Abstract:
A conductive sheath for electrical cable including fasteners with hooks that hold together a conductive shield. This design accommodates all cables bundle diameters and is easily installed even after the cables have already been installed.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     This device relates to a conductive sheath for electromagnetically shielding electric cable. 
     2. Prior art 
     Japan Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. S61-120118 discloses a tube-shaped cable sheath made of a knitted wire mesh. Unfortunately, it comes in a fixed sizes, so different sizes must be used with cable bundles of different diameters. Also, because it is a tube, it cannot be installed after the cable bundle has been installed. 
     A prior-art cable sheath addressing these problems has been proposed. As shown in FIG. 14, a shielding strip 8 is spirally wound around a bundle of cables 4 and is held in place by cable ties 9. However, if the cable is bent, the closed surface of the sheath is likely to break between the cable ties 9. To prevent this, more cable ties 9 must be used at closer intervals. This makes installation more expensive and more tedious. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention includes a shield and a fastener. The fastener holds the shield in place, forming a closed conductive surface. As shown in FIG. 13, the fastener has hooks for catching and holding the mesh fibers of the shield. In one variation, the shield winds around the cable bundle and the fastener holds the overlapping portions of the shield together. Many winding methods may be used, varying, for instance, with the diameter of the cable bundle. Moreover, this cable sheath is easy to install even after the cables have been laid. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment. 
     FIG. 2A shows one variation of the first embodiment with a fastener inserted inside the shield. 
     FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the first variation on the first embodiment taken along line IIB-IIB in FIG. 2A. 
     FIGS. 3A through 3E are sectional views of several more variations on the first embodiment. 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another variation on the first embodiment. 
     FIGS. 5A and 5B are sectional views of two more variations on the first embodiment. 
     FIGS. 6A and 6B are perspective views of two more variations on the first embodiment. 
     FIGS. 7A through 7C are sectional views of a second embodiment during installation. 
     FIG. 8A is a sectional view of a third embodiment. 
     FIG. 8B is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment. 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a guard used in a fifth embodiment. 
     FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the fifth embodiment. 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a sixth embodiment. 
     FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the first embodiment using a conductive fastener. 
     FIG. 13 shows some hook designs. 
     FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a prior-art cable sheath. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     A first embodiment is shown in FIG. 1. A tubular shield 2 made of conductive-wire mesh is wrapped around a cable 4 bundle, and is secured by fastener 3 with hooks 6a. FIG. 2A shows an unrolled segment of the cable sheath 1. The fastener 3 is inserted into the sleeve-like shield 2 and is pressed against one side so the hooks 6a protrude, as indicated in FIG. 2B. Thus prepared, the sheath 1 may be wrapped around a cable 4 bundle, as shown in FIG. 1. The hooks 6a of the fastener 3 hold the ends of the shield 2 together forming a closed conductive surface. 
     The cable sheath 1 can be used many ways, some of which are shown in FIGS. 3A through 4. In FIG. 4, the cable sheath 1 is spirally wound around a cable 4 bundle where the circumference of the bundle exceeds the width of the cable sheath 1. FIGS. 5A through 6B show some variations on the basic cable sheath 1. A fastener 3 is used at each end of the shield 2 in FIGS. 5A and 5B. An additional piece 5 of shield 2 is used, in FIG. 5B, to bridge the gap because the cable 4 bundle circumference exceeds the cable sheath 1 width. The variations in FIGS. 6A and 6B are similar to the one in FIG. 4 except that the fastener 3 is not inserted into the shield 2, but is wound separately. In FIG. 6A the fastener 3 is under the shield 2; in FIG. 6B the shield 2 is under the fastener 3. 
     A second embodiment of the cable sheath 1a, shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B uses a flat, single-sided fastener 3a. In a third embodiment of the cable sheath 1b, shown in FIG. 8A, the fastener 3b spreads throughout the shield 2. A fourth embodiment cable sheath 1c, shown in FIG. 8B, is like the third embodiment cable sheath 1b except the hooks 6a protrude from both sides of the fastener 3c. 
     A fifth embodiment of the cable sheath 1d, shown in FIG. 10, uses the flexible guard 7 shown separately in FIG. 9. A cable sheath 1, for instance the first embodiment cable sheath 1, is attached inside the guard 7 at a connection site 7a. The connection site 7a is located close to the opening of the guard 7 so the cable sheath 1 wraps around the cable 4 bundle when the guard 7 is installed. 
     The shield 2 need not be entirely mesh. A sixth embodiment of the cable sheath 1e, shown in FIG. 11, has conductive mesh tubes 2a at both sides of a conductive sheet 2b. The fastener 3 may be inserted into either tube 2a. The resulting cable sheath 1e may be used as the other embodiments are used. 
     If the fastener 3 and its hooks 6a are conductive, they form part of the closed conductive surface, thus improving the overall conductivity of the closed surface. FIG. 12 shows the first embodiment cable sheath 1 taking advantage of a conductive fastener 3d. 
     Although this description has focused on a simple hook 6a, many different hook designs may be used for the fastener 3. Four designs are shown in FIG. 13: a simple hook 6a, a double hook 6b, a T-hook 6c, and a knob hook 6d. Other designs could be used as well. The preceding description also focuses on the use of conductive mesh; however, other conductive materials, e.g., steel wool or expanded metal, could be used for the shield 2 as long as they can be securely retained by the hooks 6a of the fastener 3. 
     This description merely describes some embodiments of the claims without exhausting all of the possible variations; the scope of this invention is limited only by the following claims.