Patent ID: 7418851

Claim:
A device for crimping a sleeve of a contact on an electrical cable, wherein the device comprises: a cam-based device including a hollow rotatable cylinder, a first set of cams located at a first position along a longitudinal axis of the cylinder and positioned on an internal contour of the cylinder, and a second set of cams located at a second position along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder which is offset from the first position, the second set of cams being rotationally offset relative to the first set of cams and positioned on the internal contour of the cylinder; and a diaphragm including a plurality of jaws having a first subset of jaws and a second subset of jaws, wherein the plurality of jaws of the diaphragm is housed at least partially within the cylinder, wherein an external face of each jaw of the first subset of jaws comprises a boss adapted to contact a cam in the first set of cams, and each jaw of the second subset of jaws comprises a boss adapted to contact a cam in the second set of cams, the bosses of the first subset of jaws being only rotationally offset to the cylinder and only longitudinally spaced along the axis of the cylinder with respect to the bosses of the second subset of jaws, and wherein the first subset of jaws is operably engaged with the first set of cams and the second subset of jaws is operably engaged with the second set of cams such that as the cylinder is rotated, the jaws slidably move relative to one another and relative to the cylinder such that an aperture within the jaws is changed in size, and wherein the first subset of jaws and the second subset of jaws crimp the sleeve against the electrical cable when the cylinder is rotated to decrease the size of the aperture.