GB2304065A

GB2304065A - Box spanner

Info

Publication number: GB2304065A
Application number: GB9516505A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Gerald Nolan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-08-11
Filing date: 1995-08-11
Publication date: 1997-03-12
Anticipated expiration: 2015-08-11
Also published as: GB9516505D0; GB2304065B

Abstract

A box spanner has a socket 10 with a pivotally connected handle 11. The socket has a hollow tubular member with internal bearing surfaces (26, Fig.5) which cooperate with external bearing surfaces (50, 51, Fig.11) on the handle. By such cooperating bearing surfaces, the socket may be directly secured to the handle without additional fixing means passing through the socket and the handle.

Description

BOX SPANNER This invention relates to a box spanner.

A known box spanner, shown in the accompanying Figure 1, has a socket 1 and a handle 2 pivotally interconnected and secured to the socket by a mild steel or high tensile steel securing pin 3. The socket 1 is formed from a hollow tubular member 4 having a lower (as shown in Figure 1) internal portion 5 which is shaped, for example with a hexagon (as shown) or with a square, so as to fit over a nut or bolt to be tightened or unfastened. An upper end of the tubular member 4 has a diametric slot 6 within which an elongate member 7 forming the handle may rotate about the securing pin 3.

Such known box spanners are, therefore, formed of three parts, namely the socket 1, the handle 2 and the pin 3. The pin 3 passes through both the socket hollow tubular member 4 and the handle elongate member 7 and the pin 3 is fixedly secured to the tubular member 1, but permits free rotation of the elongate member 6 about the pin 3.

The known box spanner described above has the disadvantage that the pin 3 becomes worn out after approximately 3-6 months and, as a result, the box spanner is discarded and replaced. Also, in assembling the socket 1 to the handle 2, it is necessary to align holes in the tubular member 1 with a hole in the elongate member 7 so that the pin 3 may be fixed therethrough. Such alignment is difficult to accomplish and it is, furthermore, necessary to fix the pin to the socket by, for example, riveting.

This invention seeks to provide a box spanner having a larger bearing surface which will perform a greater number of operations, therefore last longer and which will be easier to assemble.

According to this invention in its broadest aspect there is provided a box spanner comprising socket means with a pivotally connected handle means, said socket means comprising a hollow tubular member having internal surface bearing means arranged to cooperate with external bearing surface means on said handle means, whereby said socket means may be directly secured to said handle means without additional fixing means passing through said socket means and said handle means.

According to a feature of this invention there is provided a box spanner comprising socket means formed from a hollow tubular member, and pivotally interconnected handle means including at least one elongate member, said hollow tubular member having internal surface bearing means arranged to cooperate with external surface bearing means on one end of said at least one elongate member, whereby said socket means may be directly secured to said handle means by interengagement of both said bearing means without additional fixing means passing through said socket means and said handle means.

Preferably, said internal surface bearing means comprises a pair of diametrically opposed internal recesses disposed on opposing sides of a longitudinal centre line of said hollow tubular member and at one end of said hollow tubular member remote from an internal cavity portion forming a female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means.

Advantageously, a diametrically arranged transverse slot is formed through said hollow tubular member at an end on a remote side of said internal recesses remote from said internal cavity portion.

Usually said female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means has an internal surface for fitting hexagonal or square nuts or bolt heads.

Preferably, said handle external surface bearing means comprises a pair of integrally formed, at least part circular, cross-section protuberances having a longitudinal axis substantially orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of said handle elongate member and said protuberances are located on opposing sides of said handle longitudinal axis for locating in said socket diametric internal recesses.

Advantageously, said protuberances are a pair of circularly cross-sectioned lugs integrally formed by, for example moulding or forging, with said elongate member, or said protuberances may be formed by a pin extending from each side of said elongate member, said pin being secured to said elongate member, and an outer surface of each lug lies in the plane of the handle elongate member for engagement with an end surface of a respective hollow tubular member internal surface.

Advantageously, said handle is formed by at least two interconnected elongate members and, conveniently, said handle elongate member remote from said external surface bearing means has a larger diameter than said handle elongate member adjacent said external surface bearing means.

Preferably, an external surface of said socket hollow tubular member is semi-circular about an axis orthogonal to the axis of said slot.

Advantageously, said socket hollow tubular member slot opens into said internal cavity portion, said internal cavity portion female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means having an across the longitudinal axis dimension for engaging opposing flats of a nut or bolt, and said pair of recesses have a diametric extent defined by the end surfaces of the recesses which is the same as said across the longitudinal axis dimension of said engagement means.

