106g~5 This application is a division of Canadian application Serial No. 242,286 filed December 22, 1975 and is related to copending Canadian application Serial No. 292,537 filed December 7, 1977.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
. Field of the Invention:
. The invention is directed to the field of tools for working upon electrical conductors to cut, strip the insulation and affix terminals, as well as cut terminal screws and similar thréaded rod.
Description of the Prior Art:
.. Multi-function tools were well known in the prior art, as for example, U.S. Design Patent 188,392 issued July 12, 1960 to David J. Crimmins for Crimping Tool, assigned to the assignee of the instant invention and now expired. They generally suffered from the fact that the location of most elements on the tool was as a result of compromises which attempted to , , s ... .. ... .... . . . . .. ....... . .. ~ . ~ . .
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10~96~5 providc ali rcquired functions whcthcr or not cach clcmcnt workcd at its optimum capacity. On thc Crimmins tool, as will bc cxplained below in greatcr dctail, therc wcre providcd thrce crimping nests, two for insulatcd tcrminals of diffcrcnt sizc rangcs and one for bare terminals. This arrangement had a grcat drawback increased in scope by the numbcr of crimping nests employed. In a pliers-type tool for a desired handle pressure, or force, only one point along the jaws or handles provides the correct crimping force. Moved off of that point, the crimping force is increased or decreased depending upon the direction of movement of the crimping nest. Thus, for two nests, each could be adjacent the optimum point but as the number of nests goes up the displacement is greater and the error from the desired crimping force is increased. The number of nests is increased so that the terminals are properly applied, not crushed or left partially uncrinped. The nest dimension must be such that at closed handle position the various ranges of terminals are properly crimped. The use of operator discretion to determine when the crimp was complete and thus permit the use of one nest, is not satisfactory since operator strength and operator "feel" is not repeatable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
The invention provides a tool which overcomes many of the difficulties noted above with respect to prior devices and provides a solution to these difficulties which is simple and does not increase the complexity of such tools. The tool makes usc of a singlc crimping nest to accommodate a rangc of terminal sizes and provides a visual indicator by which the operator can simply dctermine when sufficicnt crimping forccs have been applicd to a given terminal by size .
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106~ 5 1 tllcrcby climinating ~hc ncccssity for a multiplicity of crimping ncsts. By ovcrlapping thc tcrminal cxpansion zoncs adjaccnt tllc onc barc terminal crimping ncst and the one insulatcd tcrminal crimping nest, the nests can bc placcd closer to thc optimum point than was possiblc heretoforc. A
compression spring, located in ovcrlapping slots in thc tool handles, provides a low profile means for instantly opening the handles once the multi-function handle lock is released.
The handle lock hooks about a hook end of one handle to hold the handles and jaws in a safe closed position. The lock is then released and can be positioned in one of three locations to limit the closure of the handles and thus the crimping nests as a back stop, in a gross manner, for the visual in-dicator. The wire stripper section has apertures of discrete size formed when the handle sections overlap. The apertures form complete circles about the conductor and cut to within a short distance of the bare conductor leaving a thin land of insulation between the bare conductor and blade edge, thus preventing nicking of the bare conductor. The bolt cutter action is provided by a series of threaded apertures of dis-crete bolt sizes into which the bolt is threaded with the portion to be cut extending below the threaded aperture into an aligned, slightly oversized aperture in the opposite handle when the handles are in the full open position. When the handles are operated, the bolt is sheared by the moving ed~e of the unthreaded aperture and the threads chased by unthrcad-ing the cut bolt from the threaded apcrture. It is thcreforc an object of this invention to provide an improved hand tool.
It is another objcct of this invention to providc an improvcd multi-function hand tool.
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~0696~5 A particular embodiment of the above-described overall description is defined in the parent application, namely a hand tool comprising a first handle member, a second handle member;
pivot means coupling the second handle member to the first handle member to permit selective movement of the first and second handles towards and away from each other in arcs about the pivot means;
first jaw means coupled to the first handle means; first crimping means on the first jaw means; indicator means on the first jaw means; second jaw means coupled to the second handle means, second crimping means on the second jaw means and indicia on the second jaw means arranged to be positioned adjacent the indicator means in the first jaw means; the indicia indicating the proper positions for the first and second jaw members to crimp a terminal to a conductor placed in the first and second crimping means whereby visual determination of a proper crimp is possible from viewing the position of the indicator means with respect to the indicia.
