Crimping tool

Claim 1

An improved crimping tool of a type having a pair of second class levers stamped and formed from a sheet of metal, said pair of levers being joined at their first ends for relative pivotal movement, each of said levers having an opposite free end at which a compression-exerting tool applies force to said levers to cause them to pivot toward each other, said levers having aligned intermediate portions movable in a first plane which longitudinally bisects each of said intermediate portions, said intermediate portions having at least one pair of dies in opposed faces of said intermEdiate portions, said pair of dies capable of receiving a termianl herein for crimping said terminal to a wire by an application of said force with said compression-exerting tool, which improvement comprises: said first ends of said levers disposed in overlapping side-byside relationship to define a second plane therebetween, said second plane being generally parallel with said first plane, each of said first ends having a hole extending therethrough which said holes are coaxially aligned and disposed generally perpendicularly with respect to said second plane; fastening means extending through said holes for pivotally joining said first ends of said levers; said free ends of said levers disposed generally parallel to each other and displaced one from the other at opposite sides of a third plane defined therebetween, said third plane being generally parallel to said first and second planes; and at least one of said free ends having an integral alignment tab extending coplanarly therefrom, said tab being disposed in over-lapping sliding contact with the other of said free ends along said thrid plane, whereby said displacement of said free ends allows said crimping tool to be oriented with respect to said compression-exerting tool in any position at which said compression-exerting tool forces said levers toward each other and thereby causes said application of said force on said free ends to be in a direction to intersect said third plane at a small acute angle with respect to said third plane and each of said free ends to be respectively forced toward said third plane to cause said integral alignment tab to maintain said intermediate portions in alignment during crimping of said terminal.