US3063316A - Socket wrench with storage area - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 13, 1962 E. s. sALlERNo socxET WRENCH WITH STORAGE AREA Filed July 22, 1959 IHWWWRMM O2 a I i ,I BY I V//f//I 3,063,316 SOCKET WRENCH WITH STORAGE AREA Elio S. Salierno, 43 E. Turnbull Ave., Havertown, Pa. Filed July 22, 1959, ser. No. 828,831 3 Claims. (Cl. 81-124.1)

This invention relates to a socket wrench having a magazine or storage area and constitues an improvement over devices of this general class. An objective of the present invention is to provide a device which eliminates the necessity of applying nuts via hand to bolts or other threaded stems.

More particularly, the present invention is devoted to the handling, storage and application of miniature nuts of approximately 1/16" diameter or less which are widely used in assembly operations in various industries including the electronics industry.

lt is common knowledge that nuts of the order of 1/16" diameter or less are difficult both to handle and apply to threaded stems during assembly operations. Moreover, such diiculties are multiplied when the threaded stem is located in an area which is not easily accessible.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a miniature nut applying device which eliminates the necessity of applying a miniature nut via hand to a threaded stern.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a socket wrench with miniature nut storage area having releasable stop means so arranged as to permit said wrench to accommodate and apply a plurality of miniature nuts to tiny threaded stems.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a socket wrench with a miniature nut Stor-age area usable in conjunction with miniature nuts and readily adapted to be used in assembly line production.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a socket wrench with a miniature nut storage area having means which apply a variable tension to the miniature nuts contained therein thereby facilitating loading and application of the miniature nuts.

. Another object of the present invention is to provide a socket wrench with storage area for miniature nuts which incorporates many desirable features in such a manner that it can be manufactured in an extremely economical manner with a minimum of separate parts that can be most readily assembled.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Y FIG. l is a side elevational view of a iirst embodiment of the present invention; l

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional View taken along the lines 2 2 of FIG. 1;

` FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevational view of the device of FIG. 1; v

FIG. 4 is an enlarged Viewv of the front portion. of FIG. 2;

F-lG. 4-a is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the lip of the stop spring shown in FIG 4;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines 5 5 of FIG. 4;

lFIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing a threaded stem engaged with and pulling out a nut from the wrench storage area;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view, partly in section, of the rear portion of FIG. 2, with the rear bearing member and m-ain spring omitted for clarity and showing both the side and rear adjustment means almost completely backed away to reduce the main spring force to a minimum; and

xitedStates Patent Patented Nov. 13., 1962 like reference characters are used for like elements throughout.

A socket Wrench with storage area in accordance with a iirst embodiment of the present invention is generally shown at 10 in FIG. 1 and includes at its front portion a magazine 12 which is of such size and shape as to accommodate a plurality of miniature nuts 14. Nuts 14 are frontwardly urged by the action of ejectment means 16 positioned within magazine 12. Ejectment means 1.6 includes a disc 17 having a forward surface 18 which bears against the rear face of the endmost nut 14 contained in magazine 112. Ejectment means 16 further includes a rearwardly positioned adaptive finger 20 over which is fitted the forward portion of a coil spring 22 which extends into magazine 12. The major portion of spring 22 is, however, positioned in achamber 24.

, Chamber 24 is an extension of magazine 12 and is integral therewith, but is of a smaller internal diameter than magazine 12 so as to preclude backward movement of disc 17 `beyond the confines of magazine 12.

The rearward portion of spring 22 is positioned over adaptive finger 26 of a rear bearing member 28 which is also housed in chamber 24. The position of member 28 may be altered by the individual or combined movement of side .adjustment means 30 and end adjustment means 32. Should member 28 be moved forwardly, the compressive forces on spring 22 would thereby be increased since the rear end 27 of spring 22 is also moved forwardly while the front end 23 of spring 22 will be held stationary so long as nuts 14 are neither added to nor withdrawn from magazine 12. This is so because the action of spring 22 biases bearing surface 18 of disc 17 against the rear face of the endmost nut 14 which cannot move unless and until a forward nut 14 is either added to or withdrawn from magazine 12.

Side adjustment means 30 is in the shape of a hollow cylinder having internal threads 34 which enable the means 30 to be threaded over external threads 36 located at the rear portion of chamber 24.

Positioned within adjustment means 30` is a threaded head 38 mounted on a stem 39 having a knob 40 at its other end. The head 38 bears against rear bearing member 28. Accordingly when knob 40 is turned to advance head 33 forwardly or when side adjustment means 30 is so turned to advance forwardly thereby causing head 38 to be carried therewith, the bearing member 28 is moved forwardly and the compressive stress on spring 22 is increased. This is so because front end 23 of spring 22 is held stationary as was previously described.

It follows that the compressive stresses on spring 22 may be lessened by moving head 38 rearwardly by appropriate turning of either side adjustment means 30 or knob 40.

It is thus seen that when the compressive stress on spring 22. is increased, the ejectment force exerted by ejectment means 16 on miniature nuts is accordingly increased. Hence, the ease of ejectment of miniature nuts may be quickly adjusted and controlled by adjusting the force of spring 22 relative to a releasable stop spring 42 which is positioned at the mouth of magazine 12 as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. It is readily apparent that releasable stop spring 42 precludes ejectment means 16 from ejecting a miniature nut 14 from magazine 12 until such time as the stop spring 42 is disengaged as when a miniature nut 14 is threaded on a stem 44 and tool 1t) withdrawn as shown in FIG. 6.

