Cable cleaning unit

A cable cleaning unit comprising a chamber adapted to surround a section of the cable to be cleaned, a plurality of outlets located within the chamber through which jets of high pressure fluid are directed onto the surface of the cable and mechanism for withdrawing fluid from the chamber. A traction unit for moving the cleaning unit along the cable to be cleaned is also disclosed.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
All cable cleaning units at present in use utilise brushes which brush the 
external rust and scale and caked external lubricant from the cable. 
Because such units are bulky, it is necessary that the cleaning operation 
be carried out at ground level which means that the cable must be first 
removed from the equipment and then replaced. 
OBJECT OF INVENTION 
The object of the present invention is to provide a cable cleaning unit 
which does not require the use of brushes, which can be used for cleaning 
the cable in situ, which ensures that the strands of the cable are 
adequately lubricated and which is a development of the invention 
described and claimed in British patent application No. 7579/74, 
equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,925. 
It is also an object of the invention to provide a traction unit for moving 
the cleaning unit or other cable treatment equipment along a cable. 
DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
The present invention provides a cable cleaning unit comprising an annular 
nozzle chamber for surrounding a section of cable to be cleaned, a 
plurality of nozzles within the chamber for directing jets of high 
pressure oil onto the surface of the cable at an acute angle and a 
spin-off chamber for receiving oil and impurities from the cable, said 
spin-off chamber having a plurality of turbo-vanes for directing the oil 
and impurities to an outlet from the unit. 
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a traction 
unit comprising a pair of pulley wheels forming between them a gap for a 
cable, and means for driving at least one of the pulley wheels to drive 
the traction unit along a cable. The traction unit is preferably provided 
with two pairs of pulley wheels.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the unit comprises two semi-cylindrical 
housing parts 54 and 54A hinged together by hinge 55. Each housing part 
contains one half of an annular inlet chamber 57 containing six nozzles 
58. Each nozzle has an oval pinhole 58A and a line drawn through the 
center of the pinhole normal to the plane of the hole meets the axis of 
the unit at an acute angle, preferably of 60.degree.. As shown in FIGS. 4 
and 5, the nozzle pinhole is surrounded by an elongated groove 58B so that 
oil emitted from the pinhole fans out. The distance of the nozzle pinholes 
58A from a cable passing through a unit is preferably 1 to 11/2 inches. 
When the two parts of the housing are closed and held together by clips 59, 
the housing has a frustro-conical leading end, i.e. the relative movement 
between the cable to be cleaned and the unit is that the cable enters the 
unit at its narrow end and comes out downstream at the other end of the 
unit. 
Referring again to FIG. 1, a spin-off chamber 60 is provided upstream of 
the inlet chamber 57. The spin-off chamber 60 contains a plurality of 
turbo-vanes 62 leading to a common outlet manifold 63. The curvature of 
the vanes 62 is preferably the known optimum for turbo-blades and the 
downstream end wall of the chamber 60 is suitably angled. The upstream end 
wall of the chamber 60 is formed by one side of a plastic locating member 
64. Locating members 64 and 65 retain a semi-circular brush element 66. A 
similar brush element 67 is retained by locating members 68 and 69 
downstream of the chamber 60. 
The nozzles 58 are mounted on nozzle bodies 70 which are slidable on 
conduits 61 extending radially from the nozzle bodies 70 to an inlet 
manifold 75. Between the chamber 60 and locating member 68, there is 
provided a cam plate 71 (FIG. 3) having cam slots 72. Through the cam 
slots 72, there extend bolts 73 which are screwed at 73d into the nozzle 
bodies. Each bolt carries a slidable collet 73a having an axial portion to 
slide in a cam slot 72 and an integral radially extending collar 73c. A 
spring 74 is retained between the head of the bolt 73e and the collar 73c 
on the side of the cam plate 71 remote from the nozzle body 70 to urge the 
collar 73c into engagement with the cam plate 71. When the cam plate 71 is 
rotated, the nozzle bodies 70 are moved radially towards or away from the 
axis of the unit via guide slot 75 in lower housing body 54. 
The brush elements 66 and 67 may be made of nylon but are preferably made 
of pure bristle which has better wear and flexibility. When the brushes 
are closed around the cable, they act as seals at each end of the unit and 
the brush elements 67 also act as lubricating wipers. The cleaning unit 
can preferably accommodate cables of from 1/2 inch to 3 inches diameter, 
the brush elements being capable of accommodating various sizes of cable. 
