Duct with wire locator
View Patent ↗A cylindrical duct of plastic material is coextruded with a longitudinal wire located between the duct inner and outer surfaces, and with a stripe of a different color plastic material than the duct overlying the wire. The stripe is of a softer plastic material than the duct plastic material to facilitate cutting of same to expose the wire, but is compatible with the duct plastic material so as to crosslink therewith.
1. A cylindrical duct having a peripheral wall with generally cylindrical inner and outer surfaces, a wire extending longitudinally of said duct between said inner and outer surfaces, said duct being of polyethylene plastic material having a first density, said wire being covered solely by an external stripe of polyethylene plastic material having a second density that is lower than said first density so that said stripe polyethylene plastic material is softer and easier to cut into than said duct polyethylene plastic material in the hardened solidified state of said duct and stripe plastic materials, said stripe polyethylene plastic material having a stripe outer surface that is exposed on said duct outer surface, said duct and stripe polyethylene plastic materials being of different colors, and said duct and stripe polyethylene plastic materials being compatibly crosslinkable and being crosslinked at an interface therebetween, whereby said stripe plastic material can readily be located and cut into with a sharp cutting tool at an end portion of the duct to expose the wire and strip same away from the duct for connection with a corresponding wire on an adjacent duct.
2. The duct of claim 1 wherein said duct, wire and stripe are simultaneously coextruded so that the duct and stripe polyethylene plastic materials are crosslinked together.
3. A method of providing an external locator stripe for a wire embedded in a peripheral wall of a conduit comprising the steps of simultaneously coextruding a duct of plastic material together with a wire and a stripe of a second plastic material that overlies the wire, the first and second plastic materials being polyethylene of different colors and different densities, with the second plastic material having a lower density than the first plastic material and being softer than the first plastic material in the hardened solidified state of the first and second plastic materials.