GB2626662A

GB2626662A - Conduit support Device

Info

Publication number: GB2626662A
Application number: GB2319370.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Pike Carl; Michael Partington Nathan
Original assignee: Ac Cable Solutions Ltd
Current assignee: Ac Cable Solutions Ltd
Priority date: 2023-01-05
Filing date: 2023-12-18
Publication date: 2024-07-31
Also published as: GB202319370D0

Abstract

The cable penetration or cable transit system comprises a resilient conduit spacer 40 of one-piece unitary construction, constituted of a resilient flexible plastics material and consists of a plurality of substantially tubular and substantially hollow spacer elements 42A, 42B-I… conjoined together by a conjoining web of material 44I, 44II... At least one of the spacer elements provided with a male connection formation 48, and at least one other provided with a female connection formation 46 to achieve one of the following connections: (a) the spacer device deformed in curling fashion and the male connection formation inserted into the female connection formation, and (b) one male connection formation provided on one spacer element of a first spacer device is inserted into a female connection formation provided in one spacer element of a second spacer device, thus connecting together first and second spacer devices. Aspects include one of the spacer elements is a central spacer element and is conjoined to at least three other spacer elements to provide one of: an essentially Y-shaped, T-shaped or arrow-shaped configuration, with the spacer device as a whole comprising 3 distinct limbs, each limb consisting of one or more spacer elements (Figs 6).

Description

CONDUIT SUPPORT DEVICE

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a conduit support device, and more specifically to a conduit support device intended for use primarily in filling the otherwise empty space between the exterior surfaces of one or more conduits, being typically cables, ducts, pipes and the like, and the surrounding walls of a typically much larger aperture or opening in, for example, an architectural or structural body such as a wall, a bulkhead, and some other solid partition through which said conduits pass such that, when employed in sufficient numbers around the said conduits and more generally within the entirety of the said space between said conduits and the walls of the aperture or opening through which they pass, the conduits are not only relatively firmly supported around substantially their entire peripheral surfaces, but also their disposition relative to both one another and to the walls of the aperture or opening become essentially fixed, thus ensuring said conduits are maintained in spaced apart relationship from both each other and the walls of the aperture or opening.

To provide the present invention with some further context, the support devices of the present invention are most commonly employed in what are known as cable penetrations or cable transit systems. Such systems involve (usually) multiple electrical cables with a variety of different load ratings, and thus diameters, which are required to enter and/or exit a structure or apparatus which is otherwise completely closed off from its surroundings. For such systems, there is therefore a requirement that any opening or aperture which is provided in the structure or apparatus, either temporarily or during construction, must again be closed up and sealed once the requisite electrical cables have been fed through the opening. Furthermore, cable penetrations and cable transit systems are often required in aggressive environments wherein there is a requirement that the seals provided around the cables and within the apertures or openings through which they pass must be one or more of: heat and/or fire resistant to at least some degree, gas impermeable, and both resistant and impermeable to water or other liquids. To this end, the present invention also provides a conduit support device immediately suitable, or very readily adapted, for use in any such system.

For the avoidance doubt, the skilled reader should understand that the present invention is in no way limited by the nature of the conduits which, in use, it supports and surrounds, nor should the present invention be considered as limited to any specific type of cable transit system or cable penetration system. Indeed the present invention may readily and easily find use in a wide variety of applications, which need not be limited to cables at all, and could, as the skilled reader will understand from the following description, be used as a means of packing and filling the space between any type of conduit, regardless of what the conduit is adapted to carry, its cross-sectional shape, and its size. In fact, as will become apparent, the present invention may be used in any situation or application where there is a requirement to pack and fill the intervening space between a conduit of any description and some larger walled aperture or opening in and through which said conduit is disposed so as to both peripherally support and relatively robustly secure the position of said conduit therein. Notwithstanding this, for brevity, the remainder of this specification will discuss and refer solely to cable transit and penetrations systems which most commonly involve only electrical cables, and the skilled reader should interpret any reference hereinafter to such systems as encompassing any system for sealingly supporting and fixing the position of conduits of any description and size disposed within larger openings or apertures through which, in use, they pass or from which they emerge.

Background to the Invention

Cable penetration systems and cable transit systems are well known, and have been widely employed for more than 40 years. While there is very little requirement for such systems in common domestic electrical installations, this is not the case on and in industrial premises such as larger scale manufacturing or materials processing facilities, and on larger civil or marine engineering facilities. Indeed, in certain areas of any premises, apparatus or installation where there is both a necessity for electrical power and a potentially serious industrial hazard arising as a result of the existence of electricity in those areas, then generally some form of cable penetration system is employed.

The most basic cable penetration system may be used when a number, typically 5-20, of different cables having different power load ratings and thus diameters (all being of generally circular cross-section) pass through a larger opening in, for example, a brick wall of a building. To provide some idea of dimensions, the cable diameters may range from 5mm to 200mm, and the opening through which they pass may range from 100mm square (of course only capable of accommodating smaller diameter cables) to 200mm or more high to 450mm or more wide. Some of the cables may be individual and entirely separate from the others, whereas some may be twisted and thus grouped together in sets of three cables, in what is known as a trefoil. In some cases, other conduits such metal or plastic ducts, pipes, and other service delivery conduits may also be required and thus be present within the opening.

As the skilled reader will appreciate, without any intervening support between the cables and the internal walls of the opening, which will typically be provided in a vertical wall, all the cables will fall under gravity and congregate along the lowermost wall of the opening. Therefore, in order to maintain some separation between the various cables and the interior walls of the opening, and the ensure that the often desired and sometimes mandatory separation between cables and conduits of different types is established and maintained, a plurality of generally elongate tubular spacers is inserted into the opening, in, around, underneath, between and over and above the various cables until: (1) the cables are all adequately propped up and thus supported within the opening, (2) the cables, including those in trefoils or groups of more than 3 cables, are separated both from one another and from the walls of the opening, and (3) all the remaining intervening space, being that space between the cables, cable groups, and the side and uppermost interior walls of the opening, is completely filled with spacers.

In more modern cable penetration systems, the elongate tubular spacers take a variety of forms, but most commonly they take the form of individual cylindrical tubes of a resilient thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) material having dimensions of about 60mm in length, a wall thickness of between 3-10mm, and a lateral dimension which varies depending on the size of the cables and the size of the opening they pass through. Typically, the lateral dimensions, being the diameter in the case of circular spacers, may range from 10mm to 50mm, or possibly more for very large openings.

Most often, the spacers will be injection moulded, and their size, configuration, and material constitution is such that they are manually easily radially compressible -that is, they can be radially "squashed" by hand so their cross-sectional area can be very much reduced and they can thus be inserted into any smaller spaces that remain within the opening after the majority of the intervening space has already been filled with uncompressed spacers. In some prior art systems, and when some degree of heat and/or fire resistance is necessary, it has been suggested that the spacer material incorporates some intumescent quality or characteristic such that it expands when exposed to significant temperatures, or that said material is impregnated with another intumescent composition so that the spacer material is thus a blend of different materials which together, in the finished product, exhibit some fire resistance, and/or intumescent characteristics.

Depending on the thickness of the wall in which the opening is provided, and its size, it is sometimes necessary, as will become apparent from the further description provided below, to surround the opening with one or more prefabricated metal or other material upstands which may be screwed or otherwise affixed to the exterior surface of the wall so that the effective depth of the opening (that is, the wall thickness) is increased by an amount equal to the depth of the upstands. This not only facilitates the insertion of the spacers into the opening, but increases the effective depth of the opening which in turn allows for spacers of a standardised length to be employed and firmly and securely retained in place within the opening. For example, in instances when the length of said spacers far exceeds the thickness of the wall, once fully inserted, they might have only a relatively small proportion of their total axial length actually disposed within the opening and between the walls thereof, with the remainder extending well beyond the interior surface of the wall in which the opening is provided. Although of course the number and resiliency of the spacers would under normal circumstances still be such that all the inserted spacers continued to be retained within the opening by virtue of friction between one another, the cables, and the walls of the opening, a relatively thin wall would nevertheless give rise to a situation where one or some of the previously inserted spacers could, during sealing or before, simply fall out and drop onto whatever floor existed beneath the opening on the inside of the wall in which said opening is provided. In certain situations this could be a serious compromise of conditions inside the structure of which the said wall forms a part, not to mention the concomitant reduction or removal of the support provided by the spacers for the cables or other conduits, and therefore it is generally important to try to avoid such a situation.

