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  Hand held cable reelRelated Patent Categories: Winding, Tensioning, Or Guiding, Reeling Device, With Particular Frame Or Frame Carrier, Hand Carried, With Distinct HandleHand held cable reel description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070257146, Hand held cable reel. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] This invention relates to hand held cable reels and in particular to hand held cable reels of the type comprising a central cable receiving core mounted between a pair of disc like end flanges. [0002] Hand held cable reels have been used for many years in a variety of different fields. Typically though, cable reels are used to store a length of cable such as wire, garden water hose, electrical cable or tape in a safe and secure manner until such time that the cable is required. When the cable is required for use the desired amount of cable may be paid out gradually from the cable reel in an orderly manner. When the desired amount of cable has been paid out, the cable may be secured to the cable reel to prevent further payout of cable from the reel. Once the cable has served its purpose and is no longer required it may be reeled back up onto the cable reel until needed once again. [0003] It will be understood that throughout this specification the term cable will be used which is to include wire, fabric, tape, electric cable or plastics material that may be wound on a reel. Also included under the term cable are lengths of rope, hosepipe or chain. Indeed any cable-like material that may be wound around the hand-held reel is encompassed within the term cable. [0004] One such known type of cable reel is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,557 (Miller). This device shows a masons line reel that may be used for paying out and retrieving line from the reel. One disadvantage of this device is that it is relatively unwieldy and difficult to wind or unwind line from the reel in a quick and efficient manner. This is due to the fact that the spacing between the handles is such that this cable reel will have a tendency to oscillate back and forth when being wound up which results in difficulties in winding the cable onto the cable reel neatly in a quick manner. Another disadvantage of this type of reel is that the handles protrude from the end flanges by a significant distance thereby hindering compact storage of the device. In addition to the above, cleats have to be provided to prevent inadvertent payout of the line from the reel when the reel is not in use. This increases the cost of producing such a reel. A further disadvantage of this type of cable reel is that the cable reel will be difficult to wind or unwind quickly due to the fact that the turning knob for manipulating the cable reel will be relatively difficult to operate. [0005] Another known type of cable reel is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,398 (Youngblood). This cable reel is used to store hosepipe. When the hosepipe is wound around the cable reel, the end of the hosepipe is secured in place by passing one end of the hose through a hole in the flange of the cable reel. Although relatively simple to construct this type of cable reel has the disadvantage that it is often difficult to wind the cable back onto the reel due to the type of handle used as well as the relative positioning of the handles. Furthermore, in order for this type of cable reel to secure a length of electrical cable, the holes in the flanges must be sufficiently wide enough to allow the through passage of a plug on the end of the cable. By having holes of this size, the flange is significantly weakened thereby resulting in a less robust cable reel. Secondly, the plug will protrude from the outer surface of the cable reel where it can be damaged should the cable reel be subjected to any sort of impact when in a stowed configuration. Although this reel goes some way towards obviating the disadvantages of other known reels, this reel is still relatively unwieldy and difficult to operate in a quick and efficient manner. [0006] One other known type of hand-held cable reel is that described in the applicants own co-pending PCT patent application number WO 02/149949. This cable reel is effective in allowing cable to be paid out or reeled in relatively quicidy with little difficulty. However, the. cable reel requires a significant amount of space for storage and additional means to prevent inadvertent payout of cable from the reel must be provided. Furthermore, there will be a tendency for the cable reel to oscillate from side to side caused by the winding or unwinding of the cable onto the reel. [0007] Another problem with the known types of cable reel is the manner in which the cables are secured about the reels particularly when the cable reel is not in use. Various devices have been proposed to secure the cable in position on the cable reel. Generally, these consist of clips that are secured directly onto the cable adjacent it's end so that once the cable has been wound up, it can be clipped onto an adjacent piece of cable already wound about the cable reel. These have been found to be effective in securing the cable in position. However, a disadvantage of this type of clip is that they are quite delicate and prone to breakage. By their very nature they are exposed when the cable is unwound from the reel and are prone to being stood on and trampled by unwary operators of the cable reel. [0008] There are also additional problems with other known types of cable reel. Very often, the amount of cable stored on the cable reel will be substantial and together with the cable reel may weigh as much as between twenty to thirty kilos. The cable reel becomes unwieldy and difficult to manipulate and must be placed on the ground before rolling the cable reel along the ground about it's disc like end flanges in order to unravel or wind up the cable about the reel. Due to the fact that the end flanges are necessarily greater in diameter than the cable receiving core, when winding the cable up about the reel, slack forms in the cable. This slack leads to loosely stored cable that may result in all the cable not being protected by the end flanges when in a stored position. Furthermore the loosely packed cable can be difficult to subsequently unravel and if left unattended may lead to kinks forming in the cable. In order to prevent the build up of slack the operator of the cable reel must manually drag the cable reel backwards along the ground to tighten the cable about the cable receiving