The present invention is directed to a longitudinally split collar or sleeve consisting of shrinkable material having reinforced edge zones with a closure system extending along each edge zone wherein the closure system consists of mutually interlocking closure elements which are disposed in the area of the reinforced edge zones.
A longitudinally split cable sleeve or collar consisting of a thermoplastic synthetic material which has a shape memory and is provided by a closure system disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 313,342, filed Oct. 20, 1981, which U.S. application issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,153, on Apr. 10, 1984 and was based on German patent application P 30 48 051.4. In the device of the above mentioned patent application, reinforcements are introduced into the edge zones of each of the cable sleeves and the side zones of the cable sleeve are supported by the reinforcements during the shrinkage operation. The closure elements in the form of hook and latch elements are disposed in the area of this reinforcement so that the shrinkage forces which occur during the shrinkage operation can be uniformly transmitted thereto. As a result, irregularities of the softening material during the shrinking operation are avoided. This closure system, however requires closure elements which are either attached as individual parts or which already have been formed into the reinforcements. When utilizing additional closure elements which are attached, this additional step of assembling the closure elements onto the edge zones of the cable sleeve increases the assembly cost. In the second type wherein the closure elements are previously formed in a specially designed reinforcing element, the handling of the cable sleeve can be impaired.