COMMUNICATIONS CABLES WITH SEALED METALLIC MOISTURE BARRIERS

摘要

Successive portions of an aluminum tape having one major surface thereof coated with an adhesive copolymer across the entire transverse width thereof and the other major surface precoated with a stripe of adhesive material along an edge portion are folded longitudinally about successive sections of a cable core which are being advanced along a predetermined path to form an overlapped seam so that the adhesive copolymer on an edge portion of the one major surface of the tape overlaps the stripe. Subsequently, the adhesive materials on the major surfaces along the overlapped seam develop an adhesive bond by the application of heat and pressure prior to or during the extrusion of a plastic jacket over the tape. The adhesive material on the other, now inwardly facing, major surface is substantially restricted in location and is adhesively bonded to the portion of the inwardly facing major surface of the tape which forms the overlapped seam with a portion of the one, now outwardly facing, major surface. The remaining portion of the inwardly facing major surface of the aluminum tape is bare and facilitates grounding the cable at a splice location.