MXPA00010626A - A closure - Google Patents

Abstract

A closure casing comprising two casing parts, means for holding the two casing parts together in juxtaposed relationship, and having means for sealing between an elongate article penetrating the casing and the casing itself, the casing parts having respective cavities together forming a sealant chamber for receiving sealant material and through which the elongate article passes in penetrating the closure casing, the volume of the sealant chamber being adjustable whereby to apply a compressive force to sealant material therein, the adjustment being effected by displacement of at least one element located within the said sealant chamber, the said element being displaceable within the chamber by selectively operable position-adjustment means of the casing whereby to determine the effective volume of the sealant chamber.

Description

J.

CLOSING DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a closure, and particularly to a closure for enclosing one or more elongated objects. The present invention finds particular utility as a closure for protecting joints between elongate objects, such as pipes or cables. The term "cable", hereinafter, shall be understood to include both conductive cables and groups of optical fibers. When it is necessary to make connections between elongated objects such as pipes or cables, the union or junction where said objects are joined end to end is necessarily less strong and less resistant to environmental agents responsible for causing deterioration over time than the cable itself. In the production of, for example, cable systems, such as telecommunication systems or power transmission It is often necessary to make splices either to join cables from end to end or to make a branch. Cables and splices can be located underground, in conduits or in other environments, inside or outside buildings, but in any case they always have the risk of entering agents environmental such as humidity and / or dust. The installations ^ a ^ - ^ t. . . . "Underground are also subjected to pressure, and in particular hydrostatic pressure, while facilities above the earth suffer from diurnal thermal expansion. In order to provide environmental seals for splices in cables or other elongated objects, various protection measures are known. Systems that use a closure box with a gel or other suitable sealing material enclosed within it have been found to be particularly valuable. An advantage of using closures containing a gel or other sealing material lies in the fact that they can be installed at room temperature, and by using compression means, the gel can be kept in contact with all the interior surfaces of a closure as well as the outer surfaces of the cable or other elongated object, where the splice will protect. The force applied by the compression means must be large enough to overcome any force that may be exerted by environmental agents, such as the hydrostatic head in underground facilities. The requirement of a compressive force on the sealing material has been recognized for many years and is described in various documents of the prior art. In particular, the patent of E.U.A. 4,600,261 (Raychem) discloses an apparatus and method for protecting electrical appliances, wherein the apparatus includes a gel, first means for containing the gel, second means for retaining the gel within the first means, and force means acting on the first media, so that the gel is kept in contact _______________ u ____________________________ É __________ ^^ compressor with electrical contacts and substantially encapsulates the conductive portion thereof. In that document, the means for applying force comprised an external fastener or spring through which two halves of a closure box were joined together and compressed in contact with each other by the spring. Although effective, this system has the disadvantage that the components must be made to fit a particular size (or a relatively narrow size scale) of elongated objects on which the spring can exert an appropriate force. In order to ensure the sealing effect, cable closures were advised by incorporating relatively displaceable outer walls that can be moved by screw threaded means, as described in WO 95/15600 (Raychem). A spring interposed between a notch and a displaceable end wall effectively acting as a piston allowed compression to be applied to an encapsulated sealing material within the seal. It was also appreciated that the direction of travel need not be parallel to the length of the elongated objects enclosed within the box, but could be transverse to this direction, and the prior art document also describes the provision of piston-type members. acting perpendicularly to the length of an enclosed cable, in order to place a gel under compression. Although all these provisions work well for • * * - _________________ tf _ .. ______ _ .. providing a secure seal, however, offer only a secure seal on a relatively limited scale of cable diameters. In order to provide a secure seal on a relatively large scale of diameters of elongate objects such as cables, a relatively large scale of movement must be available in order to change the volume of the containment closure over a wide variety. The present invention seeks to provide a closure for elongated objects, which is capable of adapting said objects on a relatively wide scale of dimensions, preferably up to a ratio of 3: 1 in diameters, while, however, offering a secure seal against environmental agents. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a closure box comprises two case parts, means for maintaining the two case parts together in a juxtaposed relationship, and having means for sealing between an elongate article penetrating the case and the same. box, the parts of the box having respective cavities forming together a sealing chamber to receive the sealing material and through which the elongated article passes to penetrate the closing box, the volume of the sealing chamber being adjustable, in order to apply a compressive force to the sealing material thereon, the adjustment being effected by the displacement of at least one element located within the sealing chamber, said element being movable within the chamber through selectively position adjusting means _______________B____t____a___ operable from the box, in order to determine the effective volume of the sealing chamber. According to a second more general aspect of the invention, a closure box is provided having means for sealing a space between an elongate article that penetrates the box and the same box, the box comprising two opposite box parts having means for maintaining them. together in juxtaposed relationship and each having respective cavities forming together a sealing chamber to receive a sealing material and through which the elongate article passes to penetrate the closure box, and means for applying a compressive force to the sealing material transversely to the length of the elongated article, in order to push it into intimate contact with the elongate article to seal it to the same, where the means to apply A compressive force comprises selectively operable adjustment means for determining the displacement of a movable member, the position of which determines the effective volume of said sealing chamber. In one embodiment of the present invention, the element The displaceable member comprises a plunger guided for movement within the sealing chamber in a direction substantially transverse to the length of said elongate article. Preferably, there are two relatively displaceable pistons interconnected and guided for substantially rectilinear movement within the sealing chamber. ? ________? _____________? a_H ___ A_n _________ É -_..-_._ ,, .- »________ The two pistons can be interconnected through threaded adjustment means. The compression on the sealant can be maintained after adjustment, despite changes in volume due to thermal effects and other effects if energy storage means are provided between the adjustable position determining means and at least one displacement element .

