GB2272967A

GB2272967A - An illuminating tool

Info

Publication number: GB2272967A
Application number: GB9224646A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Miriam Howitt; Graham Bunker Main
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-11-25
Filing date: 1992-11-25
Publication date: 1994-06-01
Anticipated expiration: 2012-11-25
Also published as: GB2272967B; GB9224646D0

Abstract

An illuminating tool, such as a screwdriver, has a sleeve (3) of light-transmitting material, e.g. acrylic plastics material, around the shank [2], and means such as a lamp bulb (4) for illuminating the end of the sleeve in or adjacent to the handle, so that light is transmitted along the length of the sleeve [3] to the work region adjacent to the operating bit [1] of the tool. <IMAGE>

Description

Illuminating Tool This invention relates to illuminating tools, such as screwdristers, of the kind which comprise a handle, a shank projecting from the handle , an operating bit on the end of the shank, and a light source accommodated in the handle for illuminating the work region. Such illumination is particularly convenient when the work region is in the dark.

Such tools have previously been proposed, with an electric lamp bulb and batteries incorporated in the handle for directing light from the bulb through an aperture or window in the handle towards the work region. A screwdriver for surgical use has also been proposed in which a minute light bulb was disposed adjacent to the screwdriver blade and connected by wires arranged within a sleeve around the shank to a battery in the handle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an i.luminatlng tool of the kind described above, such as a screwdriver, which ulil diect light more precisely to the work region than ran be done with a bulb emitting light from an aperture in the handle, while avoiding the complications involved in providing a bulb adjacent to the operating bit.

According to the invention, in a tool of the kind described above, comprising a handle, a shank projecting rom the handle, an operating bit on the end of the shank, and a light source accommodated in the handle for illuminating the work region, a light-transmitting sleeve surrounds the shank and is arranged to transmit light along its length from the source to the work region.

Preferably, light loss from the light-transmitting sleeve is reduced by virtue of internal reflection at the external cylindrical surface of the sleeve. The light transmitting sleeve may be of an acrylic plastics material.

the light-transmitting sleeve may either be formed as an Intrai tension of an outer casing of the handle, or it may, at its end adjacent to the handle, be encased within an extenson of the handle.

Preferably the light source is an electric lamp bulb mounted in the handle on the axis of the sleeve and so as to illuminate-the end of sleeve. Advantageously the handle is formed with a cavity adapted to receive the lamp bulb and a battery or batteries and is provided with a switch having an operating button whose outer surface is flush ;th an outer surface of the handle.

Preferably the lamp bulb and the battery or batteries are accommodated in a holder which is removable as a unit from the cavity in the handle.

Specific embodiments of the invention, in which the operating bit is a screwdriver bit or blade integral with the shank, will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a screwdriver constituting a first embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 is a similar view of a second embodiment, and Figures 2A,2B,2C and 2D are cross-sections on lines A A, B-B, C-C and D-D, respectively, of Figure 2.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1, the screwdriver comprises an operating bit or blade 1, a shank 2 integral with the blade 1, and a light-transmitting sleeve 3 of electrically insulating acrylic plastics material surrounding the shank 2. The sleeve 3 is in this embodiment integral with the hollow insulating body of the handle 5. In the internal cavity of the handle 5, an electric lamp bulb 4 is mounted on the axis of the sleeve 3 so as to illuminate the end of the sleeve 3 where it merges into the handle 5. A pair of batteries 6 are mounted end-to-end in a metal conductor sleeve 7 which also carries the lamp bulb 4. At the end of the handle. 5 remote from the shank 2, the internal cavity is closed by an insulating screw cap 9 incorporating a switch turn-button 10 flush with its end surface.The turn-button 10 acts on a metal circuit maker/breaker 8 to connect or disconnect the batteries 6 to or from the bulb 4. Illumination of the end of the sleeve 3 by the bulb 4 results in light passing down the sleeve and being emitted from the end of the sleeve 3 adjacent to the blade 1 to illuminate the work region very precisely. Light loss is minimized or at least reduced by internal reflection at the external cylindrical surface of the sleeve 3, after the fashion of an optical fibre. In some cases, an optical fibre could be used to form the sleeve 3.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 2 to 2D, the sleeve 3 is separate from the handle 5, having its end adjacent to the handle encased within an extension 51 of the handle 5. The shank 2 has ears 21 projecting through the sleeve 3 into the extension 51 of the handle to prevent turning of the handle relative to the shank 2 and blade 1.

The handle 5 can be moulded from an insulating plastics material which can be different from the material of the light-transmitting sleeve 3. In practice, the handle 5 may be moulded over the pre-assembled shank 2 and sleeve 3 and around a core to form the internal cavity. The end cap 91 shown here is a push-fit into the end of the cavity and has a metal contact strip 72 sprung into a recess in its inner surface for connecting the batteries 6 in series.

The batteries 6 are here disposed side-by-side in a holder 71 which replaces the conductor sleeve 7 of Figure 1 and which can be removed as a unit, carrying the bulb 4, from the cavity in the handle 5. The switch has in this case a slide-action button 101 flush with the outer surface of the handle 5 and acting on the circuit maker/breaker 8 as before. The bulb 4 again illuminates the adjacent end of the sieeve 3 so that lIght is emitted fro the end of the sleeve adjacent to the blade 1 to illuminate the work region very precisely.

Various changes could of course be made to the illustrated embodiments while remaining within the scope of the invention. The screwdriver blade 1 could be replaced by a Phillips head or a Posidrive head, or by another kind of operating bit, which could be detachably secured to the shank 2. The internal surface of the cavity in the handle 5 could be provided with a reflective coating to assist in directing light from the bulb 4 into the light transmitting sleeve 3.

Claims

Claims:

1. A tool comprising a handle, a shank projecting from the handle, an operating bit on the end of the shank, a sleeve of light-transmitting material surrounding the shank and arranged to transmit light along its length from its end in or adjacent to the handle to its end adjacent to the operating bit. and means for illuminating the handle end of the sleeve so as to cause it to transmit light to a work region adjacent to the operating bit.

2. A tool according to claim 1 wherein light loss from the light-transmitting sleeve is reduced by virtue of : internal reflection at the external cylindrical surface of the sleeve.

3. A tool according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the lighttransmitting sleeve is of an acrylic plastics material.

4. A tool according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the light-transmitting sleeve is formed as an integral extension of an outer casing of the handle.

5. A tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the light-transmitting sleeve, at its end adjacent to the handle, is encased within an extension of the handle.

6. A tool according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the illuminating means is an electric lamp bulb mounted in the handle on the axis of the sleeve so as to illuminate the end of the sleeve.

7. A tool according to claim 6, wherein the handle is formed with a cavity adapted to receive the lamp bulb and a battery or batteries and is provided with a switch having an operating button whose outer surface i~ flush with an outer surface of the handle.

8. A tool according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the lamp bulb and the battery or batteries are accommodated in a holder which is removable as a unit from the cavity in the handle.

9. A tool according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the operating bit is a screwdriver bit or blade integral with the shank.

10. A screwdriver substantially as hereinbefore described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.