MARK BALL TO BE FASTENED ON A WIRE AND METHOD FOR MOUNTING OF THE BALL

Abstract: The invention relates to a marker ball fastenable to a wire for facilitating the detection of the wire. The ball includes two spheerical caps (1, 2) with a gap (3) therebetween for bringing and securing the wire inside a mounting element (5). From the top spherical cap (1) extends an insulation-facilitating cog (4), which further indicates on which side of the ball said wire is capable of passing inside the mounting element (5). The mounting element (5) is fastened to the top spherical cap (1) and held by a spring (9) at a distance from the bottom spherical cap (2) which is movable towards the top spherical cap by means of a clamping screw (8) against the force of said spring (9). The design enables installation from the ground or a boat even on a live wire as a ring (10) at the bottom end of said clamping screw can be grabbed with a hook-pointed implement carried at the end of a long rod.

Description: εrk Ball to be Fastened on a Wire and Method for Mounting of the Ball. The present invention relates to a marker ball fastenable to a wire from the ground or a boat for facilitating the detec¬ tion of the wire, the ball comprising a top spherical cap and a bottom spherical cap with a division plane therebe¬ tween for bringing the wire inside a generally C-shaped mounting element and for fastening the same against the mounting element by means of a clamping screw gripping the mounting element. A marker ball of the invention can be fastened to a live or dead open or coated suspension wire by means of a voltage- resistant working rod or a like. The invention relates also to a method for mounting a marker ball on a live wire from the ground or a boat. The long baring distances or spans required for crossing water courses create a variety of problems. Being difficult to detect, the wires turn into death traps for many large and rather rare water birds, such as swans and Canadian geese. Also the masts of sailboats are often sufficiently high to reach the wires and the risk of accident increases if the wires are not clearly marked. In addition, the sway- ing of wires over long spans may lead to a hazard of neighboring wires clashing together, the marker balls being capable of preventing the collision of neighboring phase advances. The presently available marker balls or other marking devic¬ es (e.g. a spiral wound around a wire) have a design that prevents the mounting thereof on a live wire. For example, voltage breaks induced in 20 kV - 110 kV lines are expen¬ sive, which often precludes or postpones the mounting of marker balls in locations where such balls are obviously needed. An object of the invention is to provide a novel type of marker ball, having a design which enables convenient mount¬ ing of the ball even on a live wire by using a long mounting rod suitable for voltage work. This object is achieved by means of a marker ball with characterizing features set forth in the appended claim 1. Claim 5 discloses a mounting method which is rendered possi¬ ble by the marker ball of the invention. Furthermore, the non-independent claims disclose details relating to the design and implementation of the most preferred embodiment of the invention. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference made to the accompanying drawing, in which fig. 1 shows a marker ball of the invention in section along a line I-I in fig. 2 and fig. 2 is a side view of the marker ball. The ball includes a top spherical cap 1 and a bottom spheri¬ cal cap 2, having therebetween a division plane 3 whereby a wire can be brought inside a generally C-shaped mounting element 5. From the top end of said mounting element 5 extends upwards a shaft 6 having the spherical cap 1 fas- tened to the top end thereof by means of rivets, screws or adhesive. A clamping screw 8 extends through the lower prong of the mounting element 5 and is in threaded engagement with the mounting element 5 such that, upon turning the screw 8, a clamping pad 12 moves towards an arched surface 7 included in the top end of the mounting element 5 (or away from it depending on rotating direction). The screw 8 is capable of rotating relative to the clamping pad 12, whereby the clamp¬ ing pad 12 does not rotate along with the screw 8 but only travels axially in view of not damaging a wire to be clamped between the clamping pad 12 and the surface 7. Between the lower prong of the mounting element 5 and the bottom spherical cap 2 is a coil spring 9 surrounding the clamping screw 8 and flexibly propping the bottom spherical cap 2 to its lower position, said bottom spherical cap 2 being flexibly pivotable therefrom within a certain range. This pivoting facilitates the passage of a wire into or out of a gap 3 between the spherical caps. However, the spheri¬ cal caps 1 and 2 retain their position if no external force upsets the relative position thereof. The clamping screw 8 extends through the bottom spherical cap 2 and the bottom end of the screw 8 outside the ball is fitted with a ring 10 that can be grabbed with a hook-point- ed implement for rotating the clamping screw 8. The selected design of this coupling element 10 is a ring since matching hook-pointed mounting rods are available in the marketplace. However, coupling elements of other shapes can also be used instead of the ring 10. In order to perform a successful mounting of the ball from a boat, ice or the ground with a long mounting rod on a live wire, the bottom edge of the top spherical cap 1 is provided with an installation-facilitating cog 4, which also indi- cates on which side of the ball a wire is capable of being introduced inside the C-shaped mounting element 5. The installation-facilitating effect of the cog 4 is evident in such a manner that a wire sliding up the surface of the bottom spherical cap 2 collides with the cog 4 and, thus, is more easily guided into the gap 3. As shown in the figures, the arched surface 7, which is included in the mounting element 5 and against which a wire is attached, is located essentially in the middle of a ball. In addition, the opposite edges of the top spherical cap 1 are provided with downwardly opening gutters 13 at an angle of 90° from the cog 4 for receiving a wire. The gutters 13 support the ball on a wire and preclude the passage of rain water inside the ball through the wire lead-in openings. The top spherical cap 1 is slightly larger than the bottom spherical cap 2 whose edges are capable of squeezing inside those of the top spherical cap 1. When a wire is clamped in position by means of the screw 8, the bottom spherical cap 2 rises up to close the gap 3. The spherical caps 1 and 2 are made of an insulating materi¬ al, such as plastics. The lead-in of the screw 8 is provided on both sides thereof with washers 11 for reinforcing the lead-in hole rims to receive loads that are created during the course of installation and by the action of the spring 9. In a mounting method of the invention, the marker ball is mounted by the ring 10 on the end of a mounting rod (not shown). The long voltage-resistant mounting rod is used for lifting the ball to the adjacency of a wire and the wire is brought into the gap 3 between the caps 1, 2. This is fol¬ lowed by rotating the mounting rod for closing the caps 1 , 2 against each other and the fastening elements 5, 8 inside the ball are caused to grab the wire. As far as the marker ball is concerned, the invention is naturally by no means limited to the above exemplary em¬ bodiment but the structural details may vary in may ways within the scope of the annexed claims. When applying the invention, it is natural that the marker ball need not be spherical in shape but, instead, the shape can be oblong or somewhat angular.

