US2738694A - Folding lug wrench - Google Patents

Description

March 20, 1956 o m H 2,738,694

FOLDING LUG WRENCH Filed March 17, 1953 A TTOR/VE) AYq/e B oafr/ybf INVENTOR.

United States Patent FOLDING LUG WRENCH Algie Boatright, Gary, Ind.

Application March 17, 1953, Serial No. 342,833

1 Claim. (Cl. 81177) My invention relates to improvements in folding lug wrenches and it more specially includes the features described in the accompanying specification, claim, and shown in the drawing.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a wrench that is considered an improvement over the ordinary lug wrench which has a pair of cross arms providing four radial socket-carrying members rigidly connected centrally of their length. To overcome this rigidity my folding lug wrench is a rigid arm having a wrench socket at each end and two folding socket-carrying members pivoted to the center of the rigid arm, a spring pressed ball being provided for each pivoted member to hold the member in either folded or extended positions.

With these and other related ends in view I show on the accompanying drawing such instances of adaptation as will disclose the broad features of the invention without limiting myself to the exact details shown thereon and described herein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a wrench and shows its four socket-carrying members in operative radial relation.

Figure 2 is an elevation corresponding to Fig. 1, but shows two of the members folded parallel to two rigidly connected members.

Figure 3 is an enlarged elevation partly in section of the center portion of the wrench.

Figure 4 is a plan view of Figure 3.

Wrenches of this type have been made heretofore with four radial arms rigidly held together. These separate parts are about eighteen inches long with the entire Wrench somewhat less than three feet over all. In storing such wrenches much space is required, because the four lengths are rigidly connected to each other at their center.

The device exemplified in the drawing includes a generally cross-shaped mounting or body 2 having a pair of axially aligned corresponding portions 6 provided with integral corresponding tool extensions 1. The body also includes a pair of axially aligned corresponding portions 4 provided with bifurcations 5. A pair of corresponding arms or tool members 3 have inner end portions 8 which are respectively pivotally secured to the bifurcations by pivot pins 7.

In order that the user may know through a sense of feel when the pivoted tool members 3 are at right angles, or parallel to the rigid members, one corner of the inner end 8 of each member is rounded, and then those two sides which form the rounded corner are each provided with a recess or notch 11, the rounded corner thus forming a finger between the recesses. One recess locates the parallel position and the other recess indicates the extended or the right-angled relation of the pivoted members.

More particularly in this regard, each of the portions 4 of the body is provided with a hole within which a helical spring 10 and a ball or detent 9 is disposed. The arrangement is preferably such that a ball will engage either of the recesses or notches 11 provided in the inner end of "ice each of the tool members 3 for locating the latter in either of the positions above referred to. The pair of recesses on the inner end 8 of each membr are separated by the finger above referred to, the latter serving to depress the ball when the arm member is swung to-either of its two positions. When the finger passes over the ball in either direction the ball will audibly snap into a recess. The setup is such that one arm member is limited for movement within a ninety-degree range with respect to one extension and the other arm is correspondingly limited for movement with respect to the other extension. Otherwise expressed, both arms cannot be swung toward each other so as to straddle either one of the extensions 1.

My folding lug wrench in its folded relation saves a tremendous' amount of storage space and it becomes practical for use in automobile service centers, thus making possible the advantages of a four-arm wrench in any road use. At the outer ends of the different arms any kind of connections may be applied to adapt the wrench to different uses. They may be attached in any desired manner either by threading or otherwise. But these features are well known and do not form a specific part of the present invention.

Through the simplicity of the construction my adaptation of these improvements to lug wrenches fills a growing need for a freedom from the space-occupying rigid arms of the usual lug wrench. The saving in storage space resulting from the ease of handling and the foldability of my folded lug wrench becomes a material item in the economic management of any automobile service center.

What I claim is:

A foldable Wrench assembly comprising: a one-piece rigid mounting of generally cross-shape having a first pair of axially aligned portions provided with corresponding extensions and a second pair of aligned portions disposed at right angles to the first pair of aligned portions, a socket formed integrally at the free end of each of the extensions, each of said second pair of aligned portions being formed to include a base wall and a pair of spaced side walls, a hole extending into each of the base walls, a spring-pressed detent disposed in each hole, a pair of corresponding separate arms each having a socket at its outer end and each having a flattened inner end positioned between an associated pair of said side walls, means pivotally connecting each of said inner ends to said side walls for relative movement about an axis extending transversely through said side Walls and said inner end, each of said inner ends terminating in transversely extending square and rounded corners formed by a common end surface and by parallel side surfaces, those end and side surfaces forming said rounded corner being each provided with a recess extending radially from said pivot axis for selective engagement with the associated spring-pressed detent to hold the arm either folded alongside one of the extensions or at right angles thereto, said square corner and said end surface abutting the base Wall of the associated aligned portion to limit unfolding movement of the arm to said rightangled position, and said square corners being spaced from opposite sides of a transverse plane containing said pivot axes of said inner ends, whereby each of said arms can only be folded toward the extension located on that side of said plane opposite said square shoulder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,068,207 Torbert Jan. 19, 1937 2,465,152 Ellison Mar. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 294,821 Italy Apr. 5, 1932 949,139 France Feb. 14, 1949

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