Patent ID: 7994426

Claim:
A hollow casing for storing slack heavy exterior electric service cable for payout in case of ground subsidence to prevent damage of building service to which the cable is connected said slack cable casing comprising: (a) separate cooperating top and bottom sections defining an internal configuration and volume such as to store at least a single loop of heavy exterior electrical service cable in a condition in which such cable is readily withdrawable from the casing upon tension being applied to the cable from outside the casing as a result of tension engendered by earth movement, (b) the construction of said casing being such as to resist a weight applied to the casing equivalent to the weight of several feet of earth and rock plus normal above ground objects and personnel, (c) two opposed notch shaped openings in opposite sidewalls of the bottom section of the casing for free passage of the cable through at least one of such openings when the top and bottom sections of the hollow casing are assembled together, (d) the assembled casing being wider and longer than it is high by a significant ratio, (e) a central reinforcing member mounted in the bottom section of the casing such as to reinforce the hollow casing in its narrowest dimension by contact with the top section when the top and bottom sections are closed and when disposed underground and further serving as a central cable loop stabilization member, (f) such central reinforcing and cable loop reinforcing means having a diameter less than half the side to side dimension of the hollow casing and biased to one side of the hollow casing close to a direct line between the two opposed openings in the side of the assembled casing, (g) the opposed openings in the side walls of the bottom section of the hollow casing being unrestricted toward the open side of the bottom section when the top of the casing is removed from the bottom allowing convenient formation of a loop of exterior building service cable above the bottom section of the hollow casing with the top removed and placement thereof in one half of the casing with the ends of such loop extending in opposite directions from the body of the casing and allowing the two halves of the casing to be recombined about the heavy exterior cable, (h) the cooperating top and bottom sections fitting together in box top fashion with flanges on one extending alongside walls of the other.