Terminal pedestal for buried cable installation

A pedestal-type closure for use as a buried telephone cable terminal closure comprises a rear section and upper and lower front covers, each of which is formed from the same basic plastic extrusion. The covers and the rear section are secured in edge-to-edge relationship. The upper ends of the rear section and of the upper cover are formed with cooperating caps that form a venting structure for venting moisture from within the interior of the pedestal and which tend to form a barrier against the entrance of insects into the pedestal. The lower cover has a snap-on arrangement which facilitates assembly, and the rear section has spacers which facilitate mounting of the pedestal against a vertical surface, and wherein the spacers are difficult to dislodge from the pedestal, thereby inhibiting vandalism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to enclosures for electrical termination, and more 
particularly to an improved enclosure for the above ground splices or 
terminations of a buried cable installation. 
It is a common practice to employ sheltered splices or terminal connections 
in connection with service drops in buried cables, such as telephone and 
like communications cables. The enclosures for sheltering these splices 
are known as pedestals, and they are designed to be substantially 
weather-tight so as to protect the terminations from the entry of damaging 
winds, water, snow or insects. Moreover, the pedestal should be designed 
to be resistant to vandalism and at least discourage access to the 
pedestal by other than qualified and authorized personnel. 
A known type of pedestal construction includes a three part housing that 
includes a rear section, together with upper and lower front cover 
sections, and with all three members being essentially U-shaped so that a 
hollow interior of the pedestal is formed. Such construction is relatively 
expensive, and cost reductions effected by the modified pedestal design of 
the present invention generally constitutes an advance in the art. 
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of this invention is to provide an enclosure for electrical 
terminals associated with a buried cable installation in which the rear 
section and the upper and lower front cover members have a common profile 
in that these basic parts of the pedestal may be formed relatively 
inexpensively by an extrusion, such as plastic, following which lengths of 
the extruded material may be cut for the rear section or base and the 
upper and lower front cover. 
A further object of this invention is to provide a pedestal of the type 
stated in which the top cover is designed to form a series of vent 
passageways for venting moisture from the interior of the pedestal, while 
at the same time inhibiting or effectively obstructing the passage of 
insects and windblown matter or dust into the interior of the pedestal. 
Preferably the top cover is of the split cap design. 
Yet another important object of this invention is to provide a pedestal of 
the type stated in which the back section has a series of plugs which 
provide spaces between the pedestal and a vertical mounting surface. The 
rear of the top cover tends to overhang the back of the rear section, and 
the plugs take up the space created by the overhang. The plugs are 
generally of frusto-conical shape which inhibits removal by vandals. 
A still further object of this invention is to provide a form of the 
invention in which the bottom cover is snapped into place during 
installation of the pedestal. This snapping action is the result of pins 
on the cover that snap fit with C-slots in the vertical edges of the 
joining means on the back. The pin is of a shape and material, such as 
plastic, which tends to flex as it enters the C-slot. The arrangement 
eliminates attaching the cover with loose hardware and effectively 
prevents vertical movement when the bottom cover is mounted in place. This 
arrangement, in turn, provides location of the upper cover during assembly 
thereof with the back or rear section. 
The extrusion is made from non-corrosive materials, i.e., plastics, while 
internal components from a conductive metal maintain electrical continuity 
without separate insert parts for electrical grounding. The split cap 
design provides the versatility of adding an aerial drop to the closure. 
In accordance with the foregoing objects, the invention comprises a closure 
for electrical terminals associated with a buried cable installation 
comprising: a body having a rear section including a plastic channel 
having a web and a pair of legs with opposed edges defining an opening 
into the channel, means within the channel and integral with the plastic 
of the channel for supporting electrical wire termination structure, 
plastic front cover means for closing the opening into said channel, said 
front cover means comprising upper and lower cover sections, each being of 
a cross section that is the same size and shape as that of said rear 
section, and means for attaching said cover sections to said rear section 
with the legs of the rear section being presented respectively to the legs 
of the cover sections in edge-to-edge relation. 
