GB2332419A

GB2332419A - Reel with detachable end plates

Info

Publication number: GB2332419A
Application number: GB9827864A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Maurice Henry Clarke
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1997-12-19
Filing date: 1998-12-17
Publication date: 1999-06-23
Anticipated expiration: 2018-12-17
Also published as: GB2332419B; GB9726959D0; GB9827864D0; GB2332419A9

Abstract

A reel comprises a spacer 14, around which a coil of cable may be wound, and two plates 11, 12 one removably secured to each end of the spacer. Preferably the spacer is tubular and a plurality of clips 19, 20 are provided which extend through the spacer and press against the external faces of the plates. The plates may each have at least one straight edge, and the plates may be arranged so their straight edges are parallel enabling the reel to rest on a flat surface. The reel surface may have a layer of soft material, and the outer edges of the plates may have recesses (Figure 6) or hooks 22, 23 for locating the reel on external locating members. The reel may have two spacers (17, 18 Figure 3) removably secured against and separated by an additional plate 13 and optical or electrical computer cable may be wound onto the reel. The plate members may each have an aperture with triangular flaps (Figure 8), and the flaps of the plates may cooperate form at least part of the spacer (Figure 7).

Description

2332419 DRUM FOR WIRING COILS This invention relates to a drum for coils

of cabling.

It is particularly concerned with coils for computer wiring and, although not intended to be limited thereto, will be more specifically described below with reference to computer cabling Computer cabling is necessary to connect a computer to other computers or one or more remote work stations or peripherals served by the computer. In many instances the computers may be in different locations, e.g. a different room to the peripherals and the required cabling may conveniently run under floor between the two locations.

The cabling is very often optical fibre cable that is relatively fragile and easily damaged, e.g. by a sharp edge of a protrusion or by overkinking.

The cabling is usually supplied in fixed lengths, for example, simply in coiled form or mounted coiled on a cardboard drum. Depending, therefore, on the distance between the two devices in question, more or less length of the cable will remain in coiled form, say beneath a floor, with the opposite ends leading off from the coil being attached to the devices.

The present arrangements in typical use, particularly where a large number of connections are required, can lead to a disorganised tangle of cables in which 2 cables may be damaged and in which it may be difficult to identify a particular cable.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved coil by means of which the aforesaid disadvantages can be avoided.

The invention provides a cable assembly comprising a coil of cable and a drum, the drum comprising a spacer extending axially through the coil of cable and two plate members removably secured to opposite ends of the spacer and located on opposite sides of the coil of cable.

Cables that are already connected can be coiled without the rotational effort that coiling on a conventional drum incurs.

The assembly preferably comprises clip means engaging the plate members.

Preferably the spacer is tubular and the clip means extends longitudinally through the spacer.

In one embodiment the plate members each have an aperture with flaps extending longitudinally from its periphery, the flaps of respective plate members co-operating to form at least part of the spacer.

In another embodiment a wiring coil, the coil comprising a drum around which the wiring can be coiled, the drum comprising a pair of end plates separated by a centrally- disposed spacer, each plate being attached adjacent one end of the spacer, the spacer having a resilient outer surface to receive the wiring and the 3 end plates and spacer being held together by a plurality of spaced clips, each clip running longitudinally of the spacer and being attached at its ends to the plates.

Preferably the spacer is a hollow tube and the clips may be of size and shape to extend along the internal surface of the tube and turn radially outwardly over each end of the tube to press against the external face of the respective plate.

Thus the clips may be spring clips of metal or plastics material.

The spacer may be of any suitable material, preferably plastics material and is preferably of wall thickness and of material to be substantially rigid. Surface resilience may be provided by the natural resilience of the material, e.g. an elastomeric material, but is preferably provided as a separate annular covering, e.g. of resilient foam material, over the exterior surface of the spacer.

The end plates may be of any desired shape, e.g. circular or rectangular in plan. However, generally rectangular or square plates may be preferred as they can stand in a more stable manner on a surface.