On the other hand, the embodiment defined in this application may be seen to be a hand tool comprising: a first handle member; a second handle member; pivot means coupling the second handle member to the first handle member to permit selective . movement of the first and second handles towards and away from each other in arcs about the pivot means; first cutter means on the first handle member; a plurality of first cutter recesses on the first cutter means, each of the recesses being semi-circular and approximating the diameter of a bare metal conductor of a different insulated electrical conductor; second cutter means on the second handle member; a plurality of second cutter recesses on the second cutter means, one for each of the plurality of first recesses; the plurality of second recessess each being semi-circular and _ ~ _ C
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1069~ 5 approximating the diameter of the bare metal conductor of a different insulated conductor; portions of the first and second cutter means being arranged to partially overlap between the first and second recesses when the handle members are moved towards each other; stop means limiting the overlap of the first and second cutter means so that each of the associated pairs of first and second recesses form closed circular patterns having a diameter greater than the diameter of the associated bare condurtor to leave a thin web of insulating material between the bare conductor and the overlapped first and second cutter means; the overlapped portions of the first and second cutter means providing a wedge to complete the severance of the insulation and permit the severed lnsulation to be removed.
Other objects and features of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illus-- ~a -:. :- . : : . :
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~0696~5 1 tratcd in the accompanyin(J drawings, which disclosc, by way of cxamplc, thc principlcs of the invontion, and thc best modc which has been contcmplated for carrying it out.
BRI~F D~SCRII'TION OF TIIE DR~WING:
In the drawings in which similar elements are given similar reference characters:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a hand tool accord-ing to the prior art and is FIG. 1 of the above cited Crimmins patent.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the crimp-ing nest area of a typical prior art tool.
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a tool constructed in accordance with the concepts of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of one of the handle jaw members of the tool of FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the other of the handle-jaw members of the tool of FIG. 3.
FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the tool of FIG. 3.
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary top elevational view, greatl~
enlargcd, of the crimping nest area of the tool of FIG. 3.
FIG. 8 is a rear elevational view along the lines 8-8 of FIG. 3.
FIG 9 is a fragmentary, top plan view, greatly en-larged, of the lndicating portion of the tool of FIG. 3.-FIG. 10 is a fragmentary, rear elevational view along the lines 10-10 of FIG. 3.
FIG. 11 is a top plan view of the locking mechanism of FIG. 3.
FIGS. 12, 13, 14 and 15 are fragmcntary top plan vicws, grc.~tly cnlarged, showing thc various positions of the .
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locking mechanism of FIG. 11 with respect to the tool handles.
FIG. 16 is a representation of the wire stripping operation of the tool of FIG. 3 as taken along the line 16-16 of FIG. 17A.
FIG. 17 is an enlarged view, with the handles open, of a wire stripping cutter portion of FIG. 3.
FIG. 17A is a view of the cutter portion of FIG. 17 with the handles closed and a wire to be stripped in position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
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Turning now to FIG. 1 there is shown a multi-function hand tool 20 constructed in accordance with the prior art teachings.
Tool 20 is of the pliers-type having a handle 22 terminating in a first ~aw 24 and a handle 26 terminating in a second jaw 28 pivotally assembled by a pivot pin 30. Located between pivot pin 30 and the free endR of the handles 22, 26 are a bare terminal crimping nest 32, a first size insulated terminal crimping nest 34 and a second size insulated terminal crimping nest 36. For a pliers-type tool of the type shown and with the crimping nests between the pivot 30 and the free ends of the handles 22, 26, the mechanical advantage is that found in Class II levers and as such there is one point along the handles 22, 26 at which the crimping force available would be that required to properly crimp a terminal to a conductor for a given pressure that the operator is required to expend. Beyond that point, the force is lower or higher, depending upon the direction of movement.
Two nests for crimping different sized terminals are required to prevent crushing the terminal or failing to properly crimp it to the conductor. Based on the mechanical stops for the tool 20 one size of terminal can be crimped by each nest and the -- .
