US2788690A - Socket wrench having reinforcing rims spaced from wrench-receiving and nut-receivingsocket walls - Google Patents

Description

Aprll 16, 1957 E. T. ABLE 2, SOCKET WRENCH HAVING REINFORCING RIMS SPACED FROM WRENCH-RECEIVING AND NUT-RECEIVING SOCKET WALLS Filed May 16, 1955 INV ENTOR. [aw/9w 777494:-

WA lira/1W0 SOCKET WRENCH HAVING REINFORCING RIMS SPACED. "FROM WRENCH-RECEIVING AND NUT-RECEIVING sooner WALLS Edward T. Able, Denver, Colo, assignorto B. ILSweeney Mfg. Co., Denver, Colo., a corporation of Colorado Application May 16, 1955, Serial No. 508,743

1 Claim. (Cl. 81-121) This invention relates to a socket wrench. The term socket Wrench isusually used to designate the combination of a Wrench device and a plurality of workreceiving socket members which may be interchangeably mounted'on thewrench device to accommodate the latter to various sizes and shapes of workpieces. Each of the socket members is provided at its one extremity with either \a .stud to be received in the wrench device or a socket to receive a stud on the Wrench device. The other-extremity of each socket device is provided with a work-receiving socket for receiving the bolt, nut,-or

other device to be rotated by the socket wrench. This invention relates more particularly to the latter workreceiv-ing socket.

The work-receiving sockets of the socket members of socket wrenches are subjected to high stresses, both of a torque type applied to impart rotation to the work, and also of a bending type due to angular movements of the wrench device tending to urge the socket member out of axial alignment with the work and are more particularly accentuated with the use of power-driven wrench devices of the impact type. These stresses quickly result in fracture of the walls of the Work-receiving socket at the corners of the socket, that is, at the lines of intersection of the bolt-engaging faces of the socket.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a work-receiving socket for the socket members of socket wrenches which will substantially eliminate fracture of the work-receiving sockets so as to increase the useful life of the socket.

The above described tendency to fracture has made it necessary to employ relatively thick walls about the workreceiving sockets and'to form the socket members from relatively soft metal resulting in heavy members difiicult to use in close positions and in soft members which are rapidly battered away. With the use of this invention, the walls may be made relatively thin for use in restricted spaces and of hard wear-resisting metal since the tendency to fracture is substantially eliminated.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efiiciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is an end View of the work-receiving extremity of a socket wrench socket member, with the invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a side view, partially in section, of the socket member of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the wrench-receiving extremity of the socket member;

Fig. 4 is an enlargement of the lower right hand portion of the section of Fig. 2;

United- States Patent workengaging shape.

Fig. '5 is a similarly enlarged, fragmentary section, taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 4 looking'toward an inside corner of the improved work-receiving socket; and

Fig. 6 is a similar fragmentary section looking toward the inside corner of the Work-receiving socket of a conventional socket memberto illustrate thereason for this improvement.

For the purpose of description, the wrench-receiving extremity of the socket member (Fig. '3) will be designated as the upper extremity and the work-receiving extremity (Fig. '1) 'Will be designated as. the lower extremity.

The improved socket member comprises a substantially cylindrical barrel 10 which may have any desired size or shape. The barrel illustrated is provided at its upper extremity with a substantially square Wrench socket 11 for receiving the actuating stemof a socket wrench and is provided atits lower extremity with a work-receiving socket 12. Insome instances the wrench socket 11 would be replaced by a stud adapted to be received in a socket in the Wrench device. As illustrated, the work-receiving socket 12 is "hexagonal but it couldhave-anyother desired The sockets are broachedin the barrel and a relief bore 13 is provided to relieve the breach forming the socket 12. As thus far described, the socket member is substantially similarto a conventional socket Wrench socket'member.

