Abstract:
The present invention a method for pulling and identifying wires or cables, said method comprises guiding wires with a wire palette for organizing wires or cables, wherein said palette includes a planar board having a top surface over which said wires pass and said identifying means includes rows indicated on said top surface corresponding to each path such that each row is adapted for erasably receiving identification marks of said corresponding wire in spaced apart relationship along preselected paths such that said wires lie substantially in a single plane and pulling said guided wires a preselected distance. The present invention further includes the step of applying and identifying demarcations on said palette and said wires, such that each wire is identified on the palette and on the wire;

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates generally to devices for pulling wires through conduits or cable trays and particularly this invention relates to a wire palette for use in pulling wires along cable trays.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Currently, anywhere between six to twelve cables are pulled along cable trays at a time. The end of the wires to be pulled are knotted and/or taped together to form a pulling end. The wires normally aminate from wire containers and as well one trailer line also aminates from a wire container which then becomes the next pulling line. The current method of pulling wires along cable trays, the ends of wires are knotted and/or taped together to form a pulling end which in turn are attached to a pulling line. These wires are then pulled along the cable tray by pulling one end of the pulling line until the wires are pulled to their desired locations. Unfortunately, when wires are pulled around corners, they begin to bunch up and even if wires are only pulled along a straight line, tangling of the cables occur particularly near the pulling end where they are bunched together.  
           [0003]    In addition, if one wants to remove one wire at a certain distance along the cable tray, rather than taking that cable all the way to an end destination, it is difficult to attached only one cable from a pulling end and then to leave that cable out of the cable tray. Therefore, the current method of pulling cables runs itself best if pulling all cables to one end destination and even then a large amount of tangling occurs in the cables which results in potential damage to the cables and in some cases renders cables inoperable.  
           [0004]    Therefore, there is a need for a device or devices which enables the organized uniform pulling of cables or wires along a cable tray in such a manner to minimize the tangling of cables and to render a maximum number of cables operable.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention a wire palette for organizing wires or cables, said palette includes a means for guiding wires in spaced apart relationship along preselected paths along and over said palette such that said wires lie substantially in a single plane.  
           [0006]    Preferably said guide means includes means for identifying and demarking said wires, such that each wire is identified on the palette and on the wire.  
           [0007]    Preferably said identifying means adapted to erasably identify a wire on the palette.  
           [0008]    Preferably said guide means includes a planar board having a top surface over which said wires pass and said identifying means includes rows indicated on said top surface corresponding to each path such that each row is adapted for erasably receiving identification marks of said corresponding wire.  
           [0009]    Preferably said guide means further includes at least two guide bars in spaced apart relationship rigidly connected to the planar board said guide bars adapted to receive there through said wires and maintaining said wires in spaced apart relationships.  
           [0010]    Preferably said guide means includes at least one guide bar adapted for receiving at least two wires there through and maintaining said wires in spaced apart relationships.  
           [0011]    Preferably said guide means includes at least two guide bars in spaced apart relationship rigidly connected to a planar board having a top surface over which said wires pass along preselected paths.  
           [0012]    Preferably said top surface having row demarcations corresponding to the wire paths such that a wire identification can be entered into a row corresponding to a wire.  
           [0013]    Preferably said top surface adapted for erasably demarking wire identifications on said top surface.  
           [0014]    Preferably further including a means for pulling said wires through said guide means.  
           [0015]    The present invention also includes a method for pulling and identifying wires or cables, said method comprising:  
           [0016]    a) guiding wires with a wire palette for organizing wires or cables, wherein said palette comprises a means for guiding wires in spaced apart relationship along preselected paths such that said wires lie substantially in a single plane;  
           [0017]    b) pulling said guided wires a preselected distance;  
           [0018]    Preferably, wherein before step b the following step is included:  
           [0019]    a′) applying identifying demarcations on said palette and said wires, such that each wire is identified on the palette and on the wire;  
           [0020]    Preferably wherein said guide means includes a planar board having a top surface over which said wires pass and said identifying means includes rows indicated on said top surface corresponding to each path such that each row is adapted for erasably receiving identification marks of said corresponding wire.  
           [0021]    Preferably wherein said guide means includes at least one guide bar adapted for receiving at least two wires there through and maintaining said wires in spaced apart relationships.  
           [0022]    Preferably wherein said guide means includes at least two guide bars in spaced apart relationship rigidly connected to a planar board having a top surface over which said wires pass along preselected paths.  
           [0023]    Preferably wherein said top surface having row demarcations corresponding to the wire paths such that a wire identification can be entered into a row corresponding to a wire.  
