US2528666A

US2528666A - Spatter shield for c-clamps

Info

Publication number: US2528666A
Application number: US685747A
Authority: US
Inventors: Oliver F Potts
Original assignee: J H Williams & Co
Current assignee: J H Williams & Co
Priority date: 1946-07-23
Filing date: 1946-07-23
Publication date: 1950-11-07
Anticipated expiration: 1967-11-07

Description

Nov. 7, 1950 o. F. POTTS SPATTER SHIELD FOR C-CLAMPS CZZz orne ys.

Filed July 23, 19,46

Patented Nov. 7, 1950 SPATTER SHIELD FOR C-CLAIWPS Oliver F. Potts, Kenmore, N. Y., assignor to J. H.

Williams & Company, Bufialo, N. Y.

Application July 23, 1946, Serial No. 685,747

2 Claims. I

This invention relates to C-clamps and particularly to a protected guard or device therefor by which'the screw threads of the screw are protected from spattering molten metal coming from a welding are adjacent an object secured in said clamp. In welding an object held in said clamp, some of the molten metal may sputter and strike and freeze upon the clamping screw, making it impossible to thread the screw through the nut of the clamp.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved C-clamp having its screw element adequately protected by a guard or shield against sputtering metal; with which the protecting guard or shield may be a sheet metal stamping bent into desired shape and applied to and detached from the screw element merely by passing it into and out of embracing relation to said element; which will not interfere with the normal use of the clamp; which may be applied easily to existing types and constructions of G-clamps without alterations therein; and which will be relatively simple, light in weight and inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment of the invention, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a typical C-clamp having therein a guard or shield constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same, the section being taken approximately along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is another sectional elevation of the same, the section being taken approximately along the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan of a part of the same; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional bottom plan of the same, the section being taken approximately along the line 55 of Fig. l and looking in the direction of the arrows.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the C-clamp may be of any desired construction having at the end of one arm ll of the clamp a compression abutment wall I2, and in the other arm l3 of the clamp a nut l4 aligned with the abutment I2. A screw element I is threaded through the nut 14 so as to be advanced toward and from the abutment I2 by the mere act of threading the screw element l5 through the nut M in one direction or the other. The outer end of the screw l5 has a smooth, circular periphery It, and carries a handle I! by which the screw may be turned.

The opposite end of the screw element has a reduced, annular groove or neck 18, see Fig. 5, a short distance from its end, and the end portion beyond the annular neck or groove terminates in a ball-shaped head 19 which is confined in a socket 20 provided in a boss 2i on the rear face of a clamping plate 22. The socket 2U encircles slightly more than half the circumference of the ball [9 so as to be confined on the ball, and yet is free to rock universally to some extent on the ball.

This C-clamp as thus described is a typical C-clamp which is old and on the market, and this invention relates to the addition to that typical C-clamp of a shield which protects the threads of the screw element l5 from spattering metal that may be thrown off in the welding of an article clamped between the plate 22 and the abutment l2. This shield is a generally U-shaped member 23 which is larger than the screwelement l5 and is disposed in straddling relation to the screw element and to the nut l4 and the adjacent arm of the frame of the C-clamp. The arm l3 of the clamp frame thus extends through the space between the side arms or members of v the shield and thus the shield may move with the screw element endwise toward and from the abutment l2 without rotation therewith.

At the end of the shield 23 adjacent the handle IT, the shield 23 is provided with inturned flanges 24 which encircle the circular periphery l6 of the screw element I5 from opposite sides thereof, and each flange has an arcuate edge 25 which fits the cylindrical curvature of the surface I6 for a substantial distance on opposite sides of a diameter through the screw between the flanges. These arcuate edges 25 thus provide a bearing between the flanges 24 and the screw element l5 by which the shield is spaced from the screw element and yet held yieldingly thereon.

The shield 23 at its other end is also provided with similarly inturned flanges 26 which embrace opposite sides of the screw element l5 in the annular neck l8, and each of these flanges has an arcuate edge 2? which extends in both directions around the screw element [5 from a diameter of the screw element passing through both flanges 2E. The arcuate edges 21 thus provide a rotatable bearing between that end of the shield and the screw element which spaces the shield from the screw element, and by reason of the engagement of the flanges 26 in the annular groove [8 against the side walls thereof, the shield 23 will be positively moved with the screw element linearly in the direction of progression of the screw element toward and from the abutment l2 as the screw element is threaded back and forth through the nut.

Since the

flanges

24 and 26 are carried only on the side arms of the U-shaped shield, it follows that the shield may be applied to or removed from the screw element by the simple act of moving the shield laterally across the screw element while parallel therewith, during which the sides of the U-shapedshield will spring apart to enable the flanges to snap into and out of encircling engagement, through their arcuate free edges, with the screw element. The shield may be removed by merely pulling it sidewise from the screw 15, because the sides of the shield will spring apart to pass the screw element.

It Will'be observed that this shield is like a. channel which straddles the screw element and.

receives through the open face of the channel" the nut M and arm I3 which keep the shield from rotating, yet the shieldmoves linearly endwise with the screw element and protects the screw threads from spattering metal that may be thrown ofi during a welding operation on objects clamped between the abutment l2 and the plate 2 2. The shield 23 is preferably formed of metal or other material which has substantial resiliency, and itmay be formed of a simple sheet metal'sta'mping bent into the proper U-shape as shown, with the flanges 24 and 2.6 bent laterally from the ends of theblank at the sides of the channel. It may be applied to existing C-clamps without the use 'of special tools, and it may be removed at any time when its position on the clamp is objectionable. The shield effectively protects the threads throughout their entire range of movement, and substantially the full gap between the arms of the clamp is available with the shield as well as without.

It will be understood thatvarious changes in the details, materials and arrangements of parts which have been hereindescribed and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention, as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A spatter guard, adapted to be rotatably mounted on the screw element of a C-clamp, comprising: a U-shaped sheet metal shell having sides straight from end to end and adapted to extend along said screw element at opposite sides thereof, said sides having an integral flange at each end, the flanges on each end of the shell extending toward each other and being separated from each other whereby the sides of the shell may spring apart to allow the insertion of the screw element therein, and said flanges having concave end edges adapted to bear on the periphery of the unthreaded end portions of the screw element at diametrically opposite sides thereof, so as to be rotatably mounted thereon.

2. The guard substantially as set forth in claim 1, having the edges of the flanges on theopen side of the shell diverging from the concave portions thereof.

OLIVER F. POTTS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:.

UNITED STATES. PATENTS Number Name Date 1,268,775 Stanger June 4, 1918 1,562,482 Worenle Nov. 24-, 1925 2,221,326 Holman Nov. 12, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 524,798 France May 20, 1921