Further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a 
closure of the type stated comprising a body having a rear section with an 
open side and front cover means for closing the sides of said rear 
section, said front cover means including at least one front cover 
section, said front cover section having an upper end with a cap section 
affixed thereto, a rear cap section affixed to the upper end of said rear 
section, the cap sections abutting and cooperating to define a cap on the 
upper end of said body, the abutting parts of the cap sections forming 
vent passageway means from the interior of the body to the exterior of the 
cap. 
The arrangement provides an open throat construction for cable reception in 
that the back section is open vertically throughout its length with the 
front covers being removed. 
Still further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a 
closure having a body with a rear section including a channel having a web 
and a pair of legs with opposed edges defining an opening into the 
channel, cover means for said opening, said cover means and said rear 
section each having an upper end and with cap sections on said upper ends, 
a cap section overhanging the web on said rear section, and grommets on 
said web and projecting outwardly therefrom at least the amount of said 
overhang for enabling the grommets to serve as spacers when the closure is 
secured to a vertical surface with the grommets against said vertical 
surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring now in more detail to the drawings, there is shown a pedestal 
having a body 2 comprising a rear section 4 that defines a U-shaped 
channel, of plastic or other extrudable material. The channel 4 includes a 
backside or web 6, the margins of which merge with spaced parallel legs 8, 
8, the edges of which define an opening 10 into the channel. By way of 
example but not of limitation, the channel may be polyvinyl chloride 
resin. 
The channel-shaped rear section 4 receives front cover means comprised of 
an upper cover 12, a lower cover 14, and a transition piece 16. The basic 
shapes of the rear section 4, as well as that of the upper cover 12 and 
lower cover 14, are the same, being formed from the same extrusion profile 
(cross section), whereby the cost of production of the pedestal is greatly 
reduced. A length of the extrusion may be cut to form the rear section 4, 
while shorter lengths will be cut to form the upper and lower covers 12, 
14. Thus, the upper and lower covers 12, 14 have legs 18, 18 and 20, 20, 
respectively. Likewise, the covers 12, 14 have respective webs 22, 24 
(FIG. 8). The legs 18, 18; 20, 20, respectively, assemble with the legs 8, 
8 of the rear section in edge-to-edge relationship through joint brackets 
26, 26, as will presently be more fully described. The transition piece 16 
also is formed with legs 28, 28 (FIG. 8) and a web 30, and the transition 
piece telescopes within the upper and lower covers 12, 14, the covers 12, 
14 being thus separated by a raised rib 32 on the transition piece and 
running over the legs 28 and back or web 30. 
The joint brackets 26 are affixed to the legs 8, 8 in any suitable manner, 
such as by rivets 34, along the length of the free edges of the legs 8, 8, 
although adhesives or other mechanical fastening methods may be used. When 
the covers 12, 14 are mounted in place, the tongue portions 36 (FIGS. 6 
and 8) of the joint brackets fit into slots 38 in the edges of the legs 
18, 18; 20, 20. Slots 38a are similarly formed at the free edges of the 
legs 28, 28 of the transition piece 16. Likewise, when the covers are 
assembled with the rear section, as will presently be more fully 
described, the plastic tongues 40, 42 on the legs 18, 18; 20, 20 and legs 
8, 8 overlap to facilitate alignment of the parts and rapid assembly of 
the covers with the rear section and to provide a cover joint. 
