Hook, Pin and Blade Terminals

These are the shapes for connections a ring or fork will not suit.

Pin terminals turn stranded wire into a solid end that a clamp or spring terminal can hold without strands splaying out of the side — the usual answer when a terminal block keeps biting through odd strands.

Blade and lipped blade suit clamp and cage terminals that will not take a ring; the lip stops the wire being pushed too far in.

Hook terminals hang on a slackened screw and hold themselves there while you tighten, which is genuinely useful for overhead or blind work.

Square tongue gives more bearing surface than a round ring on busbar and heavy screw connections, and flag terminals put the tongue at right angles to the wire for connections with almost no depth behind them.