Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
CA 02456575 2004-O1-29
PATENT
John J. Ryan III
INSULATING WIRE SEPARATOR APPARATUS F~R PIPING SYSTEMS
This Utility Patent Application claims priority of Provisional Patent
Application
Serial No. 60/255,119 filed December 14, 2000, and is incorporated by
reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an insulating wire separator apparatus for
piping
systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an insulating wire
separator apparatus for
piping systems having an improved construction and structure, to protect
buried pipes and
cable from becoming damaged or melted from an accidental electrical charge or
a lightning
strike.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Devices are known for use in attaching wires to pipe. Such wires are used as
tracer
wire, so as to permit detection of underground buried plastic piping systems.
U.S. Patent No. 6,061,880 to Senninger teaches a water supply line fastener.
In this
device, a large pipe clip and smaller clips are shown attached to an arm.
U.S. Patent No. 3,385,545 to Patton teaches a conduit hanging apparatus. The
apparatus includes a pair of brackets securing a pipe in the middle, and for
securing
additional cables on either side.
U.S. Patent No. 5,669,590 to Przewodek teaches a retaining clip with multiple
clamps.
In this patent, plastic clips are used to secure and anchor pipe and wire
bundles.
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U.S. Patent No. 5,035,383 to Rainville teaches a space saver service clamp. In
this
patent, a support member has clamp portions for retaining three separate pipes
or wire
bundles.
U.S. Patent No. 5,271,587 to Schaty et al. teaches a clip for pipes and
cables. In this
device, resilient support members are provided.
U.S. Patent No. 5,538,208 to Cordes et al. teaches a spacer mounting for
elongated
elements such as electrical cable bundles. In this patent, a mounting
structure includes a snap
on feature.
U.S. Patent No. 5,769,556 to Colley teaches a bicycle clamp. This device
includes a
pair of clamp portions to connect a bicycle rack to a bicycle frame portion.
U.S. Patent No. 4,114,241 to Bisping teaches interlocking clamps for piping
and
cable. In this patent, block-like members are engageable using dovetail-like
joints.
U.S. Patent No. 5,703,330 to Kujawski teaches a wire harness conduit and tube
bundle. A large conduit-engaging portion supports a plurality of smaller tube
holder
portions.
U.S. Patent No. 5,115,542 to Gehres teaches a hose separator clip. A pair of
separable portions can be engaged to clamp three pipes at spaced intervals.
U.S. Patent No. 4,707,892 to Nelson teaches a fish rod transport clamp. This
clamp
has receptacles for four rods.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
From the foregoing, it is seen that it is a problem in the art to provide a
device
meeting the above requirements. According to the present invention, a device
is provided
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which meets the aforementioned requirements and needs in the prior art.
Specifically, the
device according to the present invention provides an insulating wire
separator apparatus for
piping systems.
More particularly, the invention relates to an insulating wire separator
apparatus for
piping systems having an improved construction and structure, to protect
buried pipes and
cable from becoming damaged or melted from an accidental electrical charge or
a lightning
strike.
An insulating wire separator for piping systems protects buried pipes and
cable from
becoming damaged or melted from an accidental electrical charge or a lightning
strike. The
insulating wire separator apparatus is a mufti-purpose clip device used to
connect a tracer
wire to conduits, cables, or piping. The charge put on the tracer wire
("locating wire") for
locating purposes is about equal to that of an AM radio. This is especially
useful for locating
buried conduits, cables, or piping which are composed of plastic materials.
The insulating
wire separator spaces the tracer wires away from buried plastic conduits,
cables, or piping
during the installation or back filling process to prevent the plastic
conduits, cables, or piping
from being melted or damaged due to an accidental electric charge placed upon
the wire by
electric wires in a joint trench installation, or by a lightning strike.
Without this insulating
wire separator, an incident such as this could be devastating and could result
in loss of life or
property.
Another purpose of the insulating wire separator is to keep uniform placement
of the
locating ("tracer") wire throughout utility systems. By using this insulating
wire separator,
the wire will always be within six inches (for example) of the piping and will
not
significantly move during the backfilfing process. This should greatly improve
the accuracy
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of locating underground piping, thereby reducing the amount of third party
damage ("dig-
ins") of utility mains and services due to mismarked utilities.
