US3283621A

US3283621A - Socket wrenches

Info

Publication number: US3283621A
Application number: US479250A
Authority: US
Inventors: William J Faso
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-08-12
Filing date: 1965-08-12
Publication date: 1966-11-08
Anticipated expiration: 1983-11-08

Description

W. J. FASO SOCKET WRENCHES Nov. 8, 1966 Filed Aug. 12, 1965 INVENTOR. William J.Faso

United States Patent 3,283,621 SOCKET WRENCHES William J. Faso, 230 N. Deferal Highway, Deerfield Beach, Fla. Filed Aug. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 479,250 1 Claim. (Cl. 81-54) This invention relates to socket wrenches and more particularly to a driver therefor for engaging and screwing or unscrewing nuts, bolts or screws in restricted or hard-tto-reach locations or where space is limited and where there is no room in which to swing regular wrenches, ratchets or to move the fingers.

There are instances where the screwing or unscrewing of a loose nut or screw with known tools is difiicult and particularly when the nut or screw is not tight enough for the tool to operate effectively so that the nut or screw tends to return to its original position. This necessitates the use of some other method to move the fastener into some other position before the ratchet or similar tool will operate properly on the nut or screw.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a tool by means of which the above-mentioned problems will be eliminated for when the wrench is fitted over the nut or screw, the same can be turned rapidly in either direction by the manual manipulation or a ringer piece provided on the handle of the wrench so that the handle need not be swung to move the nut or screw. The wrench however, can also be used, when desired or required by turning the handle from side to side while the finger piece is held against rotation.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a hollow handle having a rotative socket holder at its forward end; with a knob-carrying shaft spaced from the socket holder; with the socket holder and shaft each carrying a pulley and with .a flexible drive member extended between the pulleys whereby a manual rotation of the shaft will rotate the socket holder.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of par-ts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claim appended here-to.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a wrench constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the wrench with the upper casing member or handle section removed;

FIG. 4 shows the driving belt;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 55 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 shows the manually rotated shaft;

FIG. 7 shows the wrench socket holder with the pulley omitted;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the socket holder, and

FIG. 9 shows an off-set type wrench constructed in accordance with the invention.

The wrench includes a body which constitutes a handle member, the same being generally indicated at 1 and it is in the form of an elongated hollow casing composed of two similar casing sections indicated respectively at 2 and 3. Each of these sections may, toward its wider end, be reinforced or stiffened by means of a raised ornamental rib 4.

The two casing sections are united to cooperate in the formation of a hollow casing, by means of the rivets 5 or equivalent fastening elements located at suitable intervals along the length of the casing.

Patented Nov. 8, 1966 At its front or forward end, the casing thus provided has a rounded head 6 provided with a hole in which a wrench socket holder 7 is rotatively fitted. Said socket holder has the conventionally-shaped, non-round or square shank 8 on which the wrench socket is fitted in the usual manner. This portion of the socket holder is exposed on the outside of the casing as is shown in FIG. 2.

The stud portion 10 of the socket holder is disposed inside of the casing and this part carries a pulley 11 that is press-fitted on said stud portion. Stud portion 10 is provided with a fiat surface 12 and the opening in the pulley 11 is complementary in shape to the shape of the stud portion so that the pulley 11 and the socket holder will be coupled together and rotate as a unit.

Extended around the pulley 11 is a flexible cable or woven belt 13 which passes around a second and similar pulley 14 fitted on a shaft 15 extending through the walls of the casing through a hole formed therein. Shaft 15 is flattened as shown at 17 and the bore of the pulley 14 is complementarily-shaped to cause the pulley to be rotated in company with the shaft 15.

Provided on the end of the shaft 15, and as desired formed integrally therewith, is a knob or finger piece 20 which is peripherally knurled and is located on the outside of the casing, in the handle area thereof and conveniently positioned to be engaged between the fingers. There is thus provided a rotative socket holder that is coup-led to a manually rotative shaft by means of a flexible member or belt which engages with the pulleys carried respectively by the socket holder and the shaft. When a wrench socket is fitted on the holder 7 and is engaged with a nut, bolt or screw, the wrench may, if desired, be used in the conventional way, or swung from side-to-side while the knob is held from turning by being gripped between the fingers of the hand engaged in gripping the handle area of the casing. In such case the socket holder will be held against turning and it will turn the nut or head of the bolt or screw. As soon as the nut or bolt head becomes slightly loosened, it can be loosened further without requiring the handle to be swung, by merely rotating the knob 20 between the fingers and this will turn the wrench socket and completely loosen the nut or bolt and permit of its removal. In fitting a nut or bolt in position and in a difiicult-to-reach location, the wrench becomes particularly useful since it can position the nut or bolt in position and start its threading movement by holding the casing or handle stationarily and merely rotating the knob 20. This will rotate the pulley 11 through the cable or belt drive and cause the nut or bolt to be threadably started. The threading can be continued by the rotation of the knob 20 until force is required to thread the nut or bolt home, whereupon the knob 20 can be held against rotation while the handle is swung in the manner of the conventional socket wrench to complete the seating of the nut or bolt.

While the flexible drive member is shown and described as being an endless belt extending between pulleys, it will be apparent that it might be a bead chain or other type of chain or flexible driving element or some other means by which a drive may be had between a manuallyrotated shaft in the handle and a rotative socket holder carried thereby.

The

pulleys

11 and 14 are substantially alike and to prevent, or at least greatly minimize any slippage between the pulleys and the belt, the belt-contacting surfaces 21 of the pulleys can be serrated, toothed or otherwise roughened.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 9, the head end of the casing is angled or off-set since the construction described is readily applicable to that type of ofiset wrench.

Having thus described an embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming withing the scope of the annexed claim.

What I claim is:

A digitally operable socket Wrench comprising an elongated hollow casing constituting a body for said wrench, one end of said casing being slightly ofiset from the rest of said casing, said ofiset end of said casing having an opening therein; a socket holder, said socket holder having a stud portion at one end and a socket receiving portion at the other end, said stud portion being operatively received in the opening in the ofiset end of said casing, said socket holder being freely rotative when said stud portion is in position Within the offset end of said casing; a first pulley, said pulley being carried by said stud portion and contained wholly within said casing; shaft means intermediate the ends of said casing, said shaft having a knob at one end thereof said knob being located on the outside of said casing; a second pulley riding on said shaft means, said second pulley being wholly contained within said casing; endless cable means interconnecting said first and second pulleys, such that digital rotative movement applied to the knob will cause the shaft means, second pulley and first pulley to rotate in response thereto; and, a hand grip portion on said casing at the opposite extremity to said offset portion, the said knob being located at the inner end of said hand grip portion such that the socket Wrench can be held and operated by the same hand.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 91,660 6/ 1869 Ostrander. 3,138,983 6/1964 Frizzell.

FOREIGN PATENTS 144,289 11/ 1951 Australia. 962,575 12/ 1949 France.

\VILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

JAMES L. JONES, JR., Examiner.