Multiple connection for an undersea cable system

A multiple connection for connecting a plurality of armored cables (1, 2) to the housing of electrical apparatus in an undersea system having a cable interconnection point where a plurality of cables serving different destinations are brought together, each of said cables comprising a core surrounded by armor and being terminated by a length of bared core extending beyond a severed end of the armor, and said housing having a hollow cable-fixing part through which the bared cable cores pass, characterized in that said connection comprises: PA1 a steel binding ring (12) through which the armored portion of each of said cables (1, 2), is threaded, said ring serving to bind said armored portions of cable together; PA1 a steel tube (13) threaded over said bared cores (7, 8) of said cables, having one end abutting against severed end portions of the armor (9, 10) of said cables and having its other end fixed mechanically to said hollow cable-fixing part (5) of the electrical apparatus housing; PA1 and auxiliary armor (14) wound around the portions of armored cable bound together by said ring and around the adjacent portion of said steel tube.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a multiple connection for interconnecting 
a plurality of armoured cables serving several different destinations and 
coming together at a cable interconnection point where they are all 
connected to a common electrical apparatus. The cables may be coaxial or 
optical fibre undersea cables for example, connected to the inlet or the 
outlet of an undersea telephone repeater, or more generally of an 
intermediate or terminal apparatus for undersea telephone links. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
At present it is known how to connect an undersea repeater to an armoured 
coaxial cable: in particular from the mechanical point of view, the 
traction force exerted by the cable when it is laid is transferred to the 
housing of the repeater by fixing the housing to the steel wire armour 
which protects the cable. However, in the aforementioned case of undersea 
telephone links with several cables serving different destinations, said 
technique or other known techniques for repeater connection would require 
the repeater to be equipped with as many separate mechanical accesses as 
there are cables to be connected. 
The present invention aims to remedy this drawback by mechanically 
interconnecting a plurality of cables into a length of single cable before 
being connected to a repeater or the like. Thus a common connection via a 
single mechanical inlet or outlet access to the repeater can be used. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides a multiple connection for connecting a 
plurality of armoured cables to the housing of electrical apparatus in an 
undersea system having a cable interconnection point where a plurality of 
cables serving different destinations are brought together, each of said 
cables comprising a core surrounded by armour and being terminated by a 
length of bared core extending beyond a severed end of the armour, and 
said housing having a hollow cable-fixing part through which the bared 
cable cores pass; said connection comprising: 
a steel binding ring through which the armoured portion of each of said 
cables is threaded, said ring serving to bind said armoured portions of 
cable together; 
a steel tube threaded over said bared cores of said cables, having one end 
abutting against severed end portions of the armour of said cables and 
having its other end fixed mechanically to said hollow cable-fixing part 
of the electrical apparatus housing; 
and auxiliary armour wound around the portions of armoured cable bound 
together by said ring and around the adjacent portion of said steel tube. 
Preferably the space inside said tube and inside said hollow cable-fixing 
part is filled with an electrically insulating substance. 
Such a connection makes it possible to simultaneously connect several 
cables, in particular to the input or to the output of a repeater via a 
single corresponding mechanical access.

MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 illustrates a connection made between two armoured cables 1 and 2 to 
connect them simultaneously to a hollow cable-fixing part 3 of electrical 
apparatus such as a repeater. The part 3 has an axial passage 4 and is 
here illustrated as being constituted by a component 5 with a spherical 
end which pivots on a fixing knuckle joint 6. In a known way, said 
cable-fixing part 3 forms a part of a set of components providing 
mechanical and electrical connection which may be of the articulated or 
the rigid type between said electric apparatus and/or its housing and a 
line cable of an undersea connection; it will therefore be understood that 
the type of connection illustrated here and its form are given simply by 
way of example. 
In the undersea connection in question, the two cables 1 and 2 are armoured 
cables; they serve different destinations and are connected together at a 
cable interconnection point. The cores (insulated central conductors) of 
the two cables are referenced 7 and 8 and their respective steel wire 
outer armour is referenced 9 and 10. 
The connection illustrated includes: 
a steel binding ring 12 of circular cross-section, said binding ring being 
installed on the two armoured cables 1 and 2 which are independent from 
each other; it brings them side by side and binds them against each other; 
on one side of said ring 12, the two armoured cables are therefore 
independent and free, while on the other side, they are still electrically 
independent but constitute a single mechanical assembly; 
a steel tube 13 installed around the bared cores 7 and 8 of the cable 
assembly obtained by the binding ring 12. The steel tube 13 is not in 
contact with the cores 7 and 8 which it protects, and it is installed 
abuting against the severed end portions of the armour 9 and 10 of the 
cables 1 and 2; 
auxiliary armour 14 formed by steel wires helically wound both around the 
assembly of armoured cables obtained by the binding ring 12 and around the 
adjacent portion of the steel tube 13. Said auxiliary armour 14 is held by 
welding, binding or any other suitable means to the armoured cable 
assembly obtained by the binding ring 12. Further, the auxiliary armour 14 
is likewise held to the steel tube 13 to which its end portion is fixed; 
and 
a steel ferrule 15 installed on said auxiliary armour over the severed end 
portions of the armour 9 and 10 and over the steel tube 13; it keeps the 
tube 13 centred relative to the ends of the cables 1 and 2. 
In the connection thus made, the free end of the tube 13 is fixed to the 
hollow cable-fixing part 3. In the present example, said tube 13 has a 
tapped and threaded end which screws onto the corresponding threaded end 
of the component 5, with the central cores 7 and 8 then being brought 
together and passing through the hollow cable-fixing part. The central 
cores may be connected together to constitute a single inner conductor 
which results from their merging. 
The connection further includes insulation 16 around the bared cores 7 and 
8 and the interconnected central conductors (or the resulting single 
conductor). Said insulation 16 is obtained by injecting an insulating 
substance such as polyethylene into the empty space inside the tube 13 and 
the hollow cable-fixing part, e.g. via holes (not illustrated) in the tube 
13. 
Lastly, the connection which connects the two cables 1 and 2 together is 
finished off by a protective outer sleeve 17 made of neoprene, for 
example, and installed around the cable-fixing part 3 and around the tube 
13 which is partially covered by the auxiliary armour 14. Said sleeve 17 
abuts against the ferrule 15 which holds it; it is held at its other end 
on the housing of electrical equipment (not shown). 
As illustrated in FIG. 2, which is a cross-section through the binding ring 
12, it will be observed that filler components 20 and 21 are associated 
with the cables 1 and 2 in the binding ring 12 so that the structure of 
the assembly remains circular. 
Further, as schematically illustrated by dashed lines in FIG. 1, the 
armoured cables 1 and 2 may be kept spaced apart by auxiliary spacer 
pieces 22 before being connected together. 
In the version illustrated in FIG. 1, the central conductors of the cables 
1 and 2 retain their individual initial insulation where they 
simultaneously enter side-by-side into the axial passage of the hollow 
cable-fixing part 3. However, these central conductors could also be 
connected together if need be. 
The invention is described with reference to the illustrations given in the 
accompanying drawings and it is obvious that various means can be 
substituted by other technically equivalent means without thereby going 
beyond the scope of the invention. Thus, in a variant of the connection 
described and which can be deduced directly from the accompanying figures, 
the cores described as being constituted by the insulated central 
conductors of the coaxial cables could be constituted by sets of optical 
fibres which form part of undersea optical fibre cables. It is also 
obvious that the connection need not relate only to two cables but could 
also relate to three or even more which are all to be connected to the 
input or the output of the same electrical apparatus via a cable-fixing 
part which is integral with the housing of said apparatus.