Patent ID: 8257367

Claim:
A cable tensioning apparatus for generating tension in a cable, the cable tensioning apparatus comprising: an elongate shaft assembly having proximal and distal ends and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween; a proximal cable guide device mounted to the elongate shaft assembly; a distal cable guide device mounted to the elongate shaft assembly, longitudinally spaced from the proximal cable guide device; cable guideways of the proximal and distal cable guide devices that are aligned with and longitudinally spaced from each other and spaced from the elongate shaft assembly for receiving the cable therethrough, the distal cable guide device including a bridge portion extending above the shaft assembly for spacing the distal cable guideway from the shaft assembly; a clamping mechanism of the proximal cable guide device for clamping the cable relative to the proximal cable guide device; a plurality of detachable clamp mechanisms for connecting to an upper end portion of the bridge portion of the distal cable guide device to clamp the cable extending through the cable guideway, a detachable connection between the upper end portion of the bridge portion of the distal cable guide device and each of the plurality of clamp mechanisms so that with one of the plurality of clamp mechanisms attached to the bridge portion the clamp mechanism can be clamped on the cable and detached from the bridge portion to maintain tension in the cable so that another of the plurality of clamp mechanisms can be attached to the upper end portion of the bridge portion for tensioning another cable; and a drive mechanism housed in the shaft assembly and operable to shift the proximal cable guide device longitudinally in a proximal direction away from the shaft assembly distal end so that with the cable extending through the cable guideways and clamped to the proximal cable guide device, the longitudinally spaced proximal and distal cable guide devices allow an operator to observe tension develop in a length of cable exposed between the longitudinally spaced cable guide devices and spaced from the shaft assembly as the proximal cable guide device is shifted longitudinally in the proximal direction.