U.S. patent application number 10/168290 was filed with the patent office on 2003-05-15 for a reel for paying out elongate elements for interior cabling of buildings.
Invention is credited to Campion, Jean-Luc, Lecoq, Daniel, Petit, Alain, Reau, Anne-Cecile.
Application Number | 20030089818 10/168290 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27624249 |
Filed Date | 2003-05-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030089818 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Reau, Anne-Cecile ; et
al. |
May 15, 2003 |
A reel for paying out elongate elements for interior cabling of
buildings
Abstract
A reel for paying out elongate elements for interior cabling of
buildings. According to the invention, said reel (1) comprises: a
container (10) of generally toroidal shape, presenting an outer
wall (11) that is cylindrical about axis A, an inner wall (12) that
is also cylindrical, and coaxial with the outer wall, and a
substantially plane bottom (13) interconnecting the outer and inner
walls (11, 12) and extending perpendicularly to the axis A, the
outer wall (11) being provided with a side opening (14) through
which said elongate elements pass; and a spool (20) designed to
receive the elongate elements and to be inserted in the container
(10), said spool comprising a cylindrical core (21) capable of
interfitting about said inner wall (12), and bordered by an annular
flange (22) capable of bearing against the bottom (13) of said
container. Application to interior cabling of buildings.
Inventors: |
Reau, Anne-Cecile; (Pleumeur
Bodou, FR) ; Petit, Alain; (Pluzunet, FR) ;
Lecoq, Daniel; (Berhet, FR) ; Campion, Jean-Luc;
(Saint Quay Perros, FR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COHEN, PONTANI, LIEBERMAN & PAVANE
551 FIFTH AVENUE
SUITE 1210
NEW YORK
NY
10176
US
|
Family ID: |
27624249 |
Appl. No.: |
10/168290 |
Filed: |
October 28, 2002 |
PCT Filed: |
December 15, 2000 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/FR00/03551 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
242/588.6 ;
242/594.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 49/28 20130101;
B65H 2701/534 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
242/588.6 ;
242/594.3 |
International
Class: |
B65H 049/28 |
Claims
1/ A reel for paying out elongate elements for interior cabling of
buildings, the reel (1) being characterized in that it comprises: a
container (10) of generally toroidal shape, presenting an outer
wall (11) that is cylindrical about axis A, an inner wall (12) that
is also cylindrical, and coaxial with the outer wall, and a
substantially plane bottom (13) interconnecting the outer and inner
walls (11, 12) and extending perpendicularly to the axis A, the
outer wall (11) being provided with a side opening (14) through
which said elongate elements pass; and a spool (20) designed to
receive the elongate elements and to be inserted in the container
(10), said spool comprising a cylindrical core (21) capable of
interfitting about said inner wall (12), and bordered by an annular
flange (22) capable of bearing against the bottom (13) of said
container.
2/ A reel according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottom
(13) of the container (10) includes a plurality of ball-bearings
(15).
3/ A reel according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that it
also comprises a circular cover (30) designed to close the end of
the container (10) opposite from its bottom (13).
4/ A reel according to claim 3, characterized in that the cover
(30) has a central opening (31) of diameter substantial equal to
the diameter of the inner wall (12).
5/ A stack of reels (1, 1', 1") according to claim 3 or claim 4,
characterized in that the bottom of one reel rests on the cover of
the reel that is immediately beneath it.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a reel for paying out
elongate elements for interior cabling of buildings.
[0002] A particularly advantageous application of the invention is
in the field of installing, inside buildings, precabling conduits
or groups of conduits, such as flat strips.
[0003] Nowadays, a building is precabled with conduits by unreeling
them from a drum placed on a pay-out stand essentially constituted
by a horizontal shaft about which the drum can turn freely under
the action of the pulling force exerted on the wound elongate
element, e.g. a conduit.
[0004] However, the use of drums presents a certain number of
drawbacks. As a result of their large size, drums are generally
installed outside buildings, and even if it is sometimes possible
to put them in the corridors, they remain difficult to handle. In
addition, unreeling from drums is noisy.
[0005] Furthermore, the bulk and the remoteness of the drum does
not allow lengths of elongate elements to be unreeled directly into
the cable ducts of buildings. It is necessary firstly to cut the
conduit to length on the floor, thereby posing safety problems for
the conduits since people can tread on them and damage them, and
secondly to place them in cabling infrastructures.
[0006] Thus, the technical problem to be resolved by the present
invention is to propose a reel for paying out elongate elements for
interior cabling of buildings, which reel enables said elongate
elements to be handled more easily and effectively than do the
drums that have been used up until now.
