Applicant's former invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,302 which uses an outer sleeve with an inclined inner surface which presses beads in radial direction to position a bit. The inclination of the inclined inner surface is about 30 degrees and an angle between the beads is in a range of 45 to 135 degrees. The bit can be directly inserted into the adapter without pulling the outer sleeve which is slightly moved in the same insertion direction and the bit is positioned by the beads. When removing the bit, the sleeve is move a distance and the user does not need to move the sleeve continuously, the bit can be pulled out from the adapter. The outer sleeve is moved in the direction that the bit is removed from the adapter when removing the bit so that the bit does not drop from the adapter by unintentional impact to the outer sleeve during use.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,302 improves the drawbacks that the conventional adapter has to insert the bit to the adapter by two hands and the outer sleeve has to be pulled downward when removing the bit from the adapter, the downward movement of the outer sleeve might happen by unintentional impact to the outer sleeve during use.
When the bit is in loosened status and oriented downward, the bit drops due to gravity and the user has to find it and re-install it to the adapter. Some beads are pressed by the inclined inner surface of the outer sleeve and some beads are pushed by the straight inner surface of the outer sleeve, however, it is experienced that the positioning of the beads are not secured enough so that the bit cannot be well positioned.
The inclination of the inclined inner surface of the outer sleeve has to be correct to position the bit, a well functioned position block is important to position or release the outer sleeve. The disclosed outer sleeve and the positioning block need to be further improved.
As shown in
The present invention intends to provide an adapter coupling device that allows the user to insert the bit into the adapter with one hand and the bit does not drop when it is loosened and pointed downward.
The present invention relates to an adapter coupling device which comprises an adapter having a polygonal recess defined therein for receiving a bit therein. A first radial hole and a second radial hole are defined in an outer periphery thereof so as to respectively receive a first bead and a second bead. A first spring and a positioning block are received in a circular recess in the adapter, wherein the positioning block has a receiving space defined radially in an outer periphery thereof and located corresponding to the first radial hole. The positioning block further has an outer surface.
An outer sleeve is mounted to the adapter and a second spring is mounted to the adapter and engaged with the outer sleeve. An annular groove is defined in an inner surface of the outer sleeve and located corresponding to second radial hole of the adapter. An inclined inner surface is defined in the inner surface of the outer sleeve and the inclined inner surface has a maximum inclination of 30 degrees relative to an axis of the outer sleeve. The inner surface of the outer sleeve pushes the second bead into the receiving space of the positioning block or the outer surface of the positioning block pushes the second bead out from the receiving space to positioning the outer sleeve.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide an adapter coupling device which allows the user to insert the bit into the polygonal recess of the adapter with one hand while the outer sleeve does not need to be pushed upward. The bit is positioned by a bead which is pressed by the inclined inner surface of the outer sleeve and the inclined inner surface has a maximum inclination of 30 degrees relative to an axis of the outer sleeve.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to
An outer sleeve 20 is mounted to the adapter 10 and a second spring 22 is mounted to the adapter 10. An engaging groove 101 is defined in the outer periphery of the adapter 10 and a clip 18 is engaged with the engaging groove 101. A flange 21 extends inward from a lower end of the outer sleeve 20 and the second spring 22 is biased between the clip 18 and the flange 21. The second spring 22 provides a force to return the outer sleeve 20 relative to the adapter 10.
An annular groove 24 is defined in an inner surface 25 of the outer sleeve 20 and located corresponding to second radial hole 12 of the adapter 10. An inclined inner surface 23 is defined in the inner surface 25 of the outer sleeve 20 and located at a top portion of the outer sleeve 20. The inclined inner surface 23 has a maximum inclination of 30 degrees relative to an axis of the outer sleeve 20.
Referring to
When removing the bit 30 from the polygonal recess 15 of the adapter 10, the outer sleeve 20 is moved upward to let the annular groove 24 of the outer sleeve 20 be located corresponding to the second radial hole 12. The positioning block 17 is pushed upward by the first spring 171 so that the second bead 14 is pushed outward by the outer surface 173 and the second bead 14 is received in the annular groove 24 and the outer sleeve 20 is not moved temporarily. Therefore, the user does not need to keep to push the outer sleeve 20 and the inclined inner surface 23 does not press the first bead 13 which then does not the contact against the bit 30.
Although the bit 30 is not pressed by the first bead 13, the bit 30 is attracted by the magnet 176 so that the bit 30 does not drop from the adapter 10. The magnet 176 can also be replaced by a non-magnetic block. It is noted that the outer sleeve 20 is pushed upward to remove the bit 30, so that the bit 30 is not loosened even if an unintentional impact applied downward to the outer sleeve 20 during use.
As shown in
The angle between the first beads 13 in the first radial holes 11 is in a range of 45 to 135 degrees.
The maximum inclination of the inclined inner surface 23 is 30 degrees relative to an axis of the outer sleeve 20 so that the inclined inner surface 23 can press the first bead 13 properly and firmly position the bit 30. The angle between the two first beads 13 in the two first radial holes 11 is in a range of 45 to 135 degrees, so that the bit 30 is positioned in a stable status and the positioning block 17 ensures that the outer sleeve 20 is operated correctly.
While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
This is a Continuation-In-Part application of Applicant's former U.S. application Ser. No. 11/703,629, filed Feb. 8, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,302.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4828277 | De Bastiani et al. | May 1989 | A |
5934384 | Wang | Aug 1999 | A |
6270085 | Chen et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6325393 | Chen et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6637755 | Chen et al. | Oct 2003 | B2 |
6973858 | Huang | Dec 2005 | B2 |
7159493 | Huang | Jan 2007 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090188352 A1 | Jul 2009 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 11703629 | Feb 2007 | US |
Child | 12385222 | US |