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US 4,058,670 AGranted
Buried cable enclosure
AssigneeUtility Products, Inc.
InventorMatthew L. Leschinger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeUtility Products, Inc.
InventorMatthew L. Leschinger
Estimating the term…
An enclosure for housing electrical apparatus associated with a buried cable assembly has a four-part construction in which a lower front cover is connected to a lower rear housing section, an upper rear housing section is secured to the lower rear housing section, and an upper front cover is attached to the upper rear housing section. A terminal mounting plate is pivotally attached to the upper housing section, and is movable between open and closed positions. When closed, the interior of the enclosure between the upper housing section and the upper cover is divided into front and rear compartments. The terminal mounting plate is normally locked in its closed position, with a special tool being required to unlock it to gain entry to cables, splices and terminals mounted behind the plate and to achieve access to a pair of bolts which secure the upper rear housing section to the lower rear housing section.
An enclosure for electrical apparatus associated with a buried cable installation, comprising:
An enclosure for electrical apparatus associated with a buried cable installation, comprising:
In an enclosure for electrical apparatus associated with a buried cable installation including a lower hollow housing, an upper rear housing section and an upper front cover adapted to be mounted to each other and to the top of said lower houusing, and a flexible plastic shield extending along the inner perimeter of said upper rear housing section and having ends extending outwardly therefrom, the improvement wherein:
A terminal enclosure for a buried cable installation comprising:
A terminal enclosure for a buried cable installation, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
Cable terminating boxes, frames or other structures: for multi-conductor cables
Installation of electric cables or lines, or of combined optical and electric
Term ended 15 Nov 1994 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to an enclosure for electrical apparatus, and more particularly to an enclosure for the above ground splices or terminals of a buried cable installation.
Enclosures are commonly provided to shelter splices or terminal connections between service wires or distribution wires, and buried utility cables such as telephone cables. It is important that such enclosures be substantially weather-tight to protect the connections from adverse weather conditions, e.g., the entry of damaging wind and precipitation. Also, a buried cable terminal enclosure should be sufficiently resistant to unauthorized entry to inhibit, or at least discourage, vandals from gaining access to the electrical circuitry and for unauthorized service personnel from altering those connections or splices which are not within their scope of responsibility.
On the other hand, the enclosure should be capable of ready disassembly both at the time of its installation and when needed for authorized service to alter connections or install or remove wires, cables or other instrumentalities. Typically, the enclosure will be shipped to its site in an assembled condition and then disassembled for installation. The tasks of making the original splices and terminal connections, and later altering or making additional connections both require maximum access to the wires and cables. Consequently, the enclosure should impede access as little as possible. The resulting cross purposes of easy disassembly by authorized persons, but difficult disassembly by others, are fulfilled by the enclosure of this invention.
FIG. 1 is an exploded view in perspective with parts cut away of an enclosure which incorporates the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of the enclosure of FIG. 1 with parts cut away and removed;
FIG. 3 is a side view of the enclosure of FIG. 1;
Referring to the drawings, the enclosure includes a housing assembled from four main elements. There is a rear housing assembly formed from a lower rear housing section 1 and an upper rear housing section 2, and there are lower and upper front covers 3 and 4, respectively. All four main elements of the enclosure are substantially channel-shaped, and consequently each of them comprises a web and spaced flanges extending from the opposite sides of the web.
Specifically, the lower housing section 1 includes a vertically elongated web 5 having vertically elongated forwardly projecting flanges 6 and 7, and the upper housing section 2 includes a vertically elongated web 8 having vertically elongated forwardly projecting flanges 9 and 10. A cap 11 has a depending skirt 12 around its entire periphery and the skirt 12 is riveted to the upper ends of the web 8 and flanges 9 and 10 of the upper housing section. The cap 11 projects forwardly of the upper housing section 2 to receive the upper cover 4 and thereby function as a roof for the enclosure.
The lower front cover 3 includes a vertically elongated web 13 with vertically elongated rearwardly projecting flanges 14 and 15 which terminate in inwardly offset mounting portions 16 and 17, respectively. The upper front cover 4 also includes a vertically elongated web 18 with vertically elongated rearwardly projecting flanges 19 and 20 which have inwardly offset mounting portions 21 and 22, respectively. A lowered handle 18' is formed integral with the lower edge of the web 18.