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material displaced from the crimping nests was permitted to enter the opening between the handles 22, 26 which were not permitted tO
meet during the crimping operation. If the handles were intended to meet then expansion zones to either side of the crimping nest was required, as shown in - 6a -.. . . . .
- ' -106~6~5 1 FIG. 2 whcr~in barc tcrminal crimping nost 40 has arl oxp.ln-sion zonc 42 ~o its lot and an expansion zonc 44 to its right. Similarly, insulated tcrminal crimping nest 46 has expansion ~onc 48 to its left and 50 to its right. These expansion zoncs accept insulation and terminal material laterally extruded out of the crimping ncst as thc handles meet and the crimping nests bottom. As a rcsult of this requirement for expansion zones the crimping nests 40, 46 are more widely spaccd than the crimping nests 32, 34 and 36 of FIG. 1.
The fact that the handles meet as shown by handles 22, 26 in FIG. 1 means that the stripping edges 38 are only permitted to meet and will not fully cut into the insulation about the bare conductor, but will probably not cut into the insulation at all where the edges 38 meet.
Turning now to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, there is shown a multi-function hand tool 60 constructed in accordance with the concepts of the invention. Tool 60 has a first handle 62 terminating in a first jaw member 64 and a second handle 66 terminating in a second jaw member 68, the handles 62 and 66 being coupled by pivot pin 70 to permit the handles 62 and 66 to be moved toward and away from each other to cause the jaw members 64 and 68 to be similarly moved towards and away from each other. Formed adjacent the free end of jaw member 68, on an interior surfacc, is a blade 72 which cooperates with an anvil 74 formcd on the cooporating intcrior surface ad-jacent the free end of jaw membor 64, as is best seon in FIG.
8. A conductor can be cut by placing samo on the anvil 74 and thon bringing thc blade 72 into contact thorcwith by opcr-ating handlcs 62 and 66 towards cach othcr, thus bringing bladc 1069~5 1 68 first into contact with a conductor ~not shown) and thcn thc anvil 74 wllich also providcs support for the conductor.
The handlcs 62, 66, whcn not latched, as will be explained below, are urged into a spaced apart position, thus separating blade 72 from anvil 74 by means of compression spring 76. Compression spring 76 extcnds from a first hub 78 on handle 62 to a second hub 80 on handle 66 and within overlapping slots 82 in handle 62 and 84 in handle 66. As can be best seen in FIG. lO, the spring 76 extends from hub 78 formed on handle 62 and extending into slot 82 in the handle 62. The other end of spring 76 is anchored on hub 80 formed in handle 66 and extending into slot 84 in the handle 66. ~he slots 82 and 84 overlie one another, as shown in FIG. 10, overlying one another the most when handles 62, 64 are furthest from one another and overlie one another and portions of the handles adjacent the slots, when the handles 62, 64 are closest to one another, as shown in FIG.3. In FIG. 3, a portion of the handle 66 is visible through slot 82 in the handle 62.
With the slot arrangement the compression spring 76 is kept wholely within the tool and does not interfere with any of the tool's 60 function as might occur with other spring ar-rangements. The compression spring 76 operates to separate the handles 62 and 66 and thus makes all operative parts of the tool 60 available immediately.
The handle 62, as it becomes jaw member 64, goes through two bends as at 86, 88 (see FIG. 6) so that the plane of jaw members 64 and 68 can be madc common despite the fact that handle 62 overlies handle 66. Although not visiblc in thc figurc thc handle 66 gocs through two bends, onc of which 90 is indicatcd in FIC. 3, to position jaw member 68 on thc .
~069f~85 1 samc planc as jaw mcmbcr 64. Furthcr, at the full opcn position of the handlcs 62, 64, shouldcr 92 of handlc 62 engacJcs thc bcnt up portion of handlc 66 and shouldcr 9~ of handle 66 cngages the bent down arca between bends 86, 88 on handle 62 acting as stops to prevent the tool from opcning any furthcr undcr the influence of comprcssion spring 76.
