US 11,793,288 B2 · Resilient fiber retainers and methods of externally wrapping and shaping fiber with the same

Abstract

Retainers hold a fiber bundle rotated through a length of the retainer via a gap in the retainer that can be widened by stretching the same and closed by release and further by rotating the fiber. The retainer may be single-piece parallelepiped, cylinder, prism, etc. bearing an outermost surface on which the bundle can wind and be supported. The retainer is fabricated of a resilient elastic like natural rubber or a synthetic rubber such as styrene-butadiene rubber. Methods pass the bundle through the gap and then wind it around the retainer before passing it back through the gap. The bundle may be inserted and/or wound for any length of the bundle and may include spacing in each turn so as to expose the underlying retainer through each turn. The bundle may be held in the wound position for any desired amount of time and then removed.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method of retaining a bundle of fiber in a set shape, the method comprising:

passing the bundle through an opening defined by an elastic body of a retainer fabricated entirely of styrene-butadiene rubber;
winding the bundle around a perimeter of the body outside the opening at least one full rotation, wherein the winding tightens sides of the elastic body defining the opening against the bundle so as to hold the bundle in the opening;
passing an end of the bundle after the one full rotation back through the opening;
and
allowing the bundle wound around the perimeter of the retainer to orient downward with gravity aligned with an entire length of the elastic body under the weight of the styrene-butadiene rubber such that the set shape of the bundle is a vertical helix.

2 more elements

A method of retaining a bundle of fiber in a set shape with a retainer including a body extending a longest distance in a length dimension, and a single opening defined by the body with no other opening, the opening extending completely through the body, the opening extending for a majority of the longest distance in the body and terminating by being closed by the body at both ends of the length dimension before the body terminates, the body having a continuous surface along the opening, the method comprising:

passing the bundle through the opening of the retainer, wherein the retainer is fabricated entirely of styrene-butadiene rubber;
winding the bundle around the surface of the retainer at least one full rotation;
passing an end of the bundle after the one full rotation back through the opening, wherein the method of retaining the bundle of fiber in the set shape with the retainer does not include any other retainer;
and
allowing the bundle wound around the surface of the retainer to orient downward with gravity aligned entirely with the length dimension of the retainer under the weight of the styrene-butadiene rubber retainer such that the set shape of the bundle is a vertical helix.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Resilient fiber retainers and methods of externally wrapping and shaping fiber with the same

Life of this patent

Resilient fiber retainers and methods of externally wrapping and shaping fiber with the same

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16