Patent Application
20070151423
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hand tool, and more particularly to a reverse ratchet wrench, which is able to indicate the driving orientation of the wrench.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional reverse ratchet wrenches have a ratchet wheel, a pawl and a level. User may move the level to move the pawl, and the pawl will be detachably meshed the ratchet wheel at a right or life side, such that the ratchet wrench can turn a bolt (or nut) tight or loose repeatedly in a condition that the wrench engages the bolt (or nut) always.
There is no movement compatibility between the movement of the level and the driving direction of the ratchet wrench, such that user always confuses which direction to move the level when he/she wants to turn loose (or turn tight) the bolt or nut. Most of them use try-and-error method, which means user moves the level to one position first and turn the wrench. If it not the driving direction that the user wants than move the level to another position. And user always forgets which way to turn loose and which way to turn tight every time he/she uses the wrench.
Taiwan Pat. Publication No. 502944 disclosed a ratchet wrench having an unsymmetrical head. Taiwan Pat. Publication No 501519 disclosed a wrench with texture, arrow or mark on a side of the handle. Many conventional ratchet wrenches have characters beside the level to indicate the driving direction. It usually puts “R” for release and “L” for lock. But user might misunderstand or miss the meaning of the signs for indication, so that many users will ignore the signs and determine the driving direction by try-and-error.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,903 provides an adjustable wrench, which has a window to show the size of the nut held by the wrench, and this patent is different from the present invention in objective.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a ratchet wrench, which is able to show user the driving orientation of the wrench.
According to the objective of the present invention, a ratchet wrench includes a handle with a head portion at an end thereof, a ratchet wheel mounted in the head portion for rotation and an operating device to be moved between a first position and a second position for change of a driving orientation of the ratchet wrench, wherein the operating device has a mask member, and the handle has a first indicating member and a second indicating member, such that the second indicating member is hidden under the mask member of the operating device and the first indicating member is exposed when the operating device is moved to the first position, and the first indicating member is hidden under the mask member of the operating device and the second indicating member is exposed when the operating device is moved to the second position.
As shown in
The handle 10 has a head portion 12 at an end thereof, on which a first chamber 14, a second chamber 16, and a third chamber 18 are provided. The first, second and third chambers 14, 16 and 18 are communicated with each other, and the second chamber 16 is between the first chamber 14 and the third chamber 18.
The ratchet wheel 22 is received in the first chamber 14 of the handle 10 for free rotation.
The pawl 24 is received in the second chamber 16 to be moved to a right or left of the second chamber 16. The pawl 24 is able to be meshed and unmeshed with the ratchet wheel 22.
The switching device 26 is mounted in the third chamber 18 to elastically pushing the pawl 24.
The operating device 34 is connected to the switching device 26 to be turned between a first position (
Above description is as same as the conventional ratchet wrench, and the new part of the present invention is described hereunder.
As shown in
As shown in
When the operating device 36 is moved to the first position, the first indicating member 44, the red character “L”, is showing up via the first window 40, and when the operating device 36 is moved to the second position, the first indicating member 44 is hidden by the mask member 38 and the second indicating member 46, the green “R”, is showing up via the second window 42. The colors of the characters also give a “redundant signal” that user may tell the driving orientation by the color as well.
When the operating device 48 is moved to the first position, referring to
Referring to
The main character of the present invention is to expose the predetermined indicating member and hide the other one when the operating device is move to the predetermined position. By showing-up/disappearing of the indicating member, it will catch user's attention. In addition, the indicating member may use fluorescent paint to emit fluorescence in the dark that helps indication propose when user work in a dark workplace, such as repairing cars.
