Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H75/00—Storing webs, tapes, or filamentary material, e.g. on reels
  • B65H75/02—Cores, formers, supports, or holders for coiled, wound, or folded material, e.g. reels, spindles, bobbins, cop tubes, cans, mandrels or chucks
  • B65H75/34—Cores, formers, supports, or holders for coiled, wound, or folded material, e.g. reels, spindles, bobbins, cop tubes, cans, mandrels or chucks specially adapted or mounted for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of material provided for particular purposes, e.g. anchored hoses, power cables
  • B65H75/36—Cores, formers, supports, or holders for coiled, wound, or folded material, e.g. reels, spindles, bobbins, cop tubes, cans, mandrels or chucks specially adapted or mounted for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of material provided for particular purposes, e.g. anchored hoses, power cables without essentially involving the use of a core or former internal to a stored package of material, e.g. with stored material housed within casing or container, or intermittently engaging a plurality of supports as in sinuous or serpentine fashion
  • B65H75/368—Cores, formers, supports, or holders for coiled, wound, or folded material, e.g. reels, spindles, bobbins, cop tubes, cans, mandrels or chucks specially adapted or mounted for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of material provided for particular purposes, e.g. anchored hoses, power cables without essentially involving the use of a core or former internal to a stored package of material, e.g. with stored material housed within casing or container, or intermittently engaging a plurality of supports as in sinuous or serpentine fashion with pulleys
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
  • H02G—INSTALLATION OF ELECTRIC CABLES OR LINES, OR OF COMBINED OPTICAL AND ELECTRIC CABLES OR LINES
  • H02G11/00—Arrangements of electric cables or lines between relatively-movable parts
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
  • H02G—INSTALLATION OF ELECTRIC CABLES OR LINES, OR OF COMBINED OPTICAL AND ELECTRIC CABLES OR LINES
  • H02G11/00—Arrangements of electric cables or lines between relatively-movable parts
  • H02G11/02—Arrangements of electric cables or lines between relatively-movable parts using take-up reel or drum

Definitions

• the present invention relates to arrangements in a protection container in order to enable feed-out of an electrical cable stored within the protection container, said cable, at one end thereof, having a plug/socket and, at the other end thereof, is supplied with electrical power, and wherein feed-in/withdrawal of the electrical cable into the protection container again is allowed after use.
• Such a cable having a contact means of the plug or socket type at the free end thereof and, preferably, coupled to a power supply at the other end, can be used in connection with an electrical apparatus, machine or other device/means carrying a complementary contact means, e.g. a socket or a plug, respectively, the two mutually complementary contact means being plugable, one within the other.
• Said electrical apparatus, etc. may e.g. be constituted by engine heaters in motor vehicles, battery charging apparatus for electrical vehicles and the like.
• the cable may possibly be provided with signal conductors which, through remote control, may start/stop e.g. a motor heater or other apparatus.
• Norwegian patent application No. 961492 discloses a feed-out device for a plug adapted to be plugged into a socket and positioned at the end of an electrical cable assigned a power supply.
• This automatically functioning feed-out device is not assigned a protection container as the one according to the present invention for the protective envelopment of cable with plug/socket, but serves exclusively to secure a controlled feed-out of the electrical cable's plug when it is pulled out from the socket in which it is plugged, the socket being incorporated into said electrical apparatus, etc., e.g. the engine heater; in case one has forgotten to haul the electrical cable's plug out from the socket of the engine heater.
• the electrical cable together with its plug after the latter has been released upon being pulled out from the socket of the engine heater, often becomes lying unprotectedly on the ground, subjected to being overrun and damaged. In such an unprotected position, dirt and other impurities will easily find their way into the plug, and cable and plug can freeze firmly to the ground during periods of frost in the winter time.
• the plug at the end of the live electrical cable, in an unprotected position, lying on the ground, represents a risk factor for children. Upon contact with metal parts of the plug, a child may get an electrical shock.
• Norwegian patent specification No. 165 088 discloses an apparatus adapted to cause an automatic hauling of the electrical cable's plug up to a higher positioned level in a garage or the like.
• This prior art apparatus is very comprehensive. As mentioned, it is based on an operation including a hauling of the plug of the cable up to a position in which it is not available to a child, i.e. a position in which the plug does not represent a risk factor, but the apparatus does not comprise a protection container for protective envelopment of cable and plug/socket in an inoperative position of readiness. For the installation thereof, this known hauling apparatus requires a column of a not insignificantly height.
