Abstract:
A test cable is spooled on a spring loaded cable reel that is structurally connected to a buttset via an anchor that holds on to a cable outlet of the buttset housing. A releasable ratchet holds the spool against a reeling spring such that the pulled out test cable may be conveniently handled without cable tension. To retract the test cable, the ratchet may be released by a small pull on the test cable. A number of such cable reels may be stacked inside a compact housing. Existing buttsets may be easily retrofitted by merely replacing its strain relief and dangling test cable. As a favorable result, test cable damage due to its wrapping around the buttset is avoided while test cable handling is optimized.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to test cable reels of and for handheld telephone line testing devices commonly referred to as buttsets. 
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     Field testing of telephone and/or telecommunication lines is commonly performed by use of compact handheld telephone line testing devices, which are commonly referred to as buttsets. As depicted in Prior Art  FIGS. 1 and 2 , such a buttset  1  may have an overall appearance like a bulky old style telephone receiver with a central thin handle connecting two opposite and more massive end portions. A prior art buttset  1  may include well known testing circuitry, power supply, display, keyboard and switches omitted in the Figs. for clarity. A prior art buttset  1  is commonly connected to well known test terminals via one or more dangling test cable  7  and dangling test connector  9 . The dangling test cable  7  is connected to well known test circuitry inside the buttset  1  and extends out of the buttset  1  interior through a strain relieve  8 , which in turn is fixed in a cable outlet  3  of the housing  4 ,  5 . The strain relieve  8  transfers externally induced test cable  7  strains and loads onto the housing. 
     Between uses, the loosely hanging test cable  7  is commonly wrapped around the buttset  1  housing  4 ,  5 . While loosely wrapped around the housing  4 ,  5 , the cable  7  is heavily exposed to wear and damage during handling and transportation. It also may easily fall of the buttset  1  making it time consuming to unwrap it for the next job. In addition, the repeated bending strain on the dangling test cable  7  in the vicinity of the strain relieve  8  introduces additional wear and unpredictable breaking of the test cable  7 . Moreover and as observed by the present inventor, buttset  1  operators commonly tend to speed up the unwinding of the wrapped up test cable  7  by simply dropping the buttset  1  while holding the test connector  9 . While the buttset  1  accelerates towards the ground, it spins the wrapped test cable  7  free to its full length. At the moment the test cable  7  is straightened out, the buttset  1  may be abruptly stopped from its free fall while the test cable  7  may be exposed to tremendous sudden tensile loads. 
     There have been repeated design attempts made in the industry to enforce the strain relief  8  and its connection with the housing  4 ,  5  to deal with the above explained test cable&#39;s  7  excessive strains and loads. Nevertheless, simply structurally enforcing the strain relief  8  and its housing  4 ,  5  connection does not eliminate the source of the excessive test cable  7  loads and strains. Therefore, there exists a need for an apparatus that reduces the risks of unpredictable failure of the test cable  7  commonly related to repeated wrapping around the buttset  1  and any other mishandling related to the loosely hanging of the test cable  7  as explained above. The present invention addresses these needs. 
     A buttset is an expensive electronic device. Therefore, there exists also a need for an accessory that may be conveniently assembled on existing buttsets an that provides compact housing and ergonomic access to the test cable. The present invention addresses also this need. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     A cable reel is structurally connected with the buttset and the test cable is reel able connected with the cable reel such that it may be conveniently spooled off to the needed length and reeled in again automatically. The cable reel may feature a reeling spring and a releasable unreeling ratchet that counteracts the reeling spring. The test cable may be conveniently pulled off the cable reel against the reeling spring&#39;s torque. The releasable ratchet locks the spool at the desired pulled off length of the test cable such that the test cable can be handled without cable tension. The ratchet may be released via a small pull such that the reeling spring may reel in again the test cable. On a spool of the cable reel is a rotating contact slider that is in circumferentially continuous contact with a stationary contact. A buttset connector cable is conductively connected with the test cable lead across the sliding contact pair. The buttset connector cable itself is connected to the buttset&#39;s interior circuitry. 
     The cable reel may be housed inside the main buttset housing or may be externally attached via a buttset connector that is withholding itself with an anchor in the cable outlet. Through the attached anchor, the buttset connector cable may extend inside the buttset housing. The buttset cable reel extension may be conveniently assembled to existing buttsets by merely replacing the conventional dangling test cable together with the conventional strain relief. 
     The housing of the buttset cable reel extension may have an outside contour in projection direction of the cable outlet that is not larger than the cable outlet projected contour of the cable outlet face. In that way, both the buttset and the attached cable reel extension maintain a compact overall size and shape for easy handling and storage while the test cable is securely stored and easy access with minimal risks of test cable damage. A number of cable reels may be stacked inside the compact housing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       Prior Art  FIG. 1  is a first perspective view of a prior art buttset including strain relieve and dangling test cable wrapped around the buttset. 