Furthermore, such buried plastic conduits, cables, or piping are difficult to
detect, and
construction crews may inadvertently strike and damage such buried conduits,
cables, or
piping because conventional detection methods using metal detecting equipment
are unable
to locate buried plastic conduits, cables, or piping. Such tracer wires are
used, therefore, to
permit detection of buried plastic conduits, cables, or piping using
conventional detection
methods.
Additionally, the insulating wire separator ensures that the locating wire
will stay in
close proximity to the plastic conduits, cables, or piping, but not touching
(e.g., several inches
away), which meets the specified tolerance zone requirements for most states
"one call
system" for locating underground facilities.
The insulating wire separator of the present invention includes a main conduit
receiving portion having an outer strengthening rib. The insulating wire
separator includes an
arm portion connected to a wire clip portion. Along the arm portion, near the
main conduit
receiving portion is a foot plate and earth anchor portion.
The insulating wire separator can be installed on either side of conduits,
cables, or
piping, or on top. The conduits, cables, or piping are received in the main
conduit receiving
portion. The insulating wire separator is preferably composed of a non-
conductive resilient
material such as plastic or rubber, so that the insulating wire separator can
be resiliently
deformed to receive conduits, cables, or piping as well as tracer wires.
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Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily
apparent
from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the
accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a front elevarional view of an insulating wire separator apparatus
according
to the present invention attached to a conduit, cable or piping.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the insulating wire separator apparatus, taken along
lines 2-2
in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is an end view of the insulating wire separator apparatus of Fig. l,
taken along
lines 3-3 in Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a top elevational fragmentary view of the insulating wire separator
shown in
Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the wire clip portion of the insulating wire
separator of
Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 is a side view of an alternative form of the main conduit receiving
portion,
having a radiused first half and a radiused second half releasably secured
with a releasable
fastening means.
Fig. 7A is a side elevational view of an alternative form of the main conduit
receiving
apparatus of Fig. 1, showing a separator post mounted on the arm portion, with
the wire clip
portion positioned midway between the main conduit receiving portion and the
separator
post.
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Fig. 7B is a top view of the alternative form of the main conduit receiving
apparatus
shown in Fig. 7A.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the wire clip portion of the main conduit
receiving
portion shown in Figs. 1 and 7.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Fig. 1 shows an insulating wire separator 100 for piping systems, having an
improved
construction and structure as compared with the prior art devices, to protect
buried pipes and
cable from becoming damaged or melted from an accidental electrical charge or
a lightning
strike. The insulating wire separator 100 is a mufti-purpose clip device used
to connect a
tracer wire 170 to conduits 180, cables, or piping. The charge put on the
tracer wire 170
(locating wire) for locating purposes is about equal to that of an AM radio.
This is especially
useful for locating buried conduits, cables, or piping which are composed of
plastic materials.
The insulating wire separator 100 spaces the tracer wire 170 away from buried
plastic
conduits 180, cables, or piping during the installation or backfilling process
to prevent the
plastic conduits 180, cables, or piping from being melted or damaged due to an
accidental
electric charge placed upon the tracer wire 170 by electric wires in a joint
trench installation,
or by a lightning strike. Without this insulating wire separator 100, an
incident such as this
could be devastating and could result in loss of life or property.
Another purpose of the insulating wire separator 100 is to keep uniform
placement of
the locating ("tracer") wire 170 throughout utility systems. By using this
insulating wire
separator 100, the tracer wire 170 will consistently be several inches,
preferably about six
inches (for example), from the conduit 180 or piping and will not
substantially move during
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the backfilling process. This will greatly improve the accuracy of locating
underground
piping, thereby reducing the amount of third party damage (''dig-ins") of
utility mains and
services due to mismarked utilities.
Furthermore, such buried plastic conduits 180, cables, or piping are difficult
to detect,
and construction crews may inadvertently strike and damage such buried
conduits, cables, or
piping because conventional detection methods using metal detecting equipment
are unable
to locate buried plastic conduits 180, cables, or piping. Such tracer wires
170 are used,
therefore, to permit detection of buried plastic conduits 180, cables, or
piping using
conventional detection methods.
