Abstract: An improved lead wire forming apparatus is described comprising wire flattening apparatus, a three jaw hook former, and clamping dies for fastening the lead wire about a filament.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to the manufacture of incandescent lamps and, in particular, to apparatus for fastening lead wires to incandescent filaments, especially coiled filaments.In the prior art, lead wires were flattened, given an initial bend with clamping jaws, received a filament while in the clamping jaws, and then clamped around the filament using the filament as an anvil in the same clamping jaws.While the connection provided in this manner is adequate initially, the connection has a tendency to deteriorate in use, particularly where the use requires a large number of on-off cycles as in signal lamps. This deterioration causes early and unpredictable failure of the lamp.The deterioration is believed due to a number of factors which revolve around the way the connection is made.