Patent Application
20060175461
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tools for dispensing wire. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel wear surface cover clip for covering the wear surfaces of a wire dispensing reel for dispensing tie wire used for tying rebar.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
During construction and before pouring concrete into the concrete forms, an array of reinforcement bars, commonly known as rebar, are erected within the forms so that when the concrete is poured, the resultant structure is strengthened by the rebar. Traditionally, intersecting sections of rebar are tied together by hand with a malleable wire known as rebar wire.
During the rebar wiring process, it is common practice for the worker to continuously pull the rebar wire from a coil of wire on a reel contained within a hollow housing in a manner such that the end of the wire never leaves the hand of the worker. For example, a worker tying up a rebar slab may completely use a coil of wire without ever letting go of the pulled end of the wire.
Often, the wire dispensing reels are provided with belt receiving loops so that the reels can be mounted upon the belts of the workman so that the wire can be conveniently withdrawn from the wire coils mounted therewithin by pulling the wire out of the casing through one or more openings formed in the casing wall. Typically, the edges of the openings in the casing wall are provided with curved wear surfaces over which the wire passes as it is drawn from the dispensing reel.
As the wire is continuously removed from the reel and passes over the wear surfaces, it will tend to cause severe wear to the wear surfaces and eventually will cut one or more grooves therein of the character shown in
Tie wire used in construction typically comes in three gauges, 16.5 gauge (thinnest) used for tying smaller rebar and for 15 gauge (heavy) for tying large and heavy rebar. Tie Wire is packaged and delivered in quantity usually in heavy cardboard boxes with some type of rust inhibitor protection. Often a worker will open a box to find the coils either heavily coated in oil, completely dry or in a progressively rusted state. Experience has shown that whatever the condition of the wire, it has adverse affects on the wear surface of the tie wire dispenser with the rust acting as an abrasive addition to the wire and the oil acting as a cutting fluid.
Further contributing to the wear problems of the prior art wire dispensing reels are the materials used in the manufacture of the wire reels. Such materials range from plastic to untreated steel to sand cast aluminum all of which are well below the hardness of the malleable tie wire. As will be discussed hereinafter, the wear surface cover clip of the present invention is advantageously constructed from stainless steel because it is of its hardness, availability, cost and ease of manuafacture. However, other alloys and carbon compositions of appropriate hardness can also be used to construct the cover clip. For example, galvanized sheet metal has also proven to be acceptable.
Dispensing reels of various construction are readily commercially available from a number of sources, including Klein Tools of Skokie, Ill., and Don De Christo Concrete Accessories, Inc. of Westminster, Calif. A dispensing reel for tie wires is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,000 issued to its Belderwell. Reference should be made to this patent for a discussion of the construction and operation of dispensing reels of the character with which the wear surface cover clip of the present invention can be used.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel wear surface cover clip for use with a conventional wire dispensing reel of the type used for dispensing tie wire such as that used for tying rebar during concrete construction projects. More particularly, is an object of the invention to provide a wear surface cover clip that can be easily removably interconnected with a conventional wire dispensing reel and when once installed, markedly extends the life of the wire dispensing reel.
It is another object of the invention to provide a wear surface cover clip of the aforementioned character that is usable with most commercially available tie wire dispensing reels.
It is another object of the invention to provide a wear surface cover clip as described in the preceding paragraphs in which the cover clip is provided with a wear surface that substantially covers the wear surface of the wire dispensing reel.
Another object of the invention is provide a wear surface cover clip as described in the preceding paragraph that is constructed from a hardened steel or like material that effectively withstands abrasion resulting from the tie wire passing over the wear surface of the clip.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cover clip of the character described that can be used either with new or used tie wire dispensing reels.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel wear surface cover clip that is easy to install and one which remains firmly in place once attached to the wire dispensing reel.
Another object of the invention is to provide a wear surface cover clip of the type described in the preceding paragraphs which is of simple construction and one which can be inexpensively manufactured in quantity.
Referring to the drawings and particularly to
Circular wall portion 20 is provided with an opening 22 to permit withdrawal of the wire from casing 16 in the manner illustrated in
As the tie wire is removed from the coil of wire through opening 22 of the circular wall portion 20, the tie wire engages the curved wear surface 24 causing it to score the wear surface in the manner indicated by the score lines “SL” shown in
As indicated in
As best seen in
In the present form of the invention, clip 26 comprises a generally planar rear segment 28, a curved wear surface cover segment 30 and a front segment 32. Rear segment 28 includes an upper extremity 28a and a lower extremity 28b. Similarly, cover segment 30 includes a front extremity 30a and a rear extremity 30b that is integrally formed with upper extremity 28a of rear segment 28. Front segment 32 includes an upper extremity 32a that is integrally formed with front extremity 30a of cover segment 30 and a lower extremity 32b that is disposed in close proximity with rear segment 28 (
To enable the clip 26 to be easily positioned over the original wear surface 24 of the hollow casing 16, the lower extremity 32b of front segment 32 is curved outwardly in the manner best seen in
To add further stability to the clip and to ensure that it remains in place over the wear surface of the wire dispensing reel, the length of the planar rear segment is such that it will extend a substantial distance into the hollow casing. More particularly, in the preferred form of the invention, the planar rear segment of the clip has a length “L” of approximately one inch.
As illustrated in
Having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes, those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.