As alluded to above, the hollow tubular configuration of the spacers, the degree to which the spacers are axially inserted into the opening, their density of packing, and above all the wall thickness of the opening, whether or not effectively increased with the use of additional upstands as described above, are all important considerations when it comes to achieving a solid, complete, robust, secure and fluid-impregnable seal in the opening and around the cables. Most specifically, in order for an effective seal to be achieved between (a) the interior wall surfaces which surround and thus define the opening, (b) most if not all of the plurality the spacers extant within the opening and surrounding, supporting and interposed between the cables, and (c) the exterior surfaces of the cables, it is mandatory that at least some surface of the interior wall(s) (effectively extended by upstands or not) defining the opening remains exposed above the ends of the previously inserted spacers in order to provide a bonding surface for the sealant (or multiple sealants, in some systems), which is/are to be applied after the spacer insertion is complete. Said sealants may take various forms, but in most cases at least one will take the form of a manually applied fluent curable mastic composition, which again may possess intumescent or other fire retardant or temperature resistant properties. Thus, typically the sealant will be provided in a standard cartridge adapted for insertion into a standard cartridge gun, by means of which a contractor can then apply the sealant all around the inner exposed, free surfaces of the walls defining the opening, all around and between the cables therein, and over the end edges of all the hollow spacers in one contiguous mass. As already suggested, if insertion of the spacers is performed correctly, then all said spacers are disposed and resiliently retained within the opening at a uniform depth below the outermost edges of the interior walls of the opening so as to effectively define a recess of uniform depth within the opening and above the spacer ends, and it is this recess which is then filled with the sealant composition(s).

Application of the sealant also and importantly entails ensuring contact of the sealant with those portions of the interior wall of the opening which remain exposed so that the sealant bonds therewith and thereto as it cures, a process which is typically expedited or even catalysed with the application of heat or the blowing of relatively warm or hot humid air over the sealant composition immediately after application. As the skilled reader may now appreciate, one of the primary reasons that the spacers are tubular in configuration is, aside from the requirement that they be easily manually radially compressible, so that the sealant can flow during application axially into and partially along the hollow cores inside each and every spacer, at least to some degree. Furthermore, said sealant may also naturally flow into any interstices which exist between individual spacers, and thus over and along their exterior walls, said interstices naturally arising as a result of their (most commonly) circular cross-sectional shape and the general non-uniformity of the cross-sectional shape of the remaining intervening space between the cables and opening walls. Such essentially axial flow of sealant, whether initially during application or later during a further subsequent step of tamping down and smoothing the exterior surface of the area of applied sealant, is important because it ensures a very secure bond between the sealant and the spacers, and one which is very much improved as compared to that which might be achieved between the sealant and only the end edges of the spacers over which the sealant is applied.

Finally, once the manually applied sealant cures and sets, the result is a firm, usually slightly resilient plug of solid sealant material which completely seals the opening and all the cables emerging from it, and which is firmly, completely and continuously bonded to the interior wall(s) of the opening, thus providing a gas-tight, water-tight and in some cases fire-resistant seal therefor.

In terms of relevant prior art of which the Applicant is aware, and which may be considered as providing further background to the present invention, the reader's attention is drawn to the various cable transit, penetration and sealing systems currently being commercially offered by Beele Engineering By., and Filoform By. Of particular note, in terms of relevant patent documents (all in the name of Beele, except where otherwise stated), are: - EP1310028, which shows how cylindrical sleeve spacers may be used to pack the interior of a larger cable conduit through which a number of cables pass, and the application of sealant over the ends of the spacers.

- EP1101991 (to Hilti AG), which shows how belts of multiple interconnected cylindrical spacer elements can be coiled around one another and then inserted into an opening containing one or more cables or conduits to surround and support them prior to the sealing of the opening with a sealant composition, - EP2116280, which shows in detail the use of a plurality of circular hollow tubular spacers to pack and fill around cables passing through an opening, and describes how the spacers may be glued together in groups of six, such a group being ideally suited for filling and packing a larger empty space of the opening, as opposed to inserting spacers into such a space individually, which is of course more time consuming.

- US2007/0169963 which shows a system and method for sealing a larger oblong opening in a wall through which a number of cables pass, and as such describes and illustrates a cable penetration or cable transit system similar to that described above, and to which the present invention may be ideally suited, and - EP3169923, which describes in detail a large number of different spacer types and configurations, and in particular describes how spacers may bonded together in groups of 3,4, 5,6, 7, or more (smaller diameter spacers obviously being more easily capable of being grouped together in larger numbers), all in parallel orientation; furthermore, this document desdcribes how one or more of the spacers in a group thereof bonded together may be provided with an axial, or alternately one or more a lateral slits, such facilitating either the radial expansion of one more of the individual spacers, or alternately for the entire row of spacers to be split apart along a lateral diametral line; thus further enhancing their utility in packing and filling intervening spaces of unusual shapes, and also of potentially being wrapped around cables and other conduits of varying dimensions and shapes.

Finally, also of relevance to the present invention is the FiloSeal+ HD' system commercially offered by Filoform BV., which employs differently sized hexagonally shaped hollow tubular spacer elements conjoined together in groups of 5, with each spacer having both a hexagonal cross-section with circular hollow interior, and constituted entirely of a rubberised plastics material. The FiloSealTM system provides two different sizes of spacer elements, one being of smaller lateral dimensions than the other such that a single smaller spacer, which may posses a higher Youngs modulus of elasticity and thus be relatively more rigid than one of the larger spacer elements in the system, can be inserted within the hollow interior of one of the larger spacer elements, and thus provide the latter which additional structural support, should it be required. Of particular interest in the FiloSealTM system is that each of the 5 spacer elements present within a group is conjoined to its adjacent neighbour(s) by virtue of being moulded as a unitary, one-piece moulding, and therefore this not precludes any potential later requirement for individual spacer elements to be individually bonded together when larger intervening spaces are required to be packed and filled, but this also (intentially) allows for one or two of the group of 5 conjoined spacer elements to be separated from the remaining conjoined spacer elements in the group by manually applying a shearing or tearing force to the narrow nib of material by which any one spacer element is conjoined to its neighbour in the group.

Although the prior art described above performs adequately in the majority of circumstances, there is nevertheless a continued requirement to improve the resiliency of the support provided by the spacers to the cables and other conduits penetrating an opening, which in turns would increase the stability of the positioning of the cables within that opening, and which would thus further preclude or even possibly eliminate the propensity of the cables to move within laterally and/or transversely within said opening. As the skilled reader may appreciate, this can be a pervasive problem, for if the cables are only relatively weakly maintained in position within the opening, then their tendency to move under only very minimal lateral or transverse loading is appreciably increased, and such movement would naturally and progressively tend to weaken the seal or in more severe cases, break it completely. In many of the aggressive and inhospitable environments where cable transit and cable penetration systems are used, the cables and other conduits can be subjected to vibrations and other forces, and as the seal is often of critical importance, it is equally important that the cables be secured in place sufficiently well so that they do not repeatedly move, either back and forth within the opening, or from side to side thus inevitably weakening and ultimately breaking the seal which surrounds them, and exists between (primarily) their exterior surfaces and interior surfaces of the wall of the opening.

The present invention has as one of its objects the provision of a spacer element for a cable transit or cable penetration system such as described which mitigates this particular disadvantage, while simultaneously providing a spacer element which is significantly more versatile and thus adaptable to a wide variety of cable transit and penetration applications.

Summary of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a resilient conduit spacer and support device, being of one-piece unitary construction of a resilient rubberised or flexible plastics material and consisting of a plurality of substantially tubular and substantially hollow spacer elements conjoined together by means of a conjoining web of material which extends laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, said web being both laterally narrow and transversally thin relative to the corresponding lateral and transverse dimensions of the adjacent spacer elements said web unites, characterized in that At least one of the spacer elements of the spacer device is provided with a male connection formation which projects outwardly from some point on the peripheral surface of that spacer element and extends axially along at least some portion thereof, said formation comprising firstly a web portion which projects in a first direction away from the exterior surface of the spacer element, and one or more flange portions at which the male formation terminates, said one or more flange portions projecting extending from said web portion in a second direction which is different from the direction of projection of said web portion from said spacer element, And at least one other of the spacer elements of the spacer device is provided with a female connection formation provided within an or on the exterior wall thereof, said female connection formation having a cross-sectional shape which at least partially corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the male connection formation it is adapted to receive, said female connection formation extending axially axially along said one other spacer element such that said female connection formation has an axial length at least as large as the axial length of the corresponding male connection formation, whereby one or other of the following connections can be achieved: (a) said spacer device is deformed in curling fashion until one male connection formation provided thereon is brought into juxtaposition with said female connection formation and then inserted thereinto thus connecting together respective spacer elements of said spacer device, and (b) one male connection formation provided on one spacer element of a first spacer device is inserted into a female connection formation provided in one spacer element of a second spacer device, thus connecting together first and second spacer devices.

Preferably, said spacer device comprises a plurality of spacer elements numbering between 2 and 12 inclusive, more preferably between 4 and 10 inclusive, and most preferably a spacer device comprises between 5 and 7 spacer elements inclusive.

In a first preferred configuration, the spacer elements of the spacer device are arranged in side-byside fashion adjacent one another in lateral alignment with each of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of each spacer element being disposed on a single notional lateral plane such that in resting undeformed condition on a substantially flat horizontal surface, said notional plane is parallel to said surface with each of the spacer elements within said spacer device being arranged in a row and each being axially aligned with and parallel to any of the other spacer elements within the device.