Advantageously, said handle lugs each have a diameter which is a sliding fit along longitudinal flats inside said socket hollow tubular member and which are part of said engagement means, which flats are dimensioned for accommodating a nut or bolt head.

Where said socket is for hexagonal headed nuts or bolts, preferably said handle elongate member is shaped in the vicinity of said protuberances to engage opposing apices within said hollow tubular member engagement means for assisting in aligning said elongate member with said hollow tubular member when assembling said elongate member and said hollow tubular member together.

According to a further aspect of this invention there is provided a socket for a box spanner, said socket comprising a hollow tubular member having an internal surface shaped and adapted to form bearing means for engagement with cooperating external surface bearing means on handle means.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a handle for a box spanner comprising an elongate member having, at one end thereof, an external surface shaped and adapted to form external surface bearing means for engagement with cooperating internal surface bearing means on socket means.

According to yet another aspect of this invention there is provided a method of assembling a box spanner in accordance with said feature of this invention comprising the steps of substantially aligning a longitudinal axis of said socket means hollow tubular member with said hollow means elongate member, passing said elongate member through said hollow tubular member with said external surface bearing means trailing until said internal surface bearing means and external surface bearing means mate, and rotating said elongate member with respect to said hollow tubular member whereby said elongate member and said hollow tubular member are connected together.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art box spanner, Figure 2 shows a side view of a box spanner in accordance with this invention, Figure 3 shows a side view of a socket used in the box spanner of this invention, Figure 4 shows a view in the direction of arrow headed line IV of Figure 3, Figure 5 shows an end view in the direction of arrow headed line V of Figure 3, Figure 6 shows an orthogonal view of the socket shown in Figure 3, Figure 7 shows a cross-sectional side elevation along double arrow headed lines VII - VII of Figure 3, Figure 8 shows a cross-sectional side view along double arrow headed lines VIII - VIII of Figure 6, Figure 9 shows a side view of one elongate member used for the handle used in the box spanner of this invention, Figure 10 is a view in the direction of X of Figure 9, Figure 11 shows a part orthogonal view to the view of the elongate member shown in Figure 9, Figure 12 shows a partial side view which is in partial longitudinal cross-section of a further elongate member forming another part of the handle.

In the Figures like reference numerals denote like parts.

The box spanner shown in Figure 2 has a socket 10 pivotally interconnected to a handle 11 formed from interconnected elongate members 12, 13. The socket 10 and handle 11 are pivotally interconnected together so that the handle may rotate through approximately 180 about an upper part of the socket 10. When the handle and socket are connected together, as shown in Figure 2, a pin 14 is diametrically mounted through the handle member 12 to prevent the handle from dropping through the socket when the longitudinal axes of the socket and handle are aligned.

The socket will now be described in greater detail with reference to Figures 3 - 7. The socket is formed from a hollow tubular member 20 having a circular crosssectioned outside diameter and, at one end, a diametrically extending slot 21 for location of opposed flat surfaces on the handle. A right hand side of the tubular member 20 (as shown in Figures 3, 6, 7 and 8) has a reduced diameter outside dimension 22 which is interconnected to the larger external diameter of the member 20 by a 450 chamfer 23.

Referring to Figure 6, the portions of the tubular member defining the slot 21 each have a semi-circular end 24, the axis of the semi-circle being perpendicular to the slot longitudinal axis, to more readily facilitate rotation of the handle and which semi-circle is of a smaller diameter than the external diameter of the tubular member 20 and interconnected therewith by a shoulder 28.

At an opposing end, internally, the tubular member is shaped to accommodate a nut or bolt head to be fastened or unfastened and in the embodiment shown the internal shape is hexagonal so that there is provided a hexagonally shaped internal cavity portion 25. The portion 25 forms a female fitment nut or bolt head engagement and has longitudinally axially extending flat surfaces for engagement with the nut or bolt head. The hexagonally shaped cavity portion opens into and communicates with the slot 21 and interfacing between the cavity portion 25 and slot 21 are a pair of diametrically opposed internal circumferential (or at least part circumferential) recesses 26 having a common axis which is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the tubular member 20.The pair of recesses 26 have a diametric extent the same as the across the flats of the hexagon dimension of the portion 25, as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 8.

Opposing apices 27 of the hexagonally shaped internal portion also extend toward the confluence of the portion 25 with the recesses 26.

The recesses 26 have planar end surfaces 29 extending in the plane of the tubular member longitudinal axis and both the arcuate surfaces of the recesses 26 and the end surfaces 29 form internal bearing surfaces of the socket.

