Wire strippers

Claim 1

A tool for separating the outer non-metallic sheath from an electrical cable, to expose the interior core wires for stripping, and comprising: a pair of opposed blade members articulated at a pivot for closing and opening movement relative to the cable located therebetween; said blade members respectively presenting opposed recesses having spaced ends for encompassing the cable in the closed position of the blade members; and a single piercing barb, presented by the tool and formed integrally thereon, said barb being located in one of the recesses only and projecting therefrom in the direction of the opposed recess, which pierces the cable sheath on closing the blades and then slits the cable sheath as an incident to subsequent longitudinal displacement between the tool and cable, said piercing barb being off-center compared to the lateral span of the recess and said recess ends being so spaced that cables of different width may be positioned in contact with one or the other of the recess ends, which ever gives the better purchase of the barb into the sheath, and to be guided thereby, said piercing barb being shaped to combine both a piercing point and a knife edge, said edge being sloped in the direction of one side face of the related blade member and only the recess in which the knife edge is located having a face sloped substantially parallel to the slope of the knife edge, such that on tilting the tool substantially the entire barb may penetrate the sheath and thereafter, during displacement between the tool and cable, the sloped face glides in a guiding-relation on the encompassed cable.