However, if desired, the periphery of each end plate may be provided with recesses or protuberances to enable it to be positioned where desired, hung on a bar or rail and provided with an identification tag for the station to which it is to be wired.

The end plates are conveniently attached to the spacer by the provision of a central hole in each plate into which an end of the spacer can be tightly fitted.

4 The transverse dimensions of the end plates will of course be greater than those of the spacer by an amount sufficient to provide an annular well defined between the end plates and the spacer of sufficient depth to accommodate, in conjunction with the length of the spacer, the number of coils of wire that will be needed for the particular circumstances.

The end plates may be of any suitable material, but again, may preferably be of plastics material.

In a preferred embodiment, one or more intermediate plates may be positioned on the spacer between the end plates. In a particularly preferred embodiment a single intermediate plate is fitted onto a spacer and pushed to an intermediate position along its length.

The intermediate plate(s) will normally be of the same size and shape as the end plates and will have a centrally-disposed hole to receive the spacer.

By the use of an intermediate plate, two separated groups of coils of a continuous length of cable may be wrapped onto the drum, the cable of one group being attached to the computer and the cable of the other group being attached to a station. Thus, depending on the relative location of the drum to the computer and to the station, the groups of coils may be of different size and hence the intermediate plate need not be centrallydisposed along the length of the spacer.

The plate(s) may be provided with a slot extending from their inner periphery defined by the central hole to receive the spacer, whereby the continuous wiring may pass from one group of coils on one side of the intermediate plate to the other group of coils on the other side of the intermediate plate.

Where an intermediate plate is used and where the resilient surface of the spacer is provided by a separate annular covering, the covering may need to be in two separate portions, one on each side of the intermediate plate. If two or more intermediate plates are used, three or more coverings may be used.

It will be appreciated that the components of the drum, including separate coverings for the spacer, will be held together by the clips and to an extent by the tightness of the fit of the plates on to the spacer. Thus the drums are readily assembleable and readily taken apart, if needed.

Other preferred features of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an assembled drum of the invention; Figure 2 is an end elevation of the drum of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view in the direction of arrow A of Figure 2; Figures 4A and 4B are a side view and an elevation of a covering for the spacer used in the embodiment of Figures 1, 2 and 3; 6 Figures 5A and 5B are a side view and an elevation of a clip used in the embodiments of Figures 1, 2 and 3; Figure 6 is an end elevation showing a variant of the above embodiment; Figure 7 is a sketch perspective view of a further embodiment; and Figure 8 is a detail taken on Figure 8 showing the cutting out of the flaps from one end plate.

In Figure 1 of the drawings a drum 10 has a pair of generally rectangular end plates 11, 12 and an intermediate plate 13 fitted onto a tubular spacer 14. Each plate has a central circular hole to receive tube 14 as a tight fit. End plates 11 and 12 are positioned at opposite ends of the spacer with intermediate plate 13 positioned nearer to plate 11 than to plate 12. Thus the drum def-ines two wells 15 and 16 (Figure 3) to receive two groups of coils of a continuous length of cable (not shown).

The exterior surface of tube 14 between plates 11 and 13 and between plates 13 and 12 is covered by two annular foam coverings 17 and 18 respectively. One such covering only, covering 17, is shown in Figures 4A and 4B. It will be appreciated that covering 18 will be of the same external and internal diameter as covering 17 but will be of greater width (i.e. the longitudinal axial dimension).

The tube 14, plates 11, 12, 13 and coverings 17, 18 are held together by three equispaced clips 19. Each clip 19 extends along the internal surface of tube 14 and has a radially outward arm 20 at each end forming a spring clip to engage 7 the outer surface of each end plate 11, 12. The spring clips are dimensioned to hold the drum components together under a slight compressive force.

