Abstract:
An improved arts and crafts tool designed to loop and cut wire in a single fluid motion at any desired location along the length of the wire. The tool comprises a pair of arms each arm terminating in a soft-cover handle adapted to be gripped by a user. The upper portions of the arms comprise looping and cutting members for looping and cutting wire at a desired length. Disposed within one of the cutting members is an ejection aperture which harmlessly directs cut sections of waste wire away from a user and enables the tool to cut sections of wires at any desirable point.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 29/440,909, filed on Dec. 28, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present application relates generally to a tool for creating arts and crafts. More specifically, the invention relates to an improved tool for looping and cutting wire in connection with the design and construction of jewelry, charms and trinkets. Even more specifically, the present invention involves a one-step tool for looping and trimming wire to a desired length in a single motion. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    A number of tools are designed for use in connection with the creation of arts and crafts projects and, more particularly, the art of jewelry making. Among them are piers having rounded heads for looping, bending and shaping wire; wire cutters having sharpened edges for cutting the ends of wire after other sections of wire are looped; and combination tools that are designed to perform the functions of looping, bending, shaping preceded by and/or followed by the task cutting the wire to a desired or customized length. For example, two types of prior art looping pliers are The Beadsmith® 6-in-1 Looping Pliers and The Beadsmith® 4-in-1 Pliers. The 6-in-1 Looping Pliers provides six different looping sizes ranging from 2-9 mm. The 4-in-1 Pliers provide a number of utility features for jewelry making, including round tips for use in wire looping, a groove for dosing jump rings, a flat section for flattening wire and sharpened edges for cutting wire or thin headpins. 
         [0004]    Through improvements in these and similar types of arts and crafts tools, individuals with arthritic hand and finger joints have found it somewhat easier to continue to use these tools, often times in a manner consistent with use prior to the onset of their arthritic condition. For example, springs positioned between the handles have enabled the heads of looping and cutting tools to automatically separate without manual effort by a user, thereby reducing the stress placed on arthritic joints in the hands and fingers of users with each stroke or squeeze. Likewise, soft covers applied to the handles of looping and cutting tools that are used in jewelry making and other arts and crafts projects further ease the stresses caused by handling these tools. Nevertheless, due to the large amount of pain that is often present in arthritic joints, there is still an increasing need by many afflicted users to accomplish more with each stroke or squeeze of these types of tools. Yet, many tools are generally incapable of effectively performing the tasks and looping and cutting with a single stroke or squeeze, in the same fluid motion. Likewise, even amongst those users who possess pain-free, non-arthritic joints, there is a need to accomplish manual, craft-based wire looping and cutting tasks more quickly in order to increase productivity and reduce the time needed to create crafts and jewelry that utilize looped wiring. 
         [0005]    Moreover, prior art looping and cutting tools are generally incapable of consistently discarding cut sections of wire in a particular direction, away from the user. It would be beneficial to incorporate such a feature into wire cutting tools in a manner consistent with their ordinary use. 
         [0006]    Lastly, prior art looping and cutting tools are generally not configured to be able to perform customized cutting of wire at specified points along the length of the wire beyond a predetermined fixed length of approximately ½-¾ inch. Enabling customized looping and cutting increases the utility of such a tool by allowing a user to determine a precise position for cutting and looping of wire. 
         [0007]    Based on the foregoing, there is an ongoing need to provide a more versatile arts and crafts tool which addresses the shortcomings of the prior art. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In view of the deficiencies and drawbacks in the prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved arts and crafts tool that simultaneously performs the tasks of wire looping and precision cutting with a single stroke. 
         [0009]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a wire looping and cutting tool that is more efficient and enables increased productivity by its users. 
         [0010]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wire looping and cutting tool with an ejection aperture that directs cut sections of wire away from a user. 
         [0011]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved wire looping and cutting tool which enables the cutting of wire at specified points along the length of the wire beyond a predetermined fixed length. 
         [0012]    Additional objectives of the present invention will be apparent from the disclosure which follows. 
         [0013]    In summary, the invention involves a tool designed to loop and cut wire at any desired location along the length of the wire with a single squeeze of the tool&#39;s handles. Tool comprises a pair of arms, each arm terminating in a soft-cover handle adapted to be gripped by a user. The upper portions of the arms comprise looping and cutting members for looping and cutting wire at a desired length and in a single fluid motion. Disposed within one of the cutting members is an ejection aperture which harmlessly directs cut sections of waste wire away from a user. The ejection aperture further enables the tool to cut sections of wires at any desirable point. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    The above-described and other advantages and features of the present disclosure will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings of which 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a top, front and left-side perspective view of the wire looping tool of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a bottom, front and right-side perspective view thereof; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a top plan view thereof; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view thereof; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a bottom plan view of the tool receiving a section of wire for looping and cutting; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a bottom plan view of the tool in the process of looping and cutting the wire, with the tool handles in a partially compressed position; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a bottom plan view of the tool creating a loop after ejecting the cut section wire out the ejection aperture, with the tool handles in a fully compressed position; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  is a left side view of the wire looping tool of the present invention showing the ejection aperture. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0023]    With references to  FIG. 1  through  FIG. 8 , there is shown a wire looping and cutting tool  10  of the present invention, The tool  10  comprises a pair of arms  11 ,  13  the ends of which terminate in handles  12 ,  14  which are biased apart by a spring  16  against which manual pressure is applied when the tool  10  is used to loop and cut wire W. The spring  16  is secured to handles  11 ,  13  by a pair of securing bolts  18 ,  18  at unsheathed intermediate sections of the arms  11 ,  13  above where handles  12 ,  14  terminate. Soft and flexible foam or rubber covers  22 ,  24  are applied at each handle  12 ,  14  to provide an ergonomic grip for users to hold, clench and squeeze the tool  10  during its use. 
