Identification carrier for electric lines

The body of an identification carrier has two wings that surround an electric line. One part of a clip closure is mounted on a clamping strip in the path of the line. The carrier, which is secured on the line by the closure is fastened to subsequent carriers on the line by a snap connection on each face.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an identification carrier intended for 
electrical lines or wires and with a two-winged sleeve-like body that 
surrounds the line and has a projection on one face and an accommodation 
for the projection on the other. 
Identification carriers of this type are employed to identify lines that 
have already been connected. In contrast to closed identification sleeves, 
which are slipped on before the line is connected and cannot be released 
from it, the problem arises of adequately securing the identification 
carrier to the line once it has been mounted on it. 
The body of a known identification carrier of this genus, as described in 
German Pat. No. 2 655 958, is in a practical way a cylindrical slotted 
sleeve with a projection in the form of a point on one face and an 
accommodation in the form of a matching notch on the other. Even when the 
material that a sleeve of this type is made out of has a certain inherent 
elasticity, however, its seating on the line will be reliable only if the 
line has a very specific cross-section. This is not the case for the wide 
range of lines being considered in the present context. Although the 
lateral projections and accommodations can prevent the identification 
carriers from rotating in relation to each other when a series of them is 
mounted on one line, as often occurs in practice, they do not prevent the 
carriers from separating from each other along the line. 
To facilitate handling and storage, moreover, the identification carrier 
described in the aforesaid document is manufactured in one piece with a 
common injection-molded strip. They are slipped all together onto a 
supporting rod, which can also be connected to a reinforcing rod, by means 
of the strip and stored on the rod after the strip has been removed. This 
procedure is relatively complicated and necessitates additional 
accessories, specifically the reinforced supporting rod. 
Identification devices that involve separate strips of material tensioned 
tightly like a strap around a cable, pipe, or similar structure and then 
provided with the actual identification carrier are also known from German 
Pat. Nos. 1 139 368 and 1 181 511. It is easy to conceive how complicated 
they are in design and to mount when identifying a relatively thick cable 
or pipe. They must also be secured reliably on the cable. This solution is 
unsatisfactory for the identification of already connected electric lines 
when it is necessary to rapidly establish the correct identification, 
which may also involve a large number of characters, possibly from a large 
number of identification carriers, and secure it to the line. 
The seating of another known identification carrier German Pat. No. 1 207 
203 and Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 648 421, which is essentially a sleeve 
with two wings, is also not very satisfactory for a wide range of line 
cross-sections. It is impossible to prevent these identification carriers 
from rotating in relation to or separating from each other when they are 
mounted. Cementing the two wings of the carrier as proposed in the latter 
document also entails the additional drawback of making it difficult to 
alter the identification of the line, which can only be done by destroying 
the existing identification carrier, when the circuitry is rewired. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A primary object of the present invention is to provide an identification 
carrier of the aforesaid generic type that can be simply and reliably 
secured to electrical lines that have a wide range of cross-section with a 
satisfactory bond between several adjacent carriers. Another object of the 
invention is an especially simple method of manufacturing identification 
carriers of this type. 
The former object is attained in accordance with the invention in that the 
body of the carrier has a clip closure and has clamping elements that can 
at least to some extent be displaced by the line and in that the 
projection and its accommodation constitute a snap-in connection. 
An identification carrier of this type can easily be mounted, by slightly 
spreading its two wings if necessary, on a line that has already been 
connected and can obviously be easily closed manually around the line by 
activating the clip closure. The capacity of the line itself to displace 
the clamping elements results in an especially secure seating of the 
identification carrier on the line. The displacement of the clamping 
elements also makes it possible to vary or adjust the span of the carrier 
to lines with a wide range of cross-section. Thus only one type of 
identification carrier can be employed to identify a wide range of lines. 
The design of the lateral projection and its accommodation in the form of 
a snap-in connection makes it possible to secure a series of 
identification carriers mounted on one line, with the whole series 
involved in identifying the line, not only with respect to rotating in 
relation to each other but also with respect to separating from each other 
along the line, while retaining legibility of the identification and with 
the individual carriers in the series mutually reinforcing the security of 
their seating. 
Further designs for various embodiments of an identification carrier of 
this type are described hereinafter. Especially emphasized is an 
embodiment in which one of the elements of the clip connection is mounted 
on one of the clamping elements. This embodiment is especially easy to 
handle because the clip connection can also be closed by simply pressing 
the carrier against the line as a result of the concomitant displacement 
of the appropriate clamping element by the line itself. 
The clip closure in another design for another embodiment is on the free 
end of the wings and there are several clamping elements distributed along 
the length of the wings. An identification carrier of this type is closed 
manually, once it has been applied to the line, by closing the clip 
connection. The advantage of several clamping elements distributed along 
the length of the wings is that one carrier can be reliably secured to 
different lines with an especially wide range of cross-section. 
The object of the invention with respect to the method of manufacture is 
attained by injection-molding an identification carrier with a snap-in 
accommodation on its face, displacing it until the end that has the 
accommodation demarcates another injection mold, injection-molding the 
next identification carrier with its snap-in projection being created by 
filling in the snap-in accommodation in the previously molded carrier, and 
repeating the procedure to create a strip of several carriers that are 
snapped into each other and can be pulled apart. 
It is accordingly possible to employ a relatively simple injection mold to 
mold a theoretically infinite series of individual identification carriers 
that are snapped into each other and can be pulled apart without any 
separate mounting procedures like threading them onto supporting rods and 
without any accessories. The capacity for pulling apart the snapped-in 
carriers facilitates handling, shipping, and storing as well as 
processing, especially pressing, the individual pieces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The identification carrier for electrical lines illustrated in FIG. 1 has a 
sleeve-like body 1 with an identification character 1a, a digit or a 
letter for instance, applied by printing for example to its upper surface. 
