WIRING HARNESS BREAKOUT CLIP, WIRING HARNESS ASSEMBLY APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WIRING HARNESSES

摘要

A wiring harness breakout clip for forming and supporting the trunk and branch portions of a wire bundle comprising a wiring harness is provided. The harness breakout clip is adapted to be mounted on a support surface and comprises: a substantially rigid plate for supporting the trunk portion of the wire bundle; locating posts joined to and projecting from the plate, the locating posts being spaced apart to form a locating space for a branch portion of the wire bundle; and flexible straps joined to the plate in adjacent relation to the locating posts for fastening the wire bundle to the plate. A wiring harness assembly apparatus comprising a wiring harness layout board, the wiring harness breakout clip and pins or pegs for removably mounting the harness breakout clip on the wiring harness layout board provides for constructing the trunk and branch portions of the harness. In an alternative embodiment, the flexible straps have internesting intermediate and proximal sections and distal sections. The intermediate sections nest within recesses in the proximal sections and the distal sections nest within recesses in the internested sections. Laterally extending interengageable points or barbs on each section fasten the sections together when the intermediate section is looped around a wire bundle and nested in the recess in the proximal section, and the distal section is looped around a second wire bundle and nested in the recess in the intermediate section. The plate may be divided into separate sections joined together by yieldable members which allow for variations in the width of the locating space.