Plastic cap for a cable spool

Abstract

A cap to be used with a plastic cable spool, said cap including a back side adapted to be arranged towards a barrel of a plastic cable spool and a front side adapted to be directed away from a barrel of a plastic cable spool, wherein said cap has a through-hole adapted to be aligned with a center axis of a cable spool, wherein said through-hole is at least partly surrounded by an inner wall on the back side of said cap, wherein said cap is provided with an outer wall extending around at least a part of said outer circumference of said cap, on the back side of said cap, and wherein said back side of said cap is provided with at least four reinforcement ribs extending between said outer wall and said inner wall. A cable spool being provided with such a cap.

Claims

1. A cap to be used with a plastic cable spool, said cap comprising a back side adapted to be arranged towards a barrel of the plastic cable spool and a front side adapted to be directed away from the barrel of the plastic cable spool, wherein said cap has a through-hole adapted to be aligned with a center axis of the cable spool, wherein said through-hole is at least partly surrounded by an inner wall on the back side of said cap, wherein said cap is provided with an outer wall extending around at least a part of an outer circumference of said cap, on the back side of said cap, wherein said back side of said cap is provided with at least four reinforcement ribs extending between said outer wall and said inner wall, and wherein the cap is provided with two rotational locks adapted for rotationally locking said cap in relation to the cable spool wherein each one of said rotational locks is provided on a respective flange extending outside said outer wall of said cap.

2. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the height of said reinforcement ribs is uniform throughout their extension between said outer wall and said inner wall.

3. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the height of said outer wall and the height of said inner wall is the same as the height of said reinforcement ribs.

4. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the height of said reinforcement ribs are in the range of 30-70 mm.

5. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the cap is provided with integral attachment means adapted for snap-fitting the plastic cap to the cable spool.

6. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the two rotational locks are provided on the respective flanges at diametrically opposed sides of said cap.

7. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the cap has a generally circular outline, and is provided with two diametrically opposed concave recesses.

8. A cap according to claim 7, wherein the concave recesses each has a distance in the range of 4-7 cm.

9. A cap according to claim 1, wherein the through-hole of said plastic cap is, on the front side of said cap, surrounded by an area provided with means for enabling identification of the cap by a vision camera.

10. A cap according to claim 9, wherein said means for enabling identification of the cap by a vision camera is either a color differing from the color of the remaining cap or a surface structure differing from the surface structure of the remaining cap or a pattern differing from the pattern of the remaining cap, or a combination of either two or three of the different color, surface structure and pattern.

11. A cable spool comprising a barrel and two flanges, wherein one of said flanges is provided with a cap according to claim 1.

12. A cable spool according to claim 11, wherein said cable spool is made in one piece.

13. A cable spool according to claim 11, wherein said barrel is provided with a through-hole, wherein said through-hole is provided at such a distance from one of the flanges of the cable spool being provided with said cap, that the part of the through-hole being closest to the flange is flush with the outermost part of the outer wall of said cap.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above objects, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates a plastic cap for a cable spool, seen in perspective view from the front side of the plastic cap;

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates the plastic cap for a cable spool in FIG. 1, but seen in perspective view from the back side of the plastic cap,

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates the plastic cap for a cable spool in FIGS. 1 and 2 and a cable spool to which the plastic cap should be attached; and

(5) FIG. 4 illustrates the cable spool in FIG. 3 from another view, in partly broken view, and with one plastic cap provided thereon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) An embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(7) FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a plastic cap 1 to be used with a plastic cable spool 50. The cable spool 50 is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. Such a cable spool 50 comprises a barrel 51 and two flanges 52a, 52b. One of the flanges 52a is provided with through-holes 62, which serves as start holes. Hence, they are intended to receive a cable to be wound around the barrel. The start holes extend from an inward facing side to an outward facing side of the cable spool. When cable is to be wound onto the cable spool, the cable is passed through the start hole from the inward facing side to the outward facing side, where it is then held in place as the cable spool is rotated, thus causing the cable to be winded onto the cable spool.

(8) Even if there are differences between the two flanges 52a, 52b, it is intended that the same cap 1 can be attached to either one of the flanges.

(9) The cap 1 comprises a back side 2 adapted to be arranged towards either one of the flanges 52a, 52b and the barrel 51 of the plastic cable spool 50 and a front side 3 adapted to be directed away from either one of the flanges 52b and the barrel 51 of the plastic cable spool 50.

(10) The cap 1 is provided with a through-hole 4 adapted to be aligned with a center axis 54 of the cable spool 50. As can be best seen in FIG. 2, the through-hole 4 is surrounded by an inner wall 5 on the back side 2 of said cap 1. The cap is also provided with an outer wall 6 extending around at least a part of said outer circumference of said cap, on the back side of said cap. The cap in this embodiment is also provided with eight reinforcement ribs 7 extending between said outer wall 6 and said inner wall 5. The height of the reinforcement ribs 7 is uniform throughout their extension between the outer wall 6 and the inner wall. The height of the outer wall 6 and the height of the inner wall 5 is also the same as the height of each one of the reinforcement ribs 7, except one, and in this embodiment, the height is approximately 50 mm.