In one particularly preferred embodiment, a spacer device of the invention is provided with a single male connection formation, most preferably projecting laterally from one of the endmost or terminal spacer elements within the device, and with at least two, and more preferably three separate female connection formations provided in the alternate terminal spacer element provided at the alternate end of the spacer device. In the case where three female connection formations are provided, ideally, one of the three, being a middle or central one, will be disposed such that the transverse mid-point of its cross-sectional shape coincides with the lateral plane which laterally bisects the spacer device and also contains the transverse mid-point of the male connection formation provided on the spacer element at the alternate end of the spacer device, being thus laterally aligned therewith, with the remaining two female connection formations being disposed one on either side of the central formation, most preferably angularly displaced relative to it by one of 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 or 120 degrees. In the case where only two female connection formations are provided, then either one will be disposed above the plane laterally bisecting the spacer device, and one below, each being angularly offset relative to it by one of: 30, 45, 60, 90, 105, and 120 degrees,. Alternatively, one female connection formation may be disposed with its transverse midpoint coincident with said plane, and the other formation may lie above or below said plane, and be angularly offset from the first formation by an amount being one of: 30, 45, 60, 90, 105, and 120 degrees.

In one preferred arrangement of spacer elements, the conjoining webs of material which connect one adjacent spacer element of the device with one or more other spacer elements of the spacer device are all disposed within or proximate the notional plane containing the centroids of all the spacer elements in the device, said conjoining webs extending axially between the two spacer elements conjoined together thereby within said notional plane of at least some portion of the axial length of said two spacer elements. In a most preferred embodiment, the conjoining webs of material extend axially over substantially the entire axial length of each of the said two spacer elements conjoined thereby. Preferably, one or more of the conjoining webs of material may be one of: continuous, or discontinuous so as to be essentially perforated along their axial lengths. Most preferably, the lateral and transverse dimensions On other terminology, their width and thickness, as distinct from their axial length) of the conjoining webs of material is relatively tiny compared to the lateral and transverse dimensions of the cross-sectional shapes of the spacer elements they conjoin. To explain further, the lateral dimension of any one conjoining web of material naturally defines the degree of lateral separation of the two adjacent spacer elements it conjoins, and it is preferred that such separation, and thus the width of the conjoining web of material is no more than between 1-2mm, yet more preferably less than 1mm, and most preferably of the order of 0.5mm. When it is understood that the overall lateral dimension of a spacer element within the spacer device will typically be of the order of between 15-25mm, the skilled reader can understand that the width of the conjoining web is less than 10% of the overall width of the cross-sectional shape of the spacer element, and more preferably less than 5%, and most preferably at between 1%-3%.

Similarly, and arguably more importantly as we will be further explained below, the transverse dimension or thickness of the conjoining web of material may be in similar proportions to those specified above in relation to the lateral or width dimension. In one preferred embodiment, the transverse dimension or thickness of the conjoining web of material is less than lmm thick, more preferably between 0.2mm and 0.8mm thick, and most preferably 0.3mm. The skilled reader will of course understand here that the lateral and transverse dimensions of spacer elements having essentially circular cross-sectional shapes are identical, being in effect both diametral.

The primary reasons that the dimensions of the conjoining webs of material are so small are, firstly, to ensure that all the spacer elements within any single spacer device are disposed laterally very close to one another so that when, for example, a spacer device comprised of a number of spacer elements is inserted into an opening through which a conduit passes, there is practically no lateral play whatsoever between the individual spacer elements of the device, and if any lateral contraction of the spacer device is required in order to enable it to be inserted into some space within the opening, then such lateral contraction occurs resiliently against substantially only the resilient resistance of the spacer elements themselves. Secondly, the reason that transverse dimension or thickness of the conjoining webs of material is so small is to render the webs essentially easily and manually frangible, so any two adjacent spacer elements within any single spacer device can be torn individually or in pairs from the other elements in the device by hand. As the skilled reader will no doubt understand, this is achieved by gripping each said spacer element between the respective thumbs and forefingers of each hand, and twisting said elements relative to one another so that an effective torque is transmitted to the conjoining web sufficient to shear it completely along its length.

It is to be mentioned here that the spacer devices of the FiloSeal +H Dm" system offered by Filoform B.V. do already possess a feature structurally similar to the conjoined webs of material of the present invention, whereby any one of the 5 spacer hexagonally shaped spacer elements in any single Filoseal+HD' spacer device can be torn from an immediately adjacent other in that device. However, the configuration and disposition of the conjoining webs of material in the present invention are importantly and advantageously different from those of the spacer devices of the Filoseal+HD' system, as will become apparent from the further description of the present invention provided below.

In certain preferred embodiments, the cross-sectional shape and size of all of the spacer elements in any single spacer device are identical. Furthermore preferably, the cross-sectional shape is one of circular, elliptical, and a regular polygon. Most preferably the cross-sectional shape of the spacer elements is identical and circular, with the adjacent spacer elements in any one spacer device being conjoined by means of conjoining webs of material all of which extend in the same lateral direction between adjacent spacer elements in the device, said webs of material being bisected by the notional plane which contains all the centroids of all the spacer elements in the spacer device. One particular advantage of this configuration and arrangement of the conjoining webs between adjacent spacer elements is that they all lie essentially in the middle of the spacer device, when viewed end-on, and thus the spacer device of the present invention is entirely laterally symmetrical about the notional plane containing the centroids of all the individual spacer elements within the device. Not only does this configuration allow for easy stacking of spacer devices regardless of lateral orientation, but also it also means that the manual twisting force required to shear any single conjoining web of material is always the same, regardless of lateral orientation.

In a preferred embodiment, a spacer device according to the invention is provided with a single male connection formation, and a corresponding single female connection formation. Preferably, the male connection formation is provided on one of the spacer elements disposed at one end of the spacer device. Preferably, the female connection formation is provided within the spacer element at the alternate end of the spacer device from that at which the male connection formation is provided. In this particular preferred configuration therefore, it may be possible, depending on the number of spacer elements extant within the device, to manually coil the spacer device around itself, bringing male and female connection formations into juxtaposition before manually inserting the former within the latter to connect the spacer elements at opposing ends of the of the spacer device to one another, resulting in a resilient essentially circular arrangement of interconnected spacer elements. Of course, alternately, multiple spacer devices of the same general configuration may be connected together in end-to-end, laterally aligned relationship by manually inserting the male connection formation provided on one spacer device into the female connection formation provided on another device.

Although the most preferred arrangement, configuration and disposition of male and female connection formations is described above, the skilled reader should nevertheless understand that the present invention need not be so limited, and indeed should be interpreted as encompassing a multitude of different possibilities as regards the provision and disposition of male and female connection formations. For example, in order to increase the connection flexibility and versatility of the spacer device, any of the following are possible embodiments of the present invention: - more than one of the spacer elements within the spacer device may be provided with a male connection formation, and more than one may be provided with a female connection formation, - any one of the spacer elements within the spacer device may be provided with more than one of either a male connection formation, or a female connection formation, and any single spacer element within the device could be provided with both a male connection formation and a female connection formation.

The skilled reader will understand that in the case a spacer device is provided with more than a single one of each of the male and female connection formations, or in the case where any such formation is provided on a spacer element within the device which is other than the two spacer elements provided at opposing, and thus initially free, ends of the spacer device, the male and female connection formations may be provided in positions around the peripheries of the spacer elements other than those position as previously described, and which Cif only a single male and a single female connection formation are provided), retain the lateral symmetry of the spacer device.

Notwithstanding the possibilities above, and bearing in mind that most if not all spacer devices will created from the same mould and therefore be identical, any spacer device will most preferably be provided with one and only one of a male and female connection formation on or within any one terminal spacer element, being any such spacer element which is conjoined with only one other and therefore exists at one of the free ends of the spacer device, with the, or at least one, other terminal spacer element within the spacer device (covering the case where there may be more than one, for which see the further description below) being provided with the alternate corresponding type of connection formation.

In most preferred embodiments, both the male and female connection formations extend axially along the entire axial length of the spacer elements along and within which said formations are provided. Alternately, said formations may extend only partially along the axial lengths of the spacer elements, but in this case it is most preferred that the formations are such that their ends coincide with the plane containing one or other of the end surfaces of all the spacer elements within the spacer device. Thus, in former configuration, the female connection formation is open-ended at both axial ends thereof, and in the latter configuration, it is open-ended only at one end and blind at its other, which is within the spacer element at some point along the axial length thereof. In either case, such open-endedness of the female connection formation facilitates resilient expansion thereof, either manually or as a result of the manual forced insertion of the male connection formation thereinto, which, upon complete insertion of the corresponding male connection formation, it resiliently closes around said male connection formation so that a relatively robust mechanical connection is achieved.

