US1960531A - Tool for applying and removing receptacle closures - Google Patents

Description

May 29, 1934. A. F. DRISCOLL 1,960,531

TOOL FOR APPLYING AND REMOVING RECEPTACLE CLOSURES Filed April 19. 1932 wi 7 w hid ATTORNEY Patented May 29, 1934 TOOL FOR APPLYING AND REMOVING REUEPTACLE CLOSURES Anthony Driscoll, Long Island, N. Y. Application April 19, 1932, Serial No. 606,260 4 Claims. (01. 813.1)

This invention relates to a tool for applying and removing receptacle closures.

While the tool is particularly adapted for hand use, it nevertheless is readily usable for machine 5 operation when desired.

An object of the invention is to provide a tool of the character indicated which will be simple, durable, substantial and inexpensive to manufacture, and which will be readily adaptable for ap- 0 plying and removing screw type receptacle closures of a wide variety of sizes.

A further and more detailed object is to provide a tool as indicated and which will include a resilient closure engaging portion so as to provide a strong grip upon the closure without likelihood of injury to the surface of the closure.

A further object is to provide a tool as indicated and which may be formed either wholly orpartly of resilient material such as rubber composition.

- A further object is to provide a tool as indicated and in which the resilient closure engaging portion, when formed separate from the remainder of the tool, is easily and efiiciently connected with said remainder of the tool and so that said resilient portion may be readily removed and renewed at will.

A further and more detailed object is to provide a tool as indicated including a main body portion of relatively stiff and hard material shaped exteriorly to provide a hand grip, and a separately formed closure engaging portion made of resilient material adapted to be attached to or removed from operative position within the main portion, and to provide said main portion and said separate resilient portion with mating configurations of a character releasably interengageable to hold the two portions assembled in operative relationship and yet permitting their easy disassembly at will.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing which is to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred form of embodiment of the invention:--

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view through a tool constructed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is'a similar sectional view of the main or hand grip portion of the tool as it appears without the resilient closure engaging. portion.

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view, partly in elevation, of the separately formed closure engaging portion as it appears removed from the main portion.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating a modified form in which the entire structure is constructed as a single integral molded element, and

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the structure appearing in Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing for describing in dey tail the structure as illustrated therein, and referring first to the invention as illustrated in Figs.

1 to 3, the reference character L indicates the main body portionwhile the reference character G indicates the separately formed closure engaging portion.

The body portion L is formed preferably from arelatively hard stiff material such as wood, hard rubber, bakelite or the like, while the closure engaging portion is formed of a relatively softer and more resilient material, such as rubber or rubber composition.

The body portion L is shaped exteriorly so as to be adapted for fitting into an operator's hand and is preferably provided with an undulating or corrugated or otherwise roughened annular surface portion as 1 suitable to provide a good frictional grip of an operator's hand upon said body portion during the operation of rotating the tool to apply or remove a receptacle closure.

Interiorly the body L is formed with a cavity 2 preferably of a general frusto-conical shape larger at the lower end of the tool and tapering to smaller diameter at the upper or inner end. Spaced apart at the lower or larger end of the cavity 2 the annular wall thereof is provided with a series of lugs as 3 which project inwardly of the cavity and each of which is shaped to provide opposite side shoulders as 44 extending vertically of the cavity and a horizontal shoulder 5 at the upper end of the lug facing toward the upper end of the cavity.

At the upper end of the cavity the top wall as 6 thereof is formed with a rectangular recess 7 upwardly thereinto, and a screw socket as 8 com tinuing centrally upwardly from said recess.

One or more pendant lugs as 99 may also be provided projecting downwardly from said wall 6.

The separately formed closure engaging portion G is of a general frusto-conical shape and is formed exteriorly of a size and contour to fit closely into the cavity 2 of the body portion.

At its outer surface the portion G, adjacent its lower larger end, is provided with a series of spaced seats or recesses as 10 said recesses being 'abut the shoulders 4--4 of the lug 3 so as to positively oppose inter-rotation of the member G within said cavity 2, and a horizontal shoulder 12 at its upper end facing downwardly of the member G adapted to abut the shoulder 5 of the lug 3 so as to positively oppose downward movement of the member G out of the cavity 2 after said member has once been inserted into said cavity.

At the upper end of the member G the top wall 12 thereof is formed with an upwardly projecting rectangular extension 14 of a size and contour to matingly fit into the recess 7 of the body L so as to thereby positively oppose inter-rotation of the member G within the cavity 2, and said top wall, 13 may also be provided with a series of small seats as 15 arranged and disposed to matingly receive the lugs 9 of the member L to further retain themembers L and G against the possibility of rotary movement with respect to each other.

The member G is sufliciently flexible so that in assembling it with the body L said member G may be suitably flexed or temporarily distorted to enable the recesses 10 to be: moved into their operative relationship over the lugs 3. As soon as the recesses are brought into register with their respective lugs the resiliency of the member G will cause the member G to spring relatively outwardly so that the lugs will be accommodated within the recesses and thereafter the parts will be releasably held in their co-operative mating relationship the shoulders 4 and 5 of all of the.

lugs abutting the shoulders 11 and 12 of all of the recesses to hold the member G against rotary movement with respect to the body L and also hold it against accidental detachment downwardly out of the body L.

Itwill be understood of course that as the member G is inserted into the cavity of the body L preparatory to engaging the recesses 10 over the lugs 3 the extension 14 at the upper end of member G will engage within the recess 7 of body L and the lugs 9 of body L will engage within the seats 15 of member G to further hold the two members against undesirable movement with respect to each other.

