Spacer for double cage reinforcement wire mesh for concrete products

A spacer for positioning the inner and outer wire mesh concrete reinforcing cages used in forms for producing concrete structures such as box sections and pipes, which cages each have a plurality of parallel spaced-apart horizontal wires joined to a plurality of paralled spaced-apart vertical wires and which cages are positioned in a form that has spaced-apart inner and outer surfaces, said spacer also serving to maintain the cages a predetermined distance away from the surfaces of the form, said spacer comprising a continuous length of spring-steel material of a substantially round cross-section, a central substantially straight portion having a U-shaped loop formed in the material near a first end of the spacer, the loop being formed to extend over one of the wires of the outer cage to position that cage, an eye extending outwardly from the loop to form a rounded nose that it is engageable with the outer surface of the concrete form to position the outer cage a predetermined distance away from the outer surface, and a locking leg of the spacer extending downwardly and inwardly from the nose to form a locking hook at the first end of the spacer in a plane spaced from the plane of the loop, said hook extending under, inwardly and then upwardly around the same one of the wires of the outer cage engageable by the loop, and locking means at the second end of the straight portion of the spacer to positively lock the second end onto a wire of the inner cage so as to position the inner cage relative to the outer cage, the locking hook being such that when the locking means is engaged with the inner cage and the hook is placed adjacent a wire of the cage and turned with force until beneath the wire, the hook will be snapped onto the wire engaged by it, the resilience of the spring-steel spacer locking the spacer in place when the force is released.