Patent Publication Number: US-2021194234-A1

Title: Support cable and audio cable splice housing

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of prior filed U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/950,910, filed on Dec. 19, 2019, and entitled SUPPORT CABLE AND AUDIO CABLE SPLICE HOUSING, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Audio product installation requires support cables and audio cables to be spliced together seamlessly and without leaving cables exposed to the environment. A housing may provide an aesthetic finished product appearance. Although, a housing may be customized to integrate support cable splices and audio cable (data cable) splices for quick installation and an aesthetic finished product appearance, the relative level of difficulty required to connect a housing for multiple splice junctions can limit the usefulness of a housing. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present application relates to a device including a first half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism housing having one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, a second half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism housing having one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, and a plurality of cable splicer mountings configured to support a plurality of cable splicers. 
     One example embodiment may include an apparatus that includes a first half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism housing including one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, and a second half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism housing comprising one or more additional protrusions and one or more additional receiving slots, and a plurality of cable splicer lanes configured to support a corresponding plurality of cable splicers. 
     Another example embodiment may include an apparatus that includes a first half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism housing including one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, and a second half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism housing comprising one or more additional protrusions and one or more additional receiving slots, and a plurality of cable splicer lanes each of which includes mount channels configured to support a corresponding plurality of cable splicers. 
     Another example embodiment may include an apparatus that includes an oval-shaped prism housing including one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, and a plurality of cable splicer lanes configured to support a plurality of cable splicers, wherein the plurality of cable splicer lanes each comprise a plurality of mount channels and a plurality of mount sets contiguous with each of the mount channels, and each mount channel includes a forcibly collapsible material configured to receive and secure a corresponding cable splicer, and wherein the plurality of mounts sets each comprise a plurality of V-shaped mounts. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval shaped-prism cable splice housing with cable splicers disposed inside the housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with cable splicers mounted to an interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 4A  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with mounts disposed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 4B  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing without mounts disposed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic illustration of a half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with the cable splicers installed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic illustration of the closed oval-shaped prism cable splice housing according to example embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Example embodiments include housing configurations for an oval-shaped prism housing that can be installed around a set of cable splicers for an integrated configuration and aesthetic appearance. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the portion  100  of the housing illustrates a universal half-shell portion of the housing which can snap-in to another half-shell to make a completed housing that covers a set of cable splicers permitting cables to enter and be connected via the splice intersections. The half-shell portion  100  includes a center housing portion  126  as a solid relatively smooth area of material (plastic, metal, etc.), right and left side portions  124 / 122  which slope downward, pass-through slots  112  and  114  for cables to pass-through, into and out of, the housing, and a set of protrusions  104 / 106  and receiving slots  108 / 110 . The second half of the housing may be the same or substantially similar configuration and may be universally attached in an opposite position so the protrusions  104 / 106  of one half of the shell housing can be affixed to the receiving slots  108 / 110  of a second half of the shell housing. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval shaped-prism cable splice housing with cable splicers disposed inside the housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 2 , in an ideal scenario, the housing configuration  200  would hold two strength cable splicers  137  and  138  and a single audio cable (two-wire) splicer  136 . The strength cables  134  may be metal wire cables, such as aluminium or steel cables that are spliced with additional cables via the splicers  137 / 138  that have receiving slots on both ends to lock in the two sides of the metal cable so they effectively become one cable. The audio cable splicer ‘housing’  136  may have a pair of splicers for a dual cable audio cable  132  to match wires on both ends of the audio cable. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with cable splicers mounted to an interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. According to example embodiments, with reference to  FIG. 3 , the configuration  300  provides a scenario where the cable splicers  136 - 138  are integrated into the housing interior wall surface via mounts  142  which are either a different material from the housing material, which may include metal, plastic, etc., or a same material for ease of manufacturing. The mounts may be affixed in groups of two or four or more and with an ideal set of three different mount sets of mounts  142  to mount the cable splicers to the housing interior wall and the audio cable to the housing interior wall. The mounts  142  may be affixed to one half of the cable housing, while the other half is empty and is snapped into the first half to secure the mounted cable splicers inside the housing body. As an alternative to mounts  142 , the cable splicers may be snapped-fitted into channels which are designed to provide a securing slot for the length of the housings, such as one channel per housing. Channels are described in further detail with reference to  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 4A  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with mounts disposed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 4A , the configuration  400  illustrates the three cable splicer mount sets  152 ,  154  and  156 , each of which has four mounts to secure the splicers into position against the interior wall of the housing of the first shell-half of the housing. The four mounts in each splicer mount configurations may be considered a ‘mount set’. The areas where each of the splicers are mounted may be considered cable splicer lanes and the mounts may be contiguous with a mount channel in each of the lanes so that the forcibly collapsible material can provide a spring coefficient to the sides of the splicer laid in each lane. The walls of the channels pressing on the splicers and the mounts can provide two forms of securement for keeping the splicers in position against the wall of the first half-shell. 
