Splice case with gas tight seal

Claim 2

In a splicing assembly of multiconductor sheathed communication cables, the combination of: a split case enclosing a cable splice and including first and second hAlf tubular sections with mating flanges along upper and lower edges, means joining said sections at said flanges, defining cylindrical access openings at each end of said case, and means for introducing gas under pressure into said case; a single unitary elastomeric grommet positioned in each of said access openings, at least one of said grommets having an inner face and an outer face and at least two cable passages therethrough, a slit through a thick wall section between the cable passages and the periphery, a dimension perpendicular to the plane of said flanges greater than the access opening diameter, and cavities in said inner face on opposite sides of said cable passages and extending part way toward said outer face; a thin layer of flexible sealing compound at the slit faces and at the interfaces of the case sections and grommets and at the cable sheaths and grommets; with said case sections joined at said flanges clamping each of said grommets in said case, compressing the grommets and clamping the grommets on the cable sheaths and producing compression forces at the faces of the slits maintaining a gas tight seal between case and cable.

Claim 3

An assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said grommets and said case have interengaging elements axially locking the grommet in the case.

Claim 4

An assembly as defined in claim 1 including a plurality of circumferential grooves in the wall of the cable passages defining deformable ridges between the grooves engaging the cable sheath in sealing relation.

Claim 5

An assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said cavities are centrally positioned in and have the configuration of the thick wall section of the grommet.

Claim 6

An assembly as defined in claim 1 with two cable passages in the grommet spaced from each other along said major axis defining generally T-shaped thick wall sections adjacent the upper and lower edges of said case.

Claim 7

An assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein said cavities are generally T-shaped and are in said T-shaped wall sections.

Claim 8

An assembly as defined in claim 6 wherein said cavities extend at least half way from said inner face toward said outer face.

Claim 9

An assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein the slits are in arms of the T-shaped wall sections.

Claim 10

An assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein each of the slits is adjacent a cavity.

Claim 11

An assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein each of the slits is in a plane oblique to the plane of said flanges at an angle such that the compression forces at the slit face are substantially perpendicular to the face.

Claim 12

An assembly as defined in claim 1 including opposed ridges at the periphery of the grommet parallel to the longitudinal axis of the case and engaging mating grooves in the case rotationally aligning of the grommet in the case.

Claim 13

In a splicing assembly of multiconductor sheathed communication cables, the combination of: a split case enclosing the cable splice and including first and second half tubular sections with mating flanges along upper and lower edges, means joining said sections at said flanges, defining cylindrical access openings at each of said case, and means for introducing gas under pressure into said case; and a single unitary elastomeric grommet positioned in each of said access openings, each of said grommets and said case having interengaging elements for axially locking the grommet in the case, at least one of said grommets having an inner face and an outer face and at least two cable passages therethrough, a slit through a thick wall section between the cable passages and the periphery, and cavities in said inner face on opposite sides of said cable passages and extending part way toward said outer face generally parallel with said cable passages, each of said cable passages having a substantially uniform diameter throughout its length, with said case sections joined at said flanges clamping each of said grommets in said case, compressing the grommets and clampiNg the grommets on the cable sheaths along the lengths of the cable passages and producing compression forces at the faces of the slits maintaining a gas tight seal between case and cable.

Claim 14

In a splicing assembly of multiconductor sheathed communication cables, the combination of: a split case enclosing the cable splice and including first and second half tubular sections with mating flanges along upper and lower edges, means joining said sections at said flanges, defining cylindrical access openings at each of said case, and means for introducing gas under pressure into said case; and a single unitary elastomeric grommet positioned in each of said access openings, each of said grommets and said case having interengaging elements for axially locking the grommet in the case, at least one of said grommets having an inner face and an outer face and at least two cable passages therethrough, a slit through a thick wall section between the cable passages and the periphery, and cavities in said inner face on opposite sides of said cable passages and extending part way toward said outer face generally parallel with said cable passages, each of said cable passages having a substantially uniform diameter throughout its length, with said case sections joined at said flanges clamping each of said grommets in said case, compressing the grommets and clampiNg the grommets on the cable sheaths along the lengths of the cable passages and producing compression forces at the faces of the slits maintaining a gas tight seal between case and cable.