Additionally, the insulating wire separator 100 ensures that the tracer
locating wire
170 will stay in close proximity to the plastic conduits, cables, or piping,
but not touching
(e.g., several inches away), which meets the specified tolerance zone
requirements for most
state's "one call system" for locating underground facilities. Preferably, the
tracer locating
wire 170 is spaced abouC six inches away from the main conduit 180.
The insulating wire separator 100 shown in Fig. 1 includes a main conduit
receiving
portion 120 having an outer strengthening rib 110. The main conduit receiving
portion 120 is
preferably sized to resiliently receive the main conduit 180 through an
opening D provided in
the main conduit receiving portion 120. The opening D extends about the outer
circumference of the main conduit receiving portion 120, and preferably
extends from about
sixty to about eighty degrees from the centerline of the main conduit
receiving portion 120, to
allow the main conduit 180 to be flexibly received through said opening D.
The insulating wire separator apparatus 100 includes an arm portion 130
extending
from the main conduit receiving portion 120, on the side opposite of the
opening D in the
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main conduit receiving portion 120. A faot plate and earth anchor portion 140
is positioned
at right angles to the arm portion 130, in proximity to the conduit receiving
portion 120.
The insulating wires separator 100 can be installed on either side, or on top
of existing
conduits 180, cables, or piping. At least one of the conduits 180, cables, or
piping is received
in the main conduit receiving portion 120. The insulating wire separator 100
is preferably
composed of a resilient material such as plastic or rubber, so that the
insulating wire separator
100 can be resiliently deformed to receive at least one conduit 180, cable, or
piping therein.
A tracer wire 170 is received between opposing fingers of a tracer wire clip
portion 150,
which is positioned on the arm portion 130 at least about three inches, and
preferably about
six inches away from the centerline of the main conduit 180.
The insulating wire separator apparatus 100 is preferably made of a resilient,
non-
conductive, non-corrosive, non-biodegradable material.
The insulating wire separator 100 is applied to conduits 180, cables, or
piping by
pressing or deforming the main conduit receiving portion 120 so that it opens
sufficiently to
receive at least one conduit 180, cable, or piping therein, and then
resiliently closes to grip
the conduit 180, cable, or piping to which it is applied. The insulating wire
separator
apparatus 100 may alternately include a conduit receiving portion having a
first half 210 and
a second half 220, which are releasably secured together by any known type of
releasable
securement means, as shown in Fig. 6.
The tracer wire 170 is inserted and retained in the opposing fingers 151, 152
of the
wire clip portion 150. As seen in Fig. 1, the wire clip portion 150 includes a
pair of fingers
151 and 152 which open sufficiently to receive the tracer wire 170, and then
resiliently close
to grip the tracer wire 170 which has been inserted therein. The wire clip
portion 150 may be
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located upon the arm portion 130, midway between the main conduit receiving
portion 120
and the separator post 160, as shown in Fig. 7. Alternately, as shown in Fig.
1, the wire clip
portion 150 may be located at the distal end of the arm portion 130, several
inches from the
main conduit receiving portion 120.
When a separator post 160 is used, as shown in Figs. 7A and 7B, the separator
post
160 is positioned upon the arm portion 130, at least ten inches from the main
conduit
receiving portion 120. The separator post 160 preferably extends at least two
inches above
the arm portion 130.
The pair of fingers 151 and 152 may be placed at an angle in relation to the
centerline
of the arm portion 130, to slightly deform the tracer wire 170, as shown in
Fig. 8. Preferably,
the angle is from three degrees to thirty degrees tangent to the centerline of
the arm portion
130. This allows several sizes of wire to be inserted into the wire clip
portion 150 and held
therein, while preventing the tracer wire 170 from slipping or sagging during
installation and
backfilling operations.
By way of example, preferred dimensions are provided in Fig. l, for the
insulating
wire separator 100 of Fig. l, as follows. The distance A is from six inches to
ten inches long.
The elements B (only one of which is marked in Fig. 1) are where KO pins are
.located
during the manufacturing process. The radius C is sized to receive the main
conduit 180
therein. The angle D is preferably from sixty to eighty degrees.
