buy and stock separate wires, each having a jacket with a particular designation. Instead, users can purchase wires incorporating the present invention and simply peel off unwanted jacket layers to reveal the jacket corresponding to the wire's designated use. This advantage is particularly evident in areas where pre-packaged lengths of wire are offered for sale. For example, automotive audio/video system installation kits often include some predetermined length of wire. The present invention advantageously allows a single length of a single wire to be included and allow the user to determine how much wire to “convert” from one jacket type to another. The result in cost and inventory savings is clearly evident.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, which is limited only by the following claims.
