US2031236A

US2031236A - Cable clamp

Info

Publication number: US2031236A
Application number: US30989A
Authority: US
Inventors: John J Taylor
Original assignee: Ohio Brass Co
Current assignee: Ohio Brass Co
Priority date: 1935-07-12
Filing date: 1935-07-12
Publication date: 1936-02-18
Anticipated expiration: 1953-02-18

Description

J. J. TAYLOR I CABLE CLAMP Feb. 38,1936,

Filed July 12, 1955 INVENTOR Jo/m 12/01:

ATTORN Y Patented Feb. 18, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE CABLE CLAMP Application July 12, 1935, Serial No. 30,989

12 Claims. (01. 24-135) This invention relates to clamps for holding electrical conductors or other flexible strands, and has for one of its objects the provision of a conductor clamp which 'shall be light and strong and which shall effectively grip the conductor so as to utilize the maximum strength of the conduct'or.

A further object of the invention is to provide a conductor clamp which is adaptable to conductors of Various sizes and'which will effectively hold the different sized conductors.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clamp which is convenient to install, economical to manufacture and efl'icient in operation.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description. 7

The invention is exemplified by the combination and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawing and described in the following specification, and it is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a conductor clamp embodying one form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view looking in the direction of the arrows 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view looking in the direction of the arrows 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line l4 of Fig. 3.

The numeral Ill designates generally the main body of the clamp having a curved conductor seat I I which is V-shaped in cross section and which gradually increases in curvature from the point of entrance of the taut end of the cable at I2 to the exit point of the slack end at I3. The seat II lies in the plane of the cable from the entrance point I2 to a point I4, at which point the seat curves laterally as indicated by the line I5 in Fig. 3. The seat I5, as will be seen from this figure, curves first to one side and then back to the original plane of the cable. A keeper piece I6 is provided with a convexly curved seat portion I! which cooperates with the seat portion I5. The seat portions I5 and I! are both grooved in cross section, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to grip the cable. The keeper I6 is provided with two grooves I1 and I9 at opposite sides thereof. The keeper I6 may be reversed by swinging it about its clamping bolt 2|! so as to bring either of the grooves I! or I9 into registration with the groove I5. Both of these grooves are curved longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 3, to conform to the curvature of the seat I5. The groove I1 is formed in the top of a ridge on the keeper I6 so that it may cooperate closely with the groove I5, as shown in Fig. 4.

The body portion of the clamp is provided with a fulcrum 2| at the side of the bolt 2|! opposite from the groove I5 so that when the nut 22 is 5 screwed down on the bolt 26 the keeper piece will swing about the fulcrum 2| to clamp the cable against the seat I5. The bearing for the nut 22 is slightly rounded, as shown at 23, to permit the nut to accommodate itself to various positions of the keeper I6 upon its fulcrum 2|. The bolt 28 fits sufficiently loosely in the opening through the keeper I6 to permit the keeper to rotate upon its fulcrum 2| a suflicient distance to grip conductors of various sizes against the seat I5. For larger sized conductors the seat I9 is moved into registration with the seat I5 and for smaller sized conductors the seat I! cooperates with the seat I5, as shown in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 2 the keeper is in a reversed position from that of Fig. 4 with the larger groove I9 in registration with the groove I5. The lateral curvature in the clamping seat for the cable provides a. continuation of the snubbing action of the seat II entirely through to the exit end of the cable seat and thus supplements the gripping action of the keeper piece I6 in'holding the end of the cable. By utilizing the gripping seat curved laterally out of the plane of the cable and then back into the plane, the loose end of the cable 30 is directed to one side of the plane of the cable without producing a turning moment on the cable clamp, as is the case where the cable is spirally wound on a drum or the cable seat is given a spiral form to throw the loose end to one side of the plane passing through the taut end of the cable.

By providing a keeper piece having a fulcrum at one side of the clamping bolt and a clamping groove at the other, a single clamping bolt can be used passing through an intermediate opening. This is a much simpler construction than an arrangement in which the clamping piece is held on by U-bolts or J -bolts because in the arrangement shown a standard square shank bolt can be used which is much cheaper than'specially formed U- bolts or J-bolts. Furthermore, a simpler keeper piece is provided which can be readily reversed so that cables of a larger range of diameters can be held by the same clamp. It is unnecessary to separate entirely the parts of the clamp in order to reverse the keeper piece. All that is required is to back the nut off a short distance and then the keeper piece can be rotated to bring either of its gripper seats into registration with the clamp seat.

The V-groove in the clamp body will of course accommodate cables of a large range of diameter. The seat I5 is made large enough for the largest cable for which the device is designed and the notch I1 in the keeper piece can be brought close to the central portion of the seat 15 because of the ridge upon which the notch I1 is mounted, the ridge being suiliciently narrow to extend partially into the notch IS. The clamp may be secured to a suitable support by means of ears 24 and a pin 25.

The parts may be made of malleable iron and are readily cast without extensive or difficult coring operations. No machining is required and the clamping bolt being of standard form may be purchased on the market very cheaply so that the entire device is very economical to manufacture and is light and strong and of substantially universal application to cables of a considerable range in size.