Claims: Claims 1. A marker ball fastenable to a wire from the ground or a boat for facilitating the detection of the wire, the ball comprising a top spherical cap (1) and a bottom spherical cap (2) with a gap (3) therebetween for bringing the wire inside a generally C-shaped mounting element (5) and for fastening the same against the mounting element by means of a clamping screw (8) gripping the mounting element, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that from the top spherical cap (1) extends an installation-facilitating cog (4), which further indicates on which side of the ball a wire is capa¬ ble of passing inside said C-shaped mounting element (5), and that said mounting element (5) is fastened to the top spherical cap (1) and held by a spring (9) at a distance from the bottom spherical cap (2) which is movable towards the top spherical cap by means of said clamping screw (8) against the force of said spring (9). 2. A marker ball as set forth in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that between the C-shaped mounting element (5) and the bottom spherical cap (2) is the coil spring (9) surrounding the clamping screw (8) and flexibly fixing the bottom spherical cap (2) to its position, from which the bottom spherical cap (2) is flexibly pivotable within a certain range. 3. A marker ball as set forth in claim 1 or 2, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i z e d in that the clamping screw (8) extends through the bottom spherical cap (2) and the clamping screw (8) has its lower end outside the ball fitted with a ring (10) which can be grabbed with a hook-pointed implement for rotating the clamping screw (8). 4. A marker ball as set forth in any of claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the C-shaped mounting element (5) is located in the middle of the ball, that the top spherical cap (1) is slightly larger than the bottom spherical cap (2) whose edges are capable of squeezing inside those of the top spherical cap (1), and that the opposite edges of said top spherical cap (1), at an angle of 90° from said cog (4), are provided with downwardly opening gutters (13) for receiving a wire, the bottoms of said gutters (13) and an inner surface (7) included in the arched top section of said mounting element (5) being located on the same line. 5. A method for mounting a marker ball on a live wire from the ground or a boat, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a marker ball consisting of two spherical caps (1, 2) is lifted with a voltage-resistant long mounting rod to the vicinity of a wire and the wire is brought into a gap (3) between the spherical caps, followed by using the mounting rod to close the spherical caps (1, 2) and/or the mounting elements (5, 8) inside the marker ball for grabbing such elements around the wire.

Inventors: TURUNEN HARRI, TURUNEN, HARRI
Applicants: SEKKO AB OY, TURUNEN HARRI, OY SEKKO AB, TURUNEN, HARRI
Application year: 1995
Main classification: H02G7
IPC codes: H02G7