Said energy storage means may comprise a spring, preferably a helical compression spring. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the threaded screw adjusting means comprises a threaded shaft having means of operation at one end thereof through which the shaft can rotate, and a cooperative threaded hole in one of the two emboliso. , the spring acting between the other of the two pistons and said operating means. In another aspect, the present invention comprises a closure having a closure box having openings for the passage of elongate objects and sealing means including a sealing material enclosed within at least part of the closure box, wherein the sealing means includes a relatively displaceable wall part of the closure attached to the remaining part of the closure through a flexible hinge part, and adjustable position determining means for determining the relative position of said relatively displaceable part of the closure and its remaining portion, with the In order to regulate the effective volume of the closure part and in this way the pressure on a material contained therein. Preferably, the flexible hinge portion is of corrugated or bellows configuration and extends at least partially around the relatively displaceable wall portion. Alternatively, the flexible hinge part may comprise or include ligament hinges between appropriately configured hinged wall portions. As used in this specification, the term "ligament hinge" will be understood to refer to a hinge formed integrally in a body of material such as polypropylene and defined by a line of reduced thickness wherein the molecular orientation under tension occurs during the preliminary flexion. However, said flexible hinge part is preferably formed as a roller seal. The roller seal preferably comprises a flexible wall portion around the periphery of the relatively displaceable wall portion, having a single U-shaped cross section. This U-shaped cross section may be convex towards the inside or the outside of the box, although, for reasons that will be explained in detail later, it is preferred that the roll closure be convex towards the interior of the box. In order to obtain the maximum scale of variation in the dimensions of the elongated objects that can be adapted in sealed form within the closure, it is preferred that the closing of said J "- •" ** ** "• relatively displaceable wall part of the closure can be moved transversely to the longitudinal direction of said elongated objects. Various different means for determining the position of the relatively displaceable wall part can be adopted. Preferably, however, the adjustable position determining means comprise cooperative components and screw threads that act to apply a force between the relatively displaceable wall portion of the closure and its remaining portion. Alternatively, lever mechanisms may be provided for this purpose, especially layered mechanisms. In embodiments where the adjustable position determining means are screw threaded components, energy storage means may also be provided between the adjustable position determining means and the relatively movable wall portion of the closure. Conveniently, said energy storage means comprise a spring which, in the preferred embodiment, is a compression spring, preferably a helical spring. In one embodiment of the invention, the screw threaded cooperation components comprise a threaded shaft and a notch, one operatively linked to the relatively displaceable wall portion of the closure and the other operatively linked to the remaining portion of the closure. The relative rotation between ____________ _____________________________________ threaded arrow and the notch can be made through a control knob connected to one of them, the dimensions of the control knob being such in order to extend over the flexible hinge part of the closure, in order to protect it from incident ultraviolet radiation. This is particularly convenient if said flexible hinge is formed as a roller seal as described above, since said seal may comprise a relatively thin flexible material which could be degraded over time by UV radiation making it hard, and therefore brittle. In order to obtain an adequate degree of compression of the sealing material, and in particular to allow the adaptation of dimensional variations (both expansion and contraction) due to thermal expansion, it is preferred that they be provided means for identifying the obtaining of a predetermined energy storage state of said energy storage means. In embodiments wherein the energy means comprise a compression spring, the means for identifying the obtaining of an energy storage state The predetermined components may comprise cooperating components on two relatively mobile members, which enter into an interference relationship with one another when the energy storage means is in the predetermined energy storage state. Preferably, the sealing material comprises a gel. The suitable gel materials have been ?? r ___ f? r ?? r_r _? ___ r? i - ~ - "*" - "* •" - * - - * described in the prior art, and may comprise one that preferably has a cone penetration value of 100 to 350 (101 mm), most preferably 200-260, in particular 230-250, and a final elongation of at least 200%. The cone penetration