Patent ID: 8413865

Claim:
A wire guide apparatus for a staple gun having a staple driver at a front end thereof, the apparatus comprising: a housing positioned on the front end of the staple gun forward of the staple driver; the housing holding a cam switch, a cam shaft and a cam, the cam switch being movable to rotate the cam; and a substantially planar wire guide having a first cutout adapted to be positioned over a wire or cable and a second cutout adapted to receive the cam; wherein the cam is movable within the second cutout to move the wire guide linearly from a first position, in which the first cutout is not extended from the staple gun, to a second position in which the first cutout is extended from the staple gun; wherein at least a portion of the cam switch has an arcuately shaped portion received in a correspondingly shaped arcuate recess in the housing; wherein the cam switch is rotatable between a first position, in which a bearing surface of the cam is urged against an upper surface of the second cutout in the wire guide, and a second position, in which the bearing surface of the cam is urged against a lower surface of the second cutout in the wire guide; wherein said first and second positions of the cam switch and cam correspond to the first and second positions of the wire guide; wherein, in the first position and the second position, the longitudinal axis of the cam is at an angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of the wire guide to lock the wire guide in the first position and the second position; and wherein, in the first position and the second position, the longitudinal axis of the cam cooperates with the wire guide to lock the guide in the first position and the second position without an additional locking mechanism.