In preferred arrangements, the male connection formation comprises a first web portion which extends laterally from the external surface of a terminal spacer element within the spacer device in a direction parallel to and coincident with the notional plane containing the centroids of the various spacer elements, and a pair flange portions which project in a substantially transverse direction, one of said flange portion thus projecting essentially upwardly from said web portion and the other said flange portion projecting essentially downwardly in opposing fashion from said web portion, rendering said male connection formation essentially T-shaped. It is important that the thickness of the web and flange portions of the male connection formation are significantly more substantial than the conjoining webs of material which conjoin adjacent spacer elements, typically at least as 5-10 or 5-15 times as thick, as it is of course a requirement of said male connection formation that it not be capable of being torn away from the spacer element on which it is provided and any manually applicable force. Further preferably, the total lateral extent to which the male connection formation projects away from the exterior surface of the spacer element on which it is provided is less than the wall thickness of the spacer element in which the female connection formation is provided, and indeed, the wall thickness of that particular spacer element may preferably be enlarged appropriately to accommodate said female connection formation, at least as compared to the remaining portions of the spacer element wall outwith that portion in which the female connection formation is provided In some embodiments, one, some or all of the individual spacer elements within the spacer device of the invention are completely hollow throughout their length. In an alternate and preferred embodiment, one, some or all of the individual spacer elements within the spacer device are hollow proximate their remote open ends, but are additionally provided internally with one of the following: - one or more glands, such being usually incomplete in that they have apertures through their centres, integrally formed with the spacer element and thus the spacer device as a whole, said gland or glands being most preferably being provided axially within the spacer element between its axial mid-point and one or other or both open ends thereof, - one or more diaphragms, such usually being generally continuous structures over their entire surface areas, integrally formed with the spacer element and thus the spacer device as a whole, said diaphragm or diaphragms being most preferably provided axially within the spacer element between its axial mid-point and one or other or both open ends thereof, and - an integrally formed core formation which extends within the spacer element axially, most preferably, on either side of the axial mid-point thereof and by an axial distance less than half the axial length of the spacer element. In some preferred embodiments, the core is solid, and in others it is provided with a plurality of apertures, or may be cruciform in configuration, which should be understood as encompassing not only its traditional meaning (2 intersecting lines which give rise to the shape of a cross), but other arrangements of intersecting lines, such as may give rise to 3, 5-or 6-pointed star shape within the spacer element when viewed from either end.

Although not immediately apparent, there is good reason for providing of some form of internal barrier within each of the spacer elements. As described above, during sealing, it is common for the sealant composition to be manually applied from a conventional cartridge gun. Although sealants are generally viscous and do not tend to flow anything like as readily as liquids, nevertheless it is possible and indeed common for contractors and operatives to apply the sealant in such a manner that an excess amount thereof is urged into and along the hollow interiors of the spacer elements.

While there is certainly a requirement for this type of flow, for example to an extent of maybe a few mm, sealant which travels any further than this is largely wasted and serves very little or no purpose whatsoever, and indeed only serves to increase the mass of the overall sealed opening, which in most cases Is not desirable. By providing one or more internal integrally formed glands, diaphragms, or an internal formation within each spacer element, for example during moulding, all these structures provide an effective barrier beyond which it is difficult if not impossible for the sealant to flow during application, and therefore any excess sealant simply builds up above the spacer element where it is at the moment being applied, and this excess can then be easily smoothed into different areas into and over which sealant is to be applied. In some systems, the sealant compositions are costly, so any reduction in the overall amounts required to effect the seal is welcome, and furthermore, said barriers within the spacer elements ensures a more consistent seal, with much more sealant now being capable of being applied to a required, desired and prescribed depth, as opposed to current spacer devices where the depth of applied sealant within the various spacer elements is purely a function of operator skill in applying the sealant.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the one or more flange portions of the male connection formation have at least some element of varying depth along their axial length, and the interior of the female connection formation is correspondingly profiled along over at least some portion of its axial length to as to snugly receive and accommodate said male connection formation. This arrangement is particularly advantageous, because such variation in depth or thickness of the male connection formation results provides the resulting connection between male and female connection formations with some resistance to relative axial movement of the male connection formation within the female connection formation, in at least one and preferably both axial directions. That is to say, once interconnected, the propensity of the male connection formation to slip axially within the female connection is substantially precluded, preferably in either axial direction. In order to successfully achieve this preclusion of relative axial motion of the male connection formation within the female connection formation in both axial directions, it is most preferred that at least one and preferably both of the flange portions of the male connection formation is of tapering thickness along a portion of their axial lengths, said taper diminishing from the free end faces of the flange portions, whereat they are relatively thicker, towards their axial mid-points, whereat they are relatively shallower, with the female connection formation of course being correspondingly tapered axially over at least those interior surfaces thereof with which the tapered surfaces of the flange portions of the male connection formation become most proximally disposed after the male connection formation is fully inserted into the female connection formation.

In an alternate preferred configuration, the spacer device comprises at least 3 individual spacer elements conjoined together by means of conjoining webs of material which extend laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, with one central spacer element being conjoined to the other two spacer elements disposed at some point around the periphery thereof, at least one of the spacer elements being provided with at least one male connection formation as previously described, and at least one other of the spacer elements in the device being provided with at least one female connection formation as previously described, wherein a first pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of two spacer elements including the central spacer element defines a first notional plane containing said centroids, and a second pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a different pair of spacer elements but including said central spacer element being thus common to both the first and second pairs defines a second notional plane containing said centroids of said second pair of spacer elements, and the first and second notional planes subtend an angle bewixt one another which is preferably one of: acute (<90 degrees), 90 degrees, and further preferably obtuse (>90 degrees), being most preferably 120 degrees.

In a yet further alternate preferred configuration, the spacer device comprises at least 4 individual spacer elements conjoined together by means of conjoining webs of material which extend laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, with one central spacer element being conjoined to three other spacer elements arranged around the outside thereof, at least one of said spacer elements being provided with at least one male connection formation as previously described, and another of the spacer elements in the device being provided with at least one female connection formation as previously described, wherein: - a first pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a first pair of spacer elements including the central spacer element defines a first notional plane containing said centroids, - a second pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a different pair of spacer elements but including the central spacer element which is common to both the first and second pairs defines a second notional plane containing said centroids of said second pair of spacer elements, and - a third pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a yet another different pair of spacer elements but including the central spacer element which is common to both the first and second pairs defines a third notional plane containing said centroids of said third pair of spacer elements, and wherein the first, second and third notional planes subtend an angle between one another which is one of: acute, and obtuse. Most preferably the angle is obtuse and equal to 120 120 degrees, in which case the spacer device is essentially Y-shaped.

In a further modified version of the embodiment described immediately above, hereinafter referred to as the Y-shaped embodiment of the invention, it is most preferred that the spacer device comprises 7 individual spacer elements, one of which is a central spacer element, with three remaining pairs of 2 spacer elements forming the individual, separate limbs of the overall "V" shape, conjoined to both one another and said central spacer element.

These abovementioned Y-shaped embodiments of the invention are particularly useful for trefoil arrangements of cables or other conduits present within the opening to be filled and packed with spacer devices, because in such cases, it is often necessary or even mandatory to separate the trefoil cables or conduits from one another and then to fill the intervening spaces between each and all of the cables or conduits with at least some spacer elements so that said cables or conduits are resiliently maintained in spaced apart relationship after the sealing operation is completed. In prior art systems, where spacer devices consist of only single individual spacer elements, or a number of spacer elements provided in rows of, for example 5 or less, it is necessary to effect multiple insertions to effectively fill said intervening space. However, in the case of the present invention, and the Y-shaped embodiment thereof, only a single insertion (of a Y-shaped device) is required because the shape of the spacer device is already tripartite and thus immediately adapted to completely fill all three intervening spaces between three cables or conduits in trefoil arrangement. Furthermore, after insertion of a Y-shaped spacer device according to the invention in this manner, it is then a simple matter to mechanically connect further spacer devices, whether Y-shaped or substantially linear in configuration, by means of the male and female connection formations provided on both the different types of spacer device of the present invention.

It should be mentioned here that would of course be possible, and within the scope of the present invention, to create a Y-shaped spacer device from 3 of the more conventional substantially linearly orientated spacer devices described above by firstly providing, in a first spacer device, at least two connection formations, being one or both of either male and female, in a single spacer element thereof, said connection formations disposed around the periphery thereof at an angular separation, relative to one another of, for example, 120 degrees though another angular separation may of course be considered, and then connecting to each of said formations another spacer device of substantially linear configuration, as previously described. In this manner the versatility of the present invention is further enhanced, because it is thus possible to manually create a spacer device having a Y-shaped configuration from three identically moulded spacer devices all having of substantially linearly arranged spacer elements, thus precluding the requirement for a separate, dedicated moulding. Any such Y-shaped configuration of spacer devices, or any technical equivalent thereof (for example, a T-shaped configuration, or arrow-shaped, e.g.4 or IN configuration) of spacer devices should of course be considered as being similarly within the scope hereof.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a resilient conduit spacer and support device, being of one-piece unitary construction of a resilient rubberised or flexible plastics material and consisting of a plurality of substantially tubular and substantially hollow spacer elements each conjoined together by means of a conjoining web of material which extends laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, said web being both laterally narrow and transversally thin relative to the corresponding lateral and transverse dimensions of the adjacent spacer elements said web unites, characterized in that One of the spacer elements within the spacer device, being a central spacer element, is conjoined to at least three other spacer elements around its periphery, each being conjoined thereto with respective conjoining webs of material provided around the periphery of said central spacer element, suitably angularly displaced from one another, measured from the centroid of the central spacer element, so as to provide the spacer device with one of: - an essentially Y-shaped configuration, -an essentially T-shaped configuration, and - an essentially arrow-shaped configuration, Wherein the spacer device as a whole comprises 3 distinct limbs, each limb consisting of one or more spacer elements.