can be selected to ensure that the material is capable of being deformed around the elongated objects that will be sealed against air gaps, but without excessive flow or if excessive relaxation is desired over time, and the final elongation can be selected to ensure that at the time of re-entry to the junction box the material is pulled from the elongated objects, such as conductors, through the separation of the two housing halves of the closure. Cone penetration is measured by ASTM D217-68 at 21 ° C in a non-deformed sample using a 1: 1 normal scale cone (cone weight 102.5 g), arrow weight 47.5 g), the penetration being measured after 5 seconds. The elongation is measured by ASTM D638-80 at 21 ° C using a die of type 4 to cut the sample, and a speed of 5 cm / minute. A suitable seal can be made by gelling the curable polyurethane precursor materials in the presence of substantial amounts of mineral oil, a vegetable oil or a plasticizer, or a mixture thereof. The amount of plasticizer can be, for example, 30-70% by weight of the total in the box of a plasticizer such as trimellitate, or 60-80% in the case of a mineral or vegetable oil. The mineral and vegetable oils can be mixed, for example, in the ratio of 0.7-2.4 parts by weight of mineral oil to one part by weight of vegetable oil. Other suitable sealing materials can be made by curing silicone reactive silicones, extension, non-reactive. A further class of materials comprises those formed by spreading three-block polymers, such as styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene copolymers (eg, those sold under the trade name of Kraton by Shell) with a mineral oil. These sealing materials are described in the U.S. Patents. Nos. 4,634,207 (Debbaut) and 4,716,183 (Gamarra), the descriptions of which are incorporated herein by reference. Other suitable materials are described in detail in the international application published under WO 92/22114 (Raychem) the description of which is incorporated herein by reference. It is preferred that the gel be injection molded into two opposite portions of the closure, although it can be preformed as blocks. Various embodiments of the present invention will now be particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of the invention is an assembled condition; Figure 2 is a corresponding perspective view of a lower half of the closure box of the embodiment of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line III-III of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line IV-IV of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a partial sectional view illustrating the action of the roller seal; Figure 6 is a partial sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention showing the operation of the tilt means to identify a predetermined energy storage state; Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of an illustrative embodiment of the invention; Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view of a further embodiment of the invention having separate displaceable members in the sealing chamber; and Figure 9 is a cut-away perspective view of the embodiment of Figure 8 in the assembled condition. Referring now to the drawings, a part of a closure box, generally indicated at 11, is shown for the accommodation of splices between two cables, only one of which is schematically represented at 12. The cables can be conductors or optical fibers . It will be appreciated that only one half of the box 11 is illustrated, the other half being a mirror image of substantially identical components at the opposite end and has been omitted for clarity. As can be seen in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the closure box 11 comprises a first part or tray 13 and a second part or cover 14, which coincide along a longitudinal separation line generally indicated at 15 in correspondence, wherein a longitudinal seal is formed which may be in a conventional manner and which, therefore, will not be described in detail here. The two parts 13, 14 of the closure box 11 define a main chamber 16 into which splices can be housed between the elongated cables 12. Suitable cable organizers, splice connectors and the appropriate equipment can be stored in the camera 16, but they are not illustrated here for clarity. Tray member 13 and cover member 14 have corresponding transverse partition walls 17, 18, having respective slots or channels (only one of which, channel 19, is visible in Figure 2) to receive respective crown tabs 20, which define the seats to receive the wires 12. Each crown flange 20 is formed as a semi-conical element with a plurality of flexible ends extending axially from a radial flange 21. Such elements are known and described in, for example, the international patent application PCT / GB95 / 00469, published under the international publication No. WO 95/24756. The radial flange portion 21 of a crown flange is received in the slot 19 for locating it in place, and the difference in diameter between the larger diameter end in the flange 21 and the smaller diameter end in the free end of the flanges. flexible limbs, defines the scale of cable diameters 12, which can be adapted. < ! ___ «- •. _ - .-. . ... . . .. .....,. -, __ ._. r-,. . . ,. .. . -,. ____ ^ | j .r__.

