Tools – Wrench – screwdriver – or driver therefor – Handle or shank
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-14
2001-07-31
Morgan, Eileen P. (Department: 3723)
Tools
Wrench, screwdriver, or driver therefor
Handle or shank
C081S177200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267032
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hand tool, and more particularly to an adapter for connecting the hand tool with a socket. The adapter has double cam sections so that a user can operate the adapter by small angle for engaging the adapter with the socket or releasing the socket.
A conventional wrench is often fitted with a socket for driving a nut. In order to fit with sockets with different sizes, the wrench is equipped an adapter. The adapter has a projecting post. A ball member is inlaid in a lateral wall face of the projecting post. A spring is disposed in the projecting post for pushing the ball member to partially protrude out of the projecting post. When the projecting post is fitted with the socket, the ball member abuts against the inner wall of the socket to prevent the socket from detaching from the adapter. However, in the case that the spring has greater resilience, it is necessary for a user to exert a greater force for fitting or taking off the socket. In the case that the spring has less resilience, the ball member will be unable to effectively hold the socket and the socket is likely to detach from the adapter.
In order to solve the above problem, an improved adapter has been proposed. Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the adapter
10
includes: a main body
12
formed with an axial fitting hole
13
and a shaft hole
14
; a pressing rod
15
fitted in the shaft hole
14
and upward pushed by a spring
16
, the wall face of the pressing rod
15
being formed with a concave section
17
; a rotary bar
18
transversely passing through the main body
12
and having a rotary button
19
, the rotary button
19
being manually rotatable for turning the rotary bar
18
, the body of the rotary bar
18
being formed with a cam section
20
; and a ball member
22
positioned in a through hole
24
of the main body and pushed by the pressing rod to protrude out of a projecting post
25
of the bottom end of the main body.
In use, the projecting post
25
is fitted with the socket. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the pressing rod
15
is positioned at an upper dead end and free from the pressing of the cam section
20
. At this time, the ball member
22
abuts against the inner wall of the socket without retraction so that the socket is effectively held. When taking off or fitting the socket, the rotary button
19
is rotated to turn the rotary bar
18
. As shown in
FIG. 3
, the cam section
20
presses down the pressing rod
15
to slide downward. At this time, the ball member
22
can move into the concave section
17
and retract into the through hole
24
. Under such circumstance, the socket is no more engaged with the ball member and can be taken off.
According to the above arrangement, a user can operate and control the position of the ball member so as to facilitate taking off or fitting of the socket and thus solve the problem of the conventional adapter. However, such structure still has some shortcomings as follows:
First, as shown in
FIG. 3
, only when the cam section is faced downward, is the pressing rod pressed down by the rotary bar to release the socket. While at other angular positions, the rotary bar is unable to press down the pressing rod. When a user rotates the rotary bar
18
to leave the position of
FIG. 3
, the cam section
20
no more presses down the pressing rod
15
. After the rotary bar is released, the rotarybar can be positioned at any angular position.
FIGS. 4 and 5
show two of these angular positions. In
FIG. 4
, a user needs to clockwise rotate the rotary bar by 270 degrees for making the cam section press down the pressing rod. In
FIG. 5
, no matter the user clockwise or counterclockwise rotates the rotary bar, the user must rotate the rotary bar by 180 degrees to depress the pressing rod. Therefore, with such structure, it is necessary to rotate the rotary bar by large angle for depressing the pressing rod. Such operation is inconvenient for a user to perform.
Second, when the pressing rod is positioned at the upper dead end, the rotary bar may be positioned at any angular position. In other words, the rotary bar has no specific location point. Therefore, it is hard for a user to know by how many degrees the rotary bar should be rotated for pressing down the pressing rod.
In addition, in the conventional structure, the rotary button
19
protrudes from the main body
12
. A user often incautiously gets injured by the protruding rotary button
19
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a twin-cam drive type adapter for connecting a hand tool with a socket. The adapter has double cam sections and can be conveniently operated by a small angle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above adapter in which when the slide rod is not depressed by the rotary bar, the rotary bar is specific at a location point.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above adapter in which the rotary button of the rotary bar does not protrude from the main body of the adapter so that the possibility of injury to an operator during operation is minimized.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4614457 (1986-09-01), Sammon
patent: 4781085 (1988-11-01), Fox, III
patent: 4817476 (1989-04-01), Karge
patent: 5390571 (1995-02-01), Fox, III et al.
patent: 6003414 (1999-12-01), Hsieh
patent: 6006632 (1999-12-01), Hsieh
Danganan Joni B.
Dougherty & Troxell
Morgan Eileen P.
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