In that the handles 62, 66 are urgcd away from each other, it is necessary to have a latch mechanism to hold the handles 62, 66 together when the tool 60 is not in use, as when it is being carried in an electrician's pouch. Keeping the handles 62, 66 closed also means all cutting mechanisms are closed and, if the tool 60 is handled no one will be in-jured. The latch mechanism 100, as is shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, is made up of a spring wire form having a hook end 102 and a turned-in end 104 for insertion within an aperture 106 in handle 62. The aperture 106 extends through the metal of handle 62 and the overlying grip holds end 104 of the latch mechanism 100 in place while permitting it to pivot about end .
104 inserted in aperture 106. The hook end 102 cooperates with a hook portion 108 of the handle 66. When the latching mech-anism 100 is positioned, as in FIG. 12, the tool 60 handles ..
62, 66 are latched in a slightly overlapped position.
To release the latching mechanism 100 it is necessary to squeeze the handles 62, 66 slightly together and swing the latching mcchanism counterclockwise out of engagemcnt with hook portion 108 of handlc 66. Oncc thc latch mechanism 100 is clear of hook portion 108 the handles G2, 66 are frce to opcn undcr thc influcncc of comprcssion spring 76.
The latclling mcchanism 100 can also bc used as a stop mccl)anism to limit thc closurc of jaw mcmbcrs G~, 6 : - 9 _ ~ ' .
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1~1696~5 1 dc~cnding upon its position as shown in FICS. 13, 1~ and 15. Whcn thc latchin~ mcchanism 100 is placcd aqainst thc handle 62, as shown in FIG. 14, maximum hand]c clo.sure is permitted, limited only by thc action of sho~ldcrs 92 and 94 against the handlc bend portions as set out abovc. This is the position the latch mcchanism 100 is normally placed in during use. A first handle closure limit is achieved by placing the latching mechanism 100 in the position shown in FIG. 15 whereby it engages the interior surface of handle 66 above the hook portion 108 and serves to prevent full closure of the handles 62, 66. The latching mechanism 100 may also be placed horizontal, as is shown in FIG. 13, to engage recess 110 in hook portion 108. This position limits to a greater extent the closure of handles 62 and 66. Any other conveniènt arrangement may be employed to limit handle closure as is needed.
Turning now to FIG. 7, the details of the crimping portion of the tool 60 are set forth. A cavity 112 in jaw member 64 cooperates with a cavity 114 in jaw member 68 to form a crimping nest 116 for crimping insulated terminals to the bared ends of electrical conductors. In that the jaw members 64, 68 are intended to close, some provision must be made to accommodate the material that extrudes laterally away from the crimp nest 116. Space to receive the material, whether insulation, terminal material, conductor or any com-bination thcreof is provided on the right side of crimping nest 116 by thc expansion zone 118 made up of rccess 120 in jaw member 6~ and rccc~s 122 in jaw member 68. The cx-pansion zonc to the left of crimping ncst 116 will bc des-30 cribcd below.
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~0696b~5 1 ~djaccnt crimping ncst 116 is crimping ncst 124 for barc tcrminals and composcd of a reccss 126 in jaw mcmbcr 64 and an indcntor 12~ on jaw mcmber 68. To providc for the expansion of matcrial out of crimping nest 124 as indentor 128 comprcsses a terminal placcd in recess 126 an expansion zone 130 made up of a rcccss 132 in jaw member 68 and 134 in jaw member 64 is provided.
The right expansion zone for crimping nest 124 is made to be the crimping nest 116 itself. The reason for this is as follows: Only one nest 116 or 124 can be used at a time leaving the unused nest empty and able to accommodate any material extruded from the used nest. Thus, the entire crimp-ing nest 116 provides the right side expansion zone for crimp-ing nest 124. Similarly, the crimping nest 124 provides the left expansion zone for crimping nest 116. With the use of the unused crimping nest as an expansion zone for the crimping nest in use, the space re~uired for these two crimping nest expansion zones can be omitted and the crimping nests them-selves can be placed closer to the optimum spacing prescribed.
The tool 60 has but a single crimping nest 116 for insulated terminals and thus it is necessary to be able to limit the closure of the jaw members 62, 66 to properly in-stall a range of terminal sizes with the same nest. This can be done partially by using the various positions of the latching mechanism 100, as shown in FIGS. 12 to 15. It can also bo accomplished b~ a visual indicator as is shown in PIGS. 3 and 9. ~n indcx 140 is ~ositioncd on handlc 62 and is arranged to swecp past a ranCJc indicator 142 on l-andlc 6h.
