US2946108A - Cable clamp - Google Patents

Description

M. BETHEA CABLE CLAMP July 26, 1960 Filed March 8, 1957 INVENTOR. Malco lm Be'l'hea.

A'+ 'forneys 2,946,108 CABLE CLAMP Malcolm Bethea, P.O. Box 1407, Birmingham, Ala. Filed Mar. 8, 1957, Ser. No. 644,888

1 Claim. (Cl. 24-135 This invention relates to a cable clamp and more particularly to that type of clamp known as a dead end clamp and has for an object the provision of a device of the character designated which shall be simple of design, economical of manufacture, and one which may be readily installed and worked with a minimum of inconvenience and danger to the workmen, especially as applies to live line work.

My improved cable clamp, among other things, embodies the following improved features and advantages.

(a) The body of the clamp is inverted with respect to the groove within which the cable is seated, with a keeper having a seat which bears upwardly against the cable. This tends to eliminate the collection of corrosive matter in the cable groove as occurs in conventional clamps with upwardly opening grooves.

(b) The keeper is held in position by downwardly extending 'U-bolts which straddle the clamp body and pass through ribs on the sides of the keeper, the U-bolts being firmly peened to the clamp body, thereby facilitating work on a live line and preventing any of the U-bolts getting out of line when assembling or working the clamp.

(c) The relationship of the keeper and the groove in the body of the clamp is such that when the U-bolts are loosened to remove or insert a cable in the clamp, the keeper does not drop completely free of the groove and cannot hang on the sides of the groove when retightened.

(d) The keeper being located beneath the clamp body, drops away from the conductor groove of its own weight when the nuts on the U-bolts are loosened. This obviates the necessity of a lifting eye as heretofore used on the clamps having a keeper above the body of the clamp.

(e) The seat of the cable in the keeper is of V-shape rather than arcuate and is bowed slightly upwardly intermediate its ends which produces a concentration of pressure on the cable midway the ends of the keeper and the V-shaped seat and causes collapsing of the cable helix at relatively low bolt pressures thereby effecting greater pressure on the central strands of the cable.

(1) A cable guide formed with relatively light, bendable material, is mounted in the clamp body, between the sides thereof, which can be bent manually before work is started so as to turn the cable either upwardly or downwardly when being assembled.

(g) The clamp groove is made straight'rather than wavy as is usual in clamps of this kind and the keeper is slightly bowed at the ends which construction, I have found, gives very high holding power and at the same time makes it easy to thrust the cable through the clamp without a tendency for it to hang on waves in the groove.

(h) Two pulling eyes are provided on the clamp body, one on each side, to simplify positioning of tensioning tackle when installing the clamp and providing a means whereby the tensioning tackle may always be attached to the pulling eye nearest the pole where a lineman may be located.

These and other features of my invention are illus-.

trated in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the keeper, with the upward.

bow of the keeper slot exaggerated.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of my invention I show a clamp body 10 having an elongated downwardly opening, straight cable groove 11 therein which, as shown, is arcuate in cross section with curved, and the U-bolts are curved with a corresponding radius whereby the latter bear evenly upon the upper surface of the clamp body. The clamp body is cast with upwardly extending fingers 19 which, when the clamp is assembled, are peened over as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to hold the U-bolts firmly in place. i

The rear of the body 10 is open with sides 21 and 22 between which is formed a tongue or guide member 23 on a transverse partition 24 which is secured to side portions 21 and 22 at a position in longitudinal alignment with cable groove 11. The guide member 23 may be bent manually either upwardly to deflect a cable 26 being inserted in the clamp downwardly as shown in Fig. 2, or downwardly to deflect cable 26 upwardly. The rear end of the clamp is provided with a clevis 27 for attaching it to a stationary support such as 28, shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

My improved clamp embodies a keeper member 29 having lateral ribs 25 and 30 with holes 31 and 32 therethrough and through which the U-bolts 14, 16 and 17 pass, the said holes being in alignment with the holes through the clamp body '10. The tightening nuts 33 and 34 on the U-bolts are on the lower ends thereof, as shown. As will be seen the bolt 16 passes through the keeper midway between its ends. The keeper is pro vided with an elongated rib portion 36 which extends upwardly between the vertical sides 37 and 38 of the groove in the clamp body. The rib 36 is provided with an upwardly bearing V-shaped cable seat 39 on the upper surface of the keeper member 29 which, when the clamp is tightened against a cable, causes a slight collapse of the outer strands of the cable and provides for increased pressure between the center strands. As shown in exaggerated scale in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the mid-portion 41 of the rib 36 is bowed slightly upwardly so as to afiord a concentration of pressure in the clamp mid-way between its ends when tightened on a cable. In actual practice, with a keeper five inches long the upward bow may be in the neighborhood of A inch. This slight upward bow of the keeper clamping surface, combined with the straight groove in the clamp body, gives very high holding power, yet when the keeper is loosened it is very easy to thrust the cable through the clamp without the tendency to hang on waves in the groove.

As will be seen from a consideration of Fig. 3 of the drawing, the bolt holes 12 and 13 in the clamp body and the bolt holes 31 and 32 in the keeper body are so spaced from the cable groove that they do not intersect the groove nor come in contact with the cable. This provides for ease in inserting the cable in the clamp.

Patented July- 26, 1 960 As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, the clamp body 10 is provided with two pulling eyes 42 and 43 on the sides to simplify positioning of tensioning tackle which, with this arrangement, permits attaching the tackle to the pulling eyeof the clamp nearest the pole where a line man is located.

f From the foregoing it will be apparent-that I have devised an improved clamp which is, simple-and sturdyof design, easyto manufacture, and which-combines-maximum holding strengthwith 'ease of installation-and working.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvioustothose skilled in the art-that it is not so limited, but is susceptible'ofvarious'-changes and modifications 'without' departingfrom the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore; that only such limitations, shall be placed thereupon as are specifically set-forth in the appended claim.

' What I claim is:

In a dead end cable clamp, an upper body member having at -one end portion a cable groove onthe under side thereof and having downwardly extending bolt holes on opposite sides of the cable groove and laterally spaced therefrom, laterally spaced vertical side portions on the other end portion of the body member adjacent the groove, a cable guide mounted at one end between the side portions at a position in generally longitudinal alignment with the cable groove, the other end of said cable guide being free and extending toward the cable groove, said guide being, selectively, bent upwardly to be engaged by the upper surface of a cable being inserted in the cable groove thereby to direct the cable downwardly from the clamp or bent downwardly to be engaged by the lower surface of the cable being inserted thereby to direct the cable upwardly from the clamp, means at the outer end of the side portions to secure the body member to a stationary support, a keeper member mounted beneath the body member and having bolt holes therethrough along its sides aligned with the boltholes in the body member, 'U-bolts straddling the body memberand extending downwardly through the aligned bolt holes, an upwardly extending rib on thekeeper memberxhaving acable seat on its upper surface for engaging a cable in the cable groove, and nuts on-the lower ends ofthe U-bolts to draw the keeper seat into engagement with the cable in the cable groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 166,082 Drinkhouse July 27, 1875 387,650 Lovejoy Aug. 14, 1888 851,822 r Meech Apr. 30, 1907 1,268,981 Lapp June 11, 1918 1,370,544 Leeper- Mar. 8, 1921 1,579,005 Krout Mar. 30, 1926 1,994,003 Moore Mar. 12, 1935 2,432,635 Van Ryan Dec. 16, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 126,047 Austria Dec. 28, 1931 346,752 Great Britain Apr. 9, 1931 619,839 Great Britain Mar. 15, 1949

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