AU2005201612B1 - A Tool for Straining Wire - Google Patents

Description

tt 1 0 0A Tool for Straining Wire Field of the Invention 00 This invention is directed to a small handy tool that can be used to repair a wire fence, Cand that can particularly strain wire such as fencing wire and the like. The tool can be Idescribed as "pliers" and hereinafter will be referred to by this name.

0 Background Art 0 Most cattle stations/farms etc are provided with fences to define paddocks, etc. In many properties, these fences can contain hundreds of kilometers of fence lines, it being appreciated that a typical fence will have between 2-5 lines of wire extending from the ground to the top of the fence. These fence lines are occasionally broken and need to be repaired as quickly as possible. Many fence lines are positioned far away from a source of power, and therefore manual devices to repair the broken wire are considered more suitable than electric or otherwise powered devices.

Most fences contain fencing wire that has been strained. Thus, if the wire is broken, it is necessary to use a length of "patch" wire, and then to restrain the wire.

There are many types of known wire strainers that are available to farmers and graziers. Many of these are in the commercial marketplace and work quite well.

However, a major disadvantage with many of these strainers is that they are large and heavy and are therefore awkward to carry and use. Also, these strainers can be quite fiddly to use and take longer to tighten a loose wire or fix small breaks in fences. As well, most property owners will check fences more often than not on a motorbike and therefore a large and bulky wire straining apparatus cannot be carried. However, a simple modified pair of pliers that can do the job would be welcomed by property owners.

For this reason, many farmers use a conventional pair of pliers to repair fencing.

Figures 1-2 illustrate conventional pliers in use. The pliers contain front jaws and rear tt) 2

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0handles and a pivot pin that is between the front jaws and the rear handles. The rear handles contain ridging just behind the pivot pin to assist in the wire straining.

00 0In use, a length of patch wire is attached to one end of the broken wire and is looped through the other end of the broken wire. The patch wire is passed through the front Cjaws, passed through the other end of the broken wire and then behind the pivot pin of IND the pliers. The ridging just behind the pivot pin can then grip the patch wire. This is O illustrated in figures 1-2. A "ratchet" type action is then used (by which is meant that n the pliers are moved back and forth to tighten and strain the patch wire). Up to this stage, these conventional fencing pliers work quite well.

However, when the patch wire is fully strained, it is necessary to remove the pliers from the patch wire and this is where conventional pliers have a difficulty. Figure 2 shows this difficulty and shows how it is necessary to twist the pliers free from the tensioned patch wire, and to prevent loss of tension, the farmer has to strongly grip the tensioned patch wire while the pliers are being removed. In practice, no person has sufficient strength to hold the tensioned wire, and the wire will lose tension in the time that it takes to remove the pliers from the tensioned wire and then to use the pliers to tie off the wire. This means that the repaired fence will not be properly tensioned.

It would be better if it were possible to tension the patch wire without the wire needing to go behind the main pivot pin of the pliers. However, with conventional pliers, this is not possible as it is necessary to have the patch wire supported by part of the pliers during the tensioning process. This is why, with conventional pliers, it is necessary to pass the wire from the front jaws (which supports the wire) and behind the pivot pin to the front part of the handles (as illustrated particularly in figure 1).

With conventional pliers, there is no other solution to this problem.

The present invention is directed to a simple and handy tool that looks like pliers, but which contains modifications to enable it to repair fencing in a manner that overcomes the difficulty with conventional pliers. This means that the farmer can still use the small handy tool (as opposed to the heavier and clumsier wire strainers). Basically, 3 0 0 the pliers of the invention enables the wire to be tensioned forward of the main pivot pin and therefore primarily within the front jaws of the pliers, and this is achieved by modifying the pliers to enable the patch wire to be supported properly during the

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tensioning process.

The tool can also be designed to function as "conventional" pliers.

O It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

Object of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide a tool that can assist in the repair of fencing and particularly can assist in the tensioning and tying off of fencing and which can overcome at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages or provide a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a tool that can resemble pliers and therefore which contains a front pair of jaws, a rear pair of handles, a pivot between the rear handles and the front jaws, movement of the handles moving the front jaws between an open position and a closed position, the front jaws comprising a nose portion and a rear portion, the rear portion being movable between a clamping position where the rear portion of the jaws can clamp a wire therebetween and a free position, wherein the rear portion can move between the clamping position and the free position while the nose portion remains substantially closed.

