US3038558A - Protective jacket - Google Patents

Description

June 12, 1952 4 W1A.PLUMMER PROTEQTIVE JACKET Filed Mroh 24, 1959 INVENTOR.

600L759 #ZPLUMMEQ Patented June 12,

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3,038,558 PROTECTIVE JACKET Walter A. Plummet, North Hollywood, Calif. (3546 Crownrirlge Drive, Sherman Oaks, Califl) Filed Mar. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 801,656 7 Claims. (Cl. 184-16) This invention relates to protective jackets and more particularly to an improved jacket formed essentially from artificial sheet sponge material having integrally attached thereto seam forming means by which the jacket may be held detachably assembled to an object sought to be protected.

The present invention comprises a sheet of resilient artificial sponge material having a multiplicity of interconnected cells and is suitable for use in close contact with objects sought to be protected either by reason of its spongy resilient character or by reason of a lubricant or other fluent material with which it may be charged, such fluent material being dispensable therefrom in small quantities as required by objects against which the material is held. The spongy jacket may be used alone or in combination with an outer flexible impervious covering layer forming a part of the jacket, the spongy layer and its covering preferably being secured together to provide a unitary jacket.

Irrespective of its form, the jacket may be used for a great variety of purposes and in many diverse environments. For example, the spongy material, being soft, tough and resilient, provides an ideal surface protector for manufactured parts while being stored and transported to a place of use. For this purpose the material may have secured to its opposite edges separable slide fastener means by which the spongy material can be quickly secured about and removed from the object to be protected. In the case of mechanical parts it is sometimes desirable to provide for lubrication over a long period of use. In such cases the spongy blanket may be saturated with lubricant and applied loosely against the parts in need of lubrication. When the lubricant-charged blanket is exposed, it is desirable to prevent the adherence of dirt and other foreign matter as well as to safeguard the blanket against loss of lubricant to other objects exterior thereto. In such cases, the blanket may be embraced in a fluid-tight manner by an imperviou covering immune to attack by the lubricant, the spongy blanket being secured loosely against the interior surface of the impervious cover. This assembly is preferably provided with slide fastener means by which the spongy material may e held in light contact with the parts to be lubricated. When so applied, the lubricant-charged Cells of the spongy material retain the lubricant until the parts are in need of more lubricant whereupon the lubricant tends to flow automatically by capillary attaraction to the parts in need thereof. Alternatively, a service man may compress the assembly from time to time by pressure applied to the exterior to dispense lubricant against the parts.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the preesnt inven tion to provide an improved protective jacket from artificial spongy material incorporating means for securing the same against surfaces in need of protection against abrasion, lubrication or both.

Another object of the invention is to provide an artificial spongy sheet adapted to be wrapped and temporarily secured in place about parts while being stored and transported.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spongy wrapping having a multiplicity of interconnected cells adapted to be charged with a lubricant and having means along its edges for holding the lubricant-charged material securely in place against parts in need of lubrication.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tubular protective jacket having readily separable seam means by which the same can be held assembled about parts. to be lubricated and including on the inner side of the jacket a sponge-like lubricant retainer adapted to be charged with lubricant before the jacket is assembled thereto.

These and other more specific objects will appear upon reading the following specification and claims and upon considering in connection therewith the attached drawing to which they relate.

Referring now to the drawing in which a. preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated:

FIGURE 1 is a view showing the protective jacket incorporating the present invention installed about a group of Bowden cables;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view in perspective of the assembly shown in FIGURE 1 and showing the jacket partially installed thereabout;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the assembly shown in FIGURES 1 and 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view of a table the legs of which are shown enclosed by a modified embodiment of the protective jacket provided by this invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale of the modified jacket employed in FIGURE 4.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 1 to 3, there is shown one preferred embodiment of the invention, the jacket per so being designated generally 10, This jacket includes an inner relatively thick lining 11 of artificial cellular sponge material formed from an elastomeric composition having as its base a suitable rubber or plastic material. When used for the purpose of retaining a supply of either a liquid or semiliquid, thecells of spongy layer 11 are in communication with one another in order that the stored material may penetrate to and be stored initially in all cells for dispensing as needed.

If the primary function of protective layer 11 is to provide a spongy resilient cushion to safeguard the object covered from abrasion, vibration, shock and the like, the individual cells need not be in free communication since, in such use, it is usually not desirable to charge the cells with fluid, grease or other material. Techniques for forming foam elastorneric materials with either closed or freely communicating cells are well known to those skilled in I the artificial sponge art and it is to be understood that either type may be used depending upon the application needs.

