Cable tie

Claim 1

A cable tie system comprising: a tool, a series of cable tie heads retained in aligned end to end relation in said tool, each said cable tie head comprising: a rectangular plastic head having a pair of parallel cable tie strap passages therethrough, and a metal pawl in said plastic head, said pawl having a planar body extending generally parallel to and lying between said strap passages and at least two teeth at one end of said body, said pawl teeth being bent out of the plane of said body to provide pawl teeth that can simultaneously project one into each of said passages at an angle to the length thereof to engage a cable tie strap at two spaced locations, each of said teeth being bent out of the plane of said body through an angle less than 90°, said pawl body being retained in said plastic head by its end opposite the end having said teeth such that said pawl body is cantilevered and normally positioned with no pawl tooth extending into a first of said cable tie passages, and a spool of cable tie strap material formed and supported on said tool to permit the free end thereof to be slid through said first strap passage in at least one of said cable tie heads from the end thereof adjacent the toothed end of said pawl, looped around a bundle of wires and then threaded back into the second of said passages in said one cable tie head from the end of said body in which said pawl body is retained by said plastic head and past the pawl tooth projecting into said second passage to deflect said pawl and engage the pawl teeth with the strap in both strap passages to prevent backward movement of the strap in said second strap passage and any further forward movement of said strap in said first strap passage.