Tool for pulling cable

Claim 1

A pulling tool for pulling cable through a hole in a wall where the thickness of the wall is much greater than the diameter of the hole, comprising: a long slender stem sized to pass through the hole and of length greater than the thickness of the wall; a sleeve surrounding the stem and having an outer diameter sized to pass through the hole, the sleeve having a cylindrical portion with a bore sized to receive the end of the cable, and the sleeve having a tapered portion with a smaller bore communicating with the first mentioned bore and sized to slide snuggly on the stem, the outer surface of the sleeve tapering down gradually from the outer diameter of the cylindrical portion substantially to the diameter of the stem; a cable grasping member secured to the end of the stem inside said sleeve and comprising spring-wire wound around said end of the stem and soldered to it, the wire extending from the stem inside said cylindrical portion of the sleeve and forming plural fingers having hooked outer ends bent radially inwardly toward each other, the sleeve being moveable along the stem between an unlocked position exposing the hooked ends of the fingers separated from each other by more than the thickness of the cable and a cable locking position in which the fingers and the end of the cable lie entirely inside the cylindrical portion of the sleeve with the hooked ends driven radially into the cable; the stem supporting a stop member located and operative to limit movement of said sleeve at said unlocked position to keep the soldered portion of the wire just inside the cylindrical portion of the sleeve, said soldered portion of the wire serving as a stop in said locking position by abutting the sleeve near its smaller bore; and the length of the cylindrical portion of the sleeve being at least twice as long as the length of the wire fingers so that in said locking position at least half of the length of the sleeve covers the cable beyond said hooked outer ends of the fingers.