The -adjustability of the force exerted by ejectment means-16 ori nuts 14 is particularly important when a plurality ofminiature nuts 14 are being loaded into magazine 12. This is so because miniature nuts are inherently troublesome to handle and align in a spaced relationship as exists in magazine 12. Thus, loading of nuts 114 into magazine 12 may be facilitated by reducing the ejectment force of ejectment means 16 to a minimum by merely adjusting means 30 and 32 to a rearmost position as shown in FIG. 7. When the loading operation is completed, means 30 and 32 may be again advanced forwardly to increase the compressive stress on spring 22 thereby facilitating ejectment of nuts 14.

As previously disclosed, a releasable stop spring 42 is provided at the mouth of magazine 12 as best shown in FIG. 3. Spring 42 is a leaf spring which is generally positioned to 'occupy a longitudinal slot 43 formed in an external longitudinal side of magazine '12 as shown in FIG. 5. The trailing end of spring 42 is secured to an external face of chamber 24 (FIG. 2) by means of an overlying collar 46 and a securing pin 48. The leading end of spring 42 is bent at right angles to form a lip 50 which as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 4a and 6 lies flush against a front face 56 of the mouth of magazine 12 from which some metal has been removed to preclude the front face 58 of lip 50 from protruding beyond the mouth of maga` `mouth of magazine 12. Moreover, spring 42 `is constructed of an extremely thin piece of resilient metal thereby substantially reducing and practically eliminating the depth of recess 54 (FIG. 4) existing between the front face '56 of the mouth of magazine 12 or the front face 58 of the lip 50 and the front face 60 of the nut 14 in the ejectment position. A beveled edge 52 is formed on the rear face of lip 50 to provide a camming surface for the purpose hereinafter discussed.

When applying miniature nuts to stems which are generally of extremely small length, it is necessary that the width of recess 54 be held to an irreducible minimum or substantially eliminated because the threaded stern may have a length no longer that the width of a miniature nut 14.- Thus, the threaded stem would not reach the nut 14 if the width of recess 54 was greater than the length of the threaded stem. Such a problem, however, does not exist in connection with nuts of a more usual size, e.g., 1/2, since the threads to which said nuts are attached are generally of a suicient length to extend through the recess existing between the face of mouth of the magazine and the front face of the nut in ejectment f position. In operation, lip 50 functions as a releasable stop means to counteract the action of ejectment means l16 on nuts 14 until such time that lip 50 is offset as in FIG. 6 to permit the withdrawal of a single miniature nut 14 which has been secured to a threaded stem 44. It i should be noted that the downward spring action of spring 42 will cause lip 50 to glide against the outer surface of the nut 14 which is being removed from magazine 12 when tool 10 is withdrawn as shown in FIG. 6.

time as the nut 14 is secured to a threaded stem and the wrench 10 is pulled away therefrom there-by urging lip I50 again upwardly because of the outward thrust against beveled edge 52 to the position of FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 8, side adjustment means 30 may be `dispensed with, and adjustment of spring 22 may be effected `by the movement of the end adjustment means. In this embodiment, the rear portion of chamber 24 would be expanded in internal diameter as at 62 and would have therein internal threading at 64.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appendedclaims, the invention may be practiced otherwise .than as specically described.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. A socket wrench with storage area for housing and applying a plurality of miniature nuts to threaded stems comprising a magazine having an opening therein adapted to permit the successive ingress and egress of a plurality of miniature nuts to and from said magazine, a small recess in the front vface of said magazine, a thin leaf spring longitudinally secured to and abutting the outer surface of said magazine, said leaf spring having an end portion bent at a right angle to form a lip, said lip filling said recess, and protruding slightly therefrom into the interior of the magazine, with the rear face of the protruding portion being lbevelled, said recess being equal in depth to the thickness of said lip, said protruding portion providing a stop means permitting successive ejectment of said nuts, and adjustable spring biased ejectment means operatively positionedl in relation to said nuts, whereby the tension in said ejectment means can be adjusted to a minimum amount to facilitate loading of said nuts.

2. The `socket Wrench of claim 1 wherein said spring biased ejectment means includes a centrally positioned coil spring and said magazine is internally threaded and includes a bearing member threaded therein which may be adjusted to decrease the pressure on said spring.

3. The socket wrench of claim 1 wherein said spring biased ejectment means includes a centrally positioned coil spring and said magazine is externally threaded and has an internally threaded cylinder threaded thereon, said cylinder having a bearing member threadedftherein which maybe adjusted, along with the cylinder, to decrease the pressure on said spring.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 24,066 Brown Oct. 4, 1955 z1,281,928 Field Oct.15, 1918 1,525,545 James Feb. 10, 1925 2,493.398 Fricke Jan. 3, 1950 2,611,289 Frank Sept. 23, 1952 2,676,506 Schultz Apr. 27, 1954 2,857,794 Red Oct. 28, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 291,873 Germany May 11, 1916 640,693 France Apr. 3, 1928 402,949 Italy Mar, 30, 1943

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