The end portion of the lower tray part 13, between the partition wall 17 and an end wall 22 thereof, defines a sealing chamber 23 which is filled with a gel material 24 during the use of the closure box. A bottom wall of the sealing chamber 23 comprises a central, slightly hemispherical, "piston" part 25, substantially rigid, having a central depression 26. The piston part 25 is circular in planar form, as can be seen in Figure 2 , and is attached to the remainder of the bottom wall 27 of the sealing chamber 23 through a roller seal 28, generally of U-shaped section, comprising a thin, integrally formed membrane joining the outer periphery of the piston member 25 with the circular internal perimeter of a rigid part of the bottom wall 27 of the sealing chamber 23. As can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the thickness of the roll seal membrane 28 is considerably smaller than that of the bottom wall 27 or the piston part 25, although they are integrally formed of the same material. Due to the reduced dimensions of the wall thickness, the roller seal part 28 is substantially flexible, while the bottom wall 27 and the piston part 25 are substantially rigid. Through the depression 26 passes an arrow 29 having a threaded end portion and an enlarged head 30 received in a cavity in a central depression 31 of a circular reinforcement disc 32, which has a diameter slightly larger than that of the part of piston 25, but slightly smaller than the internal perimeter of the bottom wall 27. The cover part 14 of the box has a corresponding configuration, the components of which are identified with the same reference numbers as those used for the part of lower tray, but distinguished with a '. The cover part 14 differs from the tray part 13 only in the configuration of the end wall 22 ', which, in the cover part 14, has a tongue 33 for coupling in a correspondingly configured channel 34. The arrow 29 passes through the depression 26 'with openings of the "piston" portion 25' of an upper wall 27 'of the end part of the upper cover 14 and is accommodated by a notch 35, which is imprisoned in a cavity 36 of a control knob 37. Between the notch 35 and the "piston" 25 'there is a helical compression spring 38. The gel filling 24 (24' at the top) is preferably injection molded in each half of the box closing during manufacturing. As can be seen in Figure 2, during the use of the closure box 11, the elongated cables 12 are laid on the seats provided by the crown flanges 20 engaged in the slots 19 of the partition wall 17 and a corresponding slot in the end wall 22. The appropriate splicing operations are performed at the end of the cable 12 projecting towards the main chamber 16 to join it, for example, to end portions ______________________ _______________________ _ ....._..... ».. _.____-___ .. of a cable aligned projecting towards the chamber 16 of the opposite end (not shown) of the box 11. The cover 14 is then placed on the tray part 13 with suitable longitudinal seals made along the joining edges in the line of longitudinal union 15. Said seals are known and will not be described here. The gel fillers 24, 24 ', which have been introduced into the chamber 23, preferably through injection molding (although preformed blocks may alternatively be used, alternatively) coincide to form a complete filler for the inside the chamber 23 and the threaded shaft 29 is then inserted through the openings aligned in the depressions 26, 26 ', the spring 38 is fixed on the end and the control knob 37 is fixed by threading the notch 35 on the end threading of the arrow 29. The gel material 24 can be placed under a suitable compressive load by turning the knob 37 to compress the spring 38 to an appropriate degree. It is desirable that the spring 38 should not be fully compressed, so that its adjacent turns can make contact with each other, since this would not allow the relative separation of the movable wall parts (the "pistons" 25, 25 ') and to prevent this from happening, although, however, by ensuring that the gel 24 is placed under a suitable compressing load, an indicating device can be provided which acts to give feedback to the operator as to the compression degree of the spring 38. Said device it may be, for example, in the form of two interference projections on corresponding relatively mobile components, such as those described in the international patent application published under publication No. WO 92/22114 the description of which is incorporated herein by reference . A suitable component configuration is described below with reference to Figure 6. This comprises opposingly directed projections 50, 51 on the control knob 37 and the piston 25 'which interferes with one another to prevent further rotation of the knob 37. when the latter and the piston reach a predetermined distance corresponding to a predetermined pressure of the spring 38 less than the total compression. Alternative arrangements can be made to indicate to the user that adequate mid-scale compression has been obtained, for example, by providing a second spring that plays partly through compression of the main spring 31, or through a change in the shape of the spring. the screw thread or provision of, for example, a fiber washer, all these serve to provide an indication to the user by increasing the force that must be applied to the control knob 37. Returning to Figure 5, an illustration is shown schematic of a portion of the U-shaped section of the roller seal 28 'of the cover part 14. It will be appreciated that the roller seal 28' effectively comprises 3 parts, mainly a radially internal end 40, a radially external end 41 and a sine portion 42. In its relaxed state, as it forms, the radially inner extremity 40 has a maximum length, while the extremity radially external 41 5 has a minimum length. The sine portion 42 obviously joins these two limbs and is formed from them as the roller seal moves after the displacement of the piston portion 25 'from the position shown in the solid line in Figure 5 to the position shown. in the interrupted line, in that position the extremities radially internal and external 40, 41 are of the same length. The advantage of providing the roll seal 28 'in the illustrated configuration, mainly with its convex face directed into the interior of the chamber 23, lies in the fact that, after15 of the piston displacement 25 'of the relaxed position towards a position where the gel 24 is compressed, the material of the roller seal 28' moves radially about the sine portion 42 from the inner end 40 towards the outer end 41 , since the inner end 40 lies in a smaller radius than the , the outer extremity 41, the circumference of the portion of the radially external limb 41 is greater than that of the portion of the radially internal extremity 40, so that the material of the roller seal is placed under tension by this movement, where it is a tension that the material is better able to resist that understanding tension that may be the case if the ___ ?? i ____ i_í_i ____? displacement of the piston 25 'moves from its starting position to its working position which results in the transfer of the material from the radially outer end 41 towards the radially external end 40. Although the described configuration is preferred, by no means is it possible for a convex roller seal can be used outwards. Furthermore, although a U-shaped roller seal has been described, it may be possible for this to present a corrugated or bellows configuration seal with more than one corrugation. Obviously, as the spring 38 is compressed, the arrow 29 is placed under tension by pulling the two pistons 25, 25 'together to reduce the volume of the sealing chamber 23 and thus place the gel 24 under compression. The interrupted lines 45, 45 'show the maximum excursion of the pistons 25, 25', which can result in a variation in the volume of the sealing chamber 25 to a considerable degree, and certainly a much greater change in volume could be obtained using the rigid slide pistons previously known for this purpose. Furthermore, the use of an integrally formed roller seal 28, 28 'provides absolute security against escape of the gel in these regions, which could not be guaranteed in the case of a sliding piston. Figure 7 shows a proposed configuration for a closure box of the invention. In this embodiment, the upper and lower halves of the box are held together by elbow lever fasteners 60. This has the advantage of allowing the closure to be re-retractable to effect changes in the splice or repair configuration, as necessary. In the alternative embodiment shown in Figures 8 to 10, there is shown a closure box, generally indicated at 61, comprising two cooperating box parts 62, 63 in the form of middle protections, which can be held together in a relationship juxtaposed through a group of spring clips 64, each comprising a closed loop 65 of spring wire and an elbow lever 66 having pivot pins 67, which engage in cooperating depressions 68 of the upper case half 62 ( as seen in the drawings), in order to hold the two box halves together. The lower case half 63 (as seen in the drawings) is shown in Figure 8 with a portion adjacent its cut end to illustrate the internal configuration of the end sealing means. A transverse end wall 67 has two semicircular, arcuate notches 68, 69 which, together with the corresponding notches 70, 71 in an end wall 72 of the upper cover half 262, form circular openings (only one of which, identified with 73). , can be seen in Figure 9), through which passes an elongated article 74, in this example, a group of optical fibers or cables that are intended to be spliced or joined inside the box 61. _______ &______.

