GB447471A - Improvements in flexible guards for use in protecting articles such as electric leads - Google Patents

Abstract

A flexible self-supporting helix long in relation to its cross-section is formed from a flat strip of cellulose derivative material to act as a flexible guard for use in protecting articles such as electric leads. The guard may be made by winding a strip of cellulose derivative material round a mandrel to impart the desired helical form to the material, maintaining the material in a softened condition, either by heat or by the use of softening agents, so that it retains its form after release of the tension, and then hardening the material. The guard may be used to prevent kinking of electric leads especially in connection with telephones or other portable instruments or to maintain two or more bare wires out of contact with one another. It may be fitted round a lead connected at both ends. The flat strips which may be transparent, translucent or opaque may be cut from sheets, formed by extrusion or built up from a plurality of small filaments. They may contain suitable plasticizers such as diethyl or dibutyl phthalate, dibutyl tartrate, triacetin, mono-methyl xylene sulphonamide, tricresyl or triphenyl phosphate, paratoluene sulphonamide, di- or tri-ethylene glycol or triethanolamine, and effect materials such as pigments or dyes. When cut from sheets, these may be worked to initiate movable or give a mottled design, or laminated sheets may be formed to give a variety of effects. For general use the strips may be \ba1/4\be--1\ba1/2\be inches wide and about \ba1/30\be inch thick.