Mounted on the joint brackets 26 and secured thereto as by rivets 43 or 
other mechanical fastening means, are upper and lower hinge brackets 44, 
44. The hinge brackets, in turn, support a mounting plate 46 of 
conventional construction and which spans most of the space between the 
cover legs 18, 18. The mounting plate 46 is secured to upper and lower 
hinge brackets 44 (FIG. 2) by hinges 48, 48 which are integral with the 
brackets, although separate hinges could be used. As shown, one edge of 
the mounting plate 46 is at the hinge connection and the other edge of the 
mounting plate 46 is held in place by a stop screw 50 threaded into a stop 
bracket 45. The front of the mounting plate 46 may contain one or more 
electrical terminal boards 52 at which wire terminations are made in a 
conventional manner. Thus, wires of line pairs are taken from a cable 54 
behind the mounting plate 46 and these wires 56 are disposed within the 
pedestal and connected to the appropriate termination point on the 
terminal board 52. Sevice drop lines 58 are taken off of the terminal 
board 52. Additional service wires may be confined in the service wire 
channel 60, defined in part by a member 62 subsequent to the initial 
installation without disturbing the gravel fill around the pedestal. The 
interior of the pedestal may also be provided with suitable conventional 
grounding structure 65 (FIG. 2). 
An arrangement is provided for venting moisture from the interior of the 
pedestal while at the same time making the pedestal reasonably 
weatherproof and forming a barrier against the migration of insects, dust 
and airborne particulate material into the interior of the pedestal. For 
this purpose, the rear section 4 and the upper cover 12 cooperate to form 
cap means (FIG. 12) that function as a labyrinth vent. As best seen in 
FIGS. 10-13, this cap means comprises a rear cap section 66 and a front 
cap section 68. The rear cap section and the front cap section have 
peripheral skirts 70, 72 which are bonded or otherwise secured to the 
respective front and rear section or upper cover, as the case may be. At 
its upper end, the skirt 72 merges with inclined, triangularly-shaped 
(FIG. 9) top walls 74, while at the upper end of skirt 70, there are 
similar inclined walls 76. At the upper end of the wall 76 is a ledge 78 
having a series of ribs 80 between which are grooves 82. The continuous 
ribs 80 of the ledge 78 rise to a peak from opposite sides of the rear cap 
section 66 so that drainage through each of the grooves 82 will fall onto 
an inclined wall 76. At the upper end of the inclined wall 74 is a 
generally trapezoidal-shaped hood 84 which serves to cover the ledge 78 
and in part define walls of the grooves 82. Consequently, the hood 84 
constitutes a flange that abuts the ribs 80 and defines a dust-entrapping, 
moisture-venting labyrinth passageway, as best seen in FIG. 13, wherein 
the arrows indicate the vent path. 
As best seen in FIG. 1, the pedestal is installed near the buried cable 54 
at a ground or surface line 88, somewhat below the upper end of the lower 
cover 14. Because of the open throat construction referred to previously, 
the installation of the covers of the pedestal may generally be carried 
out without the necessity of loose field installation parts. More 
particularly, the legs 20, 20, adjacent to their free edges, are provided 
with pins 90 which are adapted to snap-fit into C slots 92 on the joint 
brackets 26 (FIGS. 2 and 8). The pins 90 are positioned near the upper 
ends of the lower cover 14. The lower end of the lower cover 14 has pins 
92b which are adapted to be positioned in bayonet slots 94 in the joint 
brackets 26. Therefore, the pins 92b may be fitted into the bayonet slots 
94 for allowing the lower end of the lower cover to be aligned with the 
rear section 4 such that the slots 38 are positioned for receiving the 
opposing joint bracket 26. Thereafter, the lower cover is pivoted around 
the axis of lower pins 92b until the pins 90 snap-fit into the C slots 92. 
The transition piece may be mounted on the lower cover 14 and fastened 
either mechanically or adhesively. 
The upper cover 12 may be quickly and easily removed from and remounted 
onto the pedestal for servicing purposes. In mounting the upper cover 12, 
lower pins 96, 96 (FIGS. 8, 10, 11) on the cover 12 are first mounted in 
upper bayonet slots 98, 98 by movement shown in FIG. 11. Thus, the upper 
cover 12 is moved to a position in which the pins 96 are above the bottoms 
of slots 98, while at the same time the hood or flange 84 lies above the 
ribs 80. Thereafter, the upper cover 12 is lowered until the flange 84 and 
ribs 80 interengage, at which time the pins 96 are adjacent to the bottoms 
of the slots 98, as best seen in FIG. 10. 