An elongated strip of the spongy layer 11 is preferably secured to suitable means for holding the same assembled to either a flat or curved surface. A particularly suitable mode of accomplishing this is to heat seal the webs of a pair of interfitting slide fastener tapes l2 and 13 to 0ppcsed lateral edges of an impervious cover layer 14 for the spongy material. Protective covering 14 may be of any suitable flexible impervious material such as sheet rubber, sheet plastic, or the like. Sheet plastic is particularly suitable owing to its many desirable characteristics, the ease with which it is obtained and secured to the other components, and its cheapness. At the same time or in timed relation with this assembly step, the edges 19, 19 of spongy layer 11 are adhesively joined, heat fused or otherwise secured along the juxtaposed surfaces 20, 20 of cover 14. Alternatively, the edges of the spongy material may be similarly bonded to the inner surfaces of the Web portions of tapes 12, 13.

The free edges of tapes 12 and 13 are provided with oppositely facing interfitting complementally shaped detent elements readily and separably engageable to form a fluid-tight seam 24 extending lengthwise of jacket 16. Although these interlocking parts may be of any suitable form a particularly strong and effective seam is obtained when tapes 12 and 13 are provided longitudinally of their free edges with continuous interfitting tongues and grooves having the configurations shown in FIGURE 3. Such tongues and grooves are most conveniently closed together or opened by means of a suitably formed manually-operated pull device of known construction having a pull tab 26 slidable lengthwise in a flanged retainer strip 27 extending lengthwise of the pull device. It will be understood that device 25 straddles and embraces the two interfitting edges of tapes 12 and 13, and is effective to open or close the same depending upon the direction in which the device is pulled along the seam.

FIGURES 1 and 2 are illustrative of one specific application of the described protective jacket. Thus, the group of Bowden cables 18 comprising a plurality of individual Bowden units each including a stiff power transmitting wire 30 are encased by a loosely fitting tubing 31 of well known construction and customarily formed by closely Wound spiral stripping or wire. There are many applications of these Bowden cables in which a group of cables are required extending through confined spaces not easily accessible for servicing and inspection.

For proper trouble-free functioning such cables require adequate and periodic lubrication. The jacket herein described meets this need in a highly satisfactory manher. To this end, spongy liner 11 of the jacket is saturated with a suitable lubricant 33 in either liquid or semiliquid form. If there is more than one Bowden cable assembly to be enclosed and lubricated by a common jacket, the cables are preferably grouped together in sideby-side relation and so secured by ties at spaced intervals or by a spiral wrapping of cord or tape. Thereafter, lubricant-saturated jacket 10 is wrapped about the cables as pull device 25 is operated to close the tongues and grooves of tapes 12 and 13 to form a fluid-tight seam 24 extending the full length of the jacket. Thereafter, the gaps between the cables at the opposite ends of the jacket are filled with suitable spongy packing material 35 after which the end rims of jacket 10 are contracted against packing 35 as by several turns of tape 36 thereby effectively securing the jacket in place and preventing the escape of the lubricant. The circumference of the impervious outer covering 14 of the jacket should be adequate to hold lining 11 in firm contact with the parts to be lubricated. Should there be a lubricant deficiency in any area, such deficiency is replenished automatically by capillary action. Additionally, an operator may apply light pressure periodically to the exterior of the jacket to feed lubricant to the enclosed parts to safeguard against lubricant deficiencies owing to lack of contact of layer 11 with the parts in need of lubricant.

It will also be recognized that the described jacket not only acts to relubricate the enclosed parts but effectively and thoroughly protects the same from contamination by dust, dirt and exterior contaminants generally. The jacket also prevents loss of lubricant or the contamination of articles and other objects adjacent the exterior of the cables.

It will be understood that the described jacket may be used to cover flat or curved surfaces without actually embracing the parts. In this case, the jacket may be formed substantially as described except that the peripheral edges are each provided with continuous strips of one of the fastener tapes 12 or 13. The other mating half of the tape may be appropriately secured about the edge of the article to be lubricated and in such position that the parts being lubricated will be in contact with the spongy layer 11 when the jacket is in assembled position thereover.

In environments where the object to be lubricated is encased within other housing means as, for example, within an engine crank case, it will be unnecessary to employ the exterior cover 14. In these situations slide fastener tapes 12 and 13 are heat sealed or otherwise secured directly to the opposite edges of spongy layer 11. One operating environment illustrative of this mode of use is found in an internal combustion engine. There it is desirable and beneficial to wrap the engine piston rods with spongy material 11 held in place by the interlocked edges of tapes 12 and 13. The normal operation of the engine maintains layer 11 saturated with lubricant at all times. This reserve lubricant supply is particularly useful when starting the engine since the rapid and abrupt movement of the piston rod dislodges lubricant from the cells of layer 11 allowing the lubricant to flow along the rod into the bearings immediately upon starting of the engine and before the regular lubricating system becomes effective.