Preferably, the limbs of the spacer device of the second aspect of the present invention comprise at least two spacer elements, and are angularly equally displaced relative to one another, with any one limb of the spacer device having an angular displacement, measured from the centroid of the central spacer element, from any other limb of 120 degrees.

Preferably, all the spacer elements of the spacer device of the second aspect of the present invention are substantially circular in cross-section.

Most preferably, in the spacer device of the second aspect of the present invention, at least one of the spacer elements, being a terminal spacer element disposed at the end of a limb, is provided with a male connection formation which projects outwardly from some point on the peripheral surface of that spacer element and extends axially along at least some portion thereof, said formation comprising firstly a web portion which projects in a first direction away from the exterior surface of the spacer element, and one or more flange portions at which the male formation terminates, said flange portions projecting extending from said web portion in a second direction which is different from the direction of projection of said web portion from said spacer element, And at least one other of the terminal spacer elements is provided with a female connection formation provided within an or the exterior wall thereof, said female connection formation having a cross-sectional shape which at least partially corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the male formation it is adapted to receive, said female connection formation extending axially within and axially along said one other spacer element such that said female connection formation has an axial length at least as large as the axial length of the corresponding male connection element, whereby one or other of the following connections can be achieved: (a) one of the limbs of said spacer device is deformed in curling fashion until one male connection formation provided a terminal spacer element thereof is brought into juxtaposition with another terminal spacer element provided on another limb of said spacer device, and then inserted thereinto thus connecting together respective limbs of said spacer device, and (b) one male connection formation provided on one spacer element of a first spacer device is inserted into a female connection formation provided in one spacer element of a second spacer device, thus connecting together first and second spacer devices.

In all cases, any preferred feature of the present invention described above should not be considered as limited to any specific aspect of embodiment of the invention merely by the position in which it appears in this text or by the fact it may refer to only to a single aspect or embodiment in this text. Moreover, it is to be clearly understood that many of the preferred features described above will be equally applicable to various different aspects and embodiments of the present invention.

As the skilled reader will now surely appreciate, the present invention provides an exceptionally versatile and flexible means of packing and filling a conduit carrying opening with spacer devices, which is not only capable of improving the overall robustness and resiliency of the completed packing arrangement of spacer devices by virtue of the mechanical interconnection of at least some of those spacer devices, but which furthermore allows for any such packing arrangement to be completed quickly by relatively unskilled operatives without compromise to the said resiliency and robustness thereof. A yet further advantage of the present invention, at least as compared to the FiloSeal +HD' system currently available from Filoform BV is that individual or groups of only very few, e.g. 2 or 3, spacer elements can easily be provided by tearing one, two or three spacer elements off from any spacer device comprising more, and without needing to first turn over or orientate the spacer device in any particular way. Furthermore, the spacer devices of the present invention (not including the Y-shaped embodiment) are easily and readily stackable in any orientation, being substantially both laterally and transversally symmetrical. Indeed, the only means of really identifying any particular orientation direction of the spacer devices of the present invention is by means of the male and female connection formations provided thereon, preferably one in each of the terminal spacer elements of any spacer device.

A specific embodiment of the invention is now described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art spacer device comprising an array of 5 hexagonally cross-sectioned tubular spacer elements conjoined together, each being provided with similar but smaller individual spacer elements used to stiffen the surrounding larger spacer elements, Figure 1A shows an enlarged end elevation of the area circled in Figure 1, more clearly illustrating how a respective pair of adjacent spacer elements are conjoined together, Figure 2 shows a perspective view of an opening through which 3 cables or conduits in trefoil arrangement pass, with the majority of the intervening space between the interior walls of the opening and the exterior surfaces of the cables filled with a plurality of the spacer devices of Figure 1, as well as some individual spacer elements of the same general configuration and smaller groups thereof, Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the spacer device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, Figures 3A, 35, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, and 3G, show various engineering-style elevational, sectional and plan views of a spacer device according to the present invention, including some representative dimensions, and in particular, Figure 3A shows an end elevation of the terminal spacer element of a spacer device, in upright orientation, in which the female connection formation is provided, Figure 35 shows a plan view from above of a spacer device, Figure 3C shows an end elevation of the terminal spacer element of a spacer device, in upright orientation, along the exterior of which the male connection formation is provided, Figure 3D shows an end elevation of a spacer device arranged in lay-flat condition, Figure 3E shows a sectional view along B-B of the spacer element of Figure 3D, Figure 3F shows a sectional elevation along A-A of the spacer element of Figure 3B, Figure 3G shows an enlarged end elevational view of the terminal spacer element of the spacer device of other Figures 3A-3F, showing various preferred dimensions, Figures 4A, 4B show respectively enlarged perspective views of the terminal spacer elements of the spacer device of Figures 3 more clearly showing the nature and configuration of the female and male connection formations, Figures 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F show various engineering-style elevational, sectional and plan views of a larger spacer device according to a modified aspect of the present invention wherein the spacer elements thereof are provided internally with an integrally moulded cruciform core formation and including some representative dimensions, and in particular, Figure 5A shows a plan view from above of said spacer device, Figure SB shows a side elevation view of the terminal spacer element of a spacer device, in lay-flat condition and within which the female connection formation is provided, Figure SC shows an end elevation of a spacer device arranged in lay-flat condition clearly showing the internal cruciform core formations inside each spacer element, Figure 5D shows a sectional view along A-A of the spacer element of Figure 5C, showing the axial position of the cruciform core formations within each spacer element, Figures 5E, 5F show respectively enlarged end elevational views of the female and male connection formations referenced "E" and "F" in Figure 5C, showing various preferred dimensions (all in mm), Figures 5G, SH show respectively perspective views from underneath and from above a spacer of this embodiment of the other Figures 5A-5F, Figures 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F show, respectively, an end elevation of a Y-shaped configuration of three interconnected spacer devices of a yet further modified aspect of the invention wherein the spacer elements thereof are provided with internal core formations having a plurality of apertures therein, a perspective view of the Y-shaped configuration of interconnected spacer devices of Figure 6A, a plan view from above of a linearly arranged configuration of two interconnected spacer devices of the present invention, An end elevation of the linearly arranged interconnected spacer devices of Figure 6C, and a perspective view of the linearly arranged interconnected spacer devices of Figure 6C, and Figures 7A, 73 show respectively a partial perspective view of a common trefoil arrangement of a short length of three cables, clamped together as sometimes is the case, and an enlarged schematic sectional view of the three cables of Figure 7A having been manually separated from one another to allow a tripodal or Y-shaped spacer device to be inserted into and fill the space between said cables.

Detailed Description

Referring firstly to Figure 1, there is shown a prior art spacer device 2 comprising a substantially linear arrangement of 5 conjoined spacer elements 4A, 43, and 4C. Each spacer element 43 in the device is identical to the other elements 43, as all such elements are conjoined to two other spacer elements, one on either side, whereas terminal spacer elements 4A 43 are mirror images of each other. All spacer elements 4A, 43, 4C are essentially hexagonal in cross-sectional shape, and are tubular in that each is entirely hollow throughout its axial length. In the Figure, the hollow interior is shown to be circular, and therefore the wall thickness of each spacer elements varies as the interior cylindrical surface naturally approaches or recedes from the external hexagonal surfaces of each spacer element around the circumference. Also shown within this Figure are hollow tubular hexagonally shaped stiffening elements 6, broadly identical to the spacer elements 4A, B, C, but with obviously smaller cross-sectional dimensions to enable these to be inserted as illustrated, On the Figure, to varying degrees, purely for the purposes of understanding), into the respective hollow interiors of spacer elements 4A, 43, 4C. As will be explained further below with reference to Figure 2, multiple spacer devices 2, optionally provided with stiffening elements, may be used as packing and support for, around and between cables or other conduits passing through an opening which is desired to be closed and sealed.

Referring briefly to Figure 1A, the manner in which the terminal spacer element 4C is conjoined to its nearest neighbour spacer element 43 is illustrated in greater detail. As the skilled reader may appreciate, the spacer device 2 is a one-piece moulding of unitary construction, as it is naturally much more cost effective to manufacture spacer elements in groups conjoined together as opposed to manufacturing the elements individually. However, practically every installation situation is different as both the size and shape of the openings, and the number of conduits passing through them is rarely if ever consistent, and therefore each installation will generally always require a different number of spacer elements. Therefore, in order to provide installers with some flexibility, the spacer devices 2 are commonly provided with some means whereby one or two individual spacer elements can be manually and thus easily separated from the group of 5, usually by a simple tearing action. To facilitate this, each individual spacer element is conjoined to one or two neighbouring elements by means of an intervening web of material 8 which is rendered frangible by means of a V-shaped groove 10 or other similar indentation which effectively reduces the thickness of the intervening web 8, with the sharp corner at the base of the indentation giving rise to a natural concentration of stress when the web 8 of material is placed under any load. In combination, this concentration of stress and the reduced depth or thickness of material immediately underneath said groove 10 tends provides a line of weakness which thus promote easy tearing along this line, and thus renders it relatively easy for individual spacer elements, or smaller groups thereof, to be created.

