Apparatus for wire stripping

Apparatus for wire stripping comprising inner cutting jaws (28, 30) located between outer gripping jaws (10, 14), a lever (18) mechanism for closing the jaws, and an actuator (50) coupled to the cutting jaws so that movement of the actuator generally along the axis (B) of the cable displaces the cutting jaws, the actuator providing a cam for at least closing the gripping jaws, characterised in that the actuator is arranged for lateral movement (A) as well as movement along the direction of the cable axis, and the lever mechanism includes a link (54) for initially causing actuator cam movement to close the jaws and after a transition point allowing the cam to move relative to the jaws for the following jaw displacement, said link (54) being pivoted at each end to the lever (18) and to the actuator respectively, and being inclined at an angle to the axis of the cable at all times, so that vector components of force applied in lever movement will urge and displace the actuator laterally at the beginning of the lever movement thus moving the cam laterally with the one gripping jaw to commence the jaw closing movement, and move the actuator along said axis so as to move the cam relative to the one gripping jaw subsequently.