This invention relates to a kit for the creation of a telecommunications cable sleeve, the kit comprising a housing body and a lid, cable inlet and outlet apertures in the housing body , and contacting and distributing elements inside the housing body. The invention is particularly concerned with providing a kit with a minimum number of parts, which can be assembled by the end user in two or more different ways depending on the end use to which the cable sleeve is to be put.

Cable sleeves with various housing designs are known. To name a few examples here: DE 26 26 510-C, DE 24 27 677- A, DE 30 29 848, and DE 33 20 916-A.

There are applications where it is desirable to make a sleeve available to the consumer (for example a telecommunications company) which can not only take multiple loads but can also be used for various uses, e.g. it can act either as a so called butt sleeve that is the end sleeve of a cable layout, or as a so-called in-line sleeve which has incoming and outgoing cables entering and exiting on opposite sides of the sleeve. Depending on the intended purpose or application of the cable sleeve, at least two different sleeve bodies have previously been necessary . Either a sleeve provided with cable inlets and outlets on both end faces (for an in-line splice) was required, or a sleeve provided with both cable inlets and outlets on one face (for a butt splice). In the previously proposed sleeves it was also necessary for the corresponding contacting elements for the individual purpose to be correspondingly mounted at the appropriate position on the inside of the sleeve. Thus different sleeves with different contact configurations were needed by the end user depending on the use to which the sleeve was to be put.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sleeve kit or a sleeve which can be used for varying purposes while using a small number of individual elements . The same sleeve kit or sleeve according to the present invention can thus can be configured by the

end consumer, according to his or her wishes. Inventory is therefore reduced.

The present invention provides a telecommunications cable sleeve kit comprising (i) a sleeve housing body closable by a lid , (ii) cable inlet and outlet apertures and (iii) contacting and distributing elements inside the sleeve, characterised in that the sleeve housing body has at least three, preferably four side walls , and that at least three of the side walls of the sleeve housing body are provided with (a) apertures for receiving cables of varying diameter and (b) guide pieces for attaching fixing elements and sealing bodies .

The kit according to the invention preferably also comprises one or more, preferably two (or more) of the said fixing elements and one or more, preferably two (or more) of the said sealing elements.

The said fixing elements are provided to fix, and preferably to strain relieve entering and exiting cables, and sealing bodies are provided to block and seal apertures in sides of the housing that are not to be used in a particular apphcation. Sealing bodies may also be provided at the apertures where the fixing elements are, in order to seal around the entering of exiting cables

t is a consequence of the design of the present apphcation (being such that a single housing body can be used for multiple applications) that usually some, but not all the apertures in the sides of the sleeve body housing will be used by entering or exiting cables, and some apertures will not be used, and will need to be blocked

The side walls of the housing body are preferably straight sided, preferably substantially flat planar. Preferably the housing body is substantially rectilinear, for example substantially rectangular, or substantially square in plan view, and preferably also substantially rectangular or square in longitudinal and cross section.

An advantage of the invention is that it makes it possible for the end user to assemble the same pieces of kit in various ways to make varied assembled cable sleeves according to the desired end

application. Access to the sleeve is possible through cable inlets on dif erent side walls of the sleeve housing body, which are provided with fixing elements , sealing elements , or cover pieces to accommodate cables, or to seal non-used inlets depending on what is required. Thus, for example, a butt sleeve can be formed, by arranging cable inlet or outlet areas in one side of a rectangular sleeve housing body and blocking the apertures in the other sides of the sleeve housing body. This is achieved by appropriate positioning of the fixing elements in the said one side of the sleeve body, and sealing elements and cover pieces over any apertures on other sides of the housing body As a second example, to form an in-line sleeve, opposite sides of a rectangular sleeve body, or example, can be provided with the appropriate fixing elements to receive cables, while sealing elements and cover pieces cover the apertures in the other sides of the sleeve body.

In a preferred embodiment the sleeve housing body is substantially box shaped being rectangular in plan view, and apertures are provided on three of the four flat sides of the box shaped housing. Pre erably each flat side is provided with two apertures to receive two cables. For an in-line splice .fixing elements are secured on the two parallel flat sides of the housing body that contain apertures, and sealing elements are provided on the third side of the housing body that contains apertures. For a butt splice fixing elements are preferably provided on the said third side, and sealing elements on the parallel aperture-containing sides of the housing body.

