Patent ID: 7966911

Claim:
A hose clamp compression tool for engaging and compressing a hose clamp band or a hose clamp wire ring, said band including a first and a second outwardly projecting end tang, said first and second tangs in spaced relation and moveable toward one another to expand the circumference of the band, said wire ring including offset opposite end tangs, said tool comprising, in combination: first and second spaced, generally parallel cylindrical rails, each rail having first and second spaced ends; first and second fixed end plates attached respectively to the first end and second end of the first rail and the second rail; a slide plate slidably mounted on the rails intermediate the first and second end plates, said plates arranged in parallel array; a threaded cylindrical rod journaled to said first and second end plates and threaded through said slide plate, said rod generally parallel to, and midway between, the rails and rotatable to effect sliding movement of the slide plate on said rails, said rod projecting axially from at least one of said fixed end plates and positioned on a first side of said rails; said first end plate and said slide plate each including an outwardly projecting tang engagement member extending transversely to said rails on the side of said rails generally opposite the first side, said tang engagement members shaped to engage respectively a first said tang and a second said tang of a said hose clamp band to enable altering the spacing of said hose clamp band tangs upon rotation of said rod, said tang engagement member of said slide plate and said first end plate each including a slot transverse to the axial rod; said slide plate and said first fixed end plate each further comprising: a channel normal to and connected to the respective transverse slot, the respective channels of the slide plate and the first end plate laterally spaced from each other and at an equal distance from the axis of the rod and on opposite sides of the axis of the rod, said slots including a support surface subtending the channels to limit the location of a wire tang in each of the respective channels; said rails laterally spaced from each other.