This invention contemplates terminating the workreceiving socket 12 :above the bottomof the barrel 10 so that the latter will extend below thecorners and hexagonal faces of the socket to provide a continuous reinforcement around and below the work-engaging portions of the socket. This is accomplished by forming a continuous annular reinforcing rim 15 about the lower extremity of, and concentric with the axis of, the barrel 10. The reinforcing rim 15 has an internal diameter exceeding the corner-to-corner diameter of the socket 12 so that a fiat internal shoulder 14 is formed in the barrel at the terminus of the socket 12. The reinforcing rim 15 extends axially beyond and circumferentially about the lower extremity of the socket 12. A similar reinforcing rim 17 may be formed about the wrench socket 11 in the upper extremity of the socket.

In the usual work-receiving socket the relatively sharp corners between the work engaging faces in the socket, such as indicated at C in Fig. 6, extend completely to the lower extremity of the barrel 10 so that when stresses are applied to the socket, either from torsion movements or from side movements of the Wrench, a tensional stress is applied to the exposed extremity of the sharp corner, as indicated by the force arrows F-F in Fig. 6, tending to rend or tear the metal of the lowerextremities of the corners of the sockets so that the metal separates to form a fracture extending lengthwise from the lower extremity of the corner as indicated at A in said figure.

In the conventional socket there is no metal below the load to resist the initiation of the fracture. In the improved socket, however, the reinforcing rim 15 places the termini of the sharp corners of the socket, indicated at C, Fig. 5, above the reinforcing rim 15 and the latter forms a relatively heavy metallic section below the load, as indicated by the heavy hatching in Fig. 4, so as to resist the initiation of a fracture at the lower terminus of the sharp corner. In other words, the reinforcing rim l5 acts to move the point of load back into the metal of the barrel 10, as indicated at B Fig. 5, and provide metal beyond the point of load, as indicated at T, to absorb the stresses caused by both side loading of the socket and torsion strains on the socket, as indicated by the force arrows F'-F' in Fig. 5.

Socket members constructed in uniformly doubled, and in some cases tripled,

3 the actual carrying capacity before fracture, and as a result allow the sockets to be made with thinner-walls and harder metal.

A simple explanation as to the surprising results obtained may be had by comparison with a sheet of paper. It is easy to tear a sheet of paper by applying tensional stresses to the edge of the sheet. The edge separates and the tear travels inwardly. It is exceedingly difiicult to tear a sheet of paper if the tear must be initiated within the edge of the sheet, or, in other words, by applying opposite forces at a point spaced inwardly from the edge of the sheet. It will be found that that portion of the sheet which extends beyond the application of the forces prevents rending or separation of the fibers so that a tear cannot be initiated. This is exactly the condition encountered with the improved wrench socket. A tear or crack cannot start at the lower extremity of a corner since the extremity is spaced inwardly from the edge of the socket the thickness of the rim 15.

The upper reinforcing rim 17 about the wrench socket 11 serves similarly to prevent fracture at the corners of the square wrench socket 11 and also serves to provide an annular pocket 16 for receiving metal which may be upset from the walls of the wrench socket 11 by the pounding action of power impact wrenches.

It has been found that the radial width of the reinforcing rim should be substantially equal to its axial depth so as to provide a rim having a substantially square cross section as indicated by the heavy cross-hatching in Fig. 4.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the function of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

A socket member for a socket wrench comprising: a barrel having an open extremity; a polygonal work-receiving socket formed on the inner surface of the barrel about an axis coextensive with the geometrical axis of the barrel; an annular integral rim extending beyond the open terminus of the socket, said rim having an internal radius greater than the maximum radius of the socket at the corners thereof, said socket terminating in a continuous shoulder formed between the open extremity thereof and the interior annular surface of said rim; a polygonal wrench-receiving socket formed at the barrel extremity opposite to the work-receiving socket; and an annular integral rim extending beyond the open terminus of said wrench-receiving socket, said last-mentioned rim having an internal radius greater than the maximum radius of said wrench-receiving socket at the corners thereof, there being a continuous shoulder formed between the mouth of said wrench-receiving socket and the internal annular urface of the adjacent rim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,442,123 Brown Jan. 16, 1923 1,584,208 Bellows May 11, 1926 1,635,102 Watson July 5, 1927 1,832,185 Cochrane Nov. 17, 1931 2,202,240 Trotter May 28, 1940 2,623,418 Vaughan Dec. 30, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 992,637 France July 11, 1951

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