Tools – Wrench – screwdriver – or driver therefor – Machine
Patent
1997-06-23
2000-06-06
Scherbel, Daivd A.
Tools
Wrench, screwdriver, or driver therefor
Machine
81 581, 81 60, 81 62, B25B 1700
Patent
active
060704993
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a ratchet wrench of the kind used for driving socket spanners and other similar devices for securing and releasing fasteners, such as for example nuts and bolts, by turning them.
Conventional ratchet wrenches are well known devices which essentially comprise a mechanism for transposing reciprocating circular arcuate movement of a handle into uni-directional rotation of a drive member for the purposes described above. The handle is usually an arm that extends radially outwardly from the axis of the drive member, most usually in a plane perpendicular to the drive member, although the arm can be cranked or jointed. The drive member normally has a projection such as a square drive shaft to be received in, for example, a fastener socket.
In addition to the arrangement described above, devices have been proposed which have dual means of producing rotation of the drive member. These may, for example, supplement conventional means of operation, using ratchet mechanisms, with rotary members on the handles, which when turned about the longitudinal axis of the handle also produce rotation of the drive member.
Such devices are particularly useful in confined spaces where conventional use of a wrench is difficult, especially if the torque required to rotate a fastener by hand is quite high, and the confined space means conventional use of the wrench would be very time-consuming. Conventional ratchet wrenches may also prove cumbersome when, for example, a nut and bolt assembly is incapable of providing the resistance required to enable the wrench to `ratchet` or slip.
Many attempts have been made to develop on the basic concept of a ratchet wrench. Some involve complex mechanisms which may prove expensive to manufacture, and unreliable in operation. Others involve less complex designs, but accordingly do not offer the best advantage in operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,145 employs two counter-rotating ring gears positioned concentrically about an output drive member and a bevel gear drive pinion between them turned in either direction by a shaft through the wrench handle. Ratchet mechanisms for each ring gear ensure that the drive member rotates uni-directionally whatever the direction of rotation of the shaft, which is achieved by a spiral mechanism which transposes linear motion of a sleeve into rotary motion of the shaft.
A similar principle is disclosed in WO 92/07692, which employs very similar means except that rotation of the shaft is achieved by simply rotating the drive handle.
Both of these devices are capable of use in the conventional fashion, by turning the handle to and fro, whereupon the teeth on opposite sides of the bevel gear pinion act equally on the two ring gears and transmit torque to the drive member via the two ratchet mechanisms working to turn the ring gears, or slip, together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,028 is an example of a less complex device. A conventional ratchet wrench is employed with a ratchet switch capable of decoupling the ratchet mechanism from the output drive member to permit the alternative mode of operation. This is also achieved by coupling one end of a rotatable shaft, extending through the wrench handle, to the drive member by a single bevel gear arrangement, and the other end of the shaft is coupled to a "spin knob" projecting from the end of the arm. In this arrangement there is no ratchet mechanism operating in the coupling between the "spin knob" and the output drive member. Therefore, if the direction of rotation of the "spin knob" is reversed the direction of rotation of the output drive member will also be reversed.
In the arrangement described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,802 a shaft in the handle of the wrench is coupled to the output drive member through two driven bevel gears each with an associated ratchet pawl. Rotation of the handle about the axis of the output drive member in either direction results in the output drive member rotating in the same direction by the action of the ratchet pawl. The shaft in the handle carries a continuous drive bevel g
REFERENCES:
patent: 4545267 (1985-10-01), Shumway
patent: 5105688 (1992-04-01), Williams
Danganan Joni B.
Scherbel Daivd A.
Usher Robert W.J.
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