It is important to note the positioning of the intervening conjoining web 8-it is provided between adjacent vertices of the hexagonal shapes of the individual spacer elements 45, 4C, said vertices being disposed at the upper ends of the essentially vertical and parallel most adjacent side faces 75, 7C of the hexagonal shapes of the spacer elements. As the skilled reader will understand, corresponding conjoining webs are provided in identical locations for other spacer elements in the device 2. Additionally, each of the conjoining webs extends along the entire axial length of the device 2 between each spacer element therein, as do the grooves 10 provided in the upper surface of said webs 8. This positioning of the conjoining webs 8 means that, firstly, the spacer device 2 lacks lateral symmetry, being asymmetrical about a lateral plane containing the centroids of each of the spacer elements in the device. A further point to note is that, in practically all installations, the spacer devices 2 are required to be flexibly deformable around (typically) curved surfaces of openings and conduits so that intervening spaces within the opening between and around the cables can be effectively and completely filled with both spacer devices and individual spacer elements, or smaller groups thereof. The disposing of the intervening webs 8, and the grooves 8 within them, renders it relatively easy to curl one or two of the spacer elements 4A, 45 in clockwise fashion from that end up and over other spacer elements 45, 4C in the group, and similarly spacer elements 4C and 45 can quite easily be curled in anti-clockwise fashion up and over the remaining spacer elements 4A, 45 in the group. However, in the orientation shown, it is physically impossible for spacer elements 4A and its immediate neighbour 45 to be curled in anti-clockwise fashion underneath and around remaining spacer elements in the group, and equally impossible for spacer element 4C and its immediate neighbour element 45 to be curled in clockwise fashion underneath and around remaining elements in the group (excepting of course any elastic deformation of the spacer device and the various elements within it, which may be manually forcibly created). This is of course due to the hexagonal cross-sectional shape of the spacer elements 4A, B, C -attempting any of the physically impossible curling motions simply results in the most adjacent faces of the hexagonal shapes of any two adjacent element abutting one another. Thus, importantly, the prior art device is clearly "handed" in that curling motions of one or more of the end-most spacer elements in the group are only permitted in certain directions, depending on orientation. In various different embodiments, the present invention overcomes this disadvantage, as will become apparent from the further description provided below.

Referring briefly now to Figure 2, a typically installation scenario 20 is illustrated, wherein a set of 3 conduits 22, 24, 26 arranged in in the common trefoil grouping, passes through a significant larger opening within which a seal is to be provided. As can be seen from the Figure, the intervening space within opening between the internal walls 29 and the external surfaces of the cables 22 has been packed and filled with tubular hollow spacer devices 30 of the type illustrated and described above with reference to Figure 1, 1A. The condition illustrated in Figure 2 is that at which the packing and filling has been completed, immediately prior to manual application of the sealant composition - over, into and around all the spacer elements 30, -all the way around the remaining exposed surface of the internal walls 29 (note the spacer devices/elements have been inserted within the opening to a desired depth beneath the topmost edge 29A of the opening), and - within and around (most preferably all) such portions of the exterior surfaces of the cables 22 is are disposed within the opening but not outside it, including all those cable surfaces which would otherwise be inaccessible as a result of the trefoil arrangement (the skilled reader will understand that some manual separation of the cables may in some circumstances be required).

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown a spacer device 40 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, consisting in this case of a group of 5 individual spacer elements 42A, 42B- 1, 4213-11, 4213-111, and 42C being both tubular and of circular cross-sectional shape, and conjoined together in substantially linear orientation to form a conjoined row of elements. In this embodiment, the elements are shown as completely hollow throughout their axial lengths, but this need not be the case, as previously mentioned and described in detail below. To aid understanding and description, spacer elements 42A, 42C will be referred to as terminal spacer elements, whereas spacer elements 42B-1, 42B-II, 4213-111, will be referred to as intervening spacer elements. Naturally the terminal spacer elements are only conjoined to the single intervening element they neighbour, whereas any intervening spacer element is conjoined to the two other immediate neighbour spacer elements disposed on either side of any such intervening element. The spacer elements are conjoined together by means of a conjoining webs 44-1, 44-11, 44-111, 44-1V, of material, and these are created when the entire device 40 is moulded, either in a one-or two-piece moulding, and therefore are of the same material as the remainder of the device. Various modern rubberised plastics materials are suitable, and ideally the material will be a flexible resilient plastics material such as thermoplastic polyethylene (TPE), optionally enhanced in some manner, for example with an expandable graphite or other component to render it intumescent or provide it with other temperature/fire resisting and/or fire-retardant qualities. In most embodiments therefore, the material in which the spacer devices are moulded is a blend of materials.

To provide some common example dimensions, the axial length of each of the spacer elements may be of the order 60mm, whereas the outer diameter of any individual spacer element may range from 10-100mm, with a most common OD dimension being 18mm. In a preferred embodiment, the overall (lateral) width of the spacer device may be of the order of 120-150mm. The material wall thickness of any individual spacer element may be of the order of 3-10mm, with larger values being more suitable for spacer elements having larger diameters, and the thickness and width of the conjoining webs of material will ideally all be equal and may be of the order of 0.2-0.5mm wide On the lateral direction indicated by dotted line 50 in the Figure) and similar in thickness (or transverse direction being perpendicular to said lateral direction). Typically, the cables or conduits around which the spacer devices of the present invention may be used may have outer diameters (OD) ranging from 5mm to 200mm, and the reader will understand that when large openings through which very large OD cables or conduits pass are to be filled and packed, then spacer devices with correspondingly larger dimensions will commonly be employed.

For completeness, a set of engineering-style Figures 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3Gis provided herewith, and which not specifically described, these all provide some indication of all the preferred dimensions of all the various aspects of a spacer device of the present invention As can be seen in the figure, terminal spacer elements 42A 42C are provided with a female connection formation indicated at 46 and a complementary and corresponding male connection formation indicated generally at 48. As can be seen in the Figure, the cross-sectional shape of the female connection formation is substantially identical to that of the corresponding male connection formation at the opposing end of the device and is of comparable size, usually slightly larger but possibly also exactly the same size or even slightly smaller, so that upon connection of the or any other male connection formation provided on any other identical spacer device, said male connection is snugly received and retained therein.

It is to be noted in this particular embodiment that the wall thickness of spacer element 42A in and around the vicinity of the female connection formation is deeper than elsewhere in said element to entirely accommodate the female connection formation, and so that it is entirely internally closed in that the female connection formation is internally completely defined by internal walls. However, the skilled reader will appreciate that this need not be the case, For instance, there exist embodiments wherein the female connection formation consists of only a slot having a depth which is comparable to the thickness of the web portion of the corresponding male connection formation which is thus simply retained behind the opening of said slot being narrower than the retained web portions of the male connection formation which firstly pass through the slot and are then retained behind it when the respective front edges of the female connection formation resilient close in front thereof after the insertion of the male connection formation is completed.

Turning now to Figures 4A, 4B, the female and male connection formations 46,48 of terminal spacer elements 424, 42C respectively are shown enlarged and in greater detail. In particular, male connection formation 48 comprises firstly a web portion 48A by means of which it is joined to the spacer element 42C, and a pair of flange portions 483 which diverge away from said web portion in generally perpendicular fashion. In the embodiment illustrated, both the male (and for that matter, the female) connection formations extend over the entire axial length of the spacer elements on which they are provided, and therefore have the same axial length. Alternate arrangements, wherein said male and female connection formations extend over a portion of the axial length of the spacer elements on which they are provided are not illustrated, but should of course be considered as encompassed within the scope hereof.

One particularly preferred feature of the present invention is the tapering of, on one hand, the overall thickness or depth (the dimension in the transverse direction) of the male connection formation, and specifically the extent to which the flange portions 485 project upwardly and downwardly, above and below the web portion 48A, over the entire axial length of the male connection formation. In the embodiment illustrated, the overall thickness or depth varies along the axial length of the male connection formation, reducing towards a minimum at an axial midpoint thereof, indicated at 48D, and then increasing again away from that point to the alternate free end of the formation. The skilled reader will of course appreciate that there are a multitude of possible configurations of this feature, but in all cases the intention and function of any such depth variation over some axial extent of the complementary male/female connection formations is the same, namely to prevent or at least substantially preclude any relative axial movement, in one or both axial directions, of the male connection formation when fully and completely received within any corresponding female connection formation. Naturally, the interior uppermost and lowermost walls of the female connection formation will be similarly profiled so that its overall vertical depth will taper correspondingly, reducing in height towards its axial mid point and increasing away from it.

It is to be noted also from Figure 4A that the transverse depth dimensions of the opening of the female connection formation 46 also similarly varies, being deeper at its ends and shallower at its mid point, such configuration naturally facilitating the insertion of the correspondingly profiled male connection formation 48. Further features of the female and male connection formations 46, 48 to be noted from Figures 4A, 4B are the chamfers 48E provided at both ends of the male connection formation 48, and the bevelled or radiused edges, the outermost 4 of which are referenced at 48F, and although not specifically referenced or illustrated in the Figure, corresponding bevelling or radiusing is also provided over the entire axial length of the innermost axially extending edges of said male connection formation. Corresponding bevelling or radiusing is provided on directly corresponding surfaces of the female connection formation, both internally and externally thereof, and in Figure 4A the radiused external edges 46A are referenced for clarity.