I claim:

1. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one side thereof will be drawn taut by the load and the other end of the cable will be slack, said clamp having a seat of gradually increasing curvature from the taut end of the cable toward the slack end thereof, a portion of said seat being co-planar with the taut end of the cable held thereby while another portion of said seat is curved laterally out of the plane defined by the taut end of the cable and the first mentioned portion of said seat, said laterally curved portion lying in a plane substantially normal to said first named plane.

2. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one side thereof will be drawn taut by the load and the other end of the cable will be slack, said clamp having a seat of gradually increasing curvature from the taut end of the cable toward the slack end thereof, a portion of said seat being co-planar with the taut end of the cable held thereby while another portion of said seat is curved laterally out of the plane defined by the taut end of the cable and the first mentioned portion of said seat, said laterally curved portion lying in a plane substantially normal to said first named plane and a keeper cooperating with said laterally curved portion of said seat for gripping the cable adjacent its slack end.

3. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one side thereof will be drawn taut by the load and the other end of the cable will be slack, said clamp having a curved seat about which the cable is directed, a portion of said seat being co-planar with the taut end of the cable while another portion of said seat curves laterally to one side of the plane defined by said first named portion and back substantially into said plane, and means cooperating with said laterally curved portion for gripping the cable adjacent its slack end.

4. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one sidethereof will be drawn'taut by the load and the other end of the cable will be slack, said clamp comprising a curved seat for receiving a cable, a portion of said seat being co-planar with the taut end of the cable and another portion of said seat being curved laterally relative to the plane of said first named portion in an arc, the ends of which are substantially in said plane, and a keeper cooperating with said laterally curved portion for gripping the cable adjacent its slack end.

5. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one side thereof will be drawn taut by the load and the other end of the cable will be slack, said clamp having a cable seat thereon which increases in curvature from the taut end of the cable toward the slack end thereof, said seat having a laterally curved portion adjacent the slack end of the cable said laterally curved portion lying in a plane transverse to the plane of the remaining portion of said seat.

6. A cable clamp having a seat for receiving the cable, a portion of said seat being curved and having a radial bearing for said cable and another portion of said seat being curved in a plane transverse to the plane of said first named portion and having a lateral bearing for the cable, and a keeper for gripping the cable against said lateral bearing portion.

'7. A cable clamp having a curved radially bearing seat, the curvature of which gradually increases from its entrance portion, said seat also having a laterally bearing portion adjacent the slack end of the cable, said laterally bearing portion being curved laterally away from the plane of said radially bearing portion and lying in a plane transverse to the plane of said radially bearing portion, and a keeper for pressing the cable against said laterally bearing portion.

8. A clamp for holding a loaded cable and for receiving the force of the load thereon so that the portion of the cable extending from said clamp at one side thereof will be drawn taut by the load and the other end of the cable will beslack, said clamp having a curved, radially bearing seat portion of increasing curvature from the taut end of the cable toward the slack end thereof, and a laterally bearing seat portion adjacent the slack end of the cable, said laterally bearing seat portion being curved in an arc, the plane of which is transverse to the plane of said radially bearing portion and the ends of which lie substantially in the plane of said radially bearing portion while the central portion is displaced from said plane, and a keeper for gripping the cable against said laterally bearing portion.

9. A cable clamp comprising a curved radially bearing seat portion and a laterally bearing seat portion, a keeper for gripping the cable against said laterally bearing seat portion, a fulcrum for said keeper displaced from said laterally bearing seat portion, and a bolt extending in a direction transverse to the plane of said curved radially bearing seat portion through said keeper between said fulcrum and said laterally bearing seat portion for pressing said keeper toward said laterally bearing seat portion for exerting pressure on a cable in said laterally bearing seat portion in a direction transverse to the plane of said curved radially bearing seat portion.

10. A cable clamp comprising a snubbing seat and a gripping seat, said gripping seat having a bearing face disposed at one side of the plane of said snubbing seat and a reversible gripper having cable engaging portions at opposite sides thereof, a boltextending through said gripper for selectively holding either of said cable engaging portions in registration with said gripper seat, .and a fulcrum for supporting the cable engaging portion of said gripper not cooperating with said cable engaging seat.

11. A cable clamp comprising a snubbing seat, a keeper for holding a cable in said seat, said keeper having a pair of spaced cable engaging grooves of different sizes to fit different size cables, at fulcrum for said keeper spaced away from said cable seat, and gripping means for pressing said keeper toward said seat and fulcrum, said gripper means cooperating with said clamp between said seat and fulcrum and with said keeper between said grooves, said keeper being reversible to bring either cable engaging groove into registration with said seat while the other cable engaging groove registers with said fulcrum.

12. A cable clamp comprising a main body portion having a longitudinally curved cable seat thereon, a keeper plate for gripping a cable in said seat, said keeper plate having spaced longitudinally curved cable engaging grooves of different sizes at the opposite edges thereof, a fulcrum on said body portion spaced from said seat for supporting said keeper plate, and a bolt extending through said body portion between said seat and fulcrum and through said keeper plate between said grooves for pressing said keeper plate toward said body portion, said keeper plate being reversible to bring either groove thereon into registration with said seat while the other groove engages said fulcrum.

JOHN J. TAYLOR.