The transition piece 16 has a threaded boss 100 at the upper portion of the 
web 30. The upper cover 12 has a downwardly-opening slot 102 at its lower 
end which, when the cover 12 is assembled with the pedestal, is adapted to 
be aligned with the opening 104 in the boss 100. A screw 106 may be 
threaded into the boss 100 to retain the upper cover 12 in a locked 
position. 
When mounting the pedestal adjacent to a wall 108 or like vertical surface 
or two pedestals back to back, it is preferred to prevent the overhang of 
the cap structure 66, 68 from contacting the wall 108 and thereby being 
stressed or damaged or to prevent unauthorized removal of the hereinafter 
described grommets 110 from the pedestal. For this purpose, the plastic 
spacer plugs or grommets 110 are mounted in vertically-spaced relationship 
on the rear section 4 and are of a dimension such that there is clearance 
between the rear cap section 66 and the adjacent vertical wall 108 when 
the grommets are flush against the wall 108. Furthermore, it will be noted 
from FIGS. 4 and 5 that the grommets 110 exhibit a frusto-conical shape 
with a large cone angle, thereby making the grommets difficult to remove 
from the outside of the shape. The arrangement affords greater flexibility 
in the selection of bolt holes to be used as compared to limited fixed 
mounting arrangements having preformed holes without grommets. 
A modified form of pedestal is shown in FIGS. 16-22 in which like reference 
numerals, as compared to FIGS. 1-15, indicate parts in FIGS. 16-22. Where 
the parts are comparable but are modified, they are identified by the same 
reference numerals as in FIGS. 1-15, except followed by the letter "a". 
The pedestal body 2a comprises a rear section 4a and upper and lower covers 
12a, 14a. A transition piece 16a separates the upper and lower cover. As 
in the case of the previously described pedestal, the basic cross sections 
of the rear section 4a and the upper and lower covers 12a, 14a are the 
same, being extruded and cut to length, as desired. 
Within the pedestal, the brackets 45a, 45a are secured to the rear section 
4a by rivets 43a, 43a. Additionally, the joint brackets are replaced with 
integral extruded attachment ledges 97, 97. Secured to the free edges of 
the rear section legs 8a, 8a are slide-joint brackets 25, 25 whereby the 
upper cover member 12a may be mounted to slide vertically to open and 
close the pedestal. Thus, the slide-joint brackets 25, 25 provide vertical 
slide channels for the legs 18a, 18a of the upper cover 12a. 
Like the previously described form of the invention, the upper end of the 
rear section 4a and that of the upper cover 12a have cap sections 66a, 68a 
for venting the pedestal with a rib and groove venting arrangement. 
Additionally, the upper cover is held in its "up" or open, position by an 
automatic latch mechanism best shown in FIGS. 19-22. This latch mechanism 
includes a spring latch 120 which is joined to the rear section 4a and 
which contains a finger plate 122 for operating the latch 120. The upper 
cover 12a has a catch plate 124 mounted thereon as by screws 126 or other 
adjustment means. The catch plate 124 has a laterally-projecting flange 
128 having a recess or catch notch 130 therein. When the upper cover 12a 
is elevated as by moving it in the direction of the arrows in FIGS. 20 and 
22, the cover 12a will ultimately reach a point wherein the camming edge 
132 on the catch plate 124 engages the spring latch 120. Further upward 
movement of the cover 12a finally causes the spring latch 120 to snap into 
the notch 130. The upper cover 12a is now held in its upward position. For 
lowering the cover 12a, the plate 122 may be pressed inward slightly in 
the direction of arrow 123 to remove the latch 120 from the notch 130, 
thereby permitting the cover 12a to be lowered.