As previously noted, these dimensions are representative of a preferred
embodiment,
and one of average skill in this art may modify these dimensions without
departing from the
scope of this invention, and such modifications are intended to fall within
the scope of the
following claims.
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Fig. 2 is an end view of the insulating wire separator 100 of Fig. 1. In this
view, the
visible elements include the outer strengthening rib 110, the main conduit
receiving portion
120, and the plate portion 140.
Fig. 3 is an end view of the insulating wire separator 100 of Fig. 1. In this
view, the
visible elements include the outer strengthening rib 110, the main conduit
receiving portion
120, the arm portion 130, the plate portion 140, and the wire clip portion 150
including the
pair of fingers 151 and 152 of the wire clip portion 150.
Fig. 4 is a top elevational view of the insulating wire separator 100 of Fig.
1. In this
view, the visible elements include the outer strengthening rib 110, the main
conduit receiving
portion 120, the arm portion 130, the foot plate and earth anchor portion 140,
and the wire
clip portion 150.
Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a wire clip portion 150 of the insulating wire
separator
100 of Fig. 1. In this view, the pair of fingers 151 and 152 is clearly seen.
The fingers 151
and 152 are resilient, and sized to receive a tracer wire 170 therein. The
tips of the fingers
151 and 152 are angled outwardly, for ease of insertion of the tracer wire
170.
Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of an alternative means to connect the
insulating wire
separator apparatus 100 to the main conduit 180. This view is similar to the
main conduit
receiving portion 120 of Fig. l, and has an arm portion 130 (partially broken
away in Fig. 6)
corresponding to the arm portion 130 of Fig. 1. The main conduit receiving
portion 100
includes a first radiused half 210 and a second radiused half 220, each having
respective
extending flange portions 21 l, 212, 214, 216, secured together by a
releasable fastener, such
as threaded fasteners 217, 218 having respective nuts 221, 223. Any known
releasable
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fastener may be used, without departing from the scope of this disclosure, or
from the
following claims.
Fig. 7A is a side view of the insulating wire separator apparatus 100, with a
separator
post 160 extending from the arm portion 130 at right angles. The separator
post 160
preferably extends at least two inches above the arm portion 1.30. The
separator post 160 is
located at least ten inches from said plate portion 140, and the arm portion
130 preferably
extends at least two inches beyond the separator post 160, to provide safe
spacing for
additional underground utilities. When a separator post 160 is used, the wire
clip portion 150
is located midway between the foot plate and earth anchor portion 140 and the
separator post
160, to space the tracer wire 170 between the main conduit 18U and additional
underground
utilities. This ensures a safe distance between underground utilities in a
common trench. The
insulating wire separating apparatus 100 disclosed herein, ensures that the
distance between
the tracer wire 170 and the main conduit wire 180, or other utilities, will be
maintained
during the backfilling process.
Fig. 7B is a top view of the insulating wire separator apparatus 100 shown in
Fig. 7A.
The wire clip portion I50 is located midway between the main conduit receiving
portion 122
and the separator post 160. Note that the ann portion 130 extends at least two
inches beyond
the separator post 160, to support other utilities in spaced relation from the
tracer wire 270.
Preferably, the insulating wire separator apparatus 100 is color coded, with a
different
color for each utility, such as water, electrical, sewage, TB cable, etc., for
easy identification
when exposed by a contractor digging around existing facilities.
Fig. 8 is a sectional view through the wire clip portion 150. In this view,
the wire clip
portion 150 is canted from three degrees to thirty degrees in relation to the
centerline of the
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arm portion 130, which slightly bends the tracer wire 170 passing
therethrough. The purpose
of this embodiment is to adapt the wire clip portion 150 for use with any one
of several sizes
of tracer wire 170, and to more tightly stretch the tracer wire 170 between
adjacent ones of
the insulating wire separator apparatus 100 strung along the conduit 180,
pipe, or cable. This
tensioning effect will ensure that the tracer wire 170 is not displaced very
much during
filling-in operations which bury the conduits 180, pipes, and cables in a
common trench (not
shown).
The invention being thus described, it will be evident that the same may be
varied in
many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the
spirit and scope of
the invention and all such modifications are intended to be included within
the scope of the
claims.
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