Referring now to Figures 9 - 11, the handle member 12 is shown. The member 12 has a circularly cross-sectioned portion 41 and a further circularly cross-sectioned portion 42 of reduced diameter which is remote from a bearing portion 43 integrally formed with the portion 41. The bearing portion 41 includes a square cross-section portion 44 connected to the circular cross-section of portion 41 by a transition section 45. The bearing portion 43 has an outer circularly sectioned portion 46 having an outer peripheral portion which is formed by two joined surfaces 47 that subtend the same angle as the angle of opposing apices 27. The diameter of the portion 46 is arranged to be a sliding fit inside the across the apices 27 dimension so that the handle, when being assembled, can be guided up through the hexagonal cavity portion 25.Circularly crosssectioned lugs 50 are disposed orthogonally to the longitudinal direction of the member 12 and form protuberances which act as external bearing surfaces of the handle and which rotate within the part circular recesses 26. The lugs have extreme outer faces 51 in the plane of the longitudinal axis of the member 12 which locate against the end walls 29 of the recesses 26. The portion of the bearing surface 43 of Figure 11 is shown in phantom lines in Figure 8.

The handle member 13 is shown in Figure 12 and has a portion 61 which has a hollow internal bore 62 for locating over portion 42 and which portion 61 externally tapers to a solid shaft 63 having a larger diameter than the portion 41 for ease of handling. The portion 42 (shown in Figure 9) has a diametric hole 64 which is arranged to align with a diametric hole 65 through portion 61 and a pin 66 (shown in Figure 2) is located through the aligned holes for holding the handle members 12 and 13 together.

In assembling the box spanner, the handle members 12 and 13 are separated and the handle member 12 portion 41 is inserted into the hexagonal cavity portion 25 with the external bearing portion 43 trailing. The handle passes through the slot 21 opening and the opposed faces 51 slide internally up the opposed flats inside the hexagonally shaped portion 25 with the surfaces 47 being guided along opposing apices 27, i.e. opposing flats of the internal hexagon in the cavity portion 25, until the lugs 50 locate inside the circular recess 26. Thus, in locating the handle within the socket the longitudinal axes of the handle and socket are aligned. When the lugs and recesses forming the external and internal bearing surfaces respectfully locate together, so the handle is rotated through 900, whereupon the handle is fixedly secured to the socket.So as to prevent the handle from falling through the socket when the axes of handle and socket become aligned so the pin 14 is inserted through the handle member 12 The handle member 13 is then fixed to the handle member 12 by the pin 66.

Although the handle member 12 in the above embodiment is fixed to the handle member 13 by a pin, it is envisaged that the two handle members may be swaged, cold or heat sweated together.

Although the preferred embodiment has been described for use with hexagonal nuts or headed bolts, it is to be understood that other shapes, such as square, may be used by suitably changing the shape of the internal cavity of the socket. Further, although the lugs 50 are, it is currently expected, forged or moulded with the handle member 12, it is possible for the lugs 51 to be separately formed and secured to the handle member 12.

The socket and handle may be made from steel coated with chrome vanadium or of stainless steel.

It will be understood that, in this invention, the lugs form a much larger diameter bearing surface in combination with the recesses 26 than does the pin 3 of the prior art. Furthermore, the end faces 51 of the lugs locate within and abrade against the diametrically opposed end walls 29 of the recesses 26 and, thus, also form bearing surfaces against which the handle and socket rotate. The area of the bearing surface in the present invention is, thus, much greater than in the prior art, leading to a tool which is longer lasting.

The construction of the present tool also leads to a tool which is more readily assembled than in the prior art.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A box spanner comprising socket means with a pivotally connected handle means, said socket means comprising a hollow tubular member having internal surface bearing means arranged to cooperate with external bearing surface means on said handle means, whereby said socket means may be directly secured to said handle means without additional fixing means passing through said socket means and said handle means.

2. A box spanner comprising socket means formed from a hollow tubular member, and pivotally interconnected handle means including at least one elongate member, said hollow tubular member having internal surface bearing means arranged to cooperate with external surface bearing means on one end of said at least one elongate member, whereby said socket means may be directly secured to said handle means by interengagement of both said bearing means without additional fixing means passing through said socket means and said handle means.

3. A box spanner as claimed in claim 2 wherein said internal surface bearing means comprises a pair of diametrically opposed internal recesses disposed on opposing sides of a longitudinal centre line of said hollow tubular member and at one end of said hollow tubular member remote from an internal cavity portion forming a female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means.