With conventional pliers, the front jaws are either open or closed. If a wire is placed in the jaws, when the jaws clamp the wire, the nose portion remains open due to the design of the pliers. Therefore, there is no place to support the wire during the tensioning process apart from the conventional way which is to pass the wire behind the pivot point and to a forward part of the handles (see figure However, with the tool which is the subject of the present invention, the front (nose portion) of the jaws Ic) 4

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can remain substantially closed while the rear part of the jaws can move between a gripping and free position. This enables the front part of the pliers to support the 1 patch wire during the tensioning process, this being best illustrated in figure 00 The term "substantially closed" when it refers to the nose portion of the pliers is meant Cto include the nose portion being entirely closed, or open to a position which is less N than the diameter of the wire that is clamped in the rear portion of the jaws. Thus, for O wires of large diameter, it is envisaged that the nose portion may be slightly open, but the opening size should be less than the diameter of the wire such that the wire can still pass in front of the nose portion. As the nose portion functions to support the wire during the straining process (see for instance figure it is necessary only that the nose portion can do so. Therefore, if the wire has a diameter of say 5 mm, it is possible for the nose portion to be closed, or even slightly open, such that the gap in the nose portion is less than 5 mm as this will still support the wire in front of the nose portion in the manner illustrated in figure 5. This information needs to be taken into account and is meant to fall within the term "substantially closed". The term "substantially closed" is also meant to include fully closed.

This modification provides substantial advantages to the working of the tool and which will be described in greater detail below.

The mechanism by which the front jaws can move in the manner described above can vary. In the one form, the front jaws comprise (for the sake of convenience) an upper jaw and a lower jaw. Each jaw contains a forward nose portion and a rear portion (the rear portion being closer to the pivot point of the tool). Each jaw can itself pivot, rock or hinge between the clamping position (where the rear portion of the jaws can clamp a wire), and a free position where the rear portion of the jaws are now apart sufficiently to enable the wire to move.

3 0 However, it is also envisaged that the device will contain one "ordinary" jaw and one jaw that has the rear portion that can move between a closed and open position.

Typically, each jaw (that is the upper jaw and the lower jaw) will comprise two main Ic)

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0 parts being a support part that is generally fixed, and a moving part that can pivot/rock/hinge relative to the support part.

0The support part can be fixed relative to the rear handles which means that operation of the rear handles causes operation of the support part of each jaw. Typically, the N rear handle and the support part will be formed integrally.

o The moving part will typically contain ridging and can therefore be seen as the gripping or "jaw" part of the tool. The moving part will typically be formed separately and pivotly attached relative to the support part.

It is preferred that the moving part is biased or sprung. This can be achieved by any suitable type of biasing means including a spring such as a coil spring and the like.

Brief Description of the Drawings An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which: Figures 1-2. Illustrate conventional fencing pliers.

Figures 3-9. Illustrate the pliers according to an embodiment of the invention and in various states of use which will be described below.

Figure 10. Illustrates the pliers according to an embodiment containing a patch wire and where the jaws are in the open position such that the patch wire can move.

Figure 11. Illustrates the pliers of figure 10 where the jaws are in the clamping position where the patch wire is clamped, but because the jaws can pivot, the nose portion is substantially closed enabling the nose portion to support the patch wire in the manner illustrated in figure Best Mode Referring to the figures, and initially to figures 1-2, there is illustrated a conventional pair of pliers 10. The pliers 10 comprise a pair of rear handles 11 and a pair of front jaws 12. A pivot 13 holds the pliers together and enables the pliers to operate. When tt 6 0 0 the handles are pulled apart, the jaws open, and when the handles are closed, the jaws are also closed, this being entirely conventional. Typically, one handle and one jaw are formed integrally and the other handle and the other jaw are also formed integrally

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0and are pivoted together about pivot 13. The front jaws 12 guide a wire 14 and a portion of the rear handle is ribbed at 15 to grip the wire 14.

