Patent Application
20230249318
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The disclosure relates to centering devices and more particularly pertains to a new centering device for centering a polishing pad on a backing plate of a polishing tool. The device includes a coupling section and a receiver section each extending in opposite directions from a disk section. The coupling section is insertable into a hole on the backing plate and the receiver section is insertable into a hole in the polishing pad to precisely center the polishing pad on the backing plate.
The prior art relates to centering devices including a supporting head for abrasive disks that includes a cylinder that is attachable to a drive of a power tool and a cap that engages the cylinder for compressing an abrasive disk between the cylinder and the cap. The prior art discloses a variety of self centering polishing disks that each includes a variation of a central mount being integrated into the self centering polishing disk for mounting to a power tool. In no instance does the prior art disclose an adapter which engages a bolt hole in a backing plate and a hole in a polishing disk for centering the polishing disk on the backing plate.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an adapter that has a coupling section, a receiver section and a disk section extending between the coupling section and the receiver section. The coupling section has a pre-determined diameter for inserting into a bolt hole in a backing plate of an angled power tool. The receiver section has a pre-determined diameter for inserting into a center hole of a polishing pad thereby facilitating the polishing pad to be centered on the backing plate. The disk section is strategically positioned between the coupling section and the receiver section to extend a pre-determined distance into the bolt hole in the backing plate.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The receiver section 16 has a pre-determined diameter such that the receiver section 16. In this way the receiver section 16 can be inserted into a center hole 26 of a polishing pad 28 thereby facilitating the polishing pad 28 to be centered on the backing plate 22. Furthermore, the disk section 18 is strategically positioned between the coupling section 14 and the receiver section 16 such that the coupling section 14 extends a pre-determined distance into the bolt hole 20 in the backing plate 22. The polishing pad 28 may be a polishing pad that attachable to a right angle polisher that is commonly employed in the autobody industry for buffing and polishing body panels on vehicles.
The disk section 18 has a top surface 30, a bottom surface 32 and a perimeter edge 34 extending between the top surface 30 and the bottom surface 32. The disk section 18 has an opening 36 extending through the top surface 30 and the bottom surface 32 and the opening 36 is centrally positioned with respect to the perimeter edge 34 of the disk. The coupling section 14 has an outer wall 38 extending downwardly from the bottom surface 32 of the disk section 18. Furthermore, the outer wall 38 is continuously arcuate such that the coupling section 14 has a cylindrical shape. The outer wall 38 is aligned with a bounding edge 40 of the opening 36 in the disk section 18 such that the outer wall 38 frictionally engages a bounding surface 42 of the bolt hole 20 in the backing plate 22. The coupling section 14 has a distal edge 44 with respect to the top surface 30 of the disk section 18 and the outer wall 38 has a first height between the top surface 30 of the disk section 18 and the distal edge 44.
The receiver section 16 has an outside wall 46 extending upwardly from the top surface 30 of the disk section 18. The outside wall 46 is continuously arcuate such that the receiver section 16 has a cylindrical shape. In this way the outside wall 46 can frictionally engage a bounding surface 48 of the center hole 26 in the polishing pad 28. The outside wall 46 is aligned with the bounding edge 40 of the opening 36 in the disk section 18 and the receiver section 16 has a distal edge 50 with respect to the bottom surface 32 of the disk section 18. The outside wall 46 has a second height between the bottom surface 32 of the disk section and the distal edge 50 of the outside wall 46.
Furthermore, the first height associated with the coupling section 14 is greater than the second height. The first height may be approximately 2.0 inches and the second height may be approximately 1.0 inch.
In use, the coupling section 14 is inserted into the bolt hole 20 of the backing plate 22 until the disk section 18 abuts the backing plate 22. In this way the adapter 12 is engaged to the backing plate 22. The polishing pad 28 is positioned on the receiver section 16 such that the receiver section 16 extends into the center hole 26 in the polishing pad 28. In this way the adapter 12 ensures that the polishing pad 28 is perfectly centered on the backing plate 22. Thus, the polishing pad 28 does not produce vibration and oscillation when the angled power tool 24 is turned on such as is common place when the polishing pad 28 is not precisely centered on the backing plate 22. Furthermore, the coupling section 14 can be removed from the bolt hole 20 in the backing plate 22 at any time.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
