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US 9,545,743 B2Granted
Readily strippable cable
OwnerCraig M Joyceinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cable having conductors that may be easily exposed in preparation for electrical connection, without requiring the use of tools, is provided. The insulating layer of the cable has at least one relatively weak portion extending along the length of the cable that is configured to allow the insulating layer to split, thereby exposing the wire without the use of tools.
Claims20
A readily-strippable cable comprising:
- at least two wires encapsulated by a continuous electrically insulating layer wherein each encapsulated wire is connected to an adjacent wire by a relatively thinner portion of said insulating layer, said insulating layer having at least one relatively weak portion per encapsulated wire in at least one cross-sectional segment of said continuous electrically insulating layer that is substantially concentric with at least one wire and that extends along the length of the cable and is substantially uniform in position and strength along the length of said cable;
- and
- wherein said weak portion is configured to allow the insulating layer to split along the relatively weak portion and down the length of said cable upon separation of encapsulated wires by application of force against said relatively thinner portion of insulating layer in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of said cable, thereby separating said wires from one another and simultaneously separating the insulating layer from said wire, without the use of a secondary operation.
A method of manufacturing readily-strippable cable comprising:
- configuring an extrusion die to separate a polymer flow into at least two separate polymer flows;
- attaching said extrusion die to an extruder;
- introducing at least two wires to be made into a readily-strippable cable into said extrusion die for coating with said polymer, wherein said wires are separated from one another;
- adjusting processing parameters and tooling configuration to cause said polymer flows, during extrusion, to meet when they are relatively cold and under relatively low pressure, thereby creating a uniformly weak portion in at least one cross-sectional segment of the polymer coating concentric with and surrounding at least one wire and that extends along the length of said cable to be formed;
- and
- operating said extruder, thereby creating a readily-strippable cable.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.