Notched blade for rotary wire stripper

In a mechanized rotary wire stripper characterized in that, when in operation, the stripper has at least one pair of diametrically opposed blades driven by a motor in a manner so that their cutting edges repetitively circle about the end of an insulated wire to be stripped, and simultaneously move in a symmetrical, generally radially inward fashion until their cutting edges contact and cut around the wire's insulation, to permit stripping the same from the wire's center conductor, an improved blade for use in connection with said stripper, said improved blade being adapted for cutting through both soft and hard forms of insulation, comprising:

• a blade having a cutting edge, with at least a portion of said edge having at least one chipping point, said chipping point being defined by a substantially unsharpened notch in said cutting edge, said notch being positioned adjacent a sharpened, straight section of said edge, in a manner so that said sharpened section and said notch define a corner at one side of said notch shaped to chip through said insulation, the distance across said notch being substantially less than the outer diameter of the center conductor of said wire to be stripped, but sufficiently great so that at least a portion of the curvature of said insulation surrounding said center conductor is normally received within said notch during stripping of said wire, so that said corner chips through said insulation as said edge moves radially inward into contact with and circles said wire.