           [0024]    Preferably wherein after step a′, the following step is included:  
           [0025]    a″) attaching one end of said wires to a pulling fixture adapted to evenly pull wires through said wire palette. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0026]    [0026]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the present invention a wire palette together with a pulling means.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 2 is a schematic partial cut away top view of the wire palette showing the rows and identification marks.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the wire palette.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 4 is a schematic end view of the wire palette shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of the wire palette shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 6 is a schematic top view of the pulling means.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of the pulling means.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 8 is a schematic end view of the pulling means.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 9 is an exploded partial cross-sectional view of the pulling means taken through one of the pulling bar apertures.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of the wire palette together with the pulling fixture shown pulling wires along a cable tray.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 11 is a cross sectional plan view of the wire palette.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 12 is a bottom plan view of the wire palette.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 13 is a cross sectional plan end view of the wire palette.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view of the wire palette together with the corner guide and the pulling fixture shown pulling wires along a cable tray with the wires emanating out of wire containers.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 15 is a schematic top plan view of the wire palette and pulling fixture.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 16 is a schematic top plan view of a corner guide.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 17 is a schematic perspective view of the prior art showing wires being pulled along the cable tray.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of the use of the wire palette.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of the use of the wire palette.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 20 is a flow diagram of the use of the wire palette.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 21 is a flow diagram of the use of the wire palette. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0047]    Prior Art  
         [0048]    Referring first of all to FIG. 17 which shows the current state of the art for pulling wires or cables. FIG. 17 shows the general arrangement of wires  40  being pulled along a cable tray  110 . Currently, anywhere from six to twelve cables are pulled along cable tray  110  at a time. The end of these wires are knotted and/or taped together to form a pulling end shown as  220  in FIG. 17. Wires  40  emanate from wire containers  80  as well a trailer line emanates from container  82 . The trailer line is used for pulling the next set of wires through cable tray  110 . In the current method of pulling wires along cable tray  110  ends of wires  40  are knotted and/or taped together to form pulling end  220  which in turn are attached to a pulling line  56 . Wires  40  then are pulled along cable tray  110  by pulling on the end of pulling line  56  until the wires are pulled to their desired location. One can see from the diagram that when wires  40  are pulled around a corner  230 , wires  40  begin to bunch up as shown in FIG. 17. Even if the wires  40  are only pulled along a straight line, tangling of cables occur particularly near the pulling end  220  as shown as tangled cables  222  in FIG. 17. The draw back of this system is that the tangled cables  222  must be untangled in order to thread the wire to its desired end location. Secondly, if one wants to remove one wire at a certain distance along cable tray  110 , rather than taking that cable all the way to the end which often is the case, it is difficult just to detach only one cable from pulling end  220  and lead that cable out of the cable tray  110 , and then continue pulling the rest of the cables to the end destination. Therefore, the current method of pulling cables lends itself best to pulling all cables to one end destination and even then a tremendous amount of tangling occurs in the cables which results in potential damage to the cables and in some cases, rendering cables inoperable. In addition, often trailer line  60  becomes entangled with wires  40  thereby making it impossible to use trailer line  60  as the next pulling line. Therefore, the operator must manually string an additional trailer line  60  manually along the cable tray  110  in order to pull the next set of wires through.  
         [0049]    Present Invention  
         [0050]    The present invention, a wire palette shown generally as  30  in FIGS. 1 through 16, is shown in schematic fashion together with an optional pulling means shown generally as  50 .  
         [0051]    First of all describing wire palette  30 , wire palette  30  includes a planner board  32  having a top surface  34 , preferably two guide bars  44  located at each distal end of planar board  32  as shown in the Figures wherein each guide bar  44  has defined therein guide bar apertures  46  for placing of wires  40  there through. Preferably wire palette  30  has releasably mounted thereon a permanent marker  48  on one guide bar  44  and an erasable marker  49  mounted on the other guide bar  44  used for demarking and placing identification marks  42  shown in FIG. 2 erasably on to rows  36  of top surface  34  and demarking identification marks  42  permanently onto wire  40 . Note that preferably the identification mark  42  which is placed erasable onto row  36  of top surface  34 . Each row corresponds to a wire  40  which is pulled along path  38  of a particular row  36 .  
