Pulling grip assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9453982-B2
Application number	US-201514738295-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 12, 2015
Priority date	Jun 12, 2014
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Teachings of the present disclosure relate to a pulling sleeve for pulling a cable through a conduit. The pulling sleeve is mounted over fibers of a fiber optic cable and a plurality of fiber optic connectors associated with the fibers. The pulling sleeve includes an elongated body formed of two mating pieces to include an interior cavity to receive and house the fibers. The two mating pieces may include half-pieces. The elongated body of the pulling sleeve includes a length that extends along a central axis between first and second ends, where the first end of the elongated body includes a pulling eye. Also, the elongated body of the pulling sleeve defines a plurality of axially spaced-apart circumferential notches for enhancing flexibility along its length. The axially spaced-apart circumferential notches enable the elongated body of the pulling sleeve to conform to a curved conduit path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pulling sleeve for pulling a cable through a conduit, the pulling sleeve being adapted to be monitored over a plurality of fiber optic connectors terminating optical fibers at an end of a fiber optic cable, the pulling sleeve comprising:
an elongated body defining an interior cavity for receiving the fiber optic connector, the elongated body having a length that extends along a central axis between first and second ends, the first end of the elongated body defining a pulling eye, the elongated body defining a plurality of axially spaced-apart circumferential notches for enhancing flexibility along its length such that the elongated body can conform to a curved path, the elongated body being formed by two mating pieces;
wherein a fan-out is mounted in a pocket within the elongated body at the second end of the elongated body, the fan-out being secured to the cable;
wherein the optical fibers terminated by the fiber optic connectors form connectorized pigtails that extend from the fan out, the fiber optic connectors being mounted between the two mating pieces; and
wherein each one of the two mating pieces is elongated and extends from the first end to the second end of the elongated body.

2. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the elongated body has an axial pulling strength of at least 300 pounds.

3. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the elongated body has a compressive strength of at least 250 pound force/square inch (440 newtons/cm 2 ).

4. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the elongated body has a polymeric construction.

5. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the mating piece are half-pieces.

6. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the notches each extend completely radially through a wall of the elongated body and partially about a circumference of the elongated body that extends around the central axis.

7. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the notches extend slightly less than 180 degrees about the circumference.

8. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein axially adjacent notches overlap one another.

9. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the axially adjacent notches are at least partially circumferentially offset from one another.

10. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the notches have transverse cross-sectional shapes that are v-shaped.

11. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the elongated body defines circumferential grooves for receiving cable ties or other tying structure for holding the mated pieces together.

12. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the elongated body is sufficiently flexible to flex at 90 degrees on a 24 inch radius without being damaged.

13. The pulling sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the first end of the pulling sleeve is tapered.

Assignees

• Adc Telecommunications Inc
• Commscope Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Nhep Ponharith
• Raynor Christopher E

Classifications

• G02B6/44715

  Fan-out devices · CPC title

• G02B6/4471

  Terminating devices (demountable connectors G02B6/3807); Cable clamps · CPC title

• G02B6/4422

  of the overhead type · CPC title

• G02B6/4465 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02B6/545 Primary

  Pulling eyes (G02B6/475 takes precedence) · CPC title