Tool driving or impacting – Means to drive tool about an axis – Electric motor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-26
2001-03-27
Vo, Peter (Department: 3721)
Tool driving or impacting
Means to drive tool about an axis
Electric motor
C173S029000, C173S170000, C310S050000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206107
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power tool and has particular although not exclusive, relevance to battery powered tools.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is conventional for power tools to be designed and built for a dedicated purpose, such as a drill, a jigsaw or a sander. If the user needs to undertake a sanding operation he will use a dedicated sander. If then he needs to drill a hole in a workpiece he will swap the sander for a dedicated drill, and so on.
Whilst such swapping over of dedicated tools is not inconvenient, it does mean that, particularly for the person who needs to use power tools relatively infrequently, considerable expense is incurred in acquiring a broad range of these dedicated power tools.
Furthermore, in the case of so-called “cordless” or battery-powered tools, the user will either need to change the battery pack when changing dedicated tools, or have several ready-charged batteries available for use. These alternative options are cumbersome or expensive respectively.
Solutions to the above problems have been proposed in the past and one such solution entails providing a power tool including a motorized drive which is capable of accepting any one of a plurality of discrete attachments which achieve a dedicated purpose. This means that rather than purchasing a dedicated entire power tool for each job, the user only has to purchase a dedicated attachment (which is cheaper than a dedicated entire tool) and just swap these over as and when necessary. Even with such a proposed solution problems still exist, however. It has been found that the user perceives as either problematic or irritating the fact that interchanging such discrete attachments can take some time. Very often the user needs to ensure accurate mating of the connecting parts and this may also entail manually connecting the individual component parts by, for example, a nut and bolt connection.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is thus an object of the present invention to at least alleviate the aforementioned shortcomings by provision of a power tool whereby discrete attachments may be readily and easily coupled and decoupled from the body of the tool without the need for a separate manual connection operation, such as the one described above, by the user of the tool.
Accordingly the present invention provides a power tool including a body portion defining a handle and a motor mounted within the body portion, which motor is arranged to drive an output spindle of the tool; the body portion further defining an opening around the output spindle, which opening accepts any one of a plurality of attachment members presented thereto, the power tool characterized in that the body portion includes, within the opening, first engagement means for selective engagement with co-operable second engagement means formed on or from an attachment member. Thus by provision of the means for coupling the body portion to the attachment member on the members themselves, the need for a separate connection means is avoided.
Preferably the first engagement means is biased so as to be urged into engagement with the co-operable second engagement means in its rest position. This provides that once the co-operable second engagement means is in position, it will remain there and be restrained by the first engagement means.
In a preferred embodiment the first engagement means is spring biased into its rest position. Additionally it is possible that the first engagement means comprises a plurality of arms.
Advantageously the co-operable second engagement means, when presented to the first engagement means is held in rigid engagement with the body portion by the first engagement means. This means that the power tool is then automatically in a state of readiness to be used.
Preferably the co-operable second engagement means includes a projecting member which, when the co-operable second engagement means is presented to the first engagement means, acts against the biasing of the first engagement means thereby to enable coupling of the co-operable second engagement means with the first engagement means. This enables the co-operable engagement member to couple with the first engagement means without the need for manual displacement of the first engagement means.
Preferably the coupling between the co-operable second engagement means and the first engagement means is a snap-fit coupling. This ensures that the body portion and the attachment member are definitely in correct engagement in order for the user to be able to start to use the tool.
Advantageously the co-operable second engagement means includes a recess for coupling with the first engagement means. This provides for ease of coupling. Additionally the recess may be an annular recess.
Preferably the projecting member is arranged as a tapered leading edge of the co-operable second engagement means.
Advantageously the first engagement means includes a manually operable release member to release the selective engagement between the first engagement means and the co-operable second engagement means. This allows the user to readily separate the attachment member portion from the body. Preferably the release member acts against the biasing of the first engagement means. It is also desirable that the release member acts to cause the arms to move.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1965669 (1934-07-01), Robb
patent: 2430422 (1947-11-01), Happe
patent: 2808085 (1957-10-01), Hollien et al.
patent: 3056439 (1962-10-01), Hall et al.
patent: 3724237 (1973-04-01), Wood
patent: 3759336 (1973-09-01), Marcovitz et al.
patent: 4050003 (1977-09-01), Owings et al.
patent: 4103511 (1978-08-01), Kress et al.
patent: 4871629 (1989-10-01), Bunyea
patent: 4962681 (1990-10-01), Yang
patent: 5033552 (1991-07-01), Hu
patent: 5336953 (1994-08-01), Allemann
patent: 5624000 (1997-04-01), Miller
patent: 643 674 (1964-05-01), None
patent: 1902315 (1964-10-01), None
Black & Decker Inc.
Calve Jim
Shapiro Bruce S.
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
Power tool does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Power tool, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Power tool will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2548340