Abstract:
An adjustable cable pulling apparatus and method for pulling cable through interior compartments of a marine vessel. The apparatus consists of a motor, a pair of rollers and a plurality of drive gears that transfer the driving force of the motor to at least one of the rollers for pulling cable therebetween. The cable is manually threaded through the rollers of the apparatus and then can operate automatically once the apparatus is energized. The apparatus is portable and can be mounted various cable pulling configurations. Additionally, the apparatus is adjustable to accept various sized cables which can be pulled at various speeds. Furthermore, the clamping force of the rollers can be adjusted to incrementally increase or decrease the frictional forces between the cable and the rollers.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to an adjustable cable pulling apparatus and method used for pulling cable, and more particularly, to a cable puller for moving cable through the interior compartments of marine vessels. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Electricians and large crews during both shipyard installations and maintenance operations are often required to pull large diameter cables. In the past, the installation of cable in Naval ships has been difficult because Naval ships are highly compartmentalized and watertight for good survivability characteristics in case of battle damage. Since the advent of electricity on ships, electrical cable has been run throughout the ship compartment bullheads via small pipe-like fittings that have compression rings to press against the cable to make an airtight/watertight seal. These fitting through which the electrical cable is threaded are called stuffing tubes. The stuffing tubes make installation and removal of electrical cables very labor intensive. The primary cause of difficulty is the coefficient of friction created between the rubber or plastic outer cable covering and the steel hangers used to support the cable, and stuffing tubes through which the cable must traverse. 
     The cable pulling operation typically requires several workers in each compartment passing the cable hand-over-hand within the compartment and through the stuffing tubes. It is similar to a bucket brigade except workers are reaching over their head while standing on scaffolding, which makes the job difficult, slow, and dangerous for the workers involved. As many as 30-100 workers may be involved in a single cable pulling operation. The cable must often make tight “S” turns to be properly routed. Moreover, the process must be well coordinated to avoid damage to the cable and personnel. 
     The cables are both long and heavy. The weight of the cables increases linearly as a function of how much cable is spooled out through the ship, which in turn makes handling difficult, time consuming and creates a high risk for back/shoulder and hand injury. 
     Conversely, pulling long runs of cable through electrical ducts in land-based applications is accomplished using a sequence of winches with one or more capstan wheels. The capstan wheel is driven by an individual electrical or hydraulic motor that turn the capstan wheels and pulls the cable through the electrical duct. Although these types of cable pullers have been quite effective in pulling cable in land-based applications. However, the land-based cable pullers are not portable or versatile enough to be easily adapted for use below the decks of a marine vessel. An example of a typical land-based cable puller is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,193 to Wrate which discloses a portable wire pulling device that can be secured into pulling position and easily released. The device has, in part, a housing and a frame with vertical hollow posts, a sheave between the posts, a motor driven capstan mounted on the housing and control power. The device can be run on AC or DC power, or can be used to charge internally mounted DC batteries. A number of pulling speeds can be obtained, depending on the type of control and selection device used. However, this large portable device has been designed for land-based applications and would not be easily adapted for pulling cable on a marine vessel where it is likely the device would need to be mounted off the ground or from a ceiling structure in confined spaces and moved from compartment to compartment. 
     More recently, there have been electrical cable pulling devices and systems that have been adapted to be used in marine applications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,207 to Berges discloses a marine seismic cable deployment and retrieval system for utilization in conjunction with a marine vessel. The system consists of a large wheel mounted on the vessel&#39;s deck for retrieving seismic cable from the water, and a horizontally deck-mounted cable handler comprising an eight wheel cable puller for pulling cable. The cable puller is comprised four pairs of tires in rotational contact configured to frictionally grab and pull a seismic cable along a linear path. A smaller rear cable puller further urges the cable to the rear of the vessel, and down into the main deck via a chute arrangement. However, this cable puller is large and takes up significant space on the deck of the vessel, which would make the cable puller difficult to adapt to internal ship cable pulling operations below deck. Additionally, the cable pullers are permanently anchored to the deck and are not designed to be moved around the deck or different level decks for multiple cable pulling configurations. 
     Although these inventions may be useful as cable pulling apparatus in special applications, they do not represent the most efficient and economical way of achieving the desired results. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to overcome the limitations of the prior art systems by providing a small, adjustable cable pulling apparatus and method that can pull and thread electrical cable through the interior compartments of a marine vessel easily and safely. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a cable pulling apparatus that can be mounted in a variety of different cable pulling configurations. 
