Patent ID: 7637481

Claim:
A fence clip assembly for supporting a fence wire, comprising a fence clip supported by a fence T-post having a vertically extending stem and a pair of opposing arms longitudinally extending along and protruding from a front edge of the stem and defining a front surface and a rear surface, the fence clip comprising: a planar body having a lower edge and an upper edge; a pair of spaced-apart upper legs extending from the upper edge in a first direction, a portion at a distal end of each of the upper legs extending downwardly toward the lower edge; a pair of spaced-apart lower legs extending from the lower edge in the first direction and disposed outboard of the upper legs, each lower leg terminated in a ring for receiving the fence wire; the fence clip being secured to the T-post from the rear surface of the T-post and the first direction in a direction toward the T-post such that the upper legs straddle the stem and the lower legs straddle the stem and the arms; wherein in a first configuration the fence clip body is disposed proximate the rear surface and inclined upwardly between the upper and the lower edges with the upper edge closer to the rear surface than the lower edge, the upper legs are in contact with the rear surface of the arms of the T-post and a tension force between the upper legs and the body restrains the fence clip against free vertical movement along the T-post and urges the fence wire against the front surface of the T-post; and wherein responsive to a manual forward-directed force against the body, when the fence clip is in a second configuration, a lower region of the body is moved closer to the rear surface of the T-post and the rings are moved away from the front surface of the T-post in the first direction when compared to the first configuration, in the second configuration the forward-directed force overcomes the tension force to permit manual vertical movement of the fence clip on the T-post, after the fence clip is moved vertically to move the fence wire, the applied force is removed and the fence clip returns to the first configuration.