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The disclosure relates to fastener head gripping device and more particularly pertains to a new fastener head gripping device for enhancing a grip between a socket and fastener head which has become worn or corroded.
The prior art relates to fastener head gripping devices that are used for gripping bolt heads, nuts and other fastener bodies which have become worn and stripped wherein a conventional socket cannot maintain an adequate grip on the fastener body. Such devices do not, however, adequately compensate for the varied shapes of fasteners while simultaneously maximizing grip between a tool and the fastener.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a collet that has a first end, a second end, and a perimeter wall extending between the first and second ends. The second end is open and receives a body of a threaded fastener such that an inner surface of the perimeter wall can frictionally engage the body. The perimeter wall has a plurality of slots extending therein. The slots extend into the second end and toward the first end to define a plurality of wings. An outer surface of the perimeter wall includes a threaded section positioned adjacent to the first end. A flaring section of the outer surface is positioned between the second end and the threaded section. The flaring section flares outwardly and increases in diameter as the flaring section extends away from the threaded section. The slots extend through the flaring section. A sleeve has a receiving end for receiving the first end. The sleeve also has an interior surface including internal threading that is threadably engageable with the threaded section of the collet. Rotation of the sleeve in a first direction relative to the collet moves the receiving end toward the second end. The sleeve has a smaller diameter adjacent to the receiving end than the second end of the collet. Thus, free ends of the wings are urged toward each other as the receiving end moves over the flaring section and toward the second end to decrease an interior diameter of the second end.
In a second embodiment, a method of engaging a fastener body includes positioning the body in a collet. The collet has a first end and a second end and the second end receives the body. The first end includes a tool mating member. The collet has a perimeter wall having a plurality of slots extending therein that extend into the second end to define a plurality of wings. A sleeve is positioned on the collet and includes a receiving end to receive the first end and a distal end positioned opposite of the receiving end. The distal end has an opening in communication with the tool mating member. The sleeve includes internal threading matable with a threaded section on an outer surface of the collet. The sleeve is rotated in a first direction to threadably couple the sleeve to the collet such that the receiving end moves toward the second end and urges the wings into frictional engagement with the body. A tool is engaged with the tool mating member. The tool is rotated to rotate the collet and the body.
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 first end 14 may include a tool mating member 28 for engaging a tool 30. The tool mating member 28 may include a well having a geometric shape for receiving the end of the tool 30. The geometric shape may include a square shown in
In another embodiment found in
The perimeter wall 18 of the collet 12 has a plurality of slots 34 extending therein. The slots 34 extend into the second end 16 and toward the first end 14 to define a plurality of wings 36. The slots 34 allow the wings 36 to be movable inwardly toward the opening 24 in the second end to decrease a diameter of the opening 24. The number of slots 34, and consequently the number of wings 36, may vary as can be seen in
The collet 12 is comprised of a unitary structure. In particular, the unitary structure will be a single piece of a metal metallic material such as steel alloys, though any material used for tools such as wrenches and the like may be utilized. As can be seen in
A sleeve 48 is provided that has a receiving end 50 for receiving the first end 14 of the collet 12. The sleeve 48 has a distal end 52 with respect to the receiving end 50. The distal end 52 is open and is in communication with the tool mating member 28 such that the tool 30 is extendable through the distal end 52 and into the tool mating member 28 to engage the tool 30 with the tool mating member 28. This will allow the collet 12 to be rotatable with the tool 30. In the embodiment shown in
The sleeve 48 has an interior surface 56 including internal threading 54 that is threadably engageable with the threaded section 38 of the collet 12. Rotation of the sleeve 48 in a first direction, relative to the collet 12 being stationary, moves the receiving end 50 toward the second end 16 and further along the collet 12 while rotation in a second direction removes the sleeve 48 from the collet 12. The sleeve 48 has a smaller diameter adjacent to the receiving end 50 than the second end 16 such as the sleeve 48 moves toward the second end 16, free ends of the wings 36 are urged toward each other. In particular, the flaring section 40 engages the interior surface 56 to decrease an interior diameter of the second end 16. In order to facilitate rotation of the sleeve 48 relative to the collet 12, an exterior surface of the sleeve 48 includes gripping section 58 having a conventional geometric cross-section such as a square or hexagon that can be easily gripped by a wrench or socket. The gripping section 58 may be positioned adjacent to the distal end 52 as shown in
The interior surface 56 of the sleeve 48, adjacent to the receiving end 50, may taper inward such that an internal diameter of the sleeve 48 decreases from the receiving end 50 toward the distal end 52. This forms an acute angle 60 between the interior surface 56 and a longitudinal axis 62 of the sleeve 48 which is between 5° and 20°. This will create a larger surface area of contact between the internal surface 56 of the sleeve 48 and the outer surface of the flaring section 40 as can be seen in
The sleeve 48, as with the collet 12, may be formed from a unitary structure and be comprised of the same material as the collet 12. Alternatively, as shown in
In use, when a person encounters a bolt head, nut, or other body 20 threadably coupled to another fastener or article, wherein the body 20 is damaged and cannot be gripped adequately with a conventional wrench or socket, the person selects a collet 12 of appropriate size and extends the body 20 into the second end 16. The sleeve 48 is rotated in the first direction to move the sleeve 48 toward the second end 16 and causing constrictive biasing against the flaring section 40. This in turn urges the wings 36 inward toward each other to decrease a diameter of the opening 24 and create a frictional engagement of the wings 36 with the body 20. The gripping section 58 may be engaged with a wrench or other tool offering greater torque to fully tighten the wings 36 onto the body 20. The tool 30 is then engaged with the tool mating member 28 to allow the collet 12 to be rotated with the tool 30, which may include, for example, a bar coupled to a ratchet as shown in
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.
I hereby claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S. Provisional application 63/101,905 filed May 20, 2020.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63101905 | May 2020 | US |