CA1054834A - Lineman snake gripper - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A lineman's pliers which is 1/2 inch longer than conventional pliers and which has a larger wire cutter for cutting a heavy guage wire; the pliers being designed to push or pull a snake through a conduit or tubing with less effort and time on the part of the workman.

Description

SPECIFICATION

Thls inventlon relates generall~ to pliers u3~d b~ electri-cian3 in feeding metal sna~es through conduit tublng.

It 1~ generally well known to ~hose who are skillçd ln this partlcular ~ield that when ~eeding a metal ~nake lnto a condult or tubing, upon ocaa~ion the electriclan may have dlfficulty ln getting the snake around a 90 degree bend, maklng lt necessary to force the snake lnto the conduit or tubing b~ employing pliers, the pller~ ~aws gra~ping the snake while pushing the snake with the pliers. This means that extreme pre33ure must be apPlied by the workman's hands on the pllers handles. After the snake meet~
the end o~ the conduit or tubing, a wire is then affixed to the ~nake and i~ pulled lnto the raceway. Upon the wire reaching the 20 90 degreee bend, dlf~iculty 18 encountered llkewlse, maklng it hard to pull the snake ahead, which means that the electrician must agaln use the pllers and exert great phys~cal pressure on the pliers handles grasped in his hand~ ln order to move the same ahead. Thi3 is Pain~ul labor for the ha~s and tlme consumlng, 90 that the situation i8 ob~ectionable and is therefore ln want of an lmprovement.

Ac^ordingly, it ls a prlnclpal o~ect Or the present lnven-tlon to provide a snake grlpper that overcome~ the above undes-l~able situatlon, wherein the pliers are l/2 lnch longer than 30 conventlonal lineman pliers so to glve a greater leverage and thu~ require less e~fort to obtaln a same firm grasp of the cnake.

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~)54W34 Another ob~ect is to provlde a ~nake grlpper which accord-lngly 18 much sa~er to use because by u8ing less er~ort the elec-trlclan's hand would not be ~abbed in~o the conduit end ~lth the conventlonal hard roroe ln case the pllers Ja~s a¢cide~tally slip orr the snake, 80 that the hands are thus safer from in~ury, also allo~lng the Job to be done ln less tlme and reducing labor costs.
It 1~ also well kno~n that upon occaslon, an electriclan 18 obli-gated to skin an in~ulatçd number 12 gauge ~lre by uslng a spec-lally de~igned skinner, a knife and flnally by uslng the cutter or 10 the pliers ~hich o~ course risks the poselbility or nicking the ~ire, ~hlch 18 llke~lse an undeslrable ~ituation. Accordlngly, stlll another obJect o~ the present invention is to provide a line-~an snake grlp~er having a ~kinner openlng lncorporated between the pller Ja~s, and ~hich i~ designed rOr the particular ~ire; and ~hl¢h thus ellminate~ the need to carry an extra s~lnnor and kni~e, Other obJects are to provlae a lineman plier which is ~lmple ln deslgn, lnexpensl~e to manuracture, rugged ln constructlon, easy to u~e, and errlcient ln operatlon.

These and other obJects will be readlly evident upon a study 20 of the ~ollo~lng specl~icatlons and the accompan~lng drawlng ~herein:

FI~URE 1 is a ~ide v~ew of the lnventlon.
FI~URE 2 ls a perspectlve vlew o~ the Jaws thereo~ shown ~pread o~ened, FIo~RE 3 18 a side vie~ or the pller levers sho~n dls-assem-bled ~ro~ each other and spaced apart eo to more clearl~ ~ee the 3a~ contour o~ ea¢h.

Re~erence 18 now made to the dra~lng ln greater detall ~here-ln the refere~ce number lO represente a lineman enake grlpper 30 according to the pre3ent lnventlon.