         [0052]    Optionally, a pulling means shown generally as  50  can be used to pull wires  40  through wire palette  30  as schematically shown in FIG. 1. Referring now specifically to FIGS. 1, 6,  7 ,  8  and  9 , pulling means  40  includes pulling fixture  52  which is a planar triangular element as shown in FIGS.  6  and FIG. 1. Pulling means  50  also includes a pulling bar  58  having pulling bar apertures  59  defined therein for receiving wires  40  there through and as well has a trailer line attachment point  61  for securely attaching a trailer line  60  to trailer line attachment point  61  on pulling bar  58 . Pulling fixture  52  further includes a handle aperture  54  for gripping with a hand and a pulling line aperture  57  for securely connecting a pulling line  56  thereto for pulling said pulling fixture  52  with said pulling line  56 .  
         [0053]    Corner Guides  
         [0054]    Referring now FIG. 16 which shows an additional embodiment to the present invention namely a corner guide  120  which includes a guide base  122 , guide channels  124 , guide handle  126 , guide apertures  128 . Corner guide  120  has guide channels  124  having a guide depth of  132  and a base thickness of  134 . Guide channels  124  are contoured in such a manner to redirect wires  40  from one linear path to another linear path and as shown in FIG. 16, corner guide  120  as shown would for example redirect wires around a perpendicular corner.  
         [0055]    Each guide channel  124  is angled at a channel angle  130  as shown in FIG. 16 in order to ensure that each wire  40  is retained snugly in each guide channel  124 . Guide channels  124  are dimensioned to receive therein a wire  40  such that the wires  40  can slidably move along guide channels  124  within guide base  122 .  
         [0056]    A person skilled in the art will see that corner guide  120  can provide for any corner geometry for example a 30 degree corner, or a 45 degree corner or 90 degree corner as shown by corner guide  120 . Corner guides could also be used for 180 degree corner and/or any angle or almost any change in direction of the cable trays  110 .  
         [0057]    Use of Wire Palette and Pulling Means  
         [0058]    In use wire palette  30  operates as follows:  
         [0059]    Wires  40  are carefully threaded through guide bar apertures  46  of guide bar  44  across top surface  34  and threaded through the corresponding guide bar apertures  46  of the other guide bar  44  in such a manner that wires  40  are organized in an equally spaced apart relationship and run along a selected path  38 , such that all of the wires  40  threaded through guide bars  44  lie in a single plane. Wire palette  30  acts to keep wires  40  equally spaced apart and lying substantially flat and in a single plane such that wires  40  do not get entangled with each other. This arrangement is particularly useful where wires are being pulled over cable trays which are essentially flat conduits onto which cables are pulled so that they lie substantially flat on the cable trays. When cables are to be run throughout a building, for example, cable trays are pre-located along strategic areas of the building for supporting cables. These cable trays are located normally in the ceilings and/or in the floor of buildings. Wires  40  are normally received in a wire container  80  shown in FIGS. 5 and 10 and are threaded through guide bars  44  by hand such that they he along a path  38  which is demarked by rows  36  on top surface  34  of wire palette  30 . Wire  40  is normally in a coiled form in wire container  80  and easily is pulled out of wire container  80  when pulling action is imparted upon wire  40 . Traditionally, the ends of wire  40  are simply taped together with a pulling line  56  and then the wires are pulled out of wire container  80  in any number as required. In the drawings as presently shown, a total number of twelve wires can be pulled simultaneously through wire palette  30 . In order to avoid having to separately thread a pulling line  56  through the area over which the wires are to be drawn, a trailer line  60  is pulled over top of wire palette  30  or along side the other wires  40  such that when the wire pulling is complete, trailer line  60  becomes the new pulling  56  for pulling line the next set of wires  40  over the wire trays  110 .  
         [0060]    As each wire  40  is threaded onto wire palette  30 , an identification mark is placed with an erasable marker  49  on to rows  36  and onto top surface  34  of planar board  32  as shown in FIG. 2. For example, the first wire pulled through guide bar apertures  46 , may be denoted as 1-1-1 and preferably is erasably marked onto rows  36  of top surface  34  of planar board  32  and the identical corresponding identification  42  is permanently marked with permanent marker  48  onto wire  40  as shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, when wire  40  is pulled along a length which can be many hundreds of feet, one can positively identify the end of the wire running through wire palette  30  with the identification mark located permanently thereon which is normally at the termination point of the wire. In other words, both distal ends of the wire can be positively identified and connected as required.  