     Still another object of the present invention is to maximize the speed and efficiency of pulling electrical cable through the interior compartments of a marine vessel. 
     Another object of the present invention is to minimize the inconveniences and size of present cable pulling devices. The cable puller of the present invention is both lightweight (weighing less than 60 pounds) and portable. It can be carried on and off the job site manually by only a single worker, if necessary. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a cable pulling apparatus that can be adapted for different size electrical cable. 
     It is another object of the present invention to improve the safety of pulling electrical cable through the interior compartments of a marine vessel by taking what was once a manual task and providing a degree of automation to significantly reduce the number of workers necessary to complete a cable pulling operation. 
     In accomplishing these and other objectives of the present invention, there is provided a cable pulling apparatus having a frame and a first roller driven by a power source rotatably mounted to the frame. A second roller is rotatably mounted to the frame and spaced from the first roller to allow an electrical cable to pass therebetween. A plurality of drive gears are engaged with the power source and at least the first roller to transfer a motive force of the power source to at least the first roller. Means adjust the spacing between the first and second rollers to increase or decrease friction forces between the cable and the first and second rollers. 
     Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the cable pulling apparatus of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a rear view of the cable pulling apparatus of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the cable pulling apparatus having a pair of driven rollers. 
     FIGS. 5A-5D are perspective views of the cable pulling apparatus mounted from the right side, the left side, a ceiling surface, and a floor surface, respectively. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a plurality of cable pullers mounted in various configurations. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a first mounting arrangement of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is a front view of a second mounting arrangement of the cable pulling apparatus of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 9A-9E are front views of a plurality of different mounting arrangements according to another embodiment of the cable pulling apparatus of the present invention. 
     FIG. 10A is a perspective view of a cable pulling apparatus with large diameter rollers. 
     FIG. 10B is a perspective view of a cable pulling apparatus with small diameter rollers. 
     FIG. 10C is a perspective view of a cable pulling apparatus using tires to pull cable. 
     FIG. 11 is a side view of the cable pulling apparatus having a first cable friction adjusting device. 
     FIG. 12 is a side view of the cable pulling apparatus having a second cable friction adjusting device. 
     FIG. 13 is a side view of the cable pulling apparatus side view of the cable pulling apparatus having another cable friction adjusting device. 
     FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the cable pulling apparatus with a removable non-driven roller. 
     FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the cable pulling apparatus with a removable driven roller. 
     FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the cable pulling apparatus having a variable power supply. 
     FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the cable pulling apparatus utilizing a piece of friction reducing material over the hanger bracket. 
     FIGS. 18,  19 , and  20 A-C are side views of the rollers of the cable pulling apparatus mounted within and at both sides of the frame. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a first embodiment of the cable pulling apparatus  10  of the present invention is shown. Cable puller  10  includes a motor  12  that transfers electrical energy to a mechanical master gear  14 . Motor  12  is shown as a relatively small AC/DC type motor, however, any appropriate power means can be utilized. Motor  12  has a first driving gear  13  which communicates with first driven gear  14 . Mounted on the same shaft as first driven gear  14  is a second driving gear  15  as shown in FIG.  3 . In turn, second driving gear meshes with a second driven gear  16  which is mounted on a shaft  21 . Mounted on the other end of shaft  21  is a third driving gear  17 , see FIG.  2 . Third driving gear  17  drives a third driven gear  18 . Third driven gear  19  is mounted on the same shaft as a final driving gear  19 . Final driving gear meshes with the final driven or master gear  20  which drives a roller  22 . In operation, powered roller  22  together with a non-powered roller  24  pass the length of cable therebetween, which will be described further herein. 
     Once the cable operation is started, the pulling of the cable is virtually a hands-off operation requiring little to no man-power. The motor  12  could be controlled by a hand-held controller (not shown) or other type remote controller. 
     The cable puller offers the versatility of changing the number of rollers under power. FIG. 4 illustrates a second embodiment of the cable pulling apparatus, where a pair of rollers are under power. Like the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3, the cable puller  10   a  includes a motor  12  that transfers electrical energy to master gear  20 . However, apparatus  10   a  includes a pair of driven rollers  22 . As shown in a simplified manner, each powered roller is driven by the final driven or master gear  20 . The drive rollers can be a wheel, roller or tire mounted on the shaft. A length of cable  28  is passed through the rollers  22  and the cable  28  is pushed or pulled in the direction shown by arrow  26 . 
