US2868895A - Insulating cover for pressurized panel - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 13, 1959 1' sc w 2,868,895

INSULATING COVER FOR PRESSURIZED PANEL Filed Sept. 4. 1953 INVENTOR.

George Them one Scfiwmb nited States Patent INSULATING COVER roR PRESSURIZED PANEL George Theodore Schwamb, Greenwich, Conn., assignor to Burndy Corporation, a corporation of New York Application September 4, 1953, Serial No. 378,647

2 Claims. (Cl. 174-138) My invention relates to an insulating cover for a pressurized panel. These panels may be used for establishing connections both electrical and mechanical through a bulkhead in a ship or plane.

Hitherto rubber or canvas sheet materials have been employed by wrapping around the panel pins and sockets, and tied thereto by means of a string.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a pre-formed insulating cover for a pressurized panel that will eliminate the necessity for hand-wrapping the connections; that may be easily anchored to an existing panel and which may be made at relatively low cost and assembled to the panel with a minimum effort.

These and other objects of my invention are accomplished and my new results obtained as will be apparent from the device described in the following specificaion, particularly pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my invention partly in section, in a typical assembly;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same;

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the parts, partly in section;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of cover.

My invention comprises a frame and a boot 12 which may be readily attached to each other and secured to a panel 14, as will be hereafter described. The frame is suitably made of a rigid material, nylon being selected as an example. The frame is preferably molded into the desired shape which consists of two flanges 16 and 18 jointed together by a cylindrical wall 20. The length of the wall and its diameter are determined by the size of the panel and the type of connection it is desired to insulate. Flange 16 is preferably rectangular in outline as is illustrated in Fig. 2, with bolt holes 22 positioned in each corner to match the panel attaching bolts to the bulkhead 24. The remaining flange 18 is circularly shaped to facilitate attachment to the boot 12.

The boot is a suitably formed housing, preferably made of some insulating material, such as vinyl plastisol, that is sufficiently elastic to permit it to be stretched over flange 18 of the frame. In the form illustrated it consists of a frame engaging portion 26, a neck portion 28, and an intermediate body section 30 that has a tapered end 32. Holes 34 may be provided on the body section to prevent condensation of moisture inside the boot.

The frame engaging portion 26 is outwardly tapered to facilitate entrance over the flange 18 of the frame. The small diameter of the taper is slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the wall 20 of the frame. When the large opening of the boot is pushed against the flange 18, the elastic properties of the material of the boot are supplemented by the tapered portion to permit expansion into the desired position, at which point the small diameter of the tapered portion has contracted on wall 20.

2,868,895 Patented Jan. 13, 1959 0 clearance of mounting hardware for installation.

In Fig. 4, a form of boot is illustrated which is useful in installations where the connections are turned to the axis of the panel.

I have found that a suitable material for the boot is a vinyl compound, an example being compound N6 77X- 1013 made by the Stanley Chemical Company of East Berlin, Conn.

A mandrel, not shown, having the inner dimensions of the boot, is preheated to the desired temperature depending on the size of the mandrel and the resulting thickness required. It is then dipped in the material, a vinyl plastisol, the prescribed length of time and removed, and cured in an air oven, after which it is trimmed and stripped from the mandrel.

In the foregoing, I have provided a frame and insulating cover assembly for a pressurized panel. The assembly may be easily secured to a bulkhead about the connections, eliminating the need for hand-wrapping, hitherto required. The parts are simply made at relatively low cost and can be accommodated generally to panel installations.

I have thus described my invention, but I desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, and, therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means of which objects of my invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to attain these objects and accomplish these results.

I claim:

1. An insulating cover for mounting over a plurality of electrical connections, comprising an annular, substantially rigid frame member, having a central opening for mounting over the electrical connections, a peripherally formed shoulder at one end, and a flange at the other end provided with means for affixing the flange to a support for the cover, and an insulating boot for covering said connections, having a circular opening forming a neck at one end, said neck extending over said frame shoulder and tightly gripping said frame between said flange and said shoulder.

2. The cover of claim 1, wherein the neck of'the boot is outwardly tapered to facilitate entrance over the shoulder of the frame, and the smallest diameter of the taper is slightly smaller than the frame between said flange and said shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,447,157 Burrell et a1 Aug. 17, 1948 2,550,358 Le Grand et a1. Apr. 24, 1951 2,560,336 Fisch July 10, 1951 2,602,112 Fisch July 1, 1952 2,715,654 Lucas Aug. 16, 1955

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