A second transverse wall 75 parallel to the transverse end wall 67 defines, with the latter, a chamber 77 for receiving a clamping member 78 loosely attached within the chamber 77 and which will be described in detail below. A second transverse wall 76 closely adjacent the wall 75 defines a narrow slot 79 for receiving a lip 80 of a crown flange 81., in order to locate the crown flange in place on a lower plunger 82 having two configured channels 83, 84 for receiving respective portions of the crown flange 81. The plunger 82 is located between the transverse wall 76 and a wall additional (not seen in the drawings), which between them defines a sealing chamber 85 which will be described in detail later. Projecting upward from a central portion of the piston 82 is a cylindrical sleeve 86 which, as seen in Figure 9, bears a helical inner rib forming a thread 87 for cooperation with a threaded portion 88 of a rod 89 at the upper end of which is located a knob operation 90. The bar 89 is located within a sleeve 91 of a plunger upper 92, a skirt portion of which engages over the cylindrical sleeve 86 when the box 61 is assembled. The lower plunger 82 and the upper plunger 92 define opposing facing wall of the sealing chamber 85 and can be made to approach or separate from each other through the manipulation of the knob 90. causing the arrow 89 to rotate, thereby screwing the threaded portion 88 ^ t ^^? j in or out of engagement with the thread 87 in the lower piston 82. Like the lower piston 82, the upper piston 92 has channels 93 configured to receive co-operating crown flanges 94. As can be seen in FIG. Figure 9, an elongated article 95 of smaller diameter is shown coupled between the crown flanges 81, 94 at the relatively narrow tapered end of which is engaged on the article 95. It can be introduced into the sealing chamber 85 gel sealer a type described above, either through injection molding as described above, or through the introduction of separate gel elements. After the introduction of the elongate articles 74, 95 and the assembly of the box 61, an insurance seal against the entry of environmental contaminants into the box can be obtained by turning the knob 90 to make the pistons 82 and 92 they approach each other, maintaining a symmetrical configuration inside the chamber 85 and applying a compressive force to the gel. A coil spring 96 is coupled on the threaded shaft 88 between the knob 90 and the upper face of the plunger 92, with a support plate 97 interposed therebetween, so that the force between the arrow 89 and the plunger 92 is transmitted through of the spring 96, which is compressed as the arrow 89 is screwed into the plunger 82 thus creating a storage of residual energy which maintains compression on the gel in the manner described above with respect to the embodiment of Figures 1 to 8 . A .. . ... i. ,. * .. .. _. ..... _.-__, -_, .. ._, - », ..,. . _ ._ .._ -. ... - ._. _. .__ * »« _ .. "_.

