Sealing grommet means

• US 4,460,227 A
• Filed: 07/17/1981
• Issued: 07/17/1984
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1981
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: G&H Techniology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Automation Industries, Inc.
• Inventors: Ball, David J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Desmond, Eugene F.
• Application Number:
  US06/284,249
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• Field of Search: 339/94, 339/89 M, 174/65 G, 174/152 G, 174/153 G, 174/177 R, 174/65 SS
• US Class Current: 439/271
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/5205 Sealing means between cable and housing, e.g. grommet H01R13/5221 takes precedence

Abstract

A multi-wire cable grommet constructed of a pliable material has a plurality of apertures extending therethrough and wire-sealing wall portions, one for each cable wire. Centrally located and extending angularly inwardly from the aperture wall is a generally cone-shaped wall portion which terminates in an opening smaller than the wire diameter. The opening in the cone-shaped portion lies on the aperture axis and is encompassed by a bead with wall thickness being relatively thin so that any wire movements transversely of the aperture axis will be taken up by bending of the conical wall rather than by any tendency of the conical member opening bead to be stretched away from sealing relationship with the wire.

Claims

1. Grommet means for being slidably and sealingly received onto an elongated member subject to transverse movement, comprising:

a body of flexible, elastic material having an aperture passing therethrough of cross-sectional dimensions greater than those of the member, walls defining said aperture forming a hollow tube extending along said aperture with a terminal opening of dimensions less than those of the member, said hollow tube being located within the aperture with no tube parts extending outwardly of said aperture, the tube wall defining the tube opening being flexedly movable transversely of the aperture into contact with the body defining the aperture without changing the tube opening dimensions.

2. Grommet means as in claim 1, in which the body and tube are constructed of fluorosilicone rubber.

3. Grommet means as in claim 1, in which the tube sides defining the terminal opening are formed into a continuous thickened bead.

4. Grommet means as in claim 1, in which the body aperture is circular in cross-section and of a diameter at least twice the maximum cross-sectional dimension of the member.

5. Grommet means as in claim 1, in which the body is cylindrical with first and second parallel circular faces, said aperture extending in a straight line through the body intercepting said first and second circular faces at substantially ninety degrees and said tube being spaced inwardly from said first and second faces within the aperture.

6. Grommet means as in claim 1, in which said body includes a plurality of said apertures and respective tubes formed therein.

7. In a wire-sealing grommet for receipt within a cavity of a plug and receptacle connector part including a body constructed of an elastically distendible and compressible material with its periphery formed for fitting receipt, a plurality of spaced substantially parallel apertures formed in the body of cross-sectional dimensions exceeding those of the wire, the improvement comprising:

hollow tubular means integral with the body walls defining each aperture extending along the aperture in spaced relation from the aperture walls and lying wholly within said aperture, each said tubular means having a terminal opening of cross-sectional dimensions less than those of the wire forming a continuous seal about the wire and having walls spaced inwardly from the walls defining the aperture within which the said tubular means is received, the tubular means wall defining the tube opening being flexedly movable transversely of the aperture into contact with the body defining the aperture without changing the tube opening dimensions.

8. A wire-sealing grommet as in claim 7, in which the walls of the tubular means are tapered from an initial opening approximately equal to the aperture cross-sectional to the terminal opening.

9. A wire-sealing grommet as in claim 7, in which the tublar means walls defining the terminal opening are thickened whereby the remainder of the tubular means requires less force to produce flexing than at the thickened part.

10. A wire-sealing grommet as in claim 7, in which the tubular means all extend in the same direction.

11. A wire-sealing grommet as in claim 7, including a ridge on the body periphery for aligning the grommet in said connector part to achieve a predetermined orientation therebetween.

12. A wire-sealing grommet, comprising:

first and second bodies constructed of an elastic material, each having first and second flat parallel faces;

said first and second bodies each including an aperture extending through the said body normally to the first and second faces and having a tubular means of lesser cross-sectional dimensions than said aperture affixed to the walls defining the aperture and extending toward the body first face along the aperture with walls of the tubular means being spaced from the walls defining the aperture;

said bodies being arranged with their respective second faces in contact and the apertures aligned; and

means for unitarily securing said bodies together.