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The snake gripper i8 comprlsed or a Pair of levers 11 and 12 plvotall~ atta¢hed together by a pivot screw 13 transver~ely through longltudinally intermediate portions of the leYers ~o tQ rorm a palr o~ mating Ja~s 14 and 15 respectlvely at one end, and a Pair o~ non-~llp handles 16 and 17 at an opposlte end ~or being grasped ~lthln a person'~ hand, and which are covered by insulatlon 18 80 to not transmit any electric ~hock to a person~
hand holding the ~ame in case the ~aw~ engage a live ~lre or other electrlcally ch~rged ob~ect.

In the pre~ent lnventlon, che¢kered or toothed ~aces 19 and 20 o~ the Ja~s engage each other when the pller~ i~ fully closed, and which are used for grasping varlou~ ob~ects firmly therebe-tween, A longltudlnal groove 21 along one slde edge of ~aw 14 serves to recelve a ~nake (and ~hlch ln Figure~ 1 and 2 i8 indlcated only by a center llne 22a ~or malntalning a clarity of the figures). A
tooth 23 on the ~aw 15 pro~ects forwardly of race 20 and has a checkered or toothed rorward side 24 that engages a checkered or toothed portlon 25 or groove 21, 80 to frlctlonally grasp the 20 ~nakes therebet~een.

The Jaw 14 has a groove 26 on one slde 27 thereor which allgn~ axiall~ ~lth groove 21. m e groove 26 lntercept~3 one end o~ the pivot 8crew 13 ~hlch has a groove 27 that altgns wlth groove 26. The alignlng grooves 21, 26, and 27 permit the snake to extend along a straight llne therethrough.

A checkered or toothed stra~ght face 28 18 formed on lever 11 and i8 located on the handle portlon instead of on the ~aw that i~ on the oppo~lte s~de o~ the pivot screw. The lever 12 ha~ a corresponding ~tratght, checkered or toothed face 29 that 30 engage~ the ~ace 28. A~3 clearly J3hown ln the d~Ning, the faces 28 and 29 are axially aligned with the above descrlbed grooves 21, 26, and 27, ~o that the snake extends on the ~ame ~tralght 1~54~;~4 line al~o therebet~een.

It wlll now be there~ore evidPnt that ln oper~tive u~e when a ~nake i8 thus gra~ped between faces 24 and 25 on one side of the plvot pin 13, and between faces 28 and 29 on an opposlte ~lde Or the pivot pln that the 3traight ~nake i~ more flrmly held over a longer portion thereof, for either being pulled or pushed.

A 1/2 clrcular notch 30 along mating wire cuttlng edges 31 of a blade 32 on each ~aw ls provided to receive a particular number 12 gauge wlre ror being skinned, the notches 30 together 10 ~orming a circular openlng 33 ~hen the ~a~s are clo~ed 80 to flt the ~peclric ~lze of wire, commonly u~ed by the electrician A notch 34 provided on the handle portlon of lever 12 ~ervea ror bending ~lre into a loop, to be afrlxed on a scre~.

Thu~ there i8 provided a llneman anake grlpper that provides l~proved servlce Whlle varlous change~ may be made in the detall con~tructlon, lt i9 under~tood that such changes will be wlthin the spirlt and scope of the pre~ent invention a8 i~ de~ined by the aPPended claim~.

Claims (2)

1 A linemans pliers adapted for use as a snake gripper, comprising a pair of pivotably secured crossing levers pro-vided with a head having front and rear pairs of gripping mating faces forming pairs of opposing jaws with opposing elongated handles at the rear end of said levers including a pivot pin affixed to a first of said levers and pivotably mounted in the second of said levers to pivot about a trans-verse axis passing through the longitudinal axis of said pliers, between the front and rear jaws including a longi-tudinal groove along an outer transverse side of said first lever wherein said groove is in alignment with the longitu-dinal axis of said pliers, said groove includes aligned portions in one of said front faces and passes through the pivot pin axis to one of said rear faces for aligning a snake within said pairs of jaws.

2 A linemans pliers as in claim 1, wherein one of said front jaws include a tooth projecting into said groove in said opposing jaw, wherein said surfaces are serrated.