Heat shrinkable covering.

摘要

@ A heat shrinkable covering in the form of a sheet 1 which is heat shrinkable in a longitudinal direction, and a stiffening member 2, 3 connected at each of two longitudinally spaced transversely extending superimposable zones of the sheet. One stiffening member 2 has holes and the other 3 studs 11 in the form of arm portions which are insertable through the holes to secure the stiffening members together. The arm portions can be flattened down onto the outside of the covering to retain the stiffening members together while reducing risk of the studs interfering with items such as cables adjacent the covered article. Preferably the studs 11 have a resiliently compressible head portion which snap fits into holes formed through the sheet adjacent the holes in the stiffening member to facilitate locating the overlapped zones of the sheet relative to one another. In use, the sheet 1 is wrapped around an article 18, the stiffening members are engaged together, and the sheet is then heat shrunk. The stiffening members support the juxtaposed edges of the sheet at points intermediate the coupling points, thus resisting the tendency for the edges of the sheet to separate as a result of the hoop stresses generated in the sheet on shrinking.