       FIG. 4B  illustrates a half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism cable splice housing without mounts disposed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 4B , the configuration provides an empty second half of the shell housing  450 . The second half may be universally compatible with the first half so the two halves can be joined together to form an oval-shaped prism as illustrated in  FIG. 6 . Both sides are not required to have securing mechanisms. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic illustration of a half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism cable splice housing with the cable splicers installed on the interior wall of the housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 5 , the configuration  500  illustrates a schematic of the first half of the oval-shaped prism with a housing body  502 , a pair of pass-through slots  512 / 514  for cables to pass into and out of the housing body  502 , and a set of three cable splicers  552 ,  554  and  556  which are mounted to an interior wall of one half of the housing. Instead of mounts, the alternatives may include a set of plastic-formed channels/lanes as part of the splicer bodies  552 - 556  which are disposed against the wall material of the housing body for a substantial portion of a length of one side of the housing. The channels/lanes may be sized correctly to permit the splicers to be forced into a secured and locked position. In another example, the lanes may be on both sides of the housing to permit the splicers to be locked on either side of the housing to permit additional splicers to be included in the housing. The lanes may be a forcibly collapsible material that secure the splicer, once snapped-into position inside the lane(s)/channel(s). Also, cable extending slots  558  may have its own cable connecting both sides of the slots so speaker wire can easily be pushed into the channel slots on both sides to electrically connect and splice the wires on both ends or the audio cable channel or second channel. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a schematic illustration of the closed oval-shaped prism cable splice housing according to example embodiments. Referring to  FIG. 6 , the schematic  600  provides an illustration of a completed housing where the two halves are joined together to form a completed oval-shaped prism housing with a first half-shell  622  locked into position with a second half-shell  624  together which form a completed housing. In practice, the housing will be generally about one inch in width and two to three inches in length. The receiving slots  608  and  610  may be on both sides of the housing halves disposed in opposite positions with respect to one another so the protrusions  604  and  606  can pass through and lock against a surface lip of the receiving slots via a lip on the protrusions. Also, pass-through slots  614  are provided for the cables to enter and exit the housing. 
     One example apparatus may include a first half-shell portion of an oval-shaped prism housing having one or more protrusions and one or more receiving slots, and a second half-shell portion of the oval-shaped prism housing including one or more additional protrusions and one or more additional receiving slots, and a plurality of cable splicer lanes configured to support a corresponding plurality of cable splicers. The first half-shell and the second half-shell are configured to lock together to form the oval-shaped prism housing, and the locked position provides the one or more protrusions to be secured in the one or more additional receiving slots and the one or more additional protrusions being secured in the one or more receiving slots. 
     The first half-shell may also include a plurality of mount sets disposed in the corresponding plurality of cable splicer lanes, so each mount set includes a plurality of mounts configured to receive and secure a corresponding plurality of cable splicers. The v-shaped mount lips provide a resting lip for the splicer in that particular mount set of mounts. The mounts may have other shapes for the lips to secure the splicers. The walls of the channels also provide a securing surface via a flexible plastic. Each of the plurality of mounts sets comprises generally two or three or more mounts. The first half-shell includes a plurality of mount channels disposed in the corresponding plurality of cable splicer lanes, and each mount channel includes the forcibly collapsible material configured to receive and secure a corresponding cable splicer. The plurality of mount channels includes three mount channels for receiving three respective cable splicers. 
     It will be readily understood that the components of the application, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the application as claimed but is merely representative of selected embodiments of the application. 
     One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that the above may be configured with hardware elements in configurations that are different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although the application has been described based upon these preferred embodiments, it would be apparent to those of skill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions would be apparent. 
     While preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are illustrative only and the scope of the application is to be defined solely by the appended claims when considered with a full range of equivalents and modifications (e.g., materials, shapes, sizes, etc.) thereto.