       Prior Art  FIG. 2  is the first perspective view of the buttset of  FIG. 1 , without strain relieve and dangling test cable. 
         FIG. 3  is a second perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention assembled to the prior buttset of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is the second perspective view of the invention as in  FIG. 3  with only a bottom housing portion of the prior art buttset of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a third perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the invention without encapsulating housing portions. 
         FIG. 6  is the second perspective view of portions of the preferred embodiment invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a fourth perspective view of  FIG. 6  contents. 
         FIG. 8  is a fifth perspective view of a cable drum of the cable reel. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to Prior Art  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a well known handheld telephone line testing device commonly referred to as buttset  1  typically includes a housing  4 ,  5  having two or more portions. Representatively depicted are housing bottom portion  4 , and housing top portion  5  fitting together along a parting line  6 . At a cable outlet face  2 , a strain relieve  8  is combined with the housing  4 ,  5  via a cable outlet  3 . The strain relieve  8  is commonly in the middle of the cable outlet face  2  or in other words, the cable outlet face  2  may surround the cable outlet  3  and may be that portion of the housing  4 ,  5  the faces substantially in protrusion direction of the cable outlet  3 . 
     The cable outlet  3  is commonly a profiled hole in the housing  4 ,  5  with eventual other well known structural features or separate components configured for securing the strain relief  8  with respect to the housing  4 ,  5 . In that way and as is well known in the art, tensile and bending loads exerted via the dangling test cable  7  onto the strain relief  8  are transferred onto the housing  4 ,  5 . 
     As depicted in  FIGS. 3 ,  4  and in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a buttset cable reel extension  10  may be configured to be attached to the buttset  1  via an anchor  100 . The anchor  100  may feature an anchor head  107  that is withholding itself at the inside of the cable outlet  3  while the anchor  100  is attached and while the buttset  1  housing  4 ,  5  is assembled. Also part of the anchor  100  is an anchor shaft  106  that positions the anchor  100  with respect to the cable outlet  3  and the buttset  1  while the anchor  100  is attached. Anchor shaft  106  and anchor head  107  may be configured in conjunction with other well known design particularities of varying cable outlets  3  and any eventual affiliated buttset  1  components commonly employed in the immediate vicinity of the cable outlet  3  for the original purpose of securing the strain relieve  8 . 
     Additional positioning of the housing  102  on the buttset  1  may be provided by employing a mating feature  101  configured to snugly press against at least a portion of the cable outlet face  2  while the anchor  100  is attached to the cable outlet  3 . The mating feature  101  may be of elastic plastic material. The overall housing  102  may have an outside contour in protrusion or projection direction of the cable outlet  3  that is not larger than a cable outlet  3  projected contour of the cable outlet face  2 . As a result, the combined buttset  1  and buttset cable reel extension  10  are highly compact in shape, easy to store and ergonomically handled. 
     A number of buttset connector cables  109  extend through an anchor through hole  108  out of the distal end of the anchor  100  such that they are within the buttset  1  housing  4 ,  5  while the anchor  100  is attached to the cable outlet  3 . The buttset connector cable(s)  109  may feature at their respective distal ends well known crimping lugs  110  or the like for conductively connecting them to the buttset&#39;s  1  well known interior electronic circuitry. 
     Referring also to  FIGS. 5-8 , the buttset connector cables  109  are conductively connected to a stationary contact slider  113  or  116  inside a housing  102  of the buttset cable reel extension  10 . The stationary contact slider  113  or  116  is together with a rotating contact slider  120  part of sliding contact pair positioned in an interface between a rotating cable drum  1141  and a stationary part  118  or  120  of the buttset cable reel extension  10 . The stationary part may be a housing wall  1021  adjacent the cable drum  1141  or a cable reel axle  111 . 
     The stationary contact slider  113  or  116  is/are in a circumferentially continuous contact with the rotating contact slider  120  or  1201 . The rotating contact slider  120  or  1201  is/are conductively connected to a lead  1031  of a test cable  103 . The stationary contact slider  116  is placed on the circumference of the cable reel axle  111 . The stationary contact slider  113  is placed on a housing wall  1021  immediately adjacent the respective cable drum  1141 . Conductive pairs  116 / 1201  or  113 / 120  may be alternately or combined employed dependent on the number of leads  1031  per test cable  103  and other design constrains as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. 
     To facilitate stationary contact sliders  116  for example, the cable reel axle  111  may be split into two axle halves  118  such that buttset connector cables  109  may be conductively connected with the stationary connectors  116  within the housing  102  and within the cable reel axle  111  as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. To facilitate stationary contact sliders  113  for example, the buttset connector cables  109  may be conductively connected with the stationary connectors  113  within the housing  102  and within the housing wall  1021  as may be well appreciated by anyone skilled in the art. At least one of the stationary contact sliders  113 ,  116  and/or rotating contact sliders  120 ,  1201  may be substantially circumferentially continuous. 