• the object of the present invention has been to eliminate or, to a substantial degree, reduce deficiencies, disadvantages and restrictions of use associated with prior art technique as represented through the above-mentioned Norwegian patent publications and, thus, provide a protection container in which cable with plug/socket are protectively enclosed in inoperative position of readiness, and from where the cable can be pulled out through the plug/socket at the end thereof, in order to plug the cable's plug into the socket of the engine heater, etc., tensioning the cable appropriately in the position of use, the cable and, thus, the plug/socket not being subjected to undesired external tractive forces in this position of use, but where the cable with the plug/socket, after use, is subjected to a controlled withdrawal into the protection container.
• Another object consists in providing a protection container which is closed in the protective position and formed with a hatchway which can be closed/opened by means of a movable hatch cover which, in addition to its primary tasks, to open or to close the hatchway of the protection container as well as to enable operations resulting in the feed-out/feed-in of the cable respectively enclosing the cable with its plug/- socket protectively within a closed container, is adapted to participate in a tensioning feed-in displacement of a cable which has been pulled too far out when it was plugged into e.g. an engine heater's socket, respectively is adapted to be retained in a locked intermediate position between wholly open and closed position, in order to counteract that the cable with the plug becomes subjected to tractive forces from the protection container's feed-in device in the position of use.
• the hatch cover may be lockable, possibly through timed payment device (as a parking-meter) .
• a protection container in which the hatch cover is pivotable about an upper, substantially horizontal axis at the top of the protection container, and wherein the hatch cover's tooth segment, friction surface segment or the like extends along a fraction of 360° and cooperates with a rotatable ratchet wheel having a toothing, cogging, friction surface or the like along the entire circumference thereof, and along which the cable has been placed, e.g. in a circumferential groove, outside the toothing, cogging, friction surface, etc., and is guided during feed-out (drawing out) and feed-in (withdrawal) .
• the ratchet segment of the hatch cover follows the pivotal movement of the latter, it only engages the ratchet wheel during a certain rotational angle zone for the hatch cover, e.g. within a pivotal angle area of 17-47° for the hatch cover in relation to vertical.
• the ratchet segment can circumferentialwise extend across about 30° in relation to the substantially horizontal pivotal axis of the hatch cover.
• the ratchet segment of the hatch cover is out of engagement with said rotatable ratchet wheel in the completely swung up (substantially horizontal) position of the hatch cover and in the completely swung down (substantially vertical) position thereof.
• an engine heater will be withdrawn into the protection container's opening until the cable is tensioned to an appropriate stretching, while the hatch cover swings down until its ratchet segment is in engagement with the ratchet wheel and is locked in this slopingly downwardly directed, intermediate, open position, fixing the cable in this adequately stretched position of use until there no longer exists a need for transfer of electrical power to the engine heater. Then, the locking of the hatch cover is neutralized, whereafter it is retained in an non-locked, open position while the feed-in means of the protection container pulls the cable into the container again.
• the hatch cover may have at least one stop for limiting the withdrawal of the cable's plug/socket, so that it at any time will take an easily available position after the cover has been swung up.
• the protection container's withdrawal means may be based on weight and/or spring means.
• the ratchet wheel which also operates as a guiding wheel for the cable, may be formed with one or two parallel, 360° extending circumferential grooves placed laterally of the annular ratchet portion (toothing/friction surface) . It may, namely, be desirable to place the cable two times around the ratchet wheel, in order to prevent it from skidding or sliding within a single groove when the ratchet wheel is inlocked engagement with the ratchet segment.
• said groove may have the form of a wedge/key groove, the groove-defining annular surfaces thereof converging inwardly in the radial direction.
• the cable withdrawal device of the protection container When the cable withdrawal device of the protection container is based on the use of a vertically movable weight, the latter may suitably carry a tackle in the form of a groove wheel.
• the cable In the lower portion of the protection container, the cable is guided into a pipe, and leads e.g. to a contact fastened to the inner container wall for, thereafter, to extend partially around the circumference of said tackle, lying in the circumferential groove thereof, and, thereafter, partially around the ratchet wheel after having travelled aconsiderable vertical distance, whereafter the plug of the cable is conveyed into guiding engagement with stop means of the hatch cover.
