US2048538A - Ratchet device - Google Patents

Description

2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR. @w

ATTORNEYS.

M. J. CLABBY RATCHET DEVICE July 21, 1936.

Filed June 16, 1934 y 21, 1 y M. J. CLABBY 2,048,538

RATCHET DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 16, 193?) A TTORNEYS.

Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES 2,048,53&

PATENT OFFICE Armstrong Manufacturing 00.,

New York,

N. Y., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 16, 1934,. Serial No. 730,934

Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved ratchet device which can be used for various pur- P0568.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide 5 an improved ratchet device for operating tools of various kinds, such as thread-cutting tools, screw drivers, reamers, taps, drills, etc. This general description of some of the objects of the invention is made without limiting its field of use as the invention is generally applicable for intermittentlyturning any driven member in either direction, by means of a device which is turned back and. forth. Said operating device. engages the driven member when said operating device is; turned in onedirection, and said operating device is released from said driven member, when said device isturned in, the opposite or inoperati-ve direction.

Another object of the invention is to provide an operating device of this type, said device having staggered operating pawls, so as to eliminate backlash. Another object of the invention is to provide at least two pairs of ratchet pawls, one of said pairs. being operative to turn the; driven member,

so as to lengthenthe, life of the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a quick release of the improved driving member from the driven member, by locating and arrangingthe operating pawls, so that they can be directly turned by the hand of the. operator, to the inoperative position.

Another object. of the invention is to locate the operating pawls in a casing which is provided a suitable. opening or openings, so that the operating pawls. can be directly turned to. the inoperative position, when it is desired to release the driven member, or for any other purpose.

Another object of the invention is toprovide. an improved cam control for moving the operating pawls out of operative position. Another object of the invention is to provide a single spring for actuating all of the pawls to the operative position. v I

While the device has been heretofore, referred to as a ratchet device, it is to be understood" that the invention is not to be limited to the use of a ratchet, or inclined teeth and, that the term ratchet generally includes, any device of the general type described herein.

Fig. l is a plan view showing the assembly of;

the operating device and the driven member.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fi 1. Fig. 3; is a detail front elevation of the driven member. This view also includes a section of the collar of the operating device.

Fig. 4' is a plan view of the operating device, the pawls being shown in the neutral or inoperative position. 5

Fig. 5 is a plan View partially in section showing the operating device assembled with the driven member. In this view the pawls are in a position suitable for positively driving the driven' member in the clockwise direction, if the eye 10 of the observer is assumed to be above the plane of Fi 5.

Fig. 6 is a viewsimilar to- Fig. 5, the pawls being shown in the position suitable for driving the tdriven member in the counter clockwise direc- Fig. 7 is a detail View partially in section showing the cam device for shifting the pawls either to the neutral position shown in Fig. 4', or to either one of the positions shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. 20

The driven member I may be of any conventional type and it is partially shown in the draw ingsherein, since it is to be understood that any suitable drill, reamer, tap, thread-cutting die or other tool member may be either integral with 5 said driven member I, or to be suitably connected thereto. I

The shank of said driven member I is provided with vertical grooves 8, which define intermediate vertical teeth 9. 30

For convenience in describing and defining the invention, it is assumed that the operating device is held in a horizontal plane, but of'course said device can operate in any plane.

Said teeth 9 and said grooves 8 have substan- 35 tially smooth surfaces, and the horizontal lines which are illustrated in connection with the grooves 8 in Fig. 3, are shade lines.

shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the operating device has a collar I0 which generally conforms to the 40 shape of the shank of the driven member I.

Said collar H! has a smooth inner periphery and said collar I0 has an opening between the top and bottom thereof, along a portion of the periphery of said collar I0, so that the operating 45 pawls can enter said collar H], in order to engage the teeth 9.

The opening in the 'wall of said collar to is preferably less than although the inven-' tion is not to be restricted in this particular. 50

The operating device also comprises a casing R, which may be of tapered shape, and said casing has a bottom wall B, and a top wall T. Said casing also has a mouth it, which is'provided with an internal thead. 55

The arm I4 has its end externally threaded at I5 so that said arm'l4 can engage the mouth I2 of the tapered casing R; in order to turn the operating device back and forth.

I The casing is also provided with two. pairsof operating pawls, one of said pairs including the pawls I6 and I611, the'other'pair including the pawls I8 and I8a. The pawls I6 and IBa-are turnably mounted upon a pivot pin I1, and the pawls I8 and I8a, are turnably mountedupon a I pivot pin IIa. However, the invention is not to be limited to any particular location or arrangement of the pawls. V

As shown in Fig. 2, the-pivot pin I! has a bottom end which is externally threaded, and this engages an. internally threaded openingwhich is provided in the bottom Wall E. Said pivot pins I1 and I'Ia. are generally shaped like screws, save that they have smooth shank por tions upon which. the pawls are turnably mounted.

Asshownin Fig. 2, the side walls of thecas- V 'ing'R are provided with openings intermediate :the top and bottom. walls T and B, andi these openings are of sufficient height so that the 'outer'ends of the'pawls' can be pressed by. the

fingers of the operator in order to directly turn said pawlsto the inoperative position, without the 1 use of any cam devices, or the like.

As shown in Fig. 1, said operating pawls may' be ,located'wholly within the inclined side walls of the casing R, in all the positions of said pawls,

- so that said pawls are protected against accidental blows or the like, by said side Walls of the casing R.