The body 1 of the carrier in this embodiment has two relatively long wings 
2 that are wrapped around an electric line 3 when the carrier is mounted 
on it. There is a clip closure 4 and 5 at the free ends of wings 2 that 
consists for example of an arrow-shaped projection 5 on one wing and a 
matching accommodation 4 with an abutment section 6 for the arrow on the 
other wing. 
The illustrated embodiment has two elastically deformable clamping webs 7 
inside the two wings, facing away from their free ends, and in the 
vicinity of the upper part of the carrier that carries the identification. 
Clamping webs 7 are positioned in such away that they can be displaced by 
line 3 itself. There are also a few small clamping ridges 8 distributed 
along the length of wings 2 in this embodiment. 
Two snap-in pins 9 that project toward one side are also cast onto one face 
of the body 1 of the carrier in this embodiment. There are snap-in 
accommmodations 10 on the opposite side. Accommodations 10 match snap-in 
pins 9. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate how an identification carrier of this type is 
applied and secured to an electrical line. First, the body 1 of the 
carrier is slipped with its wings 2 still open at the bottom over line 3 
until the line elastically deforms clamping webs 7. Clip closure 4 and 5 
is then manually activated, forcing the two wings together with the two 
upper clamping ridges 8 engaging electrical line 3 at the sides in the 
illustrated embodiment to secure the carrier to the line. 
The line is completely identified by applying the requisite number of 
identification carriers, each with the desired identifying digit or letter 
1a, next to each other to electrical line 3. The snap-in pins 9 on one 
identification carrier will snap into the corresponding snap-in 
accommodations 10 in the adjacent carrier and create a practically 
immovable composite block of individually snapped-together identification 
carriers along the electrical line. The series of individual 
identification carriers illustrated in FIG. 5 indicates in principle how 
the identification carrier are positioned next to each other on an 
electrical line. 
Even examination of FIGS. 1 and 2, however, will reveal how an 
identification carrier of this design can be securely mounted on 
electrical lines with an extraordinarily wide range of cross-section. 
The wings 2' on the body 1' of the carrier in the embodiment illustrated in 
FIGS. 3 and 4 are somewhat shorter than the wings 2 illustrated in FIGS. 1 
and 2. The free ends of wings 2' are simply bent in in such a way as to 
surround line 3. Clip closure 4' and 5' is inside, remote from the free 
ends of the wings, and toward the top. The hooked web 4' of the clip 
closure is cast onto body 1 of the carrier'. This embodiment includes an 
elastic clamping strip 7' in the path of line 3. When the identification 
carrier is applied to the line, the line displaces clamping strip 7', 
which the other, hooked, component 5' of the clip closure is directly 
mounted on. As will be evident from FIGS. 3 and 4, it is only necessary 
with this embodiment to simply press the body 1' of the carrier onto line 
3, whereupon clamping strip 7' and the bent ends of wings 2' will secure 
the carrier to the line as reliably as desired and the pressure of the 
line will simultaneously and automatically displace clamping strip 7' and 
close clip closure 4' and 5' with no separate activation of the closure 
being required. 
The snap connection between the separate identification carriers in this 
embodiment when they are mounted next to each other along a line is 
produced by a snap-in accommodation 10' with a slightly undercut rib 10" 
in it in one face of body 1' of the carrier and a matching tongue 9' 
projecting from the other face. 
FIG. 5 illustrates a preferred method of manufacturing identification 
carriers of this type. The components of the tool include shaping plates 
11 and 12, tensioning jaws 13, one ejector 14 for the identification 
carrier with pins 15 that match the snap-in pins 9 on the body 1 of the 
carrier, and another ejector 16 for the cast-on shape that forms in space 
17. The pins 15 on ejector 14 project into the actual injection space 18. 
At the commencement of the manufacturing process, is closed by an 
appropriate displacement of ejector 14 and the total closure of tensioning 
jaws 13. The first carrier body 1 is then injection-molded without any 
snap-in pins 9 and somewhat wider than the nominal width. Once the first 
body has been molded, tensioning jaws 13 are separated and ejector 14 
forces the body out between shaping plates 11 and 12 far enough for a 
small part of the body, the part that has snap-in accommodations 10 left 
by the pins 15 on ejector 14, to remain in the mold. Tensioning jaws 13 
then close again over the body, which has been forced out to that extent. 
Next, ejector 14 is retracted, the tool opened, and the dead head ejected 
by ejector 16. New molding material is then injected with the remaining 
portion of the first carrier body forming one wall of injection space 18. 
The newly injected material fills up the snap-in accommodations 10 in the 
first body and creates snap-in pins 9 on the new body. The procedure is 
repeated again and again to create a series of several carriers that are 
snapped into each other and can be pulled apart. The first body to be 
molded is subsequently removed because of its excess width and the lack of 
snap-in pins. It has been demonstrated that, even when a thermoplastic is 
employed, since the material of the individual bodies does not fuse 
together and the bodies will not bond or weld together, the individual 
bodies in a series can always be unsnapped. Still, the resulting series 
always holds together securely enough to facilitate subsequent processing, 
the imprinting of characters for example, and further handling and 
storage. 
It will be appreciated that the instant specification and claims are set 
forth by way of illustration and not limitation, and that various 
modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit 
and scope of the present invention.