Patent ID: 8006723

Claim:
A conductor loop-forming tool for forming a loop of desired size and shape in a conductor wherein the loop includes a free end of the conductor and is configured to be readily installed about a portion of a tie-down post, the loop-forming tool comprising: a grip having a grip axis and terminating in a grip first end section having a substantially planar grip terminal surface; a central post having a central post axis that is substantially aligned with said grip axis, said central post having a central post embedded section and a central post exposed section, said central post embedded section being mounted in said grip first end section and said central post exposed section terminating in a central post free end that is spaced apart from said grip terminal surface, said central post exposed section being further configured so as to form, in combination with said grip terminal surface, a conductor bending cradle for bending a portion of the conductor about a portion of said central post exposed section that is configured to provide a line of contact with the conductor, said line of contact having a contact radius R C for the conductor; an off-axis post having an off-axis post axis, said off-axis post being partially embedded in said grip first end section with said off-axis post axis parallel to and spaced apart by a separation S from said central post axis, said off-axis post terminating in an off-axis post free end spaced apart from said grip terminal surface to form an off-axis post exposed section, wherein said off-axis post has an off-axis post effective radius R o and the separation S is sufficient to allow the conductor to be passed between said central post and said off-axis post; and a hook length indexing mark on said grip terminal surface located at a distance from said central post and positioned with respect to said off-axis post so as to indicate a position for the free end of the conductor when the conductor passes between said posts and extends sufficiently far as to be engaged by said off-axis post when bent around said central post by rotation of said grip and to define a desired hook length L H to establish a consistent loop tail size.