US349007A

US349007A - Ratchet-wrench

Info

Publication number: US349007A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1886-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 1903-09-14

Description

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` (No Modem' J. E. SNCLAIR.

Patented sept. 14, 1886.

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4 T0 @ZZ whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

JOHN E. SINCLAIR, OF VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

RATCHET-WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,007, dated September 14, 1886.

Application tiled April l0, 1886.

Be it known that I, JOHN E. SiNcLAiR, a citizen of the United States, residing at IVorcester, in the county of Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Ratchet-Wrenches, of which the following is a specification. j

My invention relates to the well-known class of ratchetwrenches in which a pair of pawls is employed to engage with and to actuate the ratchet-head, rotation being thereby imparted to the ratchet-head in one direct-ion or the other, according as one or the other of the pawls is in engagement with the ratchet-teeth.

It particularly relates to the means of accomplishing the engagement and disengagement of the pawls with the ratchet-teeth; and the invention consists of an improved mechanism for performing this operation, which is illustrated in the annexed drawings.

Figure 1 is a plan View of a complete ratchet-Wrench to which my invention is applied. Figs. 2 and 3 are partial views of `the same, with a covering-plate removedto show the internal arrangement of parts. Fig. 4. is a sectional plan showing more completely the internal arrangements; and Fig. 5 isatransverse section taken on the line y, designed to illustrate Fig. 4 more fully.

The operation of the wrench is as follows: The socket-head B is adapted to any mechanical purpose requiring its rotation, and is held in the frame A, free to rotate therein, except as the pawls C and D, by engaging with the ratchet-teeth, prevent it. These pawls are so mounted Within the frame A as to admit of a limited oscillation in suitable cavities sunk in the substance of the frame A. Springs C D', Fig. 2, are placed behind the pawls, acting to push them out into the positions shown in Fig. 2. If, with the parts in these positions, the frame of the wrench be oscillated, as when in use, the head B must partake of the motion in both directions, being locked to the frame by the engagement of both pawls. If by any means one ofthe pawls be thrown back out of engagement with the ratchet, as is the pawl C inV Fig. 3, and the other pawl, D, is free to act, then oscillation of the frame will cause an intermittent rotation of the head B, the pawl D acting in a well-known manner. Likewise, it is evident that if the posit-ion of the pawls be (No model.)

reversed, then rotation of the head will take place in an opposite direction.

To provide an improved means of setting the pawls to produce the abovedescribed re- Suits is the object of my invention. The mechanism for accomplishing this consists of a plate, E, adapted to slide longitudinally in a channel su-nk in the material of the frame A, in such location and so arranged that its ends come alternately in contact with the pawls, and of a shaft, F, upon the end of which is formed an eccentric or crank pin, F. The plate Eis provided with aslotted aperture, E, Fig. 5, so arranged and of such shape as to admit the crank-pin F4, in the manner exhibited in Figs. 4 and 5. The shaft F is contained within the handle ot' the wrench, and is free to turn axillary therein, the milled button-head FL being provided for this purpose. It is evident that rotation of the shaft willy cause (by means of the crank or eccentric pin F working in the slot E) the plate E to traverse longitudinally in its groove, a half-revolution of the shaft bringing the pin F into the dottedline positionsff, Fig. 5, giving to the plate its extreme of travel from side to side. The relation of the position, the length, and the travel of the plate E to the pawls is such that one or the other of the pawls is pushed back out of range of engagement with the ratchetteeth when the plate is at either extreme of vits travel. Vhen one pawl is thus withdrawn from action, the. other is advanced to action by means of the spring behind it, as illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4, which show one position of the parts. It is evident that a half-revolution of the shaft will reverse the position and actionof the parts. If the shaft be turned into the position shown in Fig. -that is, to bring the plate E to a middle position of its travelboth pawls will be engaged with the gear-teeth at the same time, and the socket-head B, restrained from turning independently of the frame A, becomes a xture within it. This position of the parts is shown in Fig. 2. This pawl-operating mechanism accomplishes also the locking of the plate in either extreme position of its travel, so that the pawl under the action of the spring, aided by the jar which back the plate and come into action prematnrely. This locking results from the described the instrument receives in use, may not thrust arrangement of the parts, and from proportioning them so that the crankpin l?" shall travel over slightly more than a semicircle, coming to rest against the lower end of the slot in the plate E-a position slightly over and beyond the center. Pressure ol' the paivl against the plate will tend to rotate the shaft by carrying the pin still farther beyond the center, which motion cannot take place, because the crank-pin has reached the end of the slot. The pawl is thus securely locked until released by tnrning the button-head F2. Another advantage from this device is, that as the pawls are depressed and the springs resist with increasing force this is counteracted by the increasing leverage of the crank-arm as the erankpm approaches the center, the inechanical advantage and disad vantageso nearly balancing` one another that no perceptible increase of resistance is l'elt in operating the but tonhead F2. A special advantage from this device is, that the pawls can be operated and the rotation reversed at a distance from the rotating piece. .ln this way a rotation can be produced among the revolving wheels of various machines when the common method of reversing the pawls would be dangerous. As far as l am aware, this cannot be practically accomplished by any other ratchet mechanism hitherto known.

I am not limited in my invention tothe precise forni or arrangementof mechanism shown, which is only one convenient application of it.

plication to any double-paw] ratchet meehan` My invention essentially consists ot' the ap ism of a shaft provided with a cranl-z or eccentric adapted to operate the pawls alternately through the medium of a sliding plate or an equivalent.

I claim as my invention the following:

l. The shaft F, having an eccentric or crank pin, and the sliding plate E, adapted to be operated by the eccentric or crank pin, in combination with a pair of pawls operating together, substantially as and for the purpose specifiedn 2. 'lhe eol1ibination,\vith the socket-head of a Wrench having :1.1'atchet-ivhccl and a pair of pawls, ot' a shaft having means of operating the said pawls, the shalt projecting through the frame containing thcsaid socket-head, sul)- stantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, With a pair of pawls, of a shaft provided with a Vcrank-pin and a slotted plate adapted to be operated by the said crank-pin, for the purpose of controlling the said pawls, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, with a pair of pawls, of a shaft provided with a crank-pin and a sliding plate having a slot so adjusted to the travel ot' the crank-pin that the plate will be locked at cach end of its travel by the crankpin goingl beyond the center and striking the end ol' the slot, substantiallyY in the manner and Yfor the purpose specified.

JOHN ll. SINCLA l ll. `\`i"itnesses;

Mimn'r'ar S. Smetana, Y CLARA (l. IHlaLrs'.