Thermal wire stripper having a static discharge circuit
AssigneeTeledyne Kinetics
InventorsRonald J. Saunders, Douglas J. Korn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hand-held thermal wire stripper has two arms arranged in a pincer-like configuration, whereby the arms diverge at one end and converge at the other end. The divergent ends of the arms are exposed and a heatable blade is positioned on each divergent end such that the two blades oppose each other across a gap that receives a wire to be stripped. The convergent ends of the arms are housed in a casing that is gripped by the operator of the wire stripper. The casing is formed from an electrostatically dissipative material that conducts electrostatic charges to ground before such charges reach a level sufficient to shock the operator or damage sensitive electrical components coming into contact therewith.
Claims9
A thermal wire stripper comprising:
- a first arm and a second arm, each having a convergent end and a divergent end;
- a first blade at said divergent end of said first arm, and a second blade at said divergent end of said second arm, said first and second blades positioned in opposition to each other and formed from a material having a relatively high thermal conductivity;
- a first mounting member at said convergent end of said first arm, and a second mounting member at said convergent end of said second arm, wherein said first and second mounting members are formed from a material having relatively low thermal and electrical conductivities;
- means for heating said first and second blades;
- a casing housing said first and second mounting members, wherein said casing is formed from a heterogeneous material having a relatively intermediate electrical conductivity and a relatively low thermal conductivity, and wherein said casing material comprises a mixture of a major constituent having a relatively low electrical conductivity and a minor constituent having a relatively high electrical conductivity;
- and
- an electrical conductor attached to said casing and in electrical communication with a ground, wherein said electrical conductor is formed from a material having a relatively high electrical conductivity.
A thermal wire stripper comprising:
- a first arm and a second arm, each having a convergent end and a divergent end;
- a first blade at said divergent end of said first arm, and a second blade at said divergent end of said second arm, wherein said first and second blades are positioned in opposition to each other and are formed from a material having a relatively high thermal conductivity;
- a first mounting member at said convergent end of said first arm, and a second mounting member at said convergent end of said second arm, wherein said first and second mounting members are formed from a material having relatively low thermal and electrical conductivities;
- a voltage source in electrical communication with said first and second arms via a power line for heating said first and second blades, said power line having a ground wire connected to a ground;
- an electrostatically dissipative casing housing said first and second mounting members, wherein said casing is formed from an insulating plastic impregnated with a relatively small fraction of an electrically conducting material;
- and
- an electrical conductor attached to said casing and in electrical communication with said ground via said ground wire, wherein said electrical conductor is formed from a material having a relatively high electrical conductivity.
A thermal wire stripper, comprising:
- an electrostatically dissipative housing;
- first and second thermally conductive stripping arms mounted in said housing;
- first and second thermally conductive stripping blades conductively mounted on said first and second stripping arms and aligned for wire stripping;
- a plurality of electrical resistance heating elements conductively connected to said first and second stripping arms;
- and
- an electrical power source mounted in said housing and electrically connected to said heating elements;
- wherein
- said housing is thermally and electrically insulated from said stripping arms, said heating elements, and said power source;
- and
- said housing is constructed from a heterogeneous mixture of about 95% of a first, non-conductive material, and about 5% of a second, conductive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.