Manufacturers and users of cables and similar elongate articles desire to protect such articles from the effects of abrasion. As is well established, abrasion inhibits a cable's performance and, if severe enough, may lead to a failure in the system employing such a cable. Additionally, safety considerations warrant that electrical cables and the like maintain their mechanical and electrical integrity. For example, if an outer dielectric of a cable becomes frayed, for instance from abrasion, electricity may inadvertently come into contact with a user causing electrical shock or serious injury.
Additionally, manufacturers and users of cables and similar elongate substrates require a device which can be used to bundle cables. Bundling cables in a tight package reduces the abrasiveness of one cable against another. Cables very often have an irregular diameter. A joint, splice, mend or the like causes a cable to have a larger diameter at one section than another. Additionally, within the bundle there may be many different irregular diameters at various sections of each cable or there may be one particular section, such as at a joint where all of the cable have an enlarged diameter. An effective bundling device must be able to handle these diametric irregularities.
Very often in an electrical or fluid system there will be need for a cable or hose or the like to be separated from the main stream of such elongate substrates. These points or sections of the system are known as break-out points or simply break-outs. An effective bundling device must be able to accommodate not simply one break-out but a series of such break-outs known as multiple break-outs.
Ideally, manufacturers and users of cable and other similar elongate substrates, desire to have the abrasion resistant protection and the bundling function performed by a single device.
In order to satisfy industry needs with respect to both abrasion and bundling there has been developed a number of products. One particular product is made by Bentley-Harris Manufacturing Company of Lionville, Pennsylvania and sold under the federally registered trademark EXPANDO. Expando sleeving is a braided tubular article made from a strong plastic material, such as polyester.
The EXPANDO sleeving functions similar to a "chinese finger" trap in that it is axially compressible and radially expansible and vice versa. In use, the cables or similar articles are loaded into the sleeving by axially compressing the sleeve which causes the sleeve to radially expand. In addition, the overall length of the sleeving decreases in direct proportion to its radial expansion.
EXPANDO sleeving is very often used for bundling. A number of cables are loaded into the sleeving with the sleeve in its axially compressed and radially expanded condition. After loading, the sleeve is axially expanded and radially compressed to firmly hold the cables of the bundle in fixed relation to one another.
The EXPANDO sleeving prevents abrasion of the cable during installation by providing an outer surface other than the cable's own protective surface which can absorb the mechanical abuse of such installation. During use, the sleeving prevents one cable from rubbing against another cable by providing this protective outer layer between the cables. In bundling applications, the sleeving fixes the position of one cable relative to another cable and thereby prevents internal bundle abrasion in use and installation.
While effectively solving many of the above mentioned problems, Expando sleeving is lacking in certain respects. Since the Expando sleeving forms a continuous tubular article it must be slipped on prior to final installation of electrical cable and the like. Additionally, if a cable fails, the sleeving would have to be, at least in part, destroyed in order for the repairmen to gain access to the cable.
Cable break-outs present another difficulty in using the Expando sleeving. Although break-outs may be accommodated, it must be done with a plurality of sleeves of pre-determined lengths.