     FIGS. 5A-5D show cable puller  10  mounted in four different orientations. Due to the numerous mounting configurations, the cable can be pushed and pulled simultaneously. The upstream pump will be seen by a downstream pump as “pulling,” while the upstream pump will see the downstream pump as “pushing” cable. 
     FIG. 5A illustrates the cable puller mounted using an attachment means proximate to the motor  12 . Mounted in this configuration, cable  28  can be pushed or pulled in a left horizontal direction  26   a  at various heights above a floor surface. The cable pump frame will employ multiple attachment points, i.e., holes, eyebolts, attachment screws, to allow mounting and stabilization of the pump in any possible position while pulling or pushing the cable (see FIGS.  9 A- 9 E). 
     In the mounting configuration of FIG. 5B, the cable can be pushed or pulled in a right horizontal direction  26   b  at various heights above a floor surface. FIG. 5C shows a mounting configuration which allows cable  28  to be pushed or pulled in a horizontal direction  26   c  while mounted on a ceiling surface, such that the cable apparatus is facing downward. FIG. 5D represents the cable puller mounted on a floor surface, i.e., facing upwards, using an attachment means proximate to the motor. This mounting configuration allows the cable to be pulled in a horizontal direction  26   d.    
     By mounting a plurality of cable pulling apparatuses at different locations and with the different configurations of FIGS. 5A-5D, the cable can traverse a variety of different turns and directions. As shown in FIG. 6, with a plurality of apparatuses, the cable can adjust to all on-board headings, for example, a straight pull designated via apparatus  10 ′, a corner turn at  10 ″, an up-bend at  10 ′″ etc., can be performed simultaneously. The various turns and bends can be negotiated by differentially adjusting the speed of any two, or more apparatuses to induce slack around a corner and then equalize the speed between all of the apparatuses to continue the cable along the preferred route. After the cable is threaded through all of the cable pullers the process becomes fully automatic and does not require any manual moving or flexing of the cable to provide continuous feed of the cable along the preferred route or path. 
     The cable apparatus can be removably mounted in a plurality of ways. FIG. 7 shows cable puller  10  mounted to a ceiling surface  30 . The cable puller  10  is attached to ceiling surface  30  using a hanger  32 . Hanger  32  forms a three-point anchor of a brace  34  and a bracket  36  which can be made of steel or other material of comparable strength. Bracket  36  has rectangular sides that a define an opening for the cable to pass therethrough. Brace  34  is attached to the ceiling surface  30  at one end via a hanger pad eye  38  and is L-shaped to wrap around and cradle the cable puller  10 . The other end of brace  34  is connected to bracket  36  to provide complete bottom support to the cable puller  10 . The bottom of brace  34  is also used to support the cable  28  as it is pushed or pulled through cable puller  10  and through bracket  36 . 
     Cable apparatus  10  can also be attached to the bulkhead stuffing tubes of a ship compartment. Referring to FIG. 8, a stuffing tube  42  of bulkhead  40  includes a lip  41  to which the cable puller  10  can be attached via a clamp  44 . 
     FIGS. 9A-9E can also be anchored to ceilings, decks or other fixed objects using a plurality of braces or guide wires  50  attached to various points on the cable pulling apparatus frame  8 . The cable pump can be secured in any position by bolting the frame or attaching strong steel guide wires to hold the pump in place using turn buckles to take out slack. Such an attachment scenario prevents the cable puller from “walking” up or down the cable and also reduces oscillations induced by either torque, gravity, or unequal weight distribution. 
     The cable pulling apparatus of the present invention can be adjusted or sized to fit different size cable. FIGS. 10A and 10B represent embodiments of the cable pulling that adjust for pulling smaller and larger sized cable by changing the size of the rollers. The use of large diameter drive rollers  22   a , shown in FIG. 10A, allows for moving larger diameter cable  28 , for example, 3.5 in diameter cable. Conversely, FIG. 10B illustrates the same type of cable puller  10  utilizing smaller diameter rollers  22   b  to fit smaller diameter cable  28 . Where tires  46 , see FIG. 10C, are used as rollers  22  the cable puller can also be adjusted to accommodate different diameter cables by inflating or deflating the tires. 