As shown in Fig.5, the pawls of each pair are;

of unequal length. The short pawl I6of one pair is above thelong pawl IBwof the same pair. The long pawl I8 of the second pair is above the short pawl I8a 'ofsaid second pair. The pawls I 6 and I8a. are preferably of the same length and they correspond to each other in all respects,

and the pawls I8 and IBa likewise correspond to each other. I

Likewise, the pivot pin IIais identical in con struction' with the pin I'I.

The inner surfaces of the pawls have the general contour shown'in Fig. 6, each .of said inner turns in a suitable opening the top wall T.

turns in said opening.

.members to limitthe movement surfaces being provided with a 'shoulderwhich,

can be engaged by the cam C. Said cam C has the general shape, shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. '7 and it is provided with two parallel planar: faces and 7 two curved end faces.

The bottom wall B of the'casing R is' provided with a circular opening through which the cam C can be passed. The "bottom end of said cam of the driven member. 7

'The heads of the pins I! and [1a. act as stop of the thumbpieceZOb.

The outer ends of the pawls are provided with aligned'partial recesses, and a single. com- The member 20 is When this point 20a;

pression coil spring S has its ends located in said recesses, so that said spring S tends to'force the inner ends of the pawl members, into engagement with the shank of the driven'member I..

The shank of the driven member I is preferably upon the teeth 9. ,The casing R is ordinarily turned about 180 at each stroke thereof and by having an odd number of teeth, the pawls are caused to come into contact with different teeth, during each consecutive half revolution. The

grooves'8 and the teeth 9 may be made of equal I width, measured along the periphery of the shank of the driven member I. In such case, and. assuming that the long pawl I8 abuts one of the teeth 9, as shown in Fig. 6,the short pawl I80) w has its inner end substantially aligned'with the edge of the consecutive tooth 9.-

However, and if desired, the teeth 9 could be made somewhat wider than the grooves B. l

It is clear that the long pawlbr the short by the pawl of either-pair of pawls, may be used for tapered casing R and if it is desired to promptly release the driven member, this can be done by nwardly pressing the outer ends of the pawls, 1rrespectrve of the position of the cam C;

The use of two separate pivot members Hand Ha likewise increases the strength and the life of the device. The useof; a single spring for controlling all the pawls increases the simplicity and lowers the cost of manufacture. of the device.

The efiect of using two pairs pawls having 7 the different lengths and arranged in the mariner shown, substantially quadruples the life of the 7 device.

Referring to Figs. 4-6, if one of the pairs of pawls is turned into the'operative position, and.

thecasing R is turned in the desired direction, 1t is impossible for the operator to turnsaid casing R'through a distance which is greaterthan the. width of a groove 8, before one of the operatrve pawls begins to turn the shank I. This is due to the use of a pair of operatingpawls on each side of the casing, said pawls staggered relation.

If only a single pawl were utilized, said pawl being". arranged in r i could move for a distance which would corre 1 spond substantially to thewidth of two grooves before said pawlwould beginto'operate. .Since 7 these devices areturned with considerable force, it is desirable to minimize the relative free movement between thebperatingdevice' and :the-

driven member, at each stroke of the. operating device. 4 r 7 While it is preferred. to have atleast two pawls on each side of the operating device, the invention is not limited in certain aspects thereof, to the use of two or more pawls uponeachside of the device. j

For convenience the member C, can be designated as a selector because itselects the inoperative or operative positions of the pawls. Likewise, and in order .todescribe the invention conveniently, the outer 'ends'of the pawls" may be designated as being directly accessible, this expression being used in order to indicate that said outer ends may be directly manipulated by the fingers of the operator.

For example, the selector means can be of any suitable or conventional type.

I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it is clear that numerous changes and omissions can be made without departing from its spirit.

I claim:

1. An operating device of the ratchet type and having an opening in which the shank of a driven member may be located, said shank having teeth, said device having two pairs of pawls which are mounted upon separate pivot members, the pawls of each pair being of unequal length so that their inner ends are spaced from each other, said inner ends being adapted tocontact with difl'erent teeth of said shank, and selector means for controlling the positions of said pawls.

2. An operating device of the ratchet type having an opening in which the shank of a driven member may be located, said shank having teeth, said device having two pairs of pawls which are mounted upon separate pivot members, the pawls of each pair being of unequal length so that their inner ends are spaced from each other, said inner ends being adapted to contact with difierent teeth of said shank, and selector means for controlling the positions of said pawls, the outer ends of said pawls being directly accessible and having compression spring means located between said outer ends.

3. An operating device of the ratchet type and having an opening in which the shank of a driven member may be located, said shank having teeth, said device having two pairs of pawls which are mounted upon separate pivot members, the pawls of each pair being of unequal length so that their inner ends are spaced from each other, said inner ends being adapted to contact with dififerent said pivot pin, the side walls of said casing havl0 ing openings so that said pawls are directly accessible, each pair of pawls being of unequal length so that the inner ends of said pawls are adapted to engage different teeth of said driven member, a single compression spring located between the outer ends of said pawls, the outer ends of said spring being operatively connected to the outer ends of said pawls, and selector means mounted on said casing and adapted to control the positions of said pawls.

5. An operating device of the ratchet type comprising a. casing having a collar in which the shank of a driven member may be located, said shank having teeth, said casing having spaced pivot pins, a pair of pawls mounted upon each said pivot pin, the side walls of said casing having openings so that said pawls are directly accessible, each pair of pawls being of unequal length so that the inner ends of said pawls are adapted to engage different teeth of said driven member, a single compression spring located between the outer ends of said pawls, the outer ends of said spring being operatively connected to the outer ends of said pawls, and selector means mounted on said casing and adapted to control 35 the positions of said pawls, the longer pawl of one pair occupying the same position as the shorter pawl of the other pair.

MICHAEL J. CLABBY.

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