Referring now briefly to Figures 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 5G, 5H, and specifically to Figures 5C, 5D, there is shown a modified spacer device 50 in which each and all of the spacer elements 52A, 52B, 52C is provided internally with an integrally formed cruciform shaped core formation, 54 which, as can clearly be seen from Figure 5D, is disposed axially within each spacer element closer to one open end thereof than the other. Therefore, the spacer device 50 of this embodiment is "handed" in that the orientation of insertion of the spacer device into any opening through which cables or conduits pass is important, and in general it is preferred that the spacer devices be inserted so that the internal cruciform-shaped core formation is disposed more to the front of the opening than to the rear, as the sealant composition will most commonly be applied from and at the front of the opening, and therefore the internal cruciform-shaped formations will then serve as a barrier to prevent said sealing composition from flowing inside any spacer element beyond said formations to any great extent.

Also in Figure 5C, it can be seen that the terminal spacer element 52A is provided with three separate and distinct female connection formations 56, 58, 60 (described more completely above with reference to Figures 3, 4A, 48) with one of said female connection formations 58 being aligned laterally and in the same general plane as the corresponding single male connection formation 62 which projects laterally to the outside of terminal spacer element 52C. The extent of angular offset of female connection formations 56, 60 from the middle or central female connection formation 58 is preferably 60 degrees on either side thereof, and as will seen from Figures 6A, 68, this allows for three initially separate spacer devices of the type shown in Figures 5A-5H to be interconnected in a Y-shaped configuration, which is useful for reasons already specified above. Indeed, referring briefly now to these Figures 6A-6E, a yet further modified aspect of the spacer device of the present invention is shown in which each spacer device is provided internally with an integrally formed core formation 72 in which a plurality of apertures 74 is provided, these, in essence, providing the same benefit as the cruciform-shaped core formation described above with reference to Figures SC, SD, although perhaps more effectively. Of more importance here is the interconnected configuration of the three spacer devices 70, and the angular orientation of each with respect to the other (equal, degrees between any two) after the male connection formations 78 of two identical spacer devices 70 are inserted into and thus connected within two of the three female connection formations 76 of a third identical spacer device 70, as illustrated.

In an alternative linear configuration of two identical spacer devices 70, shown in Figures 6C, 6D, 6E, the male connection formation 78 of one spacer device 70 is simply inserted into the middle or central of the three female connection formations 76 provided on another identical spacer element 70, as illustrated. As the skilled reader will immediately understand, the provision of multiple female connection formations 76 allows for a variety of connection possibilities.

Referring finally to Figures 7A, 78, there is indicated generally at 80 a short section of three individual cables 82, 84, 86 contiguously arranged in what is commonly known as a trefoil. The reader will understand that said cables, and the arrangement in which they are disposed may extend over many metres, and Figure 7A only shows a short section of the cables. Also in Figure 7A, said cables are maintained in close relationship to one another by means of a clamp indicated generally at 88 consisting essentially of a thin band of metal 90, the free ends of which are releasably held within a tightenable clasp mechanism 92 by means of which the band 90 can be tightened against the cables to firmly clamp them together and by means of which the trefoil configuration of the three cables is maintained. Naturally, many such clamps may be provided intermittently along extended lengths of this cable arrangement, as required. Equally, said clamps may easily be removed and/or cut off when the individual cables a required to be separated from cable arrangements, usually at their remote ends, typically when each of the cables is required to be connected to other electrical apparatus. In some instances, clamps such as illustrated may not be used, and instead the three cables may be manually or mechanically twisted together, but in any event the trefoil arrangement of three cables together in very close and usually contiguous proximity, is maintained. The skilled reader will understand that trefoil cables arrangement aid the general manoeuvrability of longer lengths of cables, as compared to feeding long lengths of individual cables into and through ducts, openings, and transit systems in general (not shown in Figs. 7A, 7B).

As regards the utility of the present invention, trefoil arrangements of cables are very commonly fed through openings and each of the three cables, along with any others passing through any such opening, are required to be robustly and effectively sealed, and the trefoil arrangement, at least when the cables are in close contiguous relationship as illustrated in Figure 7A, makes effective sealing quite difficult if not actually impossible, due to the roughly triangularly shaped interstice 94 defined by each of the three cables centrally of the trefoil arrangement thereof, said interstice of course extending over the entire length of the trefoil arrangement of cables. Thus, when it comes to sealing the cables within an opening, usually at least one of the clamps 90 will be removed or cut off to allow each of the three cables to be (usually) manually separated from one another as indicated by the arrows 96, the ultimate aim of which is to create sufficient space between each of the three cables to allow at least some spacer elements of spacer devices to be inserted therein to provide both resilient support for, and an increased bonding surface area between each of said cables. A resulting typical arrangement is shown, sectionally, in Figure 7B, where each of the cables 82, 84, 86 has been moved apart from its respective two other neighbours by a sufficient distance so that a Y-shaped spacer device 100 according to the present invention can readily be inserted into the correspondingly Y-shaped space created by the cable separation, with each of the three limbs 102, 104, 106 of the spacer device occupying the space defined between the three cable pairs in the now expanded trefoil arrangement thereof. As the skilled reader will understand, cables provided in trefoil arrangements are often heavy duty cables having large (e.g. 5mm-25mm diameter) and there will always be some inherent resiliency such that there always exists some tendency for each of the cables to return to their original closely contiguous positions after manual separation. Therefore, when a Y-shaped spacer device is inserted between the cables as illustrated, each of the cables will naturally relax somewhat against, and thus be resiliently supported by, individual spacer elements within the limbs 102, 104, 106. The fundamental difference between the packing arrangement of the present invention in which a Y-shaped spacer device is used, as opposed to the conventional prior art packing arrangements where only individual spacer elements or linear configurations thereof are used, is that each of the limbs 102, 104, 106 the Y-shaped spacer device are connected together, and thus there is increased support for all the cables and furthermore an increase in the resistance provided by the spacer device as a whole to individual cable movements. To explain further, after sealing has been completed, the use of a Y-shaped spacer device of the present invention effectively resists or at least significantly damps cable movements because of the interconnectedness of the said limbs 102, 104, 106, with any one limb of the spacer device naturally resisting the tendency of the remaining two to move away from it. The resulting arrangement, both before and after application of the sealant composition, is much more robust and coherent than would ever be the case when employing individual unconnected (except by sealant) spacer elements, or essentially linear spacer devices comprising only relatively few individual spacer elements.

