Tensile member with tension indicator

Claim 1

In combination: a tensile member having a stop fixed relative to a first region thereof, and means defining a reaction surface on said tensile member fixed relative to a second region of said tensile member remote from said first region; and indicator means for determining whether a desired tension exists in said tensile member, said indicator means including a movable member movable by hand pressure relative to said tensile member, means defining a shoulder spaced from and facing towards said reaction surface, and a bi-stable resilient member betwEen said reaction surface and said shoulder and operatively coupled to said movable member, said bi-stable resilient member being resiliently deformable between first and second stable configurations, whereby when said movable member is urged in a first direction, said resilient member is urged towards said surface and becomes distorted and snaps through from said first stable configuration to said second stable configuration when the distance between said first region and said reaction surface increases by a given amount as a result of elongation of said tensile member caused by tensioning thereof; and whereby said movable member when moving in a second direction opposite to said first direction presses said resilient member against said shoulder so that said resilient member snaps through from said second stable configuration to said first stable configuration.