If a specific size of brush is used for a smaller cable, it can still be 
used for larger cables when it has worn. 
The housing parts of the cleaning unit are preferably made of aluminium or 
stainless steel. 
In order to clean a cable, the cleaning unit is clamped to the cable and 
moved relative thereto. An engine of, for example, 1700 or 2000 cc. drives 
a hydraulic pump which feeds oil at a pressure of preferably from 2000 to 
4000 p.s.i. and a delivery rate of, for example, 12 g.p.m. to two inlet 
manifolds 75. The oil is emitted from the nozzles and full peripheral 
cleaning coverage is given by the six nozzles and the fan effect of the 
nozzle openings. Oil and impurities cleaned off the cable are reflected 
from the cable into the spin-off chamber and are guided by the turbo-vanes 
62 to an outlet manifold 76. From the outlet manifold 76, oil and 
impurities are fed to a coarse strainer to remove larger impurities and 
then to a three-stage filter. From the filter, oil and smaller impurities 
are drawn by a pump and then pumped to a cartridge filter where impurities 
down to 15 microns are removed. The oil is then returned to a sump where 
it is again drawn off by the hydraulic pump and fed to the inlet 
manifolds. The three stage filter has an inlet at its lower end and an 
outlet at its upper end. Oil is fed upwards through the three stages. The 
preferred cleaning oil is Castrol Hyspin AWS 46 with additives for 
anti-foaming and for reducing heat. 
The dimensions of the cleaning unit are preferably 18 inches long, 12 
inches outside diameter, a nozzle chamber depth of two inches to 5 inches, 
e.g. three inches, and the angle of the wall between the nozzle and 
spin-off chamber of 45.degree. to 60.degree., e.g. 50.degree., to an axial 
plane through the unit. 
As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 of the drawings, the traction unit comprises a 
housing 81 having a mouth 82 (see FIG. 9) so that it can be fitted over a 
cable 83. One end of the housing is provided with brackets 84 so that 
cable cleaning and/or oiling equipment can be attached thereto. Two pairs 
of grooved cable engaging rollers 85 and 86, and 87 and 88 are positioned 
within the housing, one roller of each pair being disposed on opposite 
sides of the mouth as is best seen in FIG. 8 of the drawings. Each roller 
is mounted on a shaft 89, 90, 91 and 92, each end of which is supported in 
suitable bearings. Each shaft has a sprocket 93, 94 mounted thereon so 
that it will rotate with the associated roller, the sprockets 93 and 94 
each being linked by an endless chain (not shown). The shafts are 
supported in plates 97, 98 (see FIG. 8) slidably mounted within the 
housing and attached to a transverse plate 99, which is attached to the 
outer end of a piston rod 100 of a hydraulic ram 101 projecting from the 
bottom of the housing. The plate 99 is fitted at each end with blocks 102 
and 103. The block 102 is slidably mounted in a guide recess 104 in an 
intermediate wall 105 within the housing while the block 103 slides in a 
slot 106 in an outer wall of the housing. The ends of the shafts 89 and 90 
are fitted with worm wheels 107, 108 each of which meshes with one section 
of a pinion 109 rotatably mounted at one side of the housing and driven by 
a hydraulic motor 110. The section 109b of the pinion is longer than the 
other section 109a so that irrespective of the position of the shaft 90, 
the worm wheel 107 will remain in mesh therewith. The thread on section 
109b is in the opposite direction to the thread on section 109a so that 
the grooved cable engaging members 85 and 87 rotate in the opposite 
direction to the grooved cable engaging members 86 and 88. 
In operation, the hydraulic ram 101 is operated to move the cable engaging 
members 86 and 88 away from the members 85 and 87 and the unit positioned 
by entering the cable through the mouth 82. The ram 101 is then reversed 
so that the cable is clamped between the members 85 and 86 and 87 and 88. 
The hydraulic motor is then operated to move the unit along the cable. 
The terms "horizontal" and "vertical" used herein in relation to the 
traction unit have been used solely to describe the relative positions of 
the various components and it will be appreciated that in use the 
positions of such components will vary according to the position of the 
traction unit.