Wire banding tool and cable splice

A tool for forming a wire clamp includes a tube having its forward end somewhat flattened and grooved, and a pulling screw is slidable in the tube with a roll pin projecting through the slots and pullable by a wing nut screwed thereon. A waterproof cable splice includes flanged elastomer grommets projecting into a plastic sleeve and pressed on insulating jackets of two cables having conductors connected by a crimped conductive sleeve. Hose type clamps compress the end portions of the plastic sleeve to seal them to the grommets and to compress the grommets onto the jackets to seal them thereto.

DESCRIPTION 
This invention relates to an improved wire banding tool and an improved 
cable splice, and has for an object thereof the provision of an improved 
wire banding tool and an improved cable splice. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a wire banding tool having a 
body made of commercially available tubing. 
A further object of the invention is to provide a wire banding tool which 
is effective, durable and inexpensive. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a wire banding tool having a 
body of a crimped and slotted tube and a puller comprising a screw 
carrying a roll pin projecting through the slots in the tube. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a cable splice wherein hose 
type clamps on end portions of a plastic sleeve seal the sleeve to flanged 
grommets and seal the grommets to the jackets of two cable sections whose 
conductors are spliced electrically.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1-4 a band 
forming tool 10 forming one specific embodiment of the invention and 
serving to form a wire band or clamp 12 from a wire 14. The tool includes 
a tubular body 16 formed from a length of commercially available steel 
tubing. The body has a pair of slots 18 on opposite sides of the body 
through which extends a roll pin 20 fitting tightly in a bore 22 in a 
screw or rod 24 having a threaded portion 26 on which a wing nut 28 is 
screwed. The forward end or nose portion has aligned, wire-receiving 
grooves or notches 30 formed therein and has dimpled or bent in portions 
32 to cause the end portion to be tapered so that the nose portion is 
tapered and will lie close to a hose or other article (not shown) upon 
which the clamp is formed and tightened. 
OPERATION (FIGS. 1-5) 
The wire 14 is bent into the form of an elongated "U" with end portions 40 
extending under crossover or base 42, and with the hose (or other object 
to be clamped) inside the circular portions 44 of the wire, the nose 
portion of the body is placed so that the crossover portion seals in the 
notches 30 and the end portions of the wire are wrapped once around the 
roll pin 20 to snub them and are twisted together as shown at 46. Then the 
wing nut is turned to draw the rod to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1, to 
tighten the circular portions 44 on the hose. Then, while loosening the 
wing nut slightly, the tool is swung from its full line position of FIG. 1 
to somewhat beyond its broken line position to bend the lead portions over 
the crossover portion to form bent retaining portions 46. Then the excess 
lengths of wire are cut off and the ends of the wire are bent further down 
to the finished positions thereof as shown in FIG. 5. 
An improved band forming tool 110 forming an alternate embodiment of the 
invention includes a body 116 of sheet steel formed into a channel having 
side edges 118 guiding a roll pin 120 fitting tightly in bore 122 in a 
screw or rod 124 having a threaded portion 126 on which a wing nut 128 is 
screwed. The wing nut abuts the end of the body and the rod 124 is held in 
the channel by a guide sleeve 131 fitting in notches 133 in the body. At 
the forward or nose portions, the sides of the body are tapered at 134 and 
have notches 130 for fitting over a U-shaped wire in forming a hose clamp. 
EMBODIMENT OF FIGS. 7-9 
A cable splice 50 utilizing the clamps 12 connects two cable sections 52 
together electrically and in a waterproofed manner. A crimped metallic 
sleeve 54 connects conductors 56 together, and with the clamps 12 placed 
over externally grooved end portions 58 of a waterproofing sleeve 60 of a 
semi-rigid plastic material, such as, for example, polyvinyl chloride, the 
sleeve 60 is slid from its position of FIG. 8 to that of FIG. 9 where it 
overlaps end portions of jackets 62 of the cable sections. The jackets are 
of a waterproofing resilient material such as the conventional rubber 
compound used for such purposes. Then relatively elastic grommets or plugs 
63 of an elastomer material, such as, for example, a rubber compound, are 
pressed into end portions of the sleeve 60. The grommets have tapered 
forward end portions 64 to facilitate entry into the sleeve and enlarged 
central portions 66, larger than the cylindrical end portions of the 
sleeve into which they are pressed. The grommets have slight rearward 
tapers. The bands or clamps 12 are then tightened to press the sleeve into 
sealed engagement with the grommets and the grommets into sealed 
engagement with the jackets. Then the clamps 12 are completed with the 
ends bent down.