Sealing grommet assembly for wiring harness

Claim 1

A sealing grommet assembly for passing a plurality of electrical conductors or the like through a hole in a panel and sealing off the hole through the panel comprising: a support plate for attaching the sealing grommet assembly to a panel having a hole extending through the panel, said support plate having a seal well which includes a peripheral wall projecting from the support plate and a base ledge at the end of the peripheral wall spaced from the support plate, said support plate further including a pilot wall which projects from the support plate and surrounds the seal well in a spaced relationship, said pilot wall being sized to pass through the hole which extends through a panel to which the support plate is to be attached, an elastomeric cable seal disposed in the seal well, said elastomeric seal block having a peripheral lip sealingly engaging an inside surface of the seal well and a plurality of apertures extending through the lastomeric cable seal for slidably and sealingly engaging individual electrical conductors, or the like, of a wiring harness, or the like, which is to be passed through the hole in the panel, a gasket surrounding the pilot wall of the support plate to provide a face seal between a surface of the support plate outwardly of the pilot wall and a surface of the panel surrounding the hole when the support plate is attached to the panel, and a cover which is attached to the support plate on the opposite side of the seal well, said cover having a channel portion which covers the seal well and which extends to an edge of the cover to direct the electrical conductors extending through the cable seal in a direction generally parallel to the support plate.

Claim 7

A method of making a wiring harness comprising the steps of, providing a sealing grommet assembly which includes a support plate for attaching the sealing grommet assembly to a panel having a hole extending through the panel, and a seal well which includes a peripheral wall projecting from the support plate and a base ledge at the end of the peripheral wall spaced from the support plate, providing a first elastomeric cable seal which includes a plurality of apertures which extend through the elastomeric cable seal for slidably and sealingly engaging respective individual electrical conductors of the wiring harness, providing an electrical end connector which has a connector body having a cable end and a connector end, juxtaposing the sealing grommet assembly in an unattached relationship to the connector body so that the cable end of the connector body is adjacent and moveable with respect to the base ledge of the seal well of the sealing grommet assembly, and inserting the electrical conductors of the wiring harness through respective apertures of the first elastomeric cable seal after it is disposed in the seal well and thence into the connector body of the electrical end connector.

Claim 8

A method of making a wiring harness comprising the steps of, providing a sealing grommet assembly which includes a support plate for attaching the sealing grommet assembly to a panel having a hole extending through the panel, and a seal well which includes a peripheral wall projecting from the support plate and a base ledge at the end of the peripheral wall spaced from the support plate, providing a first elastomeric cable seal which includes a plurality of apertures which extend through the elastomeric cable seal for slidably and sealingly engaging respective individual electrical conductors of the wiring harness, providing an electrical end connector which has a connector body having a cable end and a connector end, juxtaposing the sealing grommet assembly in an unattached relationship to the connector body so that the cable end of the connector body is adjacent and moveable with respect to the base ledge of the seal well of the sealing grommet assembly, and inserting the electrical conductors of the wiring harness through respective apertures of the first elastomeric cable seal after it is disposed in the seal well and thence into the connector body of the electrical end connector.