core before the cable reel may be rolled along the ground again. This is often very difficult and tiring to do particularly when a large amount of cable is to be wound about the cable reel. [0009] When the cable is being paid out from the cable reel the opposite effect on the cable is produced and the cable becomes taut as the end flanges are rolled along the ground. This leads to slippage of the cable reel along the ground and can lead to damage to the cable reel. This can also lead to the cable reel becoming unwieldy and difficult to manipulate and the cable reel will tend to veer off to one side or the other instead of holding a straight line. Alternatively, certain types of cable may be stretched or otherwise damaged by placing the cable under tension which is undesirable. [0010] Another problem with certain known types of cable reel, and in particular those types of cable reel that have a pair of handles rotatably mounted on the cable reel to enable the cable to be wound or unwound about the core, is that during the winding motion the cable reel will have a tendency to oscillate from side to side. This can lead to the cable becoming built up at one end and being distributed unevenly on the cable reel which can lead to problems subsequently when unraveling the cable. [0011] It is an object therefore of the present invention to provide a cable reel that overcomes at least some of these difficulties that is both inexpensive to produce and simple to operate. [0012] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cable reel that may be stored in a compact manner. STATEMENTS OF INVENTION [0013] According to the invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel comprising a central cable receiving core mounted between a pair of disc like end flanges, each disc like end flange having a handle mounted on the outermost surface of the flange, the handles being radially offset from the central axis of the cable receiving core and circumferentially offset relative to each other, characterised in that [0014] each handle further comprises a substantially c-shaped grip portion having a body portion bridging a pair of inwardly depending arms, the free end of each of the arms facing the flange upon which it is mounted, each handle being rotatably mounted on it's respective flange. [0015] By having the handles shaped and oriented in this way the tendency of the cable reel to oscillate from side to side when the cable is being reeled in will be reduced. This will provide a cable reel that is much easier to manipulate and cable may be wound thereon in an orderly fashion. In addition to this, the cable reel will be more compact and will take up considerably less space when stored away. [0016] In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand held cable reel in which each of the handles further comprises a base portion, the base portion being connected to the free ends of each of the arms of the grip portion so that the grip portion and the base portion are arranged to form a loop for reception of at least one finger of an operator therethrough, the base portion in turn being rotatably mounted on the flange. This is seen as a particularly robust configuration of cable reel. [0017] In a further embodiment of the present invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel in which the base portion and the grip portion are arranged to form a dosed loop, the closed loop being substantially elliptical in shape. By having an elliptical shape, the handle will be able to be grasped in a most secure manner which will facilitate the winding and unwinding of cable from the reel, thereby further speeding up the process of winding and unwinding cable. This is seen as highly advantageous to users of the reel particularly those frequently using the hand held cable reel. [0018] In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel in which the grip portion is hingedly mounted on the base portion. By having the grip portion hingedly mounted on the base portion, the grip portion may be laid flat along the base portion and hence the cable reel may be stowed in a more compact manner. [0019] In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel in which the grip portion is flattened and/or may be provided with at least one ridge projecting outwardly therefrom to aid in location of the operators fingers about the grip portion. This will facilitate gripping of the handle by the operator. [0020] In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel in which there is provided means to releasably secure the grip portion in position relative the base portion. This will provide a stable and rigid grip for the operator of the device. This means could be provided by way of an over centre spring, a spring loaded lock or a twist lock [0021] In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand-held cable reel in which the grip portion is releasably secured to the base portion. This will further allow the cable reel to be dismantled and packaged away using as little space as possible. [0022] In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand held cable reel in which there is provided a gripping member connected to the handle to releasably secure the cable reel to a wire. This is seen as particularly useful as the gripping member will facilitate connection of the cable reel onto a wire fence or the like in a simple manner that will not require further ties and the like to be provided. [0023] In a further embodiment of the present invention there is provided a hand held cable reel in which the gripping member further comprises a v-shaped hook having a pair of legs connected to each other, one of the legs being connected to the handle. This is seen as a simple construction of gripping member that will cause the wire that has been introduced into the v-shaped hook to be drawn inwards towards the bottom of the v-shaped hook thereby further securing the wire in position. [0024] In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a hand held cable reel in which the grip portion is provided with a cut to allow through passage of a wire internal the loop formed by the grip portion and the handle portion, the grip portion being so dimensioned to form an acute angle at the point of contact with the base portion for reception of a piece of wire. Continue reading about Hand held cable reel... Full patent description for Hand held cable reel Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Hand held cable reel patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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