Proper arrangement for determining when an appropriate degree of compression of the spring 96 has been obtained can also be provided as described above, although said arrangement is not illustrated in Figures 9 to 10. ______________ * '- v. "-? - r a. ^ ..-____,

Claims (12)

- 24 CLAIMS

1. - A closure box (61) for enclosing an elongated article (95), the closure box comprises: • Two opposite case parts (62, 63) having support means (64) to hold them together in a juxtaposed relationship and each having respective cavities together forming a sealing chamber (85) to receive sealing material and through which the elongate article (95) passes for 10 penetrate the closure box; and • Compression means for applying a compressive force to the sealing material transversely to the length of the elongate article (95), in order to push it into an intimate contact with said elongated article to seal it thereto, wherein the compression means comprises a guided displaceable element for movement within the sealing chamber (85) in a direction substantially transverse to the length of the elongate article (95), wherein the displaceable member comprises at least one plunger (82; 92) guided by externally operable screw-threaded position adjustment means (89 ) rotatingly engaging the plunger.

2. A closure box according to claim 1, wherein two relatively displaceable pistons (82, 92) 25 interconnected and guided for substantially rectilinear movement within the sealing chamber (85).

3. A closure box according to claim 2, wherein the two pistons (82, 92) are interconnected through the threaded position adjustment means with screw (89).

4. A closure box according to any of the preceding claims, wherein energy storage means (96) are provided between the selectively operable position adjusting means (89) and at least one movable element (82). 92).

5. A closure box according to claim 5, wherein the energy storage means (96) comprises a spring.

6. A closure box according to claim 5, wherein the spring (96) comprises a helical compression spring.

7. A closure box according to any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the threaded position adjustment means with screw (89) comprise a threaded shaft having means of operation (90) at one end thereof to through which the arrow can rotate, and a cooperating threaded hole (87) in one of the two pistons (82; 92), the spring (96) acting between the other of the two pistons and the operating means ( 90).

8. A closure box according to claim 7, wherein the operating means (90) comprise a knob or handle ______________________________! ___ ______________________________ AáÉ__i? _____ É ________ £ ________ i manually operable.

9. A closure box according to any of claims 4 to 8, wherein identification means (50, 51) are provided to identify the obtaining of a predetermined energy storage state of the energy storage means ( 96).

10. A closure box according to claim 8, wherein the identification means (50, 51) comprise cooperation components on two relatively mobile members, which enter into an interference relationship with each other when the means Energy storage (96) are in the predetermined energy storage state.

11. A closure box according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing material comprises a gel or geloid.

12. A closure box according to claim 11, wherein the gel is injection molded in the closure box.