FENCING TAPE

Abstract: This invention provides a conductive tape for an electrifiable fence comprising a tape of woven or knitted construction having at least two conducting wires arranged longitudinally and integrally in the woven or knitted structure characterised by a bridging conductor carried in or on the knitted or woven structure and which is directed transversely across the two longitudinal conductors at intervals so that if a break occurs in one of the conductors the current path is capable of continuing via the bridging conductor.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns fencing tapes in particular those which contain conducting elements for use with electrifiable fences. An electrifiable fencing tape comprising a tape of non-conductive material of a woven or knitted construction, said tape having disposed within it at least two conducting wires arranged longitudinally and integrally in the woven or knitted structure, is known, for instance from publication NL-A-7 710 230. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION We have experimented with a woven tape wherein the warps and weft are made of narrow plastic ribbon. The tape is rendered electrically conductive by the incorporation among the warps of several side by side fine gauge stainless steel wires. While this tape is an excellent conductor and offers good visibility to stock confined within a fence of which the tape is a part, faulty straining procedures or collisions between stock animals and the tape can spoil the conductivity of the tape and it is not unusual when testing the tape to find non conducting gaps in the fence which the animals subsequently find and exploit. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a conductive fencing tape as defined in claim 1. The tape warps may be made of polyolefin for example polyethylene. The warps may include fine gauge stainless steel wires. There may be five such wires arranged equally across the width of the tape namely 20mm. Alternatively polyester yarn such as polyethylene terephthalate may be used. Other non conductive materials may be used. The weft may be the same material as the warps. The bridging conductor may be a single wire strand which is inserted as a weft pick every 500mm or so. The bridging conductor would therefore pass from selvedge to selvedge for one pick and travel down one selvedge as an extra conducting warp strand. Alternatively the bridging conductor may be a conductor strand which is sewn into the tape in a serpentine path so as to cross from selvedge to selvedge in a continuous undulating pathway. In another application a continuous line of metallic composition is deposited on the face of the tape by a jet nozzle. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1: is a plan of a fragment of one embodiment of the tape and, Figure 2: is a plan of a fragment of another embodiment of the tape. Figure 3 : is a plan of a fragment of yet another embodiment of the tape. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT In a preferred embodiment, a tape is woven from polyethylene monofilaments and stainless steel wires in a weaving machine fed and controlled in such a manner that : the warp is made of a number of polyethylene monofilaments, and of a number of stainless steel wires equally spaced across the tape and all able to conduct current when incorporated into an electric fence ; the weft is a polyethylene monofilament ; one or several of the warp steel wires periodically becomes a weft wire, crossing with electrical contact the other warp steel wires. For instance as schematically shown in figure 1, there are 24 warp polyethylene monofilaments 1 each 0,38 mm in diameter, 5 warp steel wires 2 a to 2 e each 0,15 mm in diameter and 1 weft polyethylene monofilament 3 having 0,30 mm in diameter and the width of the tape is about 14 mm. For the convenience of the drawing, only the two selvedge polyethylene warps 1 e , 1 x are shown whereas the five steel wires 2 a to 2 e are shown. Outermost steel wire 2 a is controlled to become at regular intervals a weft wire crossing the tape up to the opposite selvedge, the distance between two successive picks P,P' of such weft steel wire is about 65 mm and there are about 24 picks T of the polyethylene weft between the picks P,P'. The numerical features are optional and may change according to the various embodiments. Referring now to figure 2, the tape is woven without a bridging conductor. Instead the woven tape is fed into the path of a sewing machine (not shown) which inserts a bridging wire 4 in a serpentine path across the five warp wires. This can be arranged by placing the needle head between two pairs of laterally oscillating feed rolls. Alternatively the needle head can be oscillated. Referring now to figure 3, the tape is knitted along with twenty three others on a warp knitting machine which utilises fifteen polyethylene warps of equal count and five stainless steel warp wires together with a bridging wire. During knitting the bridging wire passes down one selvedge crosses to the opposite selvedge in a diagonal path and travels along the opposite selvedge until it returns across a complimentary diagonal. This creates a modified saw tooth wave path in the ribbon and allows the bridging wire to contact each conductor as it traverses from selvedge to selvedge. The intervals between the diagonals are adjusted according to the intended end use of the tape. The interval may vary from 250-1250mm but the general purpose interval would be be 500-750mm. The tape is coloured orange, yellow, banded black and yellow but white is preferable. Our work indicates that white tape is more visible than tapes of other colours, moreso than we would have expected having regard to the contrast against the backgrounds of trees, grass, sky and water wherein the tape is likely to be used. We have found the advantages of the above embodiment to be: 1. The tape offers good visibility 2. The tape retains electrical conductivity despite breaks in the warp wires.

Claims: A conductive fencing tape for an electrifiable fence comprising a tape of non-conductive material (1, 3) of a woven or knitted construction, said tape having disposed within at least two conducting wires (2a-2e) arranged longitudinally and integrally in the woven or knitted structure, characterised by a continuous bridging conductor (2a, 4) carried in or on the knitted or woven structure and which is directed transversely across the two or more longitudinal conductors at intervals to make electrical contact with each of said conducting wires so that if a break occurs in one of the conductors (2a-2e) the current path is capable of continuing via the bridging conductor (2a, 4). A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tape is woven and the bridging conductor is incorporated as an intermittent weft pick. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tape is warp knitted and the bridging conductor (4) is incorporated as a warp thereof. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 3 wherein there are two outermost conducting wires, at least one intermediate conducting wire and the bridging conductor (4) extends at least from one outermost conducting wire to the opposite outermost conducting wire. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bridging conductor (2a) is incorporated as a warp which becomes periodically a weft. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bridging conductor (2a, 4) is sewn into the tape in a serpentine path so as to cross from one outer most conducting wire to the opposite outer most conducting wire. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bridging conductor is a continuous line of metallic composition deposited on a face of the tape by a jet nozzle. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein the bridging conductor defines a square wave path in the tape. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the bridging conductor (2a, 4) crosses the tape every 250-1250mm. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the bridging conductor is a wire (2a, 4). A conductive fencing tape as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the bridging conductor is a ribbon of electrically conductive plastic. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the non-conducting material of the tape is white. A conductive fencing tape as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12 wherein the warp is made of a number of polyethylene monofilaments (1e-1x) and of a number of stainless steel wires (2a-2e).

Inventors: STANDING, COLIN ANTHONY
Applicants: GALLAGHER ELECTRONICS LIMITED, JOUBERT S.A.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: H01B5
IPC codes: H01B7, H01B5, A01K3, E04H17, D04B21