Wire cutting tool particularly for orthodontists

A plier-type wire cutting tool particularly for orthodontic use in cutting a wire used with appliances mounted in the mouth of a patient, said wire severed by this tool by a shear cut with one end of the wire retained by the appliance to which it is attached and with the other end, after severing, gripped by a resilient leaf spring carried by one jaw of the tool and by a facing shelf portion of an opposed jaw, said plier-type tool including:

• (a) a pair of plier-type members including handle and jaw portions connected so as to be pivotally movable;
• (b) a pivot joint pin adapted for retaining said plier-type members in a pivotal relationship so that as and when manipulated the jaw portions of the wire cutting tool are moved away and toward each other;
• (c) a shear cutting edge and ledge formed in each jaw end of the tool, said shear cutting edge and ledge portions adapted to approach and slide by each other to shear cut a wire disposed in way of said shear edge cutting portions;
• (d) a leaf spring having a first leg secured to and carried by one of the jaw portions, said leaf spring having a second leg disposed to lay adjacent a shear cutting edge and away from the pivot joint pin, said leaf spring having this second leg as an extending leaf portion movable against a bias of and in said spring, this extending leaf portion disposed a short distance above the jaw portion and substantially parallel to the top surface of the shear cutting edge and ledge in the jaw portion to which it is attached, the jaw portion having a relief formed in the shelf portion to accommodate the extending portion of the leaf spring and with clearance for a desired securing motion and position when and while a wire is being cut, and
• (e) a flat shelf portion formed in the jaw portion opposite the leaf spring, said shelf arranged to engage the wire end and move the wire against the shelf and grip said wire as the shear cutting edges and ledges are moved toward, to and past each other to cut said wire and produce a severed end, the severed end of the wire being gripped between the extending leaf portion and shelf until the jaw portions are moved apart, usually after removal from the mouth of the patient, said flat shelf and extending leaf portion being as much as forty thousandths of an inch apart when and as initial engagement and retention of the wire occurs.