Abstract: Adaptable, line vibration damping/sag adjustment devices are provided with hollow regions that facilitate drilling of larger holes in the devices so that the devices can hold and clamp lines having correspondingly large diameters.

Abstract: An assembly comprising a self supporting aerial cable and tension clamp means including gripping means for gripping the cable, the gripping means comprising at least one helically wound rod fitted over the cable's outer sheath, wherein ##EQU1## where C is the outer diameter of the cable, R is the diameter of the or each rod and W.sub.R is the outer diameter of the unstressed winding of the or each rod.

Abstract: The invention uses one or more scissor devices, or disks, or cogs such that the axial thermal expansion of a coupling member is amplified such that this amplified movement is used to automatically mitigate the sag of a suspended line; the same ambient temperature change that causes the line to sag concomitantly causes the coupling member to expand, so that sag mitigation is passive and automatic. The invention includes a device for automatically mitigating thermal expansion sag in suspended lines comprising a coupling member or actuator rod (140) that expands axially with increasing temperature and that is mounted between the proximal arms (110) of a reverse-scissor component (60), said reverse-scissor component having first arms (70) and second arms (80) and a hinge (90) and the arms having distal ends (100) longer than proximal ends (110). The distal arms are insulated by insulators (130). The reverse hinge acts such that when the proximal arms are moved apart, the distal arms are brought together.

Abstract: A protective overload device (POD) that absorbs energy and reduces the damage to transmission towers resulting from sudden conductor, shield wire, insulator, or conductor suspension failures is herein disclosed. The POD is positioned between the non-energized end of the insulator and the tower or support structure, or between the energized end of the insulator and the conductor. The POD consists of a top lid, a bottom plate, and a ductile load fuse refill disk. The top lid is slotted at regular intervals to allow for transverse deformation of the individual fingers that hold the bottom plate. The ductile load fuse refill disk consists of a filler material in which a steel cable is embedded. The POD acts as a passive rigid link under normal conditions. In the event of a dynamic shock that could fail a tower or tower arm, the fingers of the top lid will move outward along the sliding plane of the bottom plate until the bottom plate separates from the top lid.

Abstract: A breakaway connection device is provided which is particularly suited for use with residential electric service cables. This device is mounted between the service cable and the service pole and serves to disconnect the cable from the pole upon the application of a predetermined level of tension or force to the cable. That level of force is selected so that the service cable breaks away from the pole and de-energizes the conductive wires before the service cable would pull away from and damage the dwelling. This device includes an insulated sheath having therein two hollow wire receiving elements which are separably joined by a conductive insert, formed as a solid rod or threaded member.

Abstract: In a towed array breakout of the type deployed from or retrieved by naval ssels a junction is defined between a fixed portion of an electrically conductive wire and a movable portion of the wire portion. A relatively hard potting material is provided around and defines the fixed portion of the wire. A coiled helically shaped portion of the same wire or a second wire is integrally joined to the first portion and defines the movable portion. This movable second portion is encased in a relatively soft urethane material so as to provide freedom in both a bending and tension mode. A third portion of the wire is connected to the opposite end of the coiled second portion. This structure affords strain relief at the junction between the fixed portion of the flexible conductor and the movable second portion.

Abstract: An improved suspended line cable breakaway device includes a first body portion for connecting to a first end of a support cable and a second body portion for connecting to a second end of the support cable. The first body portion includes resilient fingers having nubs, which are releasably received by slots contained in a cavity wall of the second body portion. A biased spreader, slidably contained in a cavity in the second body portion, is displacable axially along the cavity by an external force along the support cable to urge the nubs outwardly such that the second body portion is disengaged from the first body portion, simultaneously disconnecting component lines of a first end of a suspended line from corresponding component lines of a second end of the suspended line. A shield protects the component line connections, which are spaced internal to the device, from the elements.

Abstract: An apparatus for supporting and maintaining slack of fiber optic cable or the like in an aerial installation comprises an elongate channel member having an arcuate section and a plurality of linear sections for receiving the slack and means for securing the apparatus to a messenger cable support structure. Methods for supporting and maintaining the slack in two preferred embodiments are also disclosed.

Abstract: A device for facilitating integrity of an electrical interconnection of a pair of electrical suspended conductor cables includes a flexible conductive loop and a tension retainer between the cables. Free adjacent spaced apart ends of the cables are connected to the loop, the loop being electrically in series with the cables. A tension retainer is in series structurally with the respective adjacent and spaced ends of the two electrical conductor cables and maintains a first position of suspension. Axial tension on at least one of the cable tending relatively to separate the cables causes movement or breakage of the tension retainer thereby permitting the flexible conductive loop to move and expand and retain electrical integrity between the cable ends in a second suspended position.

Abstract: A device for relieving mechanical loads on electrical conductors and line poles. The device includes arms pivoted to one another and a rod connected to the arms so that upon pivoting movement of the arms towards a full open position the rod is elongated. An indicator link is provided for indicating deformation of the rod.

Abstract: An insulator arrangement which may be employed, for example, on a capacitive protective fence comprises three principal elements:(1) an insulator, made of ceramic or plastic, having at least one ring-shaped recess arranged on its bottom to form a long path for leakage current;(2) a mounting bracket extending axially downward from the bottom of the insulator which has fastening means on its free end for securing an electric wire; and(3) a metal cup mounted over the insulator to protect it from the environment. A mounting element consisting of two arms forming a U-shaped configuration is arranged on the metal cup to facilitate mounting on a fence post.

Abstract: The invention provides a wire tensioning member for providing spring tension in a fence wire. There is provided a spring steel member of a resiliently deformable compound curvature, with the wire being attachable to one end, and the other end being provided with an engaging portion or shaft engageable in a recess provided on a fence post or other fixed ground anchor. The particular application is to provide resilience in light gauge (i.e. between 12-22 gauge) high tensile wire used in electric fencing systems. The resilience of the wire tensioning member also enables it to be used as a conventional gate handle, and furthermore enables the fence to be tensioned to provide overhead or pinned gates in any desired part of the fence for animals or vehicles to pass therethrough.

Abstract: Risk of fracture of an optical fibre in an overhead stranded electric conductor having an optical fibre loosely housed in an elongate compartment extending throughout the length of the conductor when the conductor is subjected to a tensile load greater than that which the optical fibre is designed to withstand is substantially reduced by supporting the stranded conductor from each of two opposite sides of a tower by suspension means incorporating a weak link designed to fracture at a tensile load less than that which the optical fibre can withstand before fracturing. An excess length of the stranded conductor extends between fittings at which the suspension means are secured to the conductor, is arranged sinuously down one side face of the tower and, where the stranded conductor is an earth conductor, is detachably secured to the tower at spaced positions along its length by releasable clips.

Abstract: A tubular plastic casing has a coil spring contained therein. A first rod member is hooked to the spring at one end of the casing, the rod member having a shank extending axially through the spring and outwardly through the opposite end of the casing. A hook is provided on the projecting end of this rod member for releasably engaging a post-mounted anchor. A second rod member, which is reversely bent, has its two adjacent ends hooked to the spring at the other end of the casing, the parallel shanks thereof extending through the spring and outwardly through the said one end of the casing so that the projecting reversely bent end can be attached to a length of electric fence wire. The tubular casing has a hand grip portion which is grasped when the gate is to be opened, the moving of the casing toward the gate anchor compressing the coil spring so that the hook on the first rod member can be readily disengaged from the anchor to permit passage through the gate.