FR2791188A1 - Protective sheath for cables, has flexible covering around cables to point of entry into connection box - Google Patents

Abstract

The sheath has a flexible, folded envelope accommodating a number of cables, with secure fittings at each end. The connection for linking the ends of the tubes (2) which protect a number of cables (9) to a connection box (4) comprises a flexible sheath (3). The sheath has a connecting ring (8) at each end, enabling it to be fitted at each end. The sheath is made from a tube having a helicoidal folded envelope structure. The cable protection tubes are brought together in a collector block (15), and a tapering elastomer membrane (7) provides a joint between the block (15) and the ring (8) which attaches the end of the sheath.

Description

The present invention relates to a manifold connection device.

  connection devices and, in particular, cable connection devices in the field of telecommunications. In the present specification, the term “conductors” means both filiform elements in the form of a strip, in which light can propagate, as filiform elements or in the form of a strip conducting electricity, in particular metallic wires,

  for example copper, or telephone copper wires.

  Flexible conductors are fragile and are often surrounded by less flexible tubes, intended to protect them. The cables thus formed can arrive directly on a connection box. However, it sometimes happens that the pit intended for the storage and protection of the boxes is too small to allow such an assembly, the rigidity of the tubes making any

  intervention on boxes difficult or even impossible.

  The invention overcomes these drawbacks by facilitating the extraction of a housing from the pit, by making it possible to store large lengths of conductors without being handicapped by the rigidity of the tubes and, in general, by greatly facilitating verification or

  repair according to an intuitive operating mode.

  In the connection device which comprises a housing to which at least two flexible conductors arrive; the flexible conductors pass, according to the invention, in the same flexible sheath and go, surrounded by this sheath, in a collector whose flexible conductors exit sheathed respectively with less flexible tubes than the conductors. The flexible sheath, through which the flexible conductors pass, can accommodate any shape and volume of the pit unlike rigid tubes. But the

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  conductors are held securely in the sheath, without tending to be thrown outside at random, as was the case with a set of flexible conductors. The collector is fixed to a wall of the pit. It can be constituted identically to the housing and comprise a base which is perforated with passages for the tubes and to which is fixed a bellows for receiving the conductors. Peduncles can isolate the tubes from particles or liquid intrusions and allow a tight passage of

cables in the collector.

  In the accompanying drawing, given solely by way of example where FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a connection device according to the invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the device of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a top view of a manifold base, FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the base of FIG. 3, and

  Figure 5 is an exploded view of a collector.

  The connection device, shown in the drawing, comprises a housing 1 which is removably attached to the wall of a pit and to which arrives, surrounded by a flexible sheath 2, a large number of flexible conductors 3 shown in FIG. 2 The conductors surrounded by the sheath 2

go to a collector 4.

  As shown better in FIGS. 2 to 5, rigid tubes 5 arrive in fittings 6 and, by peduncles 7, pass into the base 8 of the manifold 4 from which it leaves flexible conductors 3 which are surrounded by a bellows 9. This leads them to the housing 1 in which there is successively a bellows 10, peduncles 11, a base 12 and

  cable glands 13 serving as sealing means.

  The base shown in Figures 3 and 4 has nine passages 14 for tubes. A retaining stirrup 15 which, in the embodiment shown, is separate from the bellows but which, in another embodiment could be in one piece with it, has three arms 16 allowing it to be hooked to the base 8 and a threaded sleeve 17 which cooperates with a nut 18

  to hold the bellows 9 on the base.

  To carry out a repair, the housing 1 is detached from the wall and it is taken out of the pit, the sheath 2 giving the slack necessary for this exit and

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  for coiling, without the conductors becoming tangled or spurting.

  These operations are intuitive in the manner of unhooking a razor,

  represented by the housing, which is connected to a socket, the collector.

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Claims (3)

  1. Connection device, comprising a housing (1) to which at least two flexible conductors (3) arrive, characterized in that the flexible conductors (3) pass through the same flexible sheath (2) and go, surrounded by this sheath ( 2), in a collector (4) whose flexible conductors (3) exit sheathed respectively by tubes (5) less flexible than the conductors (3).   2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the housing   (1) and the collector (2) are formed identically.   3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the collector comprises a base (8) which is perforated with passages for the   tubes and to which is attached a bellows (9) surrounding the conductors (3).