         [0061]    Optionally pulling means  50  can be used to pull wires  40  through wire palette  30  in order to keep wires  40  in an organized fashion and in an equally spaced relationship to each other. When pulling means  50  is being used, wires  40  are carefully threaded through pulling bars apertures  59  and knots  62  are created in end of wires  40  in order to prevent wires  40  from pulling out of pulling bar apertures  59 . In addition, a trailer line  60  is connected to trailer line attachment point  61  on pulling means  50 . Note that wires  40  are equally spaced apart and travel along preselected paths  38  across planar board  32  of wire palette  30 , thereby keeping them in a spaced apart relationship and substantially in a single plane. Trailer line  60  is located above wires  40  or along side wires  40  in order to ensure that trailer lines  60  is clear of any wires  40  that have been previously been pulled onto wire trays  110 .  
         [0062]    Pulling means  50  can either be pulled by hand using handle aperture  54  and/or can be pulled using a pulling line  56  attached at pulling line aperture  57  on pulling fixture  52 . By using pulling means  50 , the wires  40  are kept in an orderly fashion such that twelve wires at a time can be pulled along a pre-selected path and kept as flat as possible in a substantially single plane. Once the wires have been pulled along the desired distance, knots  62  are released and identification marks  42  both on wires  40  and on wire palette  30  provide for positive identification of both ends of the wire, both at the termination point and their emanation point.  
         [0063]    Method for Pulling Wires Along Cable Trays  
         [0064]    Referring now to FIG. 14 which shows in a very overview fashion the method employed by the art taught within this patent for pulling wires  40  along a cable tray  110 . The following methods can be employed:  
         [0065]    1(a) threading wires through a wire palette;  
         [0066]    pulling wires through a wire palette to a desired location.  
         [0067]    (b) placing identification mark on wire palette;  
         [0068]    threading wires through wire palette;  
         [0069]    placing identification marks on each wire;  
         [0070]    pulling wires through wire palette to desired location.  
         [0071]    (c) placing identification marks on wire palette;  
         [0072]    threading wires through wire palette;  
         [0073]    placing identification marks on each wire;  
         [0074]    attaching one end of wires through a pulling fixture;  
         [0075]    pulling wires through wire palette to desired location.  
         [0076]    (d) placing identification marks on the wire palette;  
         [0077]    threading wires through wire palette;  
         [0078]    identification marks placed on wires;  
         [0079]    attaching wires to pulling fixtures;  
         [0080]    pulling wires to first change in direction;  
         [0081]    threading wires into a comer guide;  
         [0082]    continue to pulling wires to desired location;  
         [0083]    cut off wires as needed at end locations;  
         [0084]    mark cables on wire palette; and  
         [0085]    remove wire cables from wire palette.  
         [0086]    Referring to FIG. 14 it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the method employed for pulling wires along cables trays  110  organizes and maintains wires in a orderly manner along a single plan and substantially prevents entanglement of one wire with the other and ensures that the trailer line does not become entangled with the other wires being pulled. In general, the method includes placing identification marks on the wire palette that correspond with each wire being placed along each path at  38  of top surface  34  of planar board  32  of wire palette  30 . The wires are then threaded through each guide bar  44  of wire palette  30  and subsequently identification marks are placed on each wire as the wires are laying on wire palette  30 . It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that it is much easier and simpler to place identification marks with a marker on the wires when they are lying on a flat surface as is the case with the wire palette.  
         [0087]    Subsequently the wire ends are attached to a pulling means  50 , namely pulling fixture  52  where each wire end  70  is attached to a pulling bar  50  and knotted off with knot  62 . Further a pulling line  56  is attached to pulling fixtures  52  to pull the wires out of wire container  80  and trailer line container  82  through wire palette  30  and along cable tray  110 .  
         [0088]    When a change in direction is encountered such as corner  230  as shown in FIG. 14, a corner guide  120  is placed in the corner found in cable tray  110  having guide channels  124  located therein such that wires  40  can be threaded into guide channels  124  which slidably receive wires  124  and allow them to round comer  230  in a smooth and orderly fashion as shown in FIG. 14. The guide channels  124  are arranged to sit on an angle, namely channel angle  130  to ensure that wires  40  do not come out of channel angle  130  prematurely. Once wires  40  are threaded into guide channels  124  of comer guide  120  pulling of wires can continue by pulling on pulling line  56  thereby urging pulling fixture  52  and wires  40  along cable tray  110  until the desired end location is reached.  
         [0089]    Using this method and the apparatus described herein, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art in pulling cables along cable trays that the wires pulled in this manner remain flat and orderly along essentially a single plan and that subsequently more wires can be pulled along cable tray  110  without becoming entangled with each other and in this manner the cables are fed along cable tray  120  with a minimum amount of twisting and tangling. This will maximize the number of sound cables that can be pulled, and stored onto a cable tray  110 .  
         [0090]    It should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim.