Water resistant supplementary joint cover for an electrical busway

A water resistant joint cover for enclosing the electrical joint connection between a first electrical busway section and a second adjoining electrical busway section, each busway section includes a plurality of electrical conductors, a busway housing having an enclosure for surrounding and protecting the electrical conductors and a pair of housing sides attached to and spaced apart by the enclosure such that two generally U-shaped troughs are formed, one trough being on each side of the enclosure, each housing side includes a channel-like flange along its linear edges to provide additional strength and support, said water resistant joint cover comprising:

• portions of the first and second busway housings immediately adjacent the electrical joint connection and extending outwardly a predetermined distance from the electrical joint connection, each of said housing portions including the enclosure, housing sides and U-shaped troughs;
• a plurality of dam assemblies each being generally rectangular in shape and having an inside plate, an outside plate and a sealing plate sandwiched between said outside and inside plates, said plates being held together by at least one dam assembly screw, said outside plate including a flange which is generally perpendicular to said outside plate and extends over said sealing plate and said inside plate, each said dam assembly is snugly but slidably received within one of the U-shaped troughs of said housing portions such that said flange of said outside plate forms a generally flat surface with the channel-like flanges of the housing sides of said housing portions, said dam assembly thereby blocking the U-shaped trough of said housing portions at a predetermined distance from the end of its associated housing side;
• a plurality of sealing strips made from a tacky, deformable, substantially nonelastic material, one sealing strip being placed across each said flange of said outside plate such that said sealing strip extends across the channel-like flanges of the two spaced apart housing sides of said housing portions;
• a plurality of cover plates, each being generally rectangular in shape and having an inspection hole in about the center thereof for permitting the joint connection to be checked without removing the cover plate, said cover plates being attached to said flanges of said dam assemblies such that said sealing strips are compressed and squeezed into all cracks between said housing portions, said dam assembly flanges, and said cover plate, thereby forming a water resistant seal;
• a pair of inspection hole plugs for sealing said inspection holes in said cover plates;
• and
• a pair of generally rectangular connecting channels having a cross-sectional shape for cooperating with the cross-sectional shape of the busway housing sides of said housing portions such that said connecting channel has a nesting side which will nest with the housing sides of said housing portions, each said connecting channel including a water resistant gasket attached to said nesting side, said connecting channel being attached to the ends of the housing sides of said housing portions of the two adjoined busway sections such that the joint is covered and said water resistant gasket is compressed against the two adjacent housing sides of said housing portions and the two cover plates, thereby forming a water resistant seal.