Further refinements of the invention can be found in the sub-claims.

The fixing element preferably provide strain relief . The elements are preferably designed as multi-part elements which can lock into the basic body, for example by means of tongue and groove joints. Such an arrangement makes it possible to insert either a comparatively thick multi- conductor cable or a multiplicity of individual conductors or cables with a small number of conductors. The sealing elements can take the form of elements which can be inserted into recesses in the housing wall, either as multi-part elements or as individual elements.

In addition to the fixing elements or sealing elements which can be inserted or attached to the side walls of the sleeve body, attachable protective covers or chp-on or attachable covers can also be provided.

The housing lid and the elements to be fixed in the sleeve body are preferably provided with beveUed clamping surfaces facing outwards over which fixing elements can engage.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a kit according to invention

Fig. 2 is a butt sleeve created using the kit of Figure 1, in open configuration

Fig. 3 is the butt sleeve of Fig. 2 in closed configuration with incoming and outgoing cables, and

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of an in-line sleeve kit

The kit numbered 1 in all the diagrams consists of an essentially rectilinear, (for example essentially box shaped ) housing body 2 which can be closed by a lid 3. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the longitudinal side wall 4 of the housing body is provided with two apertures 8 and 9 that are each fitted with a fixing element 5 for fixing incoming cables or cable conductors (not shown in detail) entering through apertures 8 and 9. The fixing elements 5 can be inserted into notched or ridged guide pieces 6 (e.g. by tongue and groove fittings) in the side wall 4 of the housing body 2.

The side wall 4, like the shorter side walls 7 of the housing body is equipped with an aperture 8 or a large-diameter cable, and with an aperture 9 , of different dimension, for a multiphcity of individual conductors or cables with smaller diameters.

The fixing elements 5 in the side wall 4 of the housing body are equipped with appropriate pressing bodies, 10 and 11 for pressing down onto the incoming cables or cable conductors entering the fixing elements 5. This advantageously may provide strain relief.

The apertures 8 and 9 in the side walls, are closed by inserted sealing bodies 12 and 13. They may take the form of rubber sealing elements or, for example, they can also be separate insertable pieces with a rubber seal (not shown in detail).

If the cable inlets 8 and 9 in the side walls 7 are not fitted with incoming or outgoing cables or cable inlets, the cable inlets apertures 8 and 9 may be covered by protective covers 14. These protective covers can be inserted into the guides 6 on the external faces of the side walls, in a similar fashion to the manner in which the fixing elements 5 are secured on guides 6

As shown in Figure 1, additional protective covers 15 can be provided on the cover 3. The fixing elements 5 may be positioned in the covers 15, and both the protective covers 15 may be positioned on the longitudinal side of the lid 3 covering the housing body.

To secure all the elements of the kit to one another, at least the protective covers 14 covering the apertures 8 and 9 are equipped with sloping or bevelled gripping pieces 16. The cover 3 can also be fitted with contact strips 17 which have gripping slopes 16. Clamping elements 18 can be pushed over the gripping slopes to fasten adjacent elements of the kit to one another.

Inside the housing body, the kit 1 comprises contacting or distributing elements 19 which are provided on divided pivotable mounting plates 20 in a modular fashion. It is possible to move the divided pivotable mounting plates 20 (by means of a hinge 21) from the parallel layout of the contact elements 19 shown in Fig. 1 or 2 to the end-to-end layout of Fig. 4. This movement can be carried out by the consumer in order to alter the assembled sleeve from one suitable for a butt sphce to one suitable for an end-to-end sphce.

Naturally, the specific exemplified embodiments of the invention described can still be altered in many ways without departing from the basic concept. Thus, in particular, the invention is not restricted to the type of fixing bod es 5 or sealing bodies 12 and 13 illustrated, nor to the type of contacting elements 19 shown here on the divided pivotable mounting plates 20, or the form of grip slopes 16 and suchlike.