• the weight In order to secure a rectilinear vertical displacement movement of the weight, it may be formed with a vertically through-going edge groove into which said pipe engages, forming an appropriate clearance therebetween, in order to secure the slidable displacement of the weight, guided along the fixed pipe.
• the protection container may internally being provided with a rotary drum having a reel onto which is wound an electrical cable, in order to enable the feed-out of a larger cable length by unwinding cable from said drum reel.
• the cable used may be a rubber coated, steel reinforced cable.
• Figure 1 shows a vertical axial section through a protection container having a withdrawal means for a live, insulated cable equipped with an end plug/end socket, the cable with the plug/socket in the entirety being protectively enclosed within the protection container;
• Figure 2 shows an encircled, enlarged partial view of an upper portion of the protection container of figure 1, in the area of the pivotal mounting and ratchet device of the hatch cover; said upper portion possibly being rotary in relation to the lower portion of the protection container;
• Figure 3 shows a weight of a special embodiment, usable in the cable withdrawal means of the protection container, seen in a perspective view obliquely from above;
• Figure 4 shows a horizontal view through the weight according to figure 3, the protection container and a pipe in which said cable passes from an underlying connection place at a power supply (not shown) , and wherein the vertical pipe firmly mounted to the container inner wall moreover serves as a guide for the weight, the pipe being in slidingly displacable engagement with a vertically through-going edge groove at the circle-disc-shaped circumference of the weight;
• Figure 5 corresponds to figure 1, but shows the hatch cover in a completely swung up, substantially horizontally lying position, in which the blocking action is neutralized when the cable is being pulled out;
• Figure 6 corresponds to figure 2, but shows the hatch cover, a ratchet wheel and the cable in the positions they take accordinging to figure 5;
• Figure 7 corresponds to figures 1 and 5, but shows the hatch cover in a blocked, downwardly sloping intermediate position; the plug/socket of the cable is indicated in plugged in position into e.g. an engine heater of a motor vehicle, and wherein it appears that the cable in this position of use has been allotted an appropriate tensioning by means of the withdrawal means.
• FIG. 1 shows a protection container 10 for a cable 12 equipped with a plug/socket 14 at the upper end.
• a longitudinal cable portion 12' extends through a vertical, stationary pipe 16, which may be attached to the protection container's 10 inner wall face, to an e.g. underlying power supply, not shown.
• the cable 12 From the upper end of the pipe 16 which is situated closer to the top of the protection container 10 than the bottom 10' thereof, the cable 12 passes through an electrical current connector 18. Therefrom, the cable 12 passes vertically downwardly where it, at the lowermost portion thereof, is placed around a tackle 20 in the form of a groove disc carried by a circle-disc-shaped weight 22, which carries upright bearing ears 24 for the rotary mounting of the tackle 20.
• the weight 22 together with the bearing ears 24 and the tackle 20 form a force-exerting means of the withdrawal device for hauling the cable back into the protection container 10.
• the weight 22 might be deleted and replaced by a spring device exerting a downwardly directed force on the tackle 20.
• a suitably heavy weight 22 may e.g. be about 5 kg.
• the vertical, cable-surrounding pipe 16 which is fixedly mounted to the inner side face of the tubular protection container 10, can be utilized to guide the weight 22, so that the latter is guaranteed a vertical, rectilinear displacement movement, without liabilities to rotation, which would have been disadvantageous to the controlled, guided course of the cable 12.
• the circular-disc-shaped weight 22 may be formed with a vertically through-going edge groove 26.
• the pipe 16 engages slidingly into this edge groove 26, where the clearance between the circumferential face defining the edge groove and the outer face of the pipe 16 is sufficient to secure an easily slidable displacement of the weight 22 up and down along the pipe 16.
• the cable 12 extends vertically upwards to a freely rotatable guide pulley 28 which may be shaped as a groove disc.
• the groove is shown in a dotted line and denoted at reference numeral 30.
• the guide pulley 28 is shaped as a ratchet wheel across a part of the thickness thereof, here represented by a 360° extending toothing 28', which could have been replaced by a 360° friction wheel portion (not shown) .
• the groove may be formed as a wedge groove having a V-like cross-sectional shape, where the groove defining wall surfaces converge against each other radially inwardly.