(11) The cap is also provided with a through-hole 14 functioning as a drive hole. The drive hole 14 is provided such that it intersects one of the reinforcement ribs 7, namely the one having a lower height than the others, and is surrounded by a second inner wall 15.

(12) On the outer side of the outer wall 6, the cap is provided with four integral attachment means 8 adapted for snap-fitting the plastic cap 1 to corresponding attachment means 58 at either one of the flanges 52a, 52b of the cable spool 50. The plastic cap may thereby be securely held to the cable spool.

(13) The cap 1 is also provided with two rotational locks 9 adapted for rotationally locking the cap in relation to the cable spool 50. The rotational locks fulfill their purpose when the cap 1 is attached to the cable spool by said integral attachment means 8 by interaction between the rotational locks 9 and corresponding ribs 59 provided on the flanges 52a, 52b. As is clearly seen in the drawings, the rotational lock 9 is a separate component from the integral attachment means 8.

(14) Each of the rotational locks consists of two plastic parts 9a, 9b being provided parallel to each other and being distanced approximately 3 mm from each other. The plastic parts have a length of approximately 14 mm and a height of approximately 13 mm.

(15) The rotational locks are provided on a respective flange 10, 11. The flanges 10, 11 are provided so that they are connected to a respective portion of the periphery of the circumference of the cap and at diametrically opposed sides of said cap. Hence, they extend outside the outer wall 6 of the cap. The flanges are not uniformly sized and shaped and the reason for this is that a user of the cable spool should be able to use the larger of the two flanges as a place to display, e.g. by means of a sticker or paint, his/her logo or company name. Also, other types of information may be displayed thereon. The smaller of the two flanges is arranged to be fitted between two ribs 59 in order to provide additional rotational locking. The rotational locks 9 are however provided at the same distance from the center of the through-hole 4. In this embodiment, the distance between each one of the rotational locks 9 and the center of the through-hole 4 of the cap is approximately between 6.5 and 7.5 cm. The distance is measured from the part of the rotational lock being closest to through-hole 4.

(16) As is seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cap 1 has a generally circular outline, excluding the two flanges 10, 11 and on two diametrically opposed sides, there is provided concave recesses 12. The concave recesses are provided such that there is an angle of approximately 90 between the center of each one of the concave recesses and the center of each one of the two flanges 10, 11. As is also seen in the figures, the recesses extend in a plane perpendicular to the front and back side of the cap. Hence, when the cap is viewed from e.g. its front side, the recesses extend towards the center of cap. Each one of the concave recesses has a distance of approximately 5 and 6 cm between its edges. As can be seen in FIG. 2, the outer wall 6 follows that shape of the concave recesses.

(17) When the cap 1 is attached to the flange 52a of the cable spool 50, the concave recesses 12 are positioned so that they co-operate with the start holes 62 of the flange 52a. The outer wall 6 then serves as a reinforcement of the start holes.

(18) The cap 1 is on its front side provided with means 13 for enabling identification of the cap by a vision camera. In this embodiment, these means are provided as an area surrounding the through-hole 4 of the cap 1. The means 13 for enabling identification of the cap 1 by a vision camera is in this embodiment a surface structure differing from the surface structure of the remaining cap. It may however also be e.g. a color differing from the color of the remaining cap or a or a pattern differing from the pattern of the remaining cap, or a combination of either two or three of the different color, surface structure and pattern.

(19) The purpose of this means 13 is to enable a robot provided with a vision camera to identify and pick the cable spool from its storage position and place it in e.g. a winding machine. As the robot may use the through-hole 4 to insert a holding means in order to lift the cable spool, it is advantageous to provide the means 13 for identification by a vision camera to surround said through-hole.

(20) As is also seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the barrel 51 is provided with a through-hole 53. The through hole 53 is provided at such a distance from the flange 52a of the cable spool that is provided with the cap 1, that the part of the through-hole 53 being closest to the flange 52a is flush with the outermost part of the outer wall 6 of said cap. The purpose of the trough-hole 53 is to function as a start hole for winding machines of a configuration where the start hole is provided on the barrel. Hence, the cable spool according to this embodiment may function with different types of winding machines.

(21) The skilled person realizes that a number of modifications of the embodiments described herein are possible without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.

(22) For example, the present invention has been described in relation to a cable spool. It can however also be employed in for example a cable spool and/or a cable drum.

(23) The cap has been described as comprising eight reinforcement ribs, it is however also conceivable to provide it with e.g. four, six or ten reinforcement ribs.