Compound tools – Specialized to wire fence installation or repair
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-09
2001-11-13
Larson, Lowell A. (Department: 3725)
Compound tools
Specialized to wire fence installation or repair
C007S137000, C254S028000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314599
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a fastener pulling tool such as a plier used in fencing operations including fence repairs when it is necessary to loosen or remove staples, nails and the like from posts.
BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY
Various tools are used in building, repairing or removing fencing. A common form of fencing which has been in use for many years consists of barbed wire and/or page wire fencing which is stretched tightly and fastened to wooden posts by way of metal staples driven into the post. Without a proper tool, it is difficult to remove the staple once it has been driven tightly against a strand of wire making up the fence. The most common tool presently sold is designed for various uses in fencing, and this tool, which is designed for removing staples, is a more modern version of the tool shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,949,335, Feb. 27, 1934 to Settles. While variations of this tool are still being developed, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,748, Apr. 19, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,586, Dec. 24, 1996, both of Haldemann, the design of the most commonly accepted fencing tool has remained substantially unchanged for a long period of time.
The above described tool which has been most readily available has certain deficiencies with regard to the use it is most commonly put, i.e., that of pulling staples. In many cases the fence post is a section of a trunk of a small tree, such as a cedar tree and is of a substantially circular cross-section. In some instances the post may be of relatively small diameter. In driving the staple horizontally into the post to capture a stretched strand of fencing wire, the staple is oriented so that it is in a vertical plane. Thus, using as an example FIG. 5 of the above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 1,949,335, when the tool is clamped onto a staple, as illustrated, the tool must be swung in a direction which is normal to that of the staple, i.e. in a horizontal plane. This results in the curved tail portion of the tool which provides a moving fulcrum for the outward prying of the staple, moving about the outer circumference of the post, thereby continuously reducing the outward pull on the staple and actually progressively pulling the staple sideways. This usually results in the bending of the staple, and when the post is of small diameter, it may become necessary to attempt to finish the pull by exerting a pull straight outward and without the advantage of leverage. Alternatively, to finish the pull of the staple the plier may be moved to another prying position.
Also, one frequent reason for removing the staples to release the fencing wires from the post is that the post has been broken, usually at or slightly above ground level. In this situation, it becomes virtually impossible to exert any withdraw force on the staple by turning the plier in a horizontal plane because this simply causes the post to effectively twist about its own longitudinal axis.
There is available on the market another fencing plier which has cut out portions in the jaws so as to provide separated pincer portions for straddling the staple and being disposed to grasp the wire being held by the staple at either side of the staple. The purpose of the design is obviously to allow a pull to be exerted by swinging the plier in a direction coinciding with the plane of the staple, as is done with the present invention. Another form of a plier which is designed to achieve the same result is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,911, Dec. 11, 1951, to R. A. E. Palmer. However, the principle of attempting to remove a staple by pulling on the wire being held by the staple is not usually practical. When a staple has been driven tightly into the post, the horizontal strand of wire being held thereby is usually buried in the post under the bight of the staple, thus making it extremely difficult to force the pincer points behind the wire to achieve any pull on the wire. Moreover, if the staple is held firmly by the post, which is the usual situation, the wire will deform and will possibly break before the staple is released. Once the wire breaks, further work must be done to remove the staple. When the tool is being used in the repair of fences, the breaking of the wire can result in considerable additional repair work, and even a significant bend in the wire can result in future breaking of the wire.
Moreover, while the most commonly sold fencing plier includes a hammer face at one side edge, it is the experience of most users that effective and straight driving of a staple or nail is not easily achieved. The ineffective use of such hammer face seems to be because of the orientation of the tool as held when using the hammer face or the lack of momentum which can be achieved due to the weight or distribution of weight in the head of such a plier when striking a staple or nail with the hammer face. Also, while such fencing pliers are usually provided with a pointed outer end of the tail portion making up the moving fulcrum, which pointed outer end can be also used, for example, in wedging out a tightly driven staple, many such pliers have no useful part for removing nails. Nails are frequently encountered because they may be used in attaching insulators to the posts for stretching electric fencing. Also, spikes which might be used in fencing for attaching bracing poles and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a tool, more generally referred to hereinafter as a plier, of a simple structure which permits the removal of a fastener, such as a staple by exerting an effective pulling force on the fastener.
It is an object of one form of the invention to provide in the fencing plier an effective hammer portion and to further form the structure utilized in the removal of staples to also function as a nail pulling claw.
According to one form of the present invention there is provided a plier for pulling staples from posts and the like, the plier being of the type having a pair of members connected in scissor-fashion for pivotal operating action in a plane normal to pivot axis of the members. Each member includes a jaw and a handle portion and wherein the jaws of the pair of members form a head portion on a side of the pivot axis opposite to the handle portions, the head portion having opposed side faces formed by the jaws and disposed in substantially parallel planes normal to the axis. The jaws in a closed position define a substantially continuous post engaging top edge or ridge, and the jaws have opposed surfaces which may define staple grasping pincer points and are adjacent the top edge and move toward engagement on closure of the handles. The plier includes a fulcrum means formed integrally with the head portion and projecting laterally from one of the opposite side faces, the fulcrum means defining a post engaging surface extending in a plane substantially normal to the post engaging ridge defined by said jaws and providing a leverage for pull on a grasped staple upon swinging said handle portions normal to the post engaging ridge and in a direction towards the side from which the fulcrum means projects.
When the staple has been driven into a post to secure a horizontal strand of the fence, its plane, i.e., the plane containing the bight of the staple and the two legs joined thereby, is substantially vertically disposed. It can be appreciated, therefore, that with the present invention, as the bight of the staple is grasped by the pincer points and the plier is swung in a direction coinciding with the plane of the staple, the upper edge of the fulcrum means engages the post and the pressure can be applied in an upward or downward direction, rather than around the post, to more effectively withdraw the staple. Also, in the present invention the withdrawing force is applied directly to the bight of the staple rather than to the fencing wire.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fulcrum means includes a pair of parallel fulcrum members one each being integrally formed with one of the jaws on a common side fa
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