4. A box spanner as claimed in claim 3 wherein a diametrically arranged transverse slot is formed through said hollow tubular member at an end on a remote side of said internal recesses remote from said internal cavity portion.

5. A box spanner as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein said female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means has an internal surface for fitting hexagonal or square nuts or bolt heads.

6. A box spanner as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5 inclusive wherein said handle means external surface bearing means comprises a pair of integrally formed, at least part circular cross-section protuberances having a longitudinal axis substantially orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of said handle means elongate member and said protuberances are located on opposing sides of said handle means longitudinal axis for locating in said socket diametric internal recesses.

7. A box spanner as claimed in claim 6 wherein said protuberances are a pair of circularly cross-sectioned lugs integrally formed by, for example moulding or forging, with said elongate member.

8. A box spanner as claimed in claim 6 wherein said protuberances are formed by a pin extending from each side of said elongate member, said pin being secured to said elongate member, and an outer surface of each lug lies in the plane of the handle elongate member for engagement with an end surface of a respective hollow tubular member internal surface.

9. A box spanner as claimed in any of claims 2 to 8 inclusive wherein said handle is formed by at least two interconnected elongate members.

10. A box spanner as claimed in claim 9 wherein said handle means elongate member remote from said external surface bearing means has a larger diameter than said handle means elongate member adjacent said external surface bearing means.

11. A box spanner as claimed in any of claims 2 to 10 inclusive wherein an external surface of said socket hollow tubular member is semi-circular about an axis orthogonal to the axis of said slot.

12. A box spanner as claimed in claim 11 wherein said socket hollow tubular member slot opens into said internal cavity portion, said internal cavity portion female fitment nut or bolt head engagement means having an across the longitudinal axis dimension for engaging opposing flats of a nut or bolt, and said pair of recesses have a diametric extent defined by the end surfaces of the recesses which is the same as said across the longitudinal axis dimension of said engagement means.

13. A box spanner as claimed in claim 7 wherein said handle means lugs each have a diameter which is a sliding fit along longitudinal flats inside said socket hollow tubular member and which are part of said engagement means, which flats are dimensioned for accommodating a nut or bolt head.

14. A box spanner as claimed in claim 7 wherein said handle means elongate member is shaped in the vicinity of said protuberances to engage opposing apices within said hollow tubular member engagement means for assisting in aligning said elongate member with said hollow tubular member when assembling said elongate member and said hollow tubular member together.

15. A socket for a box spanner, said socket comprising a hollow tubular member having an internal surface shaped and adapted to form bearing means for engagement with cooperating external surface bearing means on handle means.

16. A handle for a box spanner comprising an elongate member having, at one end thereof, an external surface shaped and adapted to form external surface bearing means for engagement with cooperating internal surface bearing means on socket means.

17. A method of assembling a box spanner in accordance with claim 2 comprising the steps of substantially aligning a longitudinal axis of said socket means hollow tubular member with said hollow means elongate member, passing said elongate member through said hollow tubular member with said external surface bearing means trailing until said internal surface bearing means and external surface bearing means mate, and rotating said elongate member with respect to said hollow tubular member whereby said elongate member and said hollow tubular member are connected together.

18. A box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1-12 of the accompanying drawings.

19. A socket for a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2-8 of the accompanying drawings.

20. A handle for a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2 and 9-12 of the accompanying drawings.

21. A method of assembling a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2-12 of the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows a nut or bolt, and said pair of recesses have a diametricextent defined by the end surfaces of the recesses which is the same as said across the longitudinal axis dimension of said engagement means.

16. A handle for a box spanner in combination with a socket as claimed in claim 15, said handle comprising an elongate member having, at one end thereof, an elongate surface shaped and adapted to form internal surface bearing means for engagement with cooperating internal surface bearing means on said socket means.

17. A handle for a box spanner comprising an elongate member having, at one end thereof, an external surface shaped and adapted to form external surface bearing means for engagement with cooperating internal surface bearing means on socket means.

18. A method of assembling a box spanner in accordance with claim 2 comprising the steps of substantially aligning a longitudinal axis of said socket means hollow tubular member with said hollow means elongate member, passing said elongate member through said hollow tubular member with said external surface bearing means trailing until said internal surface bearing means and external surface bearing means mate, and rotating said elongate member with respect to said hollow tubular member whereby said elongate member and said hollow tubular member are connected together.

19. A box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1-12 of the accompanying drawings.

20. A socket for a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2-8 of the accompanying drawings.

21. A handle for a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2 and 9-12 of the accompanying drawings.

22. A method of assembling a box spanner substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2-12 of the accompanying drawings.