Tap bracket or the like

Claim 1

As an article of manufacture, a tap bracket or the like, comprising a cable clamp member for secure attachment to a selected location along a longitudinal stretch of messenger wire or the like of given diameter, and a single-piece bent stiff metal-strip bracket member loosely assembled by an engaged nut and bolt; said clamp member comprising two side panels of stiff metal strip integrally connected by a single upper-edge longitudinal bend and divergent downwardly at an acute angle to their lower longitudinal edges, at least one of said side panels having at its lower longitudinal edge a reversely and inwardly and upwardly bent flange of upward extent less than the upward extent of said one side panel and oriented at an acute angle to its associated side panel, the inner limiting edge of said flange being spaced from the nearest region of the other panel to an offset extent slightly less than said given diameter, whereby said clamp may be applied to the cable with snap action via the space at said offset, and said panels each having a bolt aperture at a bolt-shank alignment sufficiently offset from said flange to accommodate the cable between said flange and said bolt alignment, the upwardly bent edge of said flange being at sufficient offset beneath said bolt shank to accommodate said given diameter; said bracket member comprising an arm of stiff sheet metal having an integral upstanding flat leg at one end and a reversely bent hook formation at the end of said leg, the flat of said upstanding leg confronting the outer surface of one of said panels and the hook formation having curved and fitted conformance to the convex curvature outside the bend between said panels, and said upstanding leg having a bolt aperture in register with the bolt aperture of said one side panel, the shank of said bolt passing through all of said apertures, whereby upon setting the nut and bolt to clamp to the cable, the tap-bracket arm is fixed to the clamp and keyed against rotation by reason of the fit of said hook formation to said bend.