In Figure 7B, there is also shown a shorter spacer device 108 comprising only three spacer elements linearly arranged, and which is positioned adjacent limb 106 of spacer device 100 and also adjacent the exterior surface of cable 82. The skilled reader should understand that many such spacer devices, of varying lengths, and indeed in some cases individual spacer elements, will be positioned all around and on both sides of the remaining limbs 102, 104 and cables 82, 84, 86 so that all said cables are fully supported on all sides within any opening through which they pass, and may thus be very reliably, robustly, and coherently sealed.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A resilient conduit spacer and support device, being of one-piece unitary construction of a resilient flexible material and consisting of a plurality of substantially tubular and substantially hollow spacer elements conjoined together by means of a conjoining web of material which extends laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, said web being both laterally narrow and transversally thin relative to the corresponding lateral and transverse dimensions of the adjacent spacer elements said web unites, characterized in that at least one of the spacer elements of the spacer device is provided with a male connection formation which projects outwardly from some point on the peripheral surface of that spacer element and extends axially along at least some portion thereof, said formation comprising firstly a web portion which projects in a first direction away from the exterior surface of the spacer element, and one or more flange portions at which the male formation terminates, said one or more flange portions extending from said web portion in a second direction which is different from the direction of projection of said web portion from said spacer element, And at least one other of the spacer elements of the spacer device is provided with a female connection formation provided within an or on the exterior wall thereof, said female connection formation having a cross-sectional shape which at least partially corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the male connection formation it is adapted to receive, said female connection formation extending axially along said one other spacer element such that said female connection formation has an axial length at least as large as the axial length of the corresponding male connection formation, whereby one or other of the following connections can be achieved: (a) said spacer device is deformed in curling fashion until one male connection formation provided thereon is brought into juxtaposition with said female connection formation and then inserted thereinto thus connecting together respective spacer elements of said spacer device, and (b) one male connection formation provided on one spacer element of a first spacer device is inserted into a female connection formation provided in one spacer element of a second spacer device, thus connecting together first and second spacer devices.
2. A spacer device according to claim 1 wherein the spacer elements of the spacer device are arranged in side-by-side fashion adjacent one another in lateral alignment with each of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of each spacer element being disposed on a single notional lateral plane.
3. A spacer device according to claim 2 and being provided with at least one male connection formation projecting outwardly from the exterior surface of one of the spacer elements within the device, and at least one female connection formation provided in one of: that same spacer element, an alternate spacer element within the spacer device
4. A spacer device according to claim 3 and being provided with a single male connection formation projecting laterally from one of the terminal spacer elements within the spacer device and at least two separate female connection formations provided in one of: the opposite terminal spacer element provided at the alternate end of the spacer device, an alternate spacer element within the spacer device, not being that on which the male connection formation is provided.
5. A spacer device according to claim 4 and being provided with two female connection formations, one being disposed substantially in one of the following three positions: -above, below or coincident with the plane laterally bisecting the spacer device, and the other female connection being disposed in any of the two other remaining positions.
6. A spacer device according to claim 4 and being provided with three female connection formations in a terminal spacer element of the spacer device, one of said three being a middle or central one disposed such that the transverse mid-point of its cross-sectional shape coincides with the lateral plane which laterally bisects the spacer device and also contains the transverse mid-point of the male connection formation provided on the spacer element at the alternate end of the spacer device, being thus substantially laterally aligned therewith, with the remaining two female connection formations being disposed one on either side of the central formation and angularly offset upwardly and/or downwardly relative thereto.
7. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the conjoining webs of material which connect one adjacent spacer element of the device with one or more other spacer elements of the spacer device are all disposed within or proximate the notional plane containing the centroids of all the spacer elements in the device, said conjoining webs extending axially between the two spacer elements conjoined together thereby within said notional plane of at least some portion of the axial length of said two spacer elements.
8. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein a conjoining web of material which joins any two adjacent spacer elements within the device extends axially over substantially the entire axial length of each of the said two spacer elements.
9. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein one or more of the conjoining webs of material is one of: continuous, or discontinuous.
10. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the cross-sectional shape and size of some or all of the spacer elements in any single spacer device is one of: uniform throughout the spacer device, varying.
11. A spacer device according to claim 10 wherein the cross-sectional shape of one or more of the spacer elements in any single spacer device is one of: circular, elliptical, regular polygonal.
12. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the cross-sectional shape and size of all the spacer elements is uniform and circular, with each of any two adjacent spacer elements within said spacer device being conjoined by means of a conjoining web of material which extends in the same lateral direction between adjacent spacer elements in the device, said webs of material being bisected by the notional plane which contains all the centroids of all the spacer elements in the spacer device.
13. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein both the male and female connection formations extend axially along the axial length of the spacer elements along and within which said formations are provided, in one of the following ways: partially or completely.
14. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the at least female connection formation is open-ended at one or both axial ends thereof 25
15. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the male connection formation comprises a first web portion which extends laterally from the external surface of a terminal spacer element within the spacer device in a direction parallel to and coincident with the notional plane containing the centroids of the various spacer elements, and a pair flange portions which project in substantially transverse and opposite directions from and on either side of said web portion.
16. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the total lateral extent to which the male connection formation projects away from the exterior surface of the spacer element on which it is provided is less than the wall thickness of the spacer element in which the female connection formation is provided.
17. A spacer device according to claim 15 or 16 wherein the one or more flange portions of the male connection formation have at least some element of varying depth along their axial length, and the interior of the female connection formation is correspondingly profiled along over at least some portion of its axial length to as to snugly receive and accommodate said male connection formation and provide some resistance to relative axial movement therebetween.
18. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the spacer device comprises at least 3 individual spacer elements conjoined together by means of conjoining webs of material which extend laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, with one central spacer element being conjoined to the other two spacer elements disposed at some point around the periphery thereof, at least one of the spacer elements being provided with at least one male connection formation, and at least one other of the spacer elements in the device being provided with at least one female connection formation, wherein a first pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of two spacer elements including the central spacer element defines a first notional plane containing said centroids, and a second pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a different pair of spacer elements but including said central spacer element being thus common to both the first and second pairs defines a second notional plane containing said centroids of said second pair of spacer elements, and the first and second notional planes subtend an angle bewixt one another which is preferably one of: acute, perpendicular, and obtuse.
19. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein the spacer device comprises at least 4 individual spacer elements conjoined together by means of conjoining webs of material which extend laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, with one central spacer element being conjoined to three other spacer elements arranged around the outside thereof, at least one of said spacer elements being provided with at least one male connection formation, and another of the spacer elements in the device being provided with at least one female connection formation, wherein: - a first pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a first pair of spacer elements including the central spacer element defines a first notional plane containing said centroids, - a second pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a different pair of spacer elements but including the central spacer element which is common to both the first and second pairs defines a second notional plane containing said centroids of said second pair of spacer elements, and - a third pair of the centroids of the cross-sectional shapes of a yet another different pair of spacer elements but including the central spacer element which is common to both the first and second pairs defines a third notional plane containing said centroids of said third pair of spacer elements, and wherein the first, second and third notional planes subtend an angle between one another which is one of: acute, perpendicular, and obtuse
20. A spacer device according to claim 19 wherein the angle between any and all two pairs of the defined notional planes is obtuse and equal to 120 degrees so that the spacer device is essentially Y-shaped
21. A spacer device according to claim 19 or 20 and comprising at least 7 individual spacer elements, one of which is a central spacer element, with three remaining pairs of 2 spacer elements forming the individual, separate limbs of the overall shape of the spacer device, each of said spacer elements in the three pairs being conjoined to one another, and each of the three pairs of 2 spacer elements all being conjoined to said central spacer element.
22. A resilient conduit spacer and support device of one-piece unitary construction and constituted substantially or entirely of a resilient flexible material and consisting of a plurality of substantially tubular and substantially hollow spacer elements each conjoined together by means of a conjoining web of material which extends laterally between any two adjacent spacer elements along some portion of the axial length thereof, said web being both laterally narrow and transversally thin relative to the corresponding lateral and transverse dimensions of the adjacent spacer elements said web unites, characterized in that One of the spacer elements within the spacer device is a central spacer element and is conjoined to at least three other spacer elements around its periphery, each being conjoined thereto with respective conjoining webs of material provided around the periphery of said central spacer element, suitably angularly displaced from one another, measured from the centroid of the central spacer element, so as to provide the spacer device with one of: - an essentially Y-shaped configuration, - an essentially T-shaped configuration, and - an essentially arrow-shaped configuration, And wherein the spacer device as a whole comprises 3 distinct limbs, each limb consisting of one or more spacer elements.
23. A spacer device according to claim 22 wherein the limbs of the spacer device comprise at least two spacer elements, and are angularly equally displaced relative to one another, with any one limb of the spacer device having an angular displacement measured from the centroid of the central spacer element, from any other limb of 120 degrees
24. A spacer device according to claim 23 or 24 wherein all the spacer elements of the spacer device of the second aspect of the present invention are all one or both of: - substantially circular in cross-section and - dimensionally identical.
25. A spacer device according to any of claims 23-25 wherein at least one of the spacer elements, being a terminal spacer element disposed at the end of a limb, is provided with at least one male connection formation which projects outwardly from some point on the peripheral surface of that spacer element and extends axially along at least some portion thereof, said formation comprising firstly a web portion which projects in a first direction away from the exterior surface of the spacer element, and one or more flange portions at which the male formation terminates, said flange portions projecting extending from said web portion in a second direction which is different from the direction of projection of said web portion from said spacer element, And at least one other of the terminal spacer elements of another limb of the spacer device is provided with at least one female connection formation, said female connection formation having a cross-sectional shape which at least partially corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of the male formation it is adapted to receive, said female connection formation extending axially within and at least partially axially along said one other spacer element such that said female connection formation has an axial length at least as large as the axial length of the corresponding male connection formation, and whereby one or other of the following connections can be achieved: (a) one of the limbs of said spacer device is deformed in curling fashion until one male connection formation provided a terminal spacer element thereof is brought into juxtaposition with another terminal spacer element provided on another limb of said spacer device, and then inserted thereinto thus connecting together respective limbs of said spacer device, and (b) one male connection formation provided on one spacer element of a first spacer device is inserted into a female connection formation provided in one spacer element of a second spacer device, thus connecting together first and second spacer devices.
26. A spacer device according to any preceding claim and comprising a plurality of spacer elements numbering between 2 and 12 inclusively.
27. A spacer device according to any preceding claim and being formed substantially of one of: a plastics material, which may be optionally rubberised.
28. A spacer device according to any preceding claim wherein at least some of the individual spacer elements within the spacer device are completely hollow throughout their length.
29. A spacer device according to any of claims 1-27 wherein one, some or all of the individual spacer elements within the spacer device are hollow proximate their remote open ends, but are additionally provided internally with one of the following: -one or more glands which are discontinuous in that they have apertures therethrough, said glands being integrally formed with the spacer element and thus the spacer device as a whole and being disposed axially within the spacer element at some point between and including the axial mid-point of the spacer element in which any gland is provided, and one or other of the open ends thereof, - one or more continuous diaphragms integrally formed with and within the spacer element said one or more diaphragms being most preferably provided axially within the spacer element between its axial mid-point and one or other or both open ends thereof, and - an integrally formed core formation which extends within the spacer element axially on either side of the axial mid-point thereof and by an axial distance less than half the axial length of the spacer element.
30. A spacer device according to claim 29 wherein at least some of the spacer elements of which the device is constituted are provided internally with an integrally formed core formation, said core formation being one of: solid, and provided with apertures therethrough.