• the guide pulley 28 may have at least two guide grooves for the cable, possibly in the form of two parallel wedge grooves, so that the cable 12 will extend itself two times around the guide pulley 28, before the free end thereof carrying the plug/socket 14 is brought into engagement with a stop 32, possibly between two adjacent stops 32, 34 placed on an armature 36' constituting a part of a hatch cover 36 which, in the position according to figures 1 and 2, closes an upper hatchway 38 in the form of an aperture through which the cable with its plug/socket 14 is pulled out and hauled in relative to the protection container 10.
• the hatch cover 36 In the shown embodiment of the hatch cover 36, the same is pivotally mounted about an upper shaft 40 which is substantially horizontal. It appears that the hatch cover 36, in closed position according to figure 1, overlaps a container wall portion extending downwardly from the hatchway 38 for sealing purposes and, lowermost, an inclinedly downwardly directed, angulated handle part 36" is formed, for the upwards/downwards pivotal movements of the hatch cover 36.
• a very important feature of the present invention is constituted by the ratchet portion of the hatch cover 36, said portion having the form of a toothed segment 42 adapted for periodical engagement into and cooperation with the 360° circumferential toothing 28' of the guide pulley 28.
• the ratchet portion 28' of the guide pulley instead of the toothing, is provided with a 360° frictional face portion along the circumference
• the hatch cover's 36 segment-shaped ratchet portion instead of teeth, be formed with a corresponding frictional face segment which, in the same way as the tooth segment 42, is adapted to cooperate hatch- cover-position-blockingly with the annular frictional face portion across a certain angle of rotation area for the hatch cover 36.
• this angle area can be limited between the angles 17 and 47° in relation to a vertical plane which e.g. passes through the horizontal rotational axis 40 of the hatch cover 36 and, in relation to this axis 40, the hatch segment 42 may e.g. extend across a circular arc of 30°.
• the hatch cover 36 When the cable 12 with the plug/socket 14 shall be used, the hatch cover 36 is swung up about its horizontal rotational axis 40 into the completely swung up, approximately horizontal end position thereof, figures 5 and 6, and, during this rotational movement, the ratchet segment 42 has been in engagement with the ratchet wheel 28' of the guide pulley 28.
• the blocking action across this rotational angle area for the hatch cover 36 during its upwardly directed rotational movement into completely open end position, is overcome by the applied, upwardly directed manual force exerted on the hatch cover 36 during the opening movement thereof.
• the hatch cover's ratchet segment 42, figures 5 and 6 is not, however, in engagement with the ratchet wheel portion 28' of the guide pulley 28 and, prior to the engagement is established upon further downwards pivotal movement of the hatch cover 36,36' ,36", the weight 22 together with bearing ears 24 and tackle 20 of the cable withdrawal device has the possibility of pulling in a portion of the cable 12 drawn out.
• the withdrawal device' active means When the cable 12 is pulled out, the withdrawal device' active means, the weight, the bearing ears and the tackle, is pulled upwardly, and the length of the cable and the level of the electrical connector/contact 18 must be adjusted such in relation to each other that the tackle 20, upon the expected maximum pulled out cable length, will not make an impact on the underside of said electrical connector/contact 18.
• a stop can be disposed.
• the extent of cable length capable of being pulled out can be increased by the arrangement of a rotary cable drum in the cavity of the protection container 10, on which cable drum a certain cable length has been wound.
• the hatch cover's rotational shaft 40 may be positioned such that it forms a guide means for the cable 12 in the open positions (figures 5 - 8) of the hatch cover 36, 36 ',36".
• the upper edge 38' of the hatchway 38 may be placed at such a level in relation to the rotational shaft 40 of the hatch cover 36, 36 ',36" and to the shape and design of the hatch cover that this edge 38' will form a rotation-restricting stop for the hatch cover 36, 36 ',36" in the uppermost, approximately horizontal, completely open position thereof, figures 5 and 6.

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• Connector Housings Or Holding Contact Members (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=19900156

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

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Family Cites Families (4)

• 1996
  • 1996-12-09 NO NO965242A patent/NO303477B1/no not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1997
  • 1997-11-25 WO PCT/NO1997/000316 patent/WO1998026485A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-11-25 EP EP97949263A patent/EP0943168A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1997-11-25 CA CA002274744A patent/CA2274744A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-11-25 AU AU78509/98A patent/AU7850998A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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