Wire separators having sealant material reservoirs and cable splice closures employing such separators

A wire separator for separating two or more wires in a multicore cable splice closure, the wire separator comprising:

• a body including:
• a flexible side wall;
• a sealant material reservoir formed in the body and defined at least in part by the flexible side wall;
• and
• first and second spaced apart wire channels defined in said body;
• and
• a sealant material positioned within the sealant material reservoir.

A cable splice closure for environmentally sealing a multicore cable having at least a first and a second wire, the cable splice closure comprising:

• a wire separator comprising:
• a longitudinally extending side wall, the side wall further extending circumferentially so as to define a sealant material reservoir, at least a portion of the side wall comprising a flexible material;
• a first longitudinally extending channel member coupled to the side wall of the sealant material reservoir, wherein the first channel member defines a first channel configured to receive a first portion of the first wire therein;
• a second longitudinally extending channel member circumferentially spaced from the first channel member and coupled to the side wall of the sealant material reservoir, wherein the second channel member defines a second channel configured to receive a first portion of the second wire therein;
• and
• a sealant material positioned within the sealant material reservoir;
• and
• a closure substantially surrounding the wire separator.

A cable splice kit for environmentally sealing a multicore cable section, the cable splice kit comprising:

• a wire separator comprising:
• a longitudinally extending side wall, the side wall further extending circumferentially so as to define a sealant material reservoir, at least a portion of the side wall comprising a flexible material;
• a first longitudinally extending channel member coupled to the side wall of the sealant material reservoir, wherein the first channel member defines a first channel configured to receive a first portion of the first wire therein;
• a second longitudinally extending channel member circumferentially spaced from the first channel member and coupled to the side wall of the sealant material reservoir, wherein the second channel member defines a second channel configured to receive a first portion of the second wire therein;
• and
• a sealant material positioned within the sealant material reservoir;
• and a closure.

A method of forming a multicore cable splice closure, said method comprising the steps of:

• positioning a first wire of a multicore cable in a first channel of a wire separator, wherein the wire separator has a sealant material reservoir containing sealant material;
• positioning a second wire of the multicore cable in a second channel of the wire separator;
• enclosing the first wire, the second wire, and the wire separator in a closure;
• and
• compressing the sealant material reservoir to transfer the sealant material from an open end of the sealant material reservoir into a crotch region defined by the first and the second wires.