Each plate has a recess or slot 21 extending from its centrally- disposed hole. Strictly speaking such a slot is only necessary for intermediate plate 13 so that a group of coils in well 15 can be connected as a continuous length of cable to with a group of coils in well 16. It may, however, be found convenient to form all the plates of exactly the same shape and dimensions as is shown in Figure 1.

Each plate also has a pair of V shaped notches or recesses 22, 23 in one of its edges, the notches of the three plates being aligned. By means of these notches, the drum may be hung on a bar in its desired location.

Plate 11 is shown having a hole 24 adjacent one of its corners. An identification tag can be positioned in this hole to indicate the work station to which this wiring is connected.

It will be noted that the corners of the rectangular plates are radiussed to avoid sharp corners that could damage fragile wiring.

Referring to Figure 6, in this variant two drums 10A are stacked on top of each other and are relatively located by elongate cylindrical spacers 200 which fit in co-operating semicircular cut-outs in the facing edges of front end plates 1 1A of the respective drums. Similar cut-outs are formed in the adjacent edges of the new end plates (not shown) which accommodate rear portions of spacers 200.

8 The bottom edge of each end plate of the lower drum has similar semicircular recesses to those of the top edge and these sit on elongate locating members 100 of semicircular cross-section which run in parallel on floor 110.

A coil 300 of cable is wound on each drum (only one coil being shown in Figure 6) on a spacer (not shown) around aperture 14A and extends between a work station (client) to a computer (server).

In the embodiment of Figure 7 each end plate 1 1B, 12B has a triangular aperture formed by cutting along lines L and folding along lines F as shown in Figure 8.

The resulting triangular flaps (151, 152 and 153 extend from the aperture in end plate 1 1B and 154, 155 and 156 extending from the aperture in end plate 12B) interdigitate to form a tubular spacer 14A as shown in Figure 7.

The flaps can be held together by clips (not shown) from their tips engaging the outer faces of plates 1 1B and 1213.

The length of spacer 14A depends on the size of the apertures in this embodiment and is somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clarity.

The invention provides a convenient and economical means of controlling wiring that may be provided in long lengths. It enables fragile cable (optical or electrical) to be better protected and enables easier identification of different lengths of cable emanating from a single source, e.g. a central computer.

9

Claims

A cable assembly comprising a coil of cable and a drum, the drum comprising a spacer extending axially through the coil of cable and two plate members removably secured to opposite ends of the spacer and located on opposite sides of the coil of cable.
2.

A cable assembly according to Claim 1, comprising clip means engaging the plate members.
3. A cable assembly according to Claim 2, wherein the spacer is tubular and the clip means extends longitudinally through the spacer.
A cable assembly according to Claim 2, wherein the clip means comprises a plurality of radially distributed clips which extend along the internal surface of the tubular spacer and turn radially outwardly over each end of the spacer to press against the respective external faces of each plate member.
5. A cable assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the plate members each have at least one edge portion so disposed that the cable assembly can rest stabley on a flat surface.
6. A cable assembly according to Claim 5, wherein the plate members each have at least one straight edge, the straight edges of respective plate members being parallel to each other.
7. A cable assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the cable is wound on a layer of soft material.
8. a drum assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein outer edges of the plate members have recesses which are arranged in use to engage at least one external locating member.
9. A drum assembly according to any preceding claim, comprising at least two spacers separated by an intermediate plate member and each carrying a coil of cable, the spacers being removably secured against the intermediate plate member.
10. A cable assembly according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the plate members each have an aperture with flaps extending longitudinally from its periphery, the flaps of respective plate members co-operating to form at least part of the spacer.
11. A cable assembly according to Claim 10, wherein the flaps are triangular, the apex of each flap of one plate member extending between the sides of two adjacent flaps of the other plate member.
12.
13.

A cable assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the cable is optical or electrical computer cable.

A cable assembly substantially as described hereinabove with reference to Figures 1 to 5B optionally as modified in accordance with Figure 6, or with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.