[0007] According to the present invention, the solution to the
technical problem posed consists in that said reel comprises:
[0008] a container of generally toroidal shape, presenting an outer
wall that is cylindrical about axis A, an inner wall that is also
cylindrical, and coaxial with the outer wall, and a substantially
plane bottom interconnecting the outer and inner walls and
extending perpendicularly to the axis A, the outer wall being
provided with a side opening through which said elongate elements
pass; and
[0009] a spool designed to receive the elongate elements and to be
inserted in the container, said spool comprising a cylindrical core
capable of interfitting about said inner wall, and bordered by an
annular flange capable of bearing against the bottom of said
container.
[0010] Thus, the reel of the invention enables the conduits wound
in coils around the core of the spool to be unreeled horizontally,
the reel being placed on the floor, with its axis A in a vertical
position. It thus requires no special unwinding equipment and can
take up less floor space, thereby enabling it to be used inside
buildings, closer to cable ducts. Consequently, it is not necessary
to cut predetermined lengths of cabling. In contrast, it suffices
to lead the elongate elements directly from the reel of the
invention into the cabling infrastructures, resulting in a
significant saving in the installation time. This results in
improved safety for the conduits, or strips of conduits, since it
is no longer necessary to put them on the floor in order to cut
them to length. It should also be noted that if the cable ducts are
very high, for example, it is possible to install said reels on
stands rather than cut conduits to length, this being made possible
by the small size and light weight of the reel of the
invention.
[0011] In the invention, in order to obtain easy unreeling under a
weak pulling force, the bottom of the container includes a
plurality of ball-bearings.
[0012] Naturally, the invention extends to elongate elements other
than conduits or strips of precabling conduits, such as copper or
optic cables. Finally, another advantage of the reel of the
invention is that it enables several cables or conduits to be
unreeled simultaneously and independently, without increasing the
amount of floor space required. This additional advantage of the
reel of the invention is achieved by the fact that it also
comprises a circular cover designed to close the end of the
container opposite from its bottom. A plurality of reels of the
invention can thus be stacked one on top of the other, the bottom
of one reel resting on the cover of the reel that is immediately
beneath it.
[0013] The following description with reference to the accompanying
drawing given by way of non-limiting example will make it possible
to understand what the invention consists of and how it can be
achieved.
[0014] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a reel of the
invention.
[0015] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stack comprising a
plurality of FIG. 1 reels.
[0016] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a reel 1 designed to receive
elongate elements, in order to unreel them, said elongate elements
being cables or precabling conduits, for example, for interior
cabling of buildings.
[0017] The reel 1 comprises various elements, namely a container
10, a spool 20, and a cover 30 which are described in detail
below.
[0018] The container 10 is generally toroidal in shape and is
constituted by two cylindrical walls 11, 12 that are coaxial about
a common axis A. The wall 11 is an "outer" wall, and the wall 12 in
an "inner" wall. The two walls are interconnected via a bottom 13
that is substantially perpendicular to the axis A. The container 10
is thus a receptacle for the elongate elements assembled in coils
and capable of being unreeled out of the container by passing
through a side opening 14 made in the outer cylindrical wall
11.
[0019] The spool 20 receives coils of elongate elements and, to
this end, comprises a cylindrical core 21 bordered at one end by a
flange 22. The spool 20 is designed to be inserted in the container
10, the cylindrical core 21 interfitting about the inner wall 12,
and the flange 22 bearing against the bottom 13 of said container
10. In this way, when the elongate elements are pulled through the
opening 14, the spool 20 turns freely about the inner cylindrical
wall 12 which forms a shaft on which it turns.
[0020] In order to make it easier to rotate the spool 20, the
bottom 13 of the container 10 is equipped with a plurality of
ball-bearings 15.
[0021] The purpose of the cover 30 is to close the end of the
container 10 opposite from its bottom 13. This disposition is
particularly advantageous since it enables a plurality of reels to
be stacked one on another, such as the reels 1, 1', 1" in FIG. 2.
Several different elongate elements can thus be pulled out
independently or collectively without increasing the amount of
floor space required.
[0022] The cover 30 optionally has a central opening 31 of diameter
substantial equal to the diameter of the inner wall 12.
[0023] By way of example, the diameter of the reel 1 is about 70
centimeters (cm), thereby occupying a floor area of less than 0.4
square meters (m.sup.2) for a height of about 20 or so
centimeters.
[0024] It should also be noted that the use of plastics materials
such as ABS enables reels to be made that are very light.
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