Spacer damper

Claim 1

A cable damper for damping vibrations in two parallel electrical cables, comprising: a. a main body, and two arms mounted thereon, b. said arms carrying cable clamping means for holding the two cables therebetween, c. the arms being mounted on the body by pivotal mountings which allow for pivotal movement of the arms only about predetermined axes parallel to the cables held by said arms, d. the pivotal mountings for the arms including resilient energy-absorbing means biasing the arms into neutral positions in which positions the arms are inclined to a common plane, e. said energy-absorbing means being disposed intermediate predetermined spaces formed by at least a part of each of normally vertically disposed surfaces of said arms and said body in the area of pivotal connection thereof so as to prevent contact of said surfaces in operation, f. said energy absorption means being of a thickness sufficient to provide a compression factor to substantially preclude slippage as between the surface of said energy absorption means and the surfaces of said body when pivotal movement occurs, g. said energy-absorbing means being in the form of normally vertically disposed and generally disk-shaped resilient washers which are disposed in a plane defining a path transverse of said common plane whereby the maximum shear stress on said washers occurs in a plane perpendicular to the plane of pivotal movement of said arms, h. the pivotal movement of said arms on said body being such that the range of angular movement of an arm about said neutral position such as can be caused by vibrations of a cable attached thereto lies between planes through the pivotal axis of said arms respectively parallel to and perpendicular to said common plane, i. wherein said neutral positions of the arms are such that the axis of each arm passing through the center of the clamped cable and the pivotal axis of the arm lie at an inclination of between 25* and 65* to the said common plane.