Thc range indicator 142 has a series of hcavy mar~s 144 to indicatc the rangc ovor which thc indcx 140 must travcrsc in ordcr that - . : , :
11~69~85 1 a terminal in thc crimpin(J ncstq llG, 124 bc proper~y criml~od.
The rangcs may bc color codcd bctwccn thc marks 144 to in-dicatc the rangc for a particular tcrminal wirc barrcl sizc.
Thus, thc rcgion 14C betwccn marks 144a and 144b may bc colored rcd to corrcspond with the usual color coding of terminals intcnded to be used with wire sizes 18 to 22, the region 148 between marks 144b and 144c blue to corres~
pond to the 14 to 16 guage wire sizes and the region lS0 between marks 144c and 144d colored yellow to correspond to the wire guages 10 to 12.
To use the usual indicator provisions, the user determines the wire size to which he must connect a terminal.
He then picks the correct terminal and places it in the ap-propriate crimping nest 116 for insulated terminals and 124 for bare terminals. Assume the wire size is 10 guage and a yellow terminal is selected. The terminal is insulated and is thus inserted into crimping nest 116 and the handles 62, 66 are operated towards one another until index 140 is aligned with mark 144d and the wire inserted into the wire receiving barrel of the terminal. Now the handles 62, 66 are operated towards one another so that index 140 traverses the region 150 to mark 144c. At this point, the terminal has been cor-rectly crimpcd upon the conductor and any further crimping would badly distort or destroy the terminal. As many rcgions as desired may be placed on the tool 60 to permit it to ac-commodate thc rangc of tcrminals dcsired. The shapc of re-cesses 112 and 114 is made gcncral rather than to conform to the tcrminal outline so that a range of terminal sizcs can be acconunodated.
To cut bolts and tcrminal scrcws the bolt is thrcaded into the thrcadcd apcrtllrcs 160, 162, 164, 166 or 168 in the . ~ .
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- . . . ~, : . - --` 1069685 handle 62 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) and run into the complementary apertures 170, 172, 174,176 and 178 in handle 66. The apertures 170, 172, 174, 176 and 178 are unthreaded and slightly larger than the apertures 160, 162, 164, 166 and 168 and thus offer no resistance to the passage of a bolt therethrough. When the desired length extends from the bottom surface of handle 62 upwards, the handles 62, 66 are operated toward~ one another and the edge of the apPrture in the handle 66 through which the bolt extends is thereby cut and .
the unthreading of the bolt from the thread aperture in handle 62 serves to chase the threads of the cut bolt.
The tool 60 also provides a wire stripper portion. As shown in PIGS. 3 and 17, the portion 180 of the handle 62 has a series of discrete arcuate blade portions defining cutter recesses 194 displaced inwardly from the cutting edge in increasing diameter from the pivot 70 towards the free end of the handle 62. Each of the recesses is dimensioned to be of a slightly greater diameter than the gauge of the conductor indicated next to it by the indicia 182 for solid conductors or by indicia 184 for stranded conductors.
Each recess i8 the termination of a cutting edge of bevelled portion 196. Cooperating with each of the arcuate blade portions on portion 180 of handle 62 are a series of arcuate blade portions defining cutter recesses 198 displaced inwardly from the cutting edge on the portion 186 of handle 66 each recess being the termina-tion of a cutting edge of bevelled portion 200. When a wire is positioned between the recesses for stripping and the handles are closed, as in PIG. 17A the cooperating arcuate blade portions will slightly overlap one another between the recesses as at 202 so that the recesses form a completely circular pattern about any conductor but not completely cutting through the conductor .., :
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insulation, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17A. The blade portions leave a small land 188 of uncut insulation 190 about the bare metal 192 of the conductor. This prevents actual contact between the blades and the conductor which could be destructive of the conductor.
The blade portions 180, 186 then act as wedges to permit the partially severed insulation to be pulled off as shown by the arrows P in FIG. 16.
While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes of the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention.
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