     The applied forces or friction between the cable and rollers can be increased or decreased in additional manners. FIG. 11 is a side view of another embodiment of a cable size adjustment device for the cable puller. A linlkage  50  is attached at one end to the frame  8   a  which supports powered or driven roller  22 . Although a linlkage  50  is provided on each side of the frame only one is shown for simplicity. Also located on frame  8   a  and communicating with end  51  of linkage  50  is a tightening screw  54 . The other end of linkage  50  is rotatably attached to a handle  52 . Handle  52  is in turn attached to frame section  8   b  which supports non-driven roller  26 . A spring  56  is located between frame sections  8   a  and  8   b . Like linkage  50 , a spring is provided on each side of the frame sections, however only one spring  56  is shown. As the cable moves in the direction of arrow  26  between rollers  22  and  24  it encounters guide rollers  58  disposed in frame section  8   a.    
     In operation, tightening screw  54  is adjusted to lock against end  51  of linlkage  50  to position the same. Next handle  52  is pushed to lock down on the cable. Thus, the rollers  22 ,  24  are forced against the cable to increase friction between the rollers and the cable in adjustable increments. When it is time to readjust the rollers a release lever  60  located on handle  52  can be manipulated to release the same. 
     As shown in FIG. 12, pressure or friction between the rollers and cable can be adjusted using tightening screws  64  and plates  62  positioned between frame sections  8   a  and  8   b , only one of each being shown. Tightening screw  64  can be manually adjusted to increase the friction as the cable passes through rollers  18 , 24  and guide rollers  60 . A pin  66  positioned through the lower end of plate  62  is provided to allow the lower half of the cable puller to be separated. 
     FIG. 13 illustrates another embodiment for adjusting the friction between the rollers and the cable. In FIG. 13, a tightening strap  68  is provided for increasing or decreasing the distance between rollers  22  and  24 . 
     In another configuration, shown in FIG. 14, the non-power roller  24  is simply moved up or down in slots  70  in frame  8  and held in place by tightening axle nuts  72  to adjust friction on the cable. The frame includes a plurality of attachment points  8 E which can be apertures for receiving fasteners, such as eye bolts, and/or attachment screws. Axle nuts  72  can be removed to remove roller  24  from the frame. 
     As shown in FIG. 15, in another embodiment, the shaft of the powered roller  22  can be extended and a drive wheel  74  attached thereto. Drive wheel  74  is mounted to rotate within a yoke  76  attached to frame  8 . Yoke  76  includes a stationary upper part and a lower part  78  hingedly connected to the upper portion. As shown in dashed outlined, lower part  78  can me moved to allow engagement with the cable not shown. Mounted within lower part  78  is an adjustable clamping roller  80 . Roller  80  can be moved up and down within the slots to adjust the friction of the cable between driving wheel  74  and clamping roller  80 . 
     As discussed above, the lower half of the cable puller can be removed for both ease of installment and detachment. The removal of either the powered or non-powered roller allows rapid installation and quick detachment from the cable. In FIG. 16 the cable puller  10  includes a removable non-driven roller  24 . FIG. 17 shows the driven roller  22   b  being detachable. 
     Speed of the cable puller can be adjusted in a variety of manners, for example, decreasing the supplied amperage to the electric motor or lowering the voltage using a line rheostat. FIG. 18 illustrates a variable power supply  82 , which is used to increase or decrease the speed of the cable pulling operation. For example, if the power is adjusted high then the increased energy delivered to the drive roller(s)  22  will increase the turning speed of the drive rollers and increase the overall cable pulling operation. Also, the wheel diameter or roller size or the gearing ratios can be changed to increase operation speed. Furthermore, by increasing the air pressure in the tires the tires will squeeze more forcibly against the cable also increasing operation speed. 
     To lessen the force required to move the cable a wrapping can be provided around the contact surfaces of the cable puller where it is desirous to reduce friction. As shown in FIG. 19, cable hanger bracket  36  (FIG. 7) can be wrapped by a sheet of material  82 , such as TEFLON™, such that the cable  12  passes through the bracket easily during the cable pulling operation. 
     The rollers  22 ,  24  can be mounted within the center of frame  8  or on either side. As shown in FIG. 20A, rollers  22 ,  24  are mounted within the sides of the frame. Motor  12  is also mounted within the frame. Gears  20  are mounted on the outside of frame  8  along one side thereof. FIGS. 20B and 20C illustrate the drive rollers mounted on either side of the frame. 
     The cable pulling apparatus of the present invention can also be used in conjunction with a winch pulling system to further reduce any chance of damage to the cable sheath or to make it even easier to negotiate a particular change in direction of the cable. While the discussion and descriptions address a gearing relationship between the power source and the pump&#39;s powered roller, the same power transfer and rotational reductions could be achieved with v-belts and pulleys. 
     Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.