Patent ID: 7637697

Claim:
Apparatus for laying three cables onto a bottom of a trench, comprising: a trencher boot having opposed leading and trailing ends, opposed upper and lower ends, opposed sides forming a boxlike structure, and a blade structure formed in the lower end of the boxlike structure to engage the bottom of the trench to form a substantially V-shaped receiving area in the bottom of the trench as the trencher boot is advanced through the trench; a compartment formed within the trencher boot extending from an inlet formed in the upper end of the trencher boot adjacent to the leading end of the trencher boot to an outlet formed in the lower end of the trencher boot adjacent to the trailing end of the trencher boot; a cable-orienting structure formed within the compartment between the inlet and the outlet; the compartment to concurrently receive three cables from the inlet, guide the three cable to the cable-orienting structure, which interacts with the three cables to arrange the three cables in a V-shaped orientation comprising two of the three cables positioned side-by-side atop a third one of the three cables, and guide the three cables in the V-shaped orientation from the cable-orienting structure to the lower end of the trencher boot and outwardly through the outlet into the V-shaped receiving area formed in the bottom of the trench; and the V-shaped receiving area sized and shaped to receive the three cables in the V-shaped orientation from the outlet of the trencher boot and maintain the three cables in the V-shaped orientation.