     The test cable  103  is spooled on the cable drum  1141 , which may also feature circumferential ratchet teeth  115  that are part of and correspond with an unreeling ratchet  112  acting in opposition to a reeling spring  119 . The reeling spring  119  may be recessed in a spring cavity  117  of the cable drum  1141  and engage with one of its ends with the cable drum  1141  and with the other of its two ends with a stationary part such as the housing  102  or cable reel axle  111 . The reeling spring  119  exerts a torque on the cable drum  1141  that causes the cable drum  1141  to automatically reel in the respective unreeled test cable  103  when the unreeling ratchet  112  is released. The unreeling ratchet  112  may be released by a small pull on the test cable  103 . Small pull in context with the present invention is a pull on the test cable  103  with substantially less than the pitch between adjacent ratchet teeth  115 . The release mechanism of the unreeling ratchet  112  may operate in a well known fashion for example by employing a well known Mohawk gear. The reeling spring  119  may spool the respective test cable  103  in to the point where the respective test connector  104 ,  105  comes to rest against the spooled cable outlet  1022 . 
     The buttset cable reel extension  10  may feature a number of cable reels  114  stacked inside the housing  102  adjacent on the cable reel axle  111 . Number of cable reels  114  may be selected in conjunction with requirements for varying numbers and/or types of test connectors  104 ,  105 . For example and as depicted in the Figs., there may be three cable reels  114  of which the two outer ones spool single lead test cables  103  at the end of which clamp connectors  104  may provide single contact test connection. A third cable reel  114  in the middle may spool a multiple lead  1031  test cable  103  at the end of which a well known RJ′ connector  105  may be attached to connect to a standard telephone jack. Single ones of the buttset connector cables  109  may be connected to multiple leads of the three cable reels  114  as may be clear to anyone skilled in the art. The buttset connector cables  109  may be guided inside the housing  102  and connected to the stationary sliding contacts  113  and/or  116  in a well known fashion. 
     To attach the buttset cable reel extension  10  to a prior art buttset  1 , the respective housing portions  4 ,  5  are initially disassembled and the original dangling test cable(s)  7  and the strain relief  8  removed. In place of the strain relief  8  is the anchor  100  positioned and the buttset connector cables  109  connected to the buttset&#39;s  1  well known interior circuitry. Eventual additional original strain relief  8  locking parts may be employed to lock the anchor  100  in place before the buttset  1  housing parts  4 ,  5  are put together again. The buttset  1  housing  4 ,  5  is depicted as example in the Figs. The scope of the invention is not limited by a particular configuration of the buttset  1  housing as long as a cable outlet  3  is available as described above. 
     The preferably elastic mating feature  101  on one hand may ease the reassembly of the housing portions  4 ,  5  in the presence of the attached housing  102 . Once the original buttset  1  housing  4 ,  5  is reassembled with the anchor  100  fixed in the cable outlet  3 , the buttset cable reel extension  10  is in a solid connection with buttset  1 . At the same time, a certain flexibility in the interface between the two housings  102  and  4 ,  5  may reduce the risk of damage in case of sudden and inadvertent impact. The flexibility in the interface is accomplished by the central pull withstanding fix of the anchor  100  and the elastic snug contact of the mating feature  101  with cable outlet face  2 . Notwithstanding the preferred configuration of the housings interface, additional attachment features such as screws and the like may be employed. 
     In an alternate embodiment of the invention, a number of cable reels  114  may be directly structurally connected to a modified buttset  20  and housed inside of it. Such a modified buttset  20  may have a continuous housing shape corresponding to the combined shapes of housing  102 ,  4 ,  5 , as may be well recognized from the  FIG. 3 . 
     During operational use, one or more of the test cables  103  may be simply pulled out of the housing  102  via the test connectors  104 ,  105  against the torque of the reeling spring(s)  119 . Once the test cable(s)  103  are pulled out to the desired length, the unreeling ratchet(s)  112  engage with one of the circumferential ratchet teeth  115  and the respective cable drum(s)  1141  may be automatically held against the reeling spring&#39;s  119  torque. The test cable(s)  103  may be used free of tensile load. Once the test cable(s)  103  need to be retracted again, a small pull initiated by the operator on the respective test cable(s)  103  may release the unreeling ratchet(s)  112  and the test cable(s)  103  are spooled back in automatically. 
     Spooled cable outlets  1022  of the housing  102  are preferably positioned and pointing in a direction with respect to the buttset  1  such that the test connectors  104  are also within the cable outlet projected contour of the cable outlet face  2  while the test cable(s)  103  are fully spooled in and while the buttset cable reel extension  10  is attached to the buttset  1 . In that way, the buttset  1  with the attached buttset cable reel extension  10  may be easily stored and stacked without risk of cable break in the vicinity of the test connectors  104 ,  105 . The same may apply to the alternate embodiment including the modified buttset  20 . 
     Accordingly, the scope of the invention described in the Figures and the above specification is set forth by the following claims and their legal equivalent: