US2600445A

US2600445A - Longnose pliers

Info

Publication number: US2600445A
Application number: US727705A
Authority: US
Inventors: Carl A Sundstrand
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1947-02-10
Filing date: 1947-02-10
Publication date: 1952-06-17
Anticipated expiration: 1969-06-17

Description

J 17, 1952 c. A.-SUNDSTRAND LONGNOSE PLIERS Filed Feb. 10, 1947 Ira e125? Carl flfiuzzdsffand/ Patented June 17, 1952 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE LONGNOSE PLIERS Carl A. Sundstrand, Rockford, Ill.

Application February 10, 1947, Serial No. 727,705

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to pliers and is more particularly concerned with an improved design and construction of longnose pliers especially adapted for use by sportsmen for quickly and easily removing the hook from a fishs mouth, but also suitable for various other purposes, such as skinning fish and animals, clipping horns and fins, and so forth, these tools having also been found to be handy for various jobs around the house, such as trimming and pruning vines and shrubs, and picking flowers and fruit, the selfopening feature and the long-nose design making these tools also handy for use around shops on a wide variety of jobs where other pliers are commonly used and on some jobs where pliers of the old conventional designs are not suitable.

The principal object of my invention is to provide pliers, the elongated jaws of which are channel-shaped for stiffness and strength and at their outer ends have the flanges bent inwardly and compressed between dies to provide end portions of the desired reduced dimensions in relation to the posterior channel-shaped portions of the jaws, but having the desired rigidity, strength and durability, these end portions being preferably also bent slightly into inwardly offset relationship to the posterior portions and having teeth formed therein on their abutting inner faces to grip securely whatever work is held between the jaws.

Another object is to provide a tool of the kind described having spring means to make the jaws self-opening but having a U-shaped Wire bail pivoted to the flanges of the one handle and arranged to be engaged in notches provided in the flanges of the other handle to hold the jaws closed or nearly so for more convenient packaging in the first instance and to take up less space in a tool or tackle box.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figs. 1 and 2 are two views. of the improved pliers, Fig. 1 showing in dotted lines the closed position of the jaws and the corresponding locking position of the wire bail that is pivoted on one of the handles, and

Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are sectional details taken on the correspondingly numbered lines of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 being enlarged.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in these five views.

The reference numerals 6 and 1 designate the handles Ill and H to hold the jaws open. The two working parts 6 and l of the tool are sheet metal stampings for lightness, strength and economy, substantially identical blanks being used for'both parts. The jaw end of both parts is formed to the square-cornered channel section, shown in Fig. 4, and the handle end is formed to the rounded channel section shown in Fig. 5, both sections being open on the same side of each part, as clearly appears in Fig. 1. The parts are both slotted open between the jaw and handle at the pivot portions l2, and the sides of the one slotted pivot portion are spread to permit the other part 6 to be inserted therein and the interfitted parts to be pivotally connected by the pin 8. The channel-shaped jaw portions of parts 6 and l have the open sides turned away from each other so that the longitudinally extending flanges l3 which give strength and rigidity to the jaws are on that side of the webs l4 away from the work and the inside surfaces l5 of said jaws are smooth and will not mar or scratch the work with which they may come in contact. The flanges [3 are decreased gradually in height from the pivot pin 8 outwardly toward the outer end or tip portions It so that there is the greatest strength and rigidity where the greatest strains are usually concentrated in working with the tool. The tip portions I6, in order to permit entry deep down in the mouth of a fish, for example, to take hold of a fish hook, must be of reduced dimensions in relation to the other portions of the jaws, but must nevertheless have the desired rigidity, strength and durability so that there will be no danger of these portions bending. I obtain these characteristics by providing the outer end portions I! of the flanges 12 of a height. approximately equal to half the width of the jaws between the flanges so that when these portions are bent inwardly and laid fiat against the outer side of the web l4, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, their edges meet on the longitudinal centerline a,b, these tip portions i6 being bent and flattened to the shape shown between dies under heavy pressure. The tip portions [6 are not apt to bend relative to the adjacent portions of the jaws because those portions of the flanges l3 next to the outer end portions are folded inwardly, as shown at 18, the folding over of the flanges I3 in this region being of greater and greater extent going from the standing flanges [3 to the flattened flanges l7. It should, therefore, be clear that the outer end portions I6l8 of the jaws 6 and l are re forced and have the desired strength and rigi 3. despite their reduced thickness. The teeth [9 on the abutting inner sides of the end portions it may be formed in the pressing of the parts between dies or may be made subsequently and are adapted to be sharpened with a file if they become flattened in service. These teeth, of course, enable more secure holding of work between the jaws. The toothed end portions [6 are preferably ofiset inwardly relative to the rest of the jaws approximately to the extent of the depth of the teeth I9, and more, to facilitate gripping a piece of work and enable taking a good hold on a piece of work when the teeth l9 tend to embed themselves in the surface of the work. See the dotted line position in Fig. 1.

