Abstract:
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. The wear surface cover clip of the invention can be easily removably interconnected with a conventional wire dispensing reel and when once installed, markedly extends the life of the wire dispensing reel.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   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receiving loops so that the reels can be mounted upon the belts of the workman so that the wire can be conveniently withdrawn from the wire coils mounted therewithin by pulling the wire out of the casing through one or more openings formed in the casing wall.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  FIG. 1 . When the wire falls into one of these grooves during the rebar tying operation, the worker will experience binding as a result of the wire being pulled at an angle in a very tight groove as the worker ties from left to right. Further, as the wire is pulled from the coil, it normally tends to travel back and forth over the wear surface of the dispensing reel so that when the wire falls into a groove in the wear surface, severe binding occurs. 
   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. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a generally perspective view of one form of prior art, tie wire dispensing reel, showing the clip of the present form of the invention exploded therefrom. 
       FIG. 2  is a generally perspective view of one form of the wear surface cover clip of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a side elevational view of the clip shown in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 4  is a generally perspective view of a prior art tie wire dispensing reel showing the wear surface cover clip of the invention in position over the wear surface of the wire dispensing reel. 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged, cross sectional view taken along lines  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4 . 
   

   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   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. 
   DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring to the drawings and particularly to  FIG. 1 , one form of the wire dispensing device of the present invention is there shown and generally designated by  14 . The wire dispensing device here comprises a hollow casing  16  having a relatively flat rear wall  18  and a forwardly projecting circular wall portion  20 . A supporting shaft  21 , which extends from rear wall  18  into the hollow casing  16 , functions to support pre-formed coils of wire “W” ( FIG. 4 ). Affixed to rear wall  18  are belt loops “BL” which enable the reel to be carried on the belt of the workman. 
   Circular wall portion  20  is provided with an opening  22  to permit withdrawal of the wire from casing  16  in the manner illustrated in  FIG. 4  of the drawings. Opening  22  is provided with a curved wear surface  24  for engagement by the wire as the wire is removed from the reel. 
   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  FIG. 1  of the drawings. With the passage of time, the score lines can to become deeper causing be circular wall portion  20  to ultimately breakdown in the manner shown at “B” in  FIG. 1 . Such a failure renders the dispensing reel substantially useless and the reel must be discarded. It is this problem that the wear surface covering clip  26  of the present invention seeks to remedy by either initially protecting the wear surface of the dispensing reel to prevent breakdown, or by repairing a defective reel in the manner shown in  FIG. 4  of the drawings. 
   As indicated in  FIGS. 1 ,  4  and  5 , the novel wear surface covering clip  26  can be readily removably connected to casing  16  to repair the defective reel. Alternatively, the clip can be removably connected to a new, unused wire dispensing reel (not shown in the drawings) so as to initially prevent damage to the wear surface  24 . Additionally, it should be understood that wear surface covering clips  26  of the present invention can be used to cover either, or both, of the transversely extending edges  22   a  of the opening  22  formed in the circular wall portion of the casing. 
   As best seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  5  of the drawings, clip  26 , which is preferably formed from spring-type stainless steel having a very hard, abrasion resistant wear surface  30 , is of a unique configuration which enables it to be quickly and easily removably interconnected with hollow casing  16  in the manner shown in  FIG. 5 . However, other materials such as galvanized sheet metal has proven to be satisfactory for use in constructing the clip. 
   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  28   a  and a lower extremity  28   b . Similarly, cover segment  30  includes a front extremity  30   a  and a rear extremity  30   b  that is integrally formed with upper extremity  28   a  of rear segment  28 . Front segment  32  includes an upper extremity  32   a  that is integrally formed with front extremity  30   a  of cover segment  30  and a lower extremity  32   b  that is disposed in close proximity with rear segment  28  ( FIG. 3 ). Curved wear surface cover segment  30  is uniquely constructed so as to continuously bias the lower extremity  32   a  of front segment  32  toward 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  32   b  of front segment  32  is curved outwardly in the manner best seen in  FIGS. 3 and 5 . With this construction, the curved lower extremity  32   b  of the front segment will permit front segment to easily slip over the wear surface  24  and seat itself over the wear surface in the manner shown in  FIG. 5 . In this regard, it should be noted that the curvature of the curved wear surface cover segment  32  approximates the curvature of the dispensing reel wear surface  24  so that once the clip is snapped in place the lower portion of the cover segment will engage the lower portion of the wear surface  24  in a manner to prevent accidental removal of the clip from the wire dispenser. To this end, in the preferred form of the improvement clip, the curved wear surface cover segment has a radius “R” of between about 0.14 and about 0.18 inch. 
   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  FIG. 4 , the opening  22  formed in casing  16  has a width “W” and clip  26  has a width “W- 1 ” which is substantially equal to the width “W” of opening  22  in said housing. With this construction, when the clip  26  is in place as shown in  FIG. 4 , the wear surface portion of the clip, namely portion  30 , will substantially cover the wear surface  24  of the wire dispensing reel so as to offer maximum protection to the wear surface  24 . 
   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.