Referring now to FIGURES 4 and 5, there is shown the referred to embodiment of the protective jacket lacking the exterior impervious covering, the components of the modified jacket being designated by the same reference characters used in FIGURES 1 and 3 but distinguished therefrom by the addition of a prime. A particularly expedient application of this form of the invention in addtiion to that just referred to is the covering of varnished and other finished surfaces of furniture and the like objects after manufacture and while being delivered to the place of use. For example, the legs of table 38 are shown snugly encased by jacket 1%, the width of the stripping used for spongy layer 11' being so selected that the jacket is stretched taut when seam 24 is closed. Such jackets are found to be highly effective and to cling tenaciously to the surface to which it is assembled and prevent chafing, scratching or other damage to the surfaces while in storage or in transit. Moreover, the jackets are quickly assembled and disassembled from the furniture and are so inexpensive that they can be thrown away after a single use. However, the jackets are so durable that they can be reused repeatedly.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the described protective jacket has many, many uses in addition to those referred to above and that it provides a most useful, inexpensive and versatile protective jacket.

While the particular protective jacket herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a unitary one-piece protective spongedike jacket adapted to be detachably assembled as a unit about an elongated object, said jacket comprising an elongated strip of thick spongy elastomeric material having a multiplicity of cells in communication with one another and adapted to hold a charge of fluid and semi-fluid material, the opposite lateral edges of said strip having firmly secured thereto seam-forming flexible tapes provided with complemental interlocking elements cooperable when engaged to form a readily openable and recloseable seam for holding said jacket assembled about an object and having cells of said spongy material on at least one surface of said strip ful-ly exposed.

2. A jacket as defined in claim 1 characterized in that the cells of said spongy material are in limited communication with one another and adapted to form retaining reservoirs for fluid and semi-fluid materials which materials are slowly dispensable therefrom over a long period of time without need for applying compressive pressure to said spongy material and being further characterrized in that said seamformting flexible tapes are formed of plastic material.

3. A lubricant reservoir and dispensing device for application closely adjacent surfaces to be lubricated, said device comprising a thick sheet-like blanket of soft artirficial spongy material having a multiplicity of interconnected cells adapted to be charged with and to retain a quantity of lubricant, and slide fastener tape means firmly secured along edges of said sheet having detent means adapted to interlock separably With similar detent means to secure said dsvice in an installed position with said lubricant-charged cells against surfaces in need of lubrication.

4. A device as defined in claim 3 characterized in the provision of an impervious flexible cover sheet coextensive With said spongy material and positioned against one surface thereof, the edges of said cover sheet adjacent said tape means being sealed thereto in fluid-tight relation to provide a lubricant-tight tubular device embracing the object to be lubricated.

5. A removable jacket and lubricator for detachable assembly about components having need for lubrication over a long period of time, said jacket comprising an elongated strip of impervious flexible material immune to the presence of a lubricant, artificial spongy material secured to the inner side of said jacket, flexible slide fastener tapes secured along at least one pair of opposed lateral edges of said strip, said tapes having complementally shaped interlocking detent means adapted to mate to form a fluid-tight seam and cooperating to hold said jacket snugly assembled about parts to be lubricated, said spongy material being adapted to be charged with lubricant and to retain the same While releasing lubricant to the parts positioned thereagainst gradually and as needed to keep a supply of lubricant on said parts.

6. A protective jacket as defined in claim 1 characterized in that the elongated object enclosed thereby comprises a plurality of Bowden cables held grouped together longitudinally of one another, and in that said jacket is proportioned when the seam thereof is closed to embrace said cables snugly, and means for closing the opposite ends of said jacket closely about the justaposed portions of said cables to hold a charge of lubricant confined substantially within said jacket.

7. That method of maintaining a plurality of cables and the like lubricated over a long service period which comprises charging a blanket of artificial sponge material having a multiplicity of interconnected cells with lubricant, wrapping said blanket loosely about a confined group of cables or the like, and securing an impervious flexible cover sheet about the exterior of said spongy material in a fluid-tight manner without applying compressive pressure to said lubricant-charged spongy material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,577,630 Yerger Mar. 23, 1926 2,138,971 Keeler et al. Dec. 6, 1938 2,355,003 McCann Aug. 1, 1944 2,531,095 Williams Nov. 21, 1950 2,721,597 Pitrella Oct. 25, 1955 2,759,617 Gauthier Aug. 21, 19 2,838,085 Beeler June 10, 1958 2,872,960 Kolpin Feb. 10, 1959

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