Interiorly, the member G is formed with a frusto-conical cavity 16 larger at the lower end of member G and tapering to smaller dimensions upwardly within said member and the annular walls of said cavity are preferably formed with corrugations 1'7 as integral molded parts of the same flexible resilient material as the member G said corrugations extending in a general vertical direction along the Walls of the cavity 16 and constituting the intermediate means for engagement with a receptacle closure, in the manner as indicated by the dotted line illustration 18 in Fig. 1, a relatively large closure being engageable by the corrugations at a point relatively near to ihe lower end of the cavity 16 while a relatively naller closure will engage the corrugations relatively nearer to the upper end of cavity 16.

It is intended that the material from which the member G is formed shall be sufficiently flexible and resilient so that it will yield to a certain desirable extent in a circular or rotary direction when force is being applied to attach or remove a receptacle closure. The intermediate portion of the member G, that is the portion in the region between the horizontal planes of the lugs 3 and the lugs 9 being particularly susceptible to this rotary movement in operation due to the fact that it is not directly connected with the body member -L but only indirectly connected with said member L through the medium of the lugs 3 and 9 above and below it. This region, indicated generally by the reference character 19 in Fig. 1, has its interior cavity portion 16 of a size which will be most generally used in practice, that is to say that the majority of receptacle closures attached or removed by the tool will be of a size to engage the member G in this region.

The resiliency and flexibility of the member G, and particularly of that portion in region 19, by enabling it to be distorted in a rotative direction as mentioned,- will enable it to more closely hug the receptacle closure being operated upon,

and the greater the pressure or force applied by the operator the greater will be the distortion and the flexing of the material of the member G about the engaging portions of the closure, and the consequent grip of the member G upon the closure.

If desired a suitable retaining device as 20 may be employed to more positively lock the members L and G together, and to this end the drawing suggests the use of an ordinary screw for this purpose extending through an opening 21 in the top wall of the member G and having its threads engaging within the screw socket 8 of the body.

Whenever it is desired to remove the member G from within the body L, as for instance when the member.G has become worn or weakened due to excessive use, said member G may be readily removed by merely flexing the annular wall thereof to disengage the shoulders 5 and 12 whereupon the member G will be free to fall out of the body member, the retaining screw 20, if present, having of course been previously removed. A new closure engaging portion G may be easily inserted, as hereinabove mentioned, to replace the removed one.

The modificat' n Fig. 4 proposes that if desired the tool may, ins ad of being formed with only a single receptacle engaging cavity as 22, corresponding with the cavity 16 of the previous figures, said tool may be formed with additional closure receiving cavities as 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27.

or the entire structure may be formed as a single integral molded unit of suitably resilient material such as rubber or rubber composition, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, the outer annular surface being molded to include the corrugated surface portion 1, and the lower and upper surface portions being formed with the various cavities approximately as indicated.

Concerning the structure Figs. 4 and 5 it is important to note that due to the resilient flexibility of the structure in its entirety the operator, by squeezing or stretching said structure in a chosen direction, may suitably distort a selected one of the closure engaging cavities so as to cause the walls of said cavity to very tightly engage a stubborn receptacle closure, and then in the operation of applying or removing said closure may by applying finger pressure against the tool further distort the tool to force the walls of the given cavity tighter against the receptacle closure to a degree dependent upon the strength of his fingers. Hence a very powerful force may be brought to bear againstthe closure for applying or removing it as the case may be. After the operation has been completed the tool may be easily disconnected from the closure by manual distortion of the tool to flex it out of its binding engagement with the closure.

As many changes could-be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawing, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. A tool of the type indicated including a relatively rigid body portion and a closure engaging portion formed of relatively resilient material, the body portion having a cavity therein opening through the bottom end thereof, the closure engaging portion being formed separate from the body portion and being positioned within the cavity of the body portion, and said body portion and said closure engaging portion having parts cooperative to interengage with each other adjacent the upper end of said cavity for retaining said portions against relative rotary movement, and said body and closure engaging portions having other parts co-operative to interengage with each other adjacent the lower end of the cavity to hold said first mentioned parts in operative assembly.

2. A tool of the type indicated including a relatively rigid body portion and a closure engaging portion formed of relatively resilient material, the body portion having a cavity therein opening through the bottom end thereof, the closure engaging portion being formed separate from the body portion and being positioned within the cavity of the body portion, and said body portion and said closure engaging portion having parts cooperative to interengage with each other adjacent the upper endof said cavity for retaining said portions against relative rotary movement, and said body and closure engaging portions having other parts co-operative to interengage with each other adjacent the lower end of the cavity also for retaining said portions against relative rotary movement and for holding said first mentioned parts in operative assembly.

3. A tool of the type indicated including a relatively rigid body portion and a closure engaging portion formed of relatively resilient material, the body portion having a cavity therein opening through the bottom end thereof, the closure engaging portion being formed separate from the body portion and being positioned within the cavity of the body portion, and said body portion and said closure engaging portion having parts cooperative to interengage with each other adjacent the upper end of said cavity for retaining said portions against relative rotary movement, and said body and closure engaging portions having other parts co-operative to interengage with each other and to utilize the resiliency of the closure engaging portion to hold said two portions releasably assembled.

4. A tool of the type indicated including a relatively rigid body portion and a closure engaging portion formed of relatively resilient material, the body portion having a cavity therein opening through the bottom end thereof, the closure engaging portion being formed separate from the body portion and being positioned within the cavity of the body portion, and said body portion and said closure engaging portion having parts co-operative to interengage with each other for retaining said portions against relative rotary movement, and said body and closure engaging portions having other parts co-operative to interengage with each other to hold said first mentioned parts in operative assembly.

ANTHONY F. DRISCOLL.

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