         [0024]    Arm  11  extends upwardly to form external looping member  30  and arm  13  extends upwardly to form internal looping member  32 . As shown in  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , when handles  12 ,  14  are compressed together from a fully relaxed position shown in  FIG. 5  to a fully compressed position shown in  FIG. 7 , looping members  30 ,  32  converge around a looping pin  33 , progressively bending the inserted wire W to form an eye pin. Even in the most compressed position around looping pin  33 , the looping members  30 ,  32  preferably do not contact the looping pin  33 . Instead, there is a circular channel between the interior surfaces of looping members  30 ,  32  and the looping pin  33  that is sufficiently wide enough to accommodate wire W without damaging its structural integrity. 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , looping member  32  further serves as one of the two cutting members  34 ,  36  which are utilized for cutting excess wire away from the section that is being looped. During the wire bending process, prior to wire W being fully looped, internal cutting member  34  and external hooked cutting member  36  pinch wire W until a section is snapped off. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the same end of wire W formed by the cutting process serves as the end of the eye loop that is formed around looping pin  33 . Using the tool  10 , wire W is initially cut at a desired position and then bent to form an eye loop in a single, continuous fluid motion. 
         [0026]    As shown most clearly in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3 , a triangular retaining plate  40  is provided to retain and guide the movement of the looping and cutting arms  11 ,  13  when the tool  10  is in use or at rest. The retaining plate  40  possesses three slots—an upper slot  42 , a left slot  44  and a right slot  46 —generally corresponding to the vertices of a triangle, through which three retaining bolts  43 ,  45 ,  47  secure the retaining plate  40  to arms  11 ,  13 . When secured to the retaining plate  40 , arms  11 ,  13  proceed in a fluid, guided motion which force cutting members  34 ,  36  and looping members  30 ,  32  to act accordingly. 
         [0027]    In a fully relaxed position, bolts  45 ,  47  are positioned at the extreme ends of left slot  44  and right slot  46 , respectively, with the length of each slot  44 ,  46  determining how far handles  12 ,  14  can spread apart from one another in compliance with the bias produced by spring  16 . While the tool is in a relaxed position, retaining bolt  43  is at its lowermost point in upper slot  42 . Conversely, in a fully compressed position, bolts  45 ,  47  are positioned at the innermost ends of the left slot  44  and right slot  46 , respectively, serving as the limit of which the arms may compress. Likewise, when fully compressed, retaining bolt  43  is at its highest point in upper slot  42 . It should be appreciated that as arms  11 ,  13  move inward, looping members  30 ,  32  are forced upward together along the trajectory of upper slot  42  since both looping members  30 ,  32  are hinged upon bolt  43 . As looping member is forced upward, cutting member  36  pivots and pinches wire W between it and cutting member  34 . Notably, the limits of compression and location and configuration of the slots preferably enable cutting of wire W and looping of wire W without the looping members  30 ,  32  coming in contact with looping pin  33 . Moreover, it should be appreciated that in some preferred embodiments, any one or all of slots  42 ,  44 ,  46  may be slightly curved to provide a more fluid motion and more effective cutting and looping of wire W, preferably with minimal friction. 
         [0028]    While in the preferred embodiment described herein external looping member  30  and external cutting member  36  both extend from arm  11  and internal looping member  32 /internal cutting member  34  extend from arm  13 , it should be appreciated that additional embodiments of the wire looping tool may be formed while still keeping within the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, an alternate embodiment may be created such that an external looping member may extend from the arm positioned on the same side of the tool instead of the one positioned on the opposing side. 
         [0029]    As shown in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , in the hooked portion of cutting member  36 , there is an ejection aperture  50  through which cut wire is laterally ejected after cutting is completed by cutting members  34 ,  36 . Ejection aperture  50  ensures that the cut waste wire is discarded in a harmless manner away from a user as the users continues to bend and loop wire W. 
         [0030]    In addition to providing a means to harmlessly discard cut waste wire, ejection aperture  50  further enables the customized cutting of wire W at any desired point along the length of the wire, In particular, absent an ejection aperture  50 , wire W may be cut at selected points along its length. However, the number of points are limited to a section of approximately ½-¾inches or the approximate length of wire that spans the distance between cutting member  34  and interior curved surface  52  (see  FIG. 5 ), With the ejection aperture  50 , a section of wire may be inserted further and through the aperture  50  and then cut at practically any desirable point along its length. 
         [0031]    Tool  10  is preferably utilized with dead-soft or half-hard precious metal wire, craft wire, copper wire or brass core wire. With the disclosed construction, the tool  10  bends and trims wire having a thickness between  26  gauge and  18  gauge. 
         [0032]    The accompanying drawings only illustrate a single embodiment of a wire looping tool, its constituent parts, and method of use. However, other types and styles are possible, and the drawings are not intended to be limiting in that regard. Thus, although the description above and accompanying drawings contains much specificity, the details provided should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiment(s) but merely as providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiment(s). The drawings and the description are not to be taken as restrictive on the scope of the embodiment(s) and are understood as broad and general teachings in accordance with the present invention. While the present embodiment(s) of the invention have been described using specific terms, such description is for present illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that modifications and variations to such embodiments, including but not limited to the substitutions of equivalent features, materials, or parts, and the reversal of various features thereof, may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It should also be noted that the terms “first,” “second” and similar terms may be used herein to modify various elements. These modifiers do not imply a spatial, sequential, or hierarchical order to the modified elements unless specifically stated.