Patent ID: 7373770
Filing Date: 2008-05-20
Classification: F16G,H02G

Abstract:
1. A cable guide assembly comprising: a flexible cable, a cable guide comprising a series of articulably interconnected links, each link comprising pair of side plates bridged by a pair of spaced connectors, the side plates and spaced connectors forming a protective channel through which the cable extends; the guide having a radius of flexion limited to a predetermined minimum radius, and having a fixed end and a movable end, and being folded on itself at a bend, whereby a first portion of the guide is in opposed relationship to a second portion of the guide, but the first and second portions are movable longitudinally relative to each other; and a skate disposed between the first and second portions of the guide to prevent contact between said portions of the guide; in which the skate comprises an elongated frame having first and second sets of rollers, the rollers of the first set being in rolling contact with only one of the opposed first and second portions of the guide and the rollers of the second set being in rolling contact with only the other of the opposed first and second portions of the guide; in which the skate also comprises a turning member disposed at an end of the elongated frame and carried with the elongated frame, the turning member having a guide support in contact at least with plural, circumferentially spaced, portions of the guide along a circumferential side of the guide at the bend; and in which the first and second portions of the guide are spaced from each other by a distance less than the sum of the diameter of a roller of the first set and the diameter of a roller of the second set, and in which the rollers of the first and second sets are longitudinally offset, and overlap one another in a direction normal to the longitudinal directions of the first and second portions of the guide.