Protective sockets

Details Protective sockets Protective sockets

2000-06-29

2002-06-04

Morgan, Eileen P. (Department: 3723)

Tools

Wrench, screwdriver, or driver therefor

Rigid jaws

C081S185000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06397706

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to sockets for tooling, e.g., socket wrenches, torque wrenches or air wrenches, used to apply torque to hardware, e.g., nuts or bolts, in an assembly process. More specifically, the present invention relates to a protective socket which prevents marring and/or damaging hardware or components being assembled when torque is applied.
Sockets and their associated tooling are used in a wide variety of applications throughout many different industries to assemble and attach various components by applying torque to hardware to hold the components together. The sockets themselves are generally constructed of a metal, such as steel, capable of applying the proper torque to the hardware without deformation. However, when torque is applied, the socket can damage or mar the hardware or the components being assembled. That is, the corners on the head of a nut or bolt can be rounded off, the paint or coating can be damaged or scraped off the hardware, or the component itself can be scraped or scratched as the socket twists against its surface.
In many industries, e.g., aircraft, automotive, ship building, medical equipment and nuclear, the damage and marring caused by torquing, i.e., tightening or loosening, the sockets requires corrective action. By way of example, in the aircraft industry, damage caused by torquing prior art sockets to the required load may result in the following problems: (1) damaged hardware or components are considered a safety hazard and must be replaced; (2) chipped or damaged protective finishes on various hardware or components are considered contamination in aircraft critical areas or a safety hazard; (3) aircraft quality control standards require aircraft manufacturers to initiate costly and time consuming material review procedures to identify damaged components or hardware bolts and determine proper corrective action; and (4) corrective action procedures often require aircraft manufacturers to disassemble and strip the protective coating from damaged components or hardware, then recoat and reassemble. It is very common for these corrective action procedures to be repeated numerous times during the assembly process.
Various non-metallic sockets, e.g., nylon, Teflon®, or other polymeric materials, have been utilized in an attempt to prevent the marring and damaging caused by metallic sockets. However, these non-metallic sockets require a larger outside diameter than the metallic sockets in order to obtain the strength necessary to apply the proper torque to the hardware during an assembly process. These larger outside diameters prevent the non-metallic sockets from fitting inside standard counter bores associated with the hardware, e.g. a ⅜ inch bolt requires 0.620 inch diameter counter bore and ¾ inch bolt requires a 1.120 inch diameter counter bore. On the other hand, if the non-metallic sockets outside diameter were made small enough to fit into the counter bores they would lack the strength of the metallic sockets and deform or slip when applying torque to the hardware.
The accepted US standard for counter bore diameters for conventional socket wrenches, e.g. detachable socket wrenches with ¼ inch and ⅜ inch square drives for hand use (manufactured to standard ASME B107.1-1993), is cited as follows: “Wrench Clearance, Table 3, SAE Aeronautical Drafting Manual, 1954 edition, page Y4.04” (hereinafter the “SAE Standard”). The standard is published by the SAE INTERNATIONAL, 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, Pa. 15096-0001. Column “A” of the SAE Standard gives the associated minimum counter bore diameters required to receive the nut drive end of the above referenced socket wrenches. The SAE Standard has been adopted and used by the machinery industry for many years and is printed in the 25th Edition of the “Machinery Handbook”, published by Industrial Press, Inc., New York, N.Y. (hereinafter the “Machinery Handbook”). Column “A” of the SAE Standard is printed as column “K” on page 1436 of the Machinery Handbook in Table 2, titled “Wrench Clearances for Open End Wrench 15 degrees and Socket Wrench (Regular Length)”. The socket wrench hardware sizes and associated minimum counter bore diameters of Column “A” of the SAE Standard are reprinted in the following table:
Hardware size (inches)
Minimum Counter Bore Diameter (inches)
.188
.370
.250
.470
.312
.550
.344
.580
.375
.620
.438
.750
.500
.810
.562
.870
.594
.920
.625
.950
.688
1.030
.750
1.120
.781
1.150
.812
1.200
.875
1.280
.938
1.370
1.000
1.470
1.062
1.550
1.125
1.610
1.250
1.890
1.312
1.980
1.438
2.140
1.500
2.200
1.625
2.390
One such prior art socket wrench having a non-marring insert is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,433,108 to E. J. Ondeck (hereinafter the “Ondeck patent”). The Ondeck patent is directed to a socket wrench having a non-mar plastic insert having longitudinal side-walls adapted to fully engage a like number of side-walls in a wrench socket in sliding fit relationship and an inner cross-section having longitudinal side-walls. The insert has the same number of outer side-walls as the socket and the same number of inside walls as the nut with which it is used. The insert has 24 outside walls (or 12 corners mating with a conventional socket wrench) and provides in combination therewith six inside walls (or 6 points) for use with hexagonally headed nuts.
However, the problem of having a socket wrench with both a non-mar inner lining and an outside diameter which meets the SAE Standard is not solved by Ondeck. It is specifically stated in Ondeck that, once the insert is fit into a conventional socket wrench, e.g., one manufactured to standard ASME B107.1-1993 (inch series) or ASME B107.5M-1994 (metric series), than “the plastic liner or adaptor is constructed to cooperate with a nut slightly smaller in dimension than a nut properly fitting in the socket without the liner” (see Ondeck, column 3, lines 41-43). This is because the plastic non-mar liner of Ondeck would “flow” or deform if the soft plastic insert were to be made any thinner. Even with the combination of the conventional wall thickness of a standard socket wrench for added support, the soft plastic insert of Ondeck must have a geometric shape in which no voids exist between the inserts hexagonal inner surface and the nut to be engaged or plastic flow will occur and the insert will be damaged (see Ondeck, column 3, lines 24-28).
The problem in Ondeck, as in other non-mar prior art sockets, is that a non-marring inner lining must be inherently softer that the nut it is designed to engage in order to prevent marring. Therefore, the inner lining must rely on its outer sleeve for added support or the nut will damage the inner lining. A delicate balance must be struck between the hardness of the nuts to be engaged, the hardness and geometry of the non-mar inner lining, and the hardness and geometry of a socket's outer sleeve. This balance becomes all the more difficult and complex when the outside diameter of the socket wrench must also be limited to the SAE Standard for minimum counter bore diameters. It is also this balance which forces the dimensions of prior art sockets away from conventional socket wrench standards, such as ASME B107.1-1993 and ASME B107.5M-1994.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved non-mar socket wrench, which can also fit within the dimensional parameters of conventional socket wrench standards, such as the SAE Standard, ASME B107.1-1993 or ASME B107.5M-1994.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention offers advantages and alternatives over the prior art by providing a protective socket having an outer sleeve and an inner lining with dimensions which substantially meet conventional socket wrench standards, such as the SAE Standard, ASME B107.1-1993 or ASME B107.5M-1994. Advantageously, the outer sleeve reinforces the inner lining to provide the strength required to torque hardware during most assembly processes. Also, the outer sleeve is preferably sized to fit into the SAE Standard counter bores of the associated

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