IN In use, a length of "patch" wire 14 is cut to length and one end is wound about one end o of the broken wire (in this case barbed wire 16). The other end is loosely looped around the other broken end of the barbed wire (see figure 1) and the pliers 10 is then used to tension the patch wire 14. This is carried out in the manner illustrated in figure 1 where the patch wire 14 is guided by jaws 12 in front of pivot 13 and then passes around behind pivot 13 to be gripped by the ribbed portion 15 of the front part of handle 11. To tension wire 14, the pliers 10 are moved in a ratchet-like manner and are opened and closed to tighten or tension wire 14 to the required tension.

The problem is that once the wire has been tightly tensioned, pliers 10 need to be removed and this is not an easy operation because wire 14 basically extends about the pivot 13. Figure 2 illustrates the difficulty in removing pliers 10 from the tensioned wire 14. Basically, it is necessary to tightly hold the wire and then remove the pliers entirely from the wire. However, as the wire is tensioned, it is almost impossible to keep the tension just by gripping the wire by hand. Therefore, some tension will be lost before the pliers can be disentangled from wire 14 and then clamped back in place to tie off the wire by rotating the tension wire 14 about itself. Figure 8 shows the tying off procedure with the pliers that form part of the present invention.

Figures 3-9 illustrates the pliers according to an embodiment of the invention.

Basically, the pliers 20 have been modified to enable the tensioning to be conducted entirely forward of the pivot, and by the front jaws, this being perhaps best illustrated in figure 5 and figure 6.

Referring to figures 3-4, the major components of pliers 20 comprise a pair of rear handles 21, a pivot 22 and front jaws comprising an upper jaw 23 and a lower jaw 24.

Each jaw 23 and 24 comprises two main components being a support member 25 and tt 7

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0a ribbed jaw 26 which is supported by support member 25. Support member 25 is formed integrally with the respective handle as a unitary structure which is somewhat similar to conventional pliers. Thus, operation of the handles causes operation of each

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0support member CEach ribbed jaw 26 is pivotly mounted relative to the respective support member Iand is able to pivot or rock to the position illustrated in figure 4. To explain, in figure o 3, the rear part of each jaw 26 is in the lower position, while in figure 4, the rear part n of each jaw has been pivoted upwardly (for one jaw) and downwardly (for the other jaw). This movement is not much (only a few millimetres per jaw) but provides distinct advantages which will be described in greater detail below. The jaws 26 are pivoted about pivot 27 and are also biased into the "clamping" position illustrated in figure 3.

Importantly, the arrangement of the jaws is such that the front nose portion 28 (see figure 4) of the pliers can be in the closed, or substantially closed position when the rear part of the jaws clamped against the wire. An example of this is illustrated in figure 5 and in figure 11 which both illustrates the patch wire being tightly clamped in the rear part of the jaws, while the nose portion can still move to the closed position.

Referring now to figures 5-6, the wire tensioning procedure now has a patch wire 29 extending over the front nose portion 28 of the pliers and then back through the rear portion of each of the jaws 26. This is in contrast to conventional pliers where the patch wire extends behind pivot 22 (illustrated in figures because, with 2 5 conventional pliers, once the patch wire is clamped in the jaws, it is not possible to have the front of the pliers (the nose portion) closed. Indeed, the design of conventional pliers is such that even a small diameter patch wire clamped in the rear of the jaws will cause the front of the jaws (nose portion) to be opened by some considerable amount. As an example, a 6 mm thick wire when clamped in the rear part of the jaws in conventional pliers will force the nose portion to be open by about mm!.

To facilitate the positioning of wire 29, the nose portion 28 of the pliers contains a In 8

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0recess 30 (see figure 4) which can support wire 29 in the manner illustrated in figures 5-6.

oo _To tension wire 29, the wire is initially positioned as illustrated in figure 5. The nose portion 28 of the pliers remains closed to support the wire 29. The rear part of jaws N 26 can move between a clamping position illustrated in figure 5, when the rear portion Iof each jaw clamps wire 29 and a free position where the rear portion of each jaw has o separated by a few millimetres to no longer clamp wire 29.

