Cable tie tensioning and cut-off tool

A tool for tensioning and severing an elongate cable tie having a tie head portion and a tie tail portion, said tool comprising:

• a housing having a barrel portion extending between a distal housing end portion and a proximal housing end portion along a longitudinal axis and a handle portion extending away from said barrel portion in a direction different to said longitudinal axis;
• a trigger mechanism comprising an elongate trigger member extending away from said barrel portion operably forward of said handle portion and configured to move toward and away from said handle portion;
• a tension mechanism;
• comprising a pawl link slidably reciprocatingly within said barrel portion along said longitudinal axis and operably coupled to said trigger mechanism, the tension mechanism configured to grippingly engage the cable tie and apply tension to the tie tail when said elongate trigger member moves toward said handle portion, during use;
• a locking mechanism within said barrel portion and operably coupled with said tension mechanism, the locking mechanism comprising a locking lever, having a stop member at a proximal lever end and a contact portion at a distal lever end, said locking lever arranged parallelly adjacent to said pawl link and pivotally coupled to a first fulcrum pin of said pawl link so as to allow rotation of said locking lever about said first fulcrum pin relative to said pawl link between an unlocked position and a locked position, the locking mechanism configured to stop operation of and lock said tension mechanism at a predetermined tension of the tie tail;
• a cut-off mechanism within said barrel portion and operably coupled with said trigger mechanism and said locking mechanism, the cut-off mechanism configured to cut the tie tail when said locking mechanism is lockingly actuated, said cut-off mechanism comprising:
• (i) a cutting lever, having a blade member at a distal cutting lever end, arranged parallelly below said pawl link and pivotally coupled at a second fulcrum pin of said housing, so as to allow rotation of said cutting lever about said second fulcrum pin relative to said housing between an upper position cuttingly engageable with the cable tie, and a lower position disengaged from the cable tie;
• and (ii) a cutting linkage, operably coupling a proximal cutting lever end with said trigger mechanism, so as to rotate said cutting lever between said upper position and said lower position at a predetermined condition during actuation of said trigger mechanism, the proximal cutting lever end including a contact portion configured to engage with a stopping plate of the housing;
• and
• an adjustable biasing mechanism positioned to provide a biasing load to any one of said trigger mechanism, said tension mechanism, and said cut-off mechanism, the adjustable biasing mechanism comprising:
• a second biasing member within said barrel portion,
• a lever link, pivotably mounted to a third fulcrum pin of said housing and coupled to said second biasing member via a first end portion, so as to translate a linear movement from said cutting linkage into a rotational movement of said lever link about said third fulcrum pin, and
• a cam link, operably coupled between a second end portion of said lever link and said cutting linkage, positioned to provide a predetermined resistance profile to said cutting linkage when moving said cutting lever from said lower position towards said upper position.