| US4993968A | 1991-02-19 | |||
| EP0123417A2 | 1984-10-31 | |||
| US4549343A | 1985-10-29 |
| I claim: 1. An apparatus for facilitating the termination of cables at a location or equipment, said apparatus comprising of cabling holding means to hold said cables to be terminated in positions that are in alignment with the corresponding cable termination equipment at the location or equipment so that said cables are easily organized and terminated. 2. An apparatus of Claim 1 wherein the apparatus is made of any suitable material such as plastic or metal. 3. An apparatus of Claim 1 wherein the apparatus comprises of cable holding means suitable for holding cables of any type and size. |
The Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for holding cables in substantially aligned positions relative to cable termination equipment, thus making the task of terminating the cables easier.
Background
The use of cables of various types is widespread and cables are used to connect various components of power, data, telecommunications, security, audio-visual and control systems. Connection of the various components of the previously mentioned systems is effected by the termination of the cables at suitable cable termination equipment within the respective systems. Depending on the cables being terminated, the termination equipment can range from simple screw-type terminals for electrical power cables, to sophisticated rack mountable modular data cable termination units or patch panels.
When a number of cables are required to be terminated at one location or equipment, the person carrying out the termination is challenged by the difficult task of constantly organizing the cables so that individual cables are brought into alignment with the respective termination equipment before being terminated. Thus, the task of constantly organizing and aligning the cables results in considerable additional time being required before termination of cables can be completed, which is disadvantageous.
Description of the invention
This invention seeks to facilitate the termination of cables when they are required to be terminated at one location or equipment. The use of the apparatus of the invention facilitates the task of terminating the cables as it simplifies the cable termination process by making it easier for the person carrying out the terminations to organize and align the cables relative to the termination equipment.
The invention is best described by referring to the four accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a front view of an apparatus of this invention comprising of cable clips C mounted on a strip S having a pair of mounting holes MH at each end. Fig. 2 provides a top view of the same apparatus of the invention which, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, has the cable clips C open at one end. Fig. 3 shows a front view of the general arrangement of an apparatus of this invention S installed in proximity of a cable termination strip TS incorporating screw terminals ST. Fig. 3 also shows how, with the given positioning of the apparatus of this invention S relative to the termination strip TS, the apparatus serves as a holding device for holding cables CS which are to be terminated so that the cables CS are easily organized. Fig. 3 further shows how, by having the position of each clip C of the cable holding device in alignment with the corresponding cable termination equipment TS, termination of the cables is made easier.
The general arrangement depicted by Fig. 3 shows the cable holding device S in a position that is lower than that of the cable termination strip TS. However, the general arrangement depicted by Fig. 3 is only one of many possible configurations of cables CS to be terminated, cable termination equipment TS and cable holding device S of this invention. Another arrangement is as shown in Fig. 4 wherein the cable termination equipment TS is lower than the cable holding device S of this invention. Alternatively, the cables CS to be terminated could assume a horizontal position with the termination strip TS and the cable holding device S positioned side by side.