The fact that the spring 9 tends to hold the jaws open makes it awkward to pack the pliers for shipment, and in certain cases would also make it awkward to store the tool in a tool or tackle box, and it is for that reason I provide the U-shaped wire bail it having coaxially aligned inwardly bent end portions 21 entered freely in coaxially aligned holes 22 provided therefor in the opposed side walls 23 of the handle it and arranged to be swung upwardly from the retracted position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, to the dotted line position in which the cross portion 24 of the bail is entered in notches 2:": provided in the edge portion or" the flanges l3 of the jaw '1, whereby to lock the jaws closed or nearly so, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. This ball is located in an out of the way position on the handle it and does not, therefore, interfere with the handiness of operation, and when the bail is in the raised position locking the jaws closed, the spring pressure on the jaw 1 acts in a direction substantially endwise of the bail, as should be clear from a study of the dotted line position of the bail 20 in Fig. 1, so that there is no likelihood of the bail being actually dislodged from the notches 25. However, the bail will drop back to the retracted position if the operator applies a little pressure on the handles so as to release the pressure of thejaw 7 on the bail.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A pair of pliers comprising a pair of one piece elongated sheet metal jaw members of channel form from end to end providing an elongated channel-shaped jaw on one end portion andan elongated channel-shaped handle on the other end portion, one of said members having anopening provided therein in the intermediate portion between the jaw and handle portions and the sides of said member being laterally spaced at said opening and the other of said members having its intermediate portion extending through said opening and between said sides, and a pivot pin for pivotally connecting said intermediate portions, the open sides of the channels of the handle portions facing each other but the open sides of the channels of the jaw portions facing away from each other, the flanges of the channels of the respective jaws decreasing gradually in height from the pivot pin to a height equal to approximately half the width of the jaws adjacent their tip portions, the flanges of the channels at the tip portion of the jaws being bent inwardly toward each other and flattened against the web portion of the channel, whereby to provide double-ply work gripping ends on said jaws which are of reduced dimensions in relation to the posterior channel-shaped portions of the aws.

2. In a pair of pliers consisting of a pair of jaw members providing opposed work gripping portions and having handle portions pivotally connected in criss-cross relationship for oscillating the jaw members relative to one another, the combination of an elongated U-shaped bail straddling the outer or hand engageable side of the handle portion of one of said jaw members near the aforesaid handle pivot and pivoted by the end portions of the arms of the U to said handle to swing from an inoperative position extending away from the handle pivot to an operative position extending in the opposite direction, and the other jaw member having a notch provided in the pivoted portion thereof for engagement of the cross-portion of the U therein when the bail is disposed in the operative position and the handles are disposed in substantially closed position, whereby to lock the jaw members releasably in substantially closed position.

CARL A. SUNDSTRAND.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 11,868 Bernard Nov. 6, 1900 64,904 Perry et a1. Y May 21, 1867 951,783 Laube Mar. 3, 1910 1,052,982 Sturtevant et a1. Feb. 11, 1913 1,076,839 Peter Oct. 28, 1913 1,332,726 Hobbs Mar. 2, 1920 1,420,729 Moran et al June 27, 1922 1,745,411 Fay Feb. 4,1930