Wire Sleeve Tool With Extendable Mandrels
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manual application of tubular sleeve markers to wires is time-consuming and requires fine dexterity due to their small size and compact form, making it difficult to efficiently distinguish and mark multiple wires, especially over long distances.
Innovation Solution
A wire sleeve hand application tool with extendable mandrels of varying diameters from a handle, allowing for effortless placement of sleeves over wires without manual dexterity, featuring a handle with slots and arms for mandrel extension and locking mechanisms, and optionally including additional tools like a flashlight or screwdriver.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual dexterity is used to apply wire sleeves directly by hand, then the process requires fine motor skills and precision, but the application becomes time-consuming and frustrating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mandrel as an intermediary tool between the user's hand and the wire sleeve. The mandrel serves as a mediator that performs the difficult task of threading the sleeve onto the wire, which the user's fingers cannot do efficiently. The mandrel's tapered tip and hollow channel structure enable it to push the sleeve onto the wire and guide it into place, resolving the contradiction by making the application process both easier and faster.
Solution Approach 2:
The mandrel is designed to perform the application task autonomously once positioned. The spring-loaded mechanism automatically extends the mandrel to push the sleeve onto the wire without requiring continuous manual manipulation. The mandrel's geometry and the sleeve's elasticity work together to achieve self-service application, eliminating the need for precise finger dexterity and reducing application time.
2Volume of moving object
If wire sleeves are provided in flat folded configuration for compact shipping, then storage and shipping efficiency improve, but the application process becomes more difficult requiring pinching and opening
Solution Approach 1:
The mandrel acts as a mediator that handles the sleeve after it has been applied to the wire. The mandrel's hollow channel receives the sleeve, and its tapered tip facilitates the threading process even when the sleeve starts in a folded state. The mandrel pushes the sleeve onto the wire, effectively opening and positioning it without requiring the user to manually pinch and unfold the sleeve, thus resolving the contradiction between compact shipping and ease of application.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple mandrels with different diameters are included to accommodate different wire sizes, then versatility and adaptability improve, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The handle is designed as a universal platform that can accommodate multiple mandrels with different diameters. Each mandrel serves a specific function for a particular wire size range, but the handle itself is a multi-functional device that can switch between these functions by selecting different mandrels. This universality approach resolves the contradiction by providing adaptability for different wire sizes while maintaining a relatively simple, modular handle structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is segmented into modular components: the handle and multiple interchangeable mandrels. This segmentation allows the system to be adapted to different wire sizes by simply changing the mandrel component, rather than designing a completely different tool for each wire size. The modular segmentation reduces overall device complexity while maintaining versatility, as each mandrel is a simple, standardized component that fits into the same handle interface.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates quick and efficient application of wire sleeves to wires of different sizes, reducing manual dexterity requirements and improving the speed of marking elongated objects, enhancing usability and accuracy in marking multiple wires.
Implementation Method 1
The mandrels are, however, axially extendable to an extended position in which an axial tip and a portion of the respective mandrel extends from the axial end of the handle while an opposite axial end of the respective mandrel remains supported within the handle.
Data Source
AI summary
A wire sleeve hand application tool includes a handle and a plurality of mandrels received in the handle and being selectively extendable from an axial end of the handle. Each of the mandrels are biased into a retracted position in which an entirety of the respective mandrel is received in the handle. Each of the mandrels are further axially extendable to an extended position in which an axial tip and a portion of the respective mandrel extends from the axial end of the handle while an opposite axial end of the respective mandrel remains supported within the handle. An extended mandrel may be used to insert a wire sleeve or tubular marker onto a wire or other elongate member.