Thus, to tension the wire, a ratchet-like action can again be used and by progressively clamping and releasing the rear portion of the jaws 26, the wire 29 can be progressively tensioned. Each time that the pliers moved to the clamping position, the nose portion moves to be closed or substantially closed position such that the patch wire can pass in front of the nose portion. Each time that the pliers are released, the nose portion will open, but will close again as soon as the pliers move to the clamping position (which is when it is necessary to support the patch wire in the manner illustrated at least in figures 5-6).

Thus, by tightly clamping and slightly opening the handle 21, the rear part of the jaws can be opened and closed and together with the ratcheting action, can tightly tension wire 29.

Once the wire 29 has been tensioned to the desired amount, the handles are released and the free end of the wire 31 (see figure 6) is bent over the top of the tensioned wire 29 to begin the tying off process. Then, it is only necessary to momentarily open handles further (see figure 7) to open the nose portion 28 of the pliers such that both parts of wire 29 can now be gripped entirely by the jaws. The tying off process can then be completed (see figure 8) by rotating the wire about itself 3 0 Figures 10-11 again illustrate the workings of the pliers. Figure 10 shows a patch wire 31 in a rear part of the front jaws but where the jaws are in the free position such that the patch wire 31 can be removed from the jaws. In figure 11, the jaws have been clamped to clamp the patch wire 31, and again illustrates how the nose portion 28 can t9 0 0be closed or substantially closed with the patch wire 31 clamped in a rear part of the jaws. This is only possible because each jaw can pivot in the direction of arrow when clamping patch wire 31.

00 The advantage of this arrangement is that the pliers can be easily adjusted for the tying N off process and without the more complicated and cumbersome steps of disentangling ID the pliers from the wire as is the case with conventional pliers and as illustrated in o figures 1-2.

A further advantage with the pliers according to the present invention is that, when nearing full tension, a smaller strain length is needed, this can now be done by gripping the wire closer to the nose of the pliers to avoid slipping off the jaws on the wire due to overtightening. Conventional pliers do not provide such adjustments and therefore, in conventional pliers, the full strain is taken every time the wire is tightened. Figure 9 illustrates this further advantage and shows how the patch wire can be now positioned closer to the front nose portion of the pliers.

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to apply the inclusion of the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "substantially" or "about" will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to any embodiment described, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. A tool comprising a front pair of jaws, a rear pair of handles, a pivot 00 between the rear handles and the front jaws, movement of the handles moving the front jaws between an open position and a closed position, the front jaws comprising a _nose portion and a rear portion, the rear portion being movable between a clamping N position where the rear portion of the jaws can clamp a wire therebetween, and a free oposition, wherein when the rear portion is in the clamping position, the nose portion is substantially closed.

2. The tool as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front jaws comprise a first jaw and a second jaw which can move towards and away from each other.

3. The tool as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one said jaw can move to the clamping position while the nose portion remains substantially closed.

4. The tool as claimed in claim 3, wherein both said jaws can move between the clamping position and the free position.

5. The tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the rear portion of the jaws can pivot between the clamping position and the free position.

6. The tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the front jaws comprise a support member, and a pivoting member that pivots relative to the support member, the pivoting member forming part of the jaws.

7. The tool as claimed in claim 6, wherein the support member is formed integrally with a respective handle portion of the tool.

8. The tool as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the pivoting member comprises the nose portion of the jaws and the rear portion of the jaws, and is pivoted relative to the support portion between the nose portion and the rear portion. 0,

9. A tool for tensioning wire, the tool comprising a jaw assembly comprising a first jaw member and a second jaw member, each jaw member being moveable relative to each other to enable the jaw members to move from an open 00 Sposition to a closed position relative to each other, each jaw member comprising a forward nose portion and a rear portion, the jaw assembly being movable between a C1 first position where the forward nose portion of each jaw member is closed, and the N) rear portion of each jaw member can clamp an object positioned therebetween. 0

10. A tool substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to figures 3-11. Dated this 18 th day of April 2005 Robert James Keough By his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO.