Hand-held power tool

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6415875
  • Patent Number
    6,415,875
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, January 12, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 9, 2002
    22 years ago
Abstract
A hand-held power tool has a machine housing, a drive motor, a tool receptacle, a drive strand accommodated in the machine housing and extending between the drive motor and the tool receptacle, and a detection device for detecting an uncontrolled operational condition of the hand-held power tool, and a blocking device which in case of the uncontrolled operational condition form-lockingly connects the drive strand with the machine housing, the blocking device including at least one locking member which is housing-fixed in a rotary direction of the drive strand and at least one locking member which co-rotates in the drive strand so that the locking member and the blocking member are bringable in engagement with one another, the locking member and the blocking member being bringable in engagement with one another axially in direction of a rotary axis of the blocking member.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to hand-held power tools.




One of such hand-held power tools is disclosed for example in the German patent document DE 195 407 18 A1, in which a drive strand in uncontrolled operational situation, such as for example the situation which can occur during a sudden turning of a machine housing after fixing of the tool, is blocked with a machine housing with a jerk. The hand-held machine tool for this purpose is designed with a detecting device which recognizes the uncontrolled operational condition and then form lockingly connects a blocking device of the drive strand with the machine housing. The blocking device for this purpose has a locking member which is displaceably supported in the machine housing radially in direction of the drive member in the drive strand, and is bringable radially into the form-locking engagement with a locking toothing formed on the drive member. The disadvantage of this solution is that the radial arrangement of the locking member to the locking toothing requires a relatively great radial space. The engagement of the locking member is performed relatively close to the rotary axis of the drive strand, so that high blocking forces act on the locking member and require an especially stable design of the blocking device. Moreover, relatively high disengaging forces are required to bring the blocking member after the blocking of the drive strand with the machine housing, again out of the engagement with the locking toothing.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Accordingly, it is an object of present invention to provide a hand-held power tool which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.




In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention, resides, briefly stated, in that the locking member and the blocking member are bringable in engagement with one another axially in direction of a rotary axis of the blocking member.




When the hand-held power tool is designed in accordance with the present invention, the inventive arrangement of the locking member and the blocking member provides for a lowering of the structural loads caused by their engagement. In addition it is guaranteed that the blocking device after the release of the blocking device is again bringable to its initial position in a disturbance free manner. Moreover, the axial arrangement of the blocking device provides a flexible and space-saving design of the hand-held power tool.




The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a view showing a longitudinal section of a power drill in accordance with the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a view showing a section through a blocking device of the power drill in accordance with a first embodiment;





FIGS. 3 and 4

are views showing different tooth pairs of the blocking member and locking member in accordance with the first embodiment;





FIG. 5

is a view showing a section through a blocking device in accordance with a second embodiment;





FIG. 6

shows two views of the locking member of

FIG. 5

;





FIG. 7

is a view showing two views of the blocking member of

FIG. 5

;





FIG. 8

is a view showing a section through a blocking device in accordance with a third embodiment of the invention;





FIG. 9

is a plan view of the blocking member of

FIG. 8

; and





FIG. 10

is a partial section through the blocking device of FIG.


8


.











DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




A power drill


10


shown in

FIG. 1

is an example of a hand-held power tool which is designed in accordance with the present invention. The power drill


10


has an electric drive motor


11


which is arranged inside a machine housing


12


. The drive motor


11


has a motor shaft


16


which is rotatable about a motor axis


21


. A handle


13


and an auxiliary handle


14


are arranged on the machine housing


12


.




A drive torque which is taken from the drive motor


11


is transmitted from a pinion


17


arranged on the motor shaft


16


to a toothed gear


18


. From the toothed gear


18


the torque is transmitted through an overload clutch


19


to an immediate shaft


20


. The intermediate shaft


20


located substantially parallel to the motor axis


21


is in a transmission connection via a bevel gear transmission


22


with a drilling spindle


23


. The drilling spindle


23


at one side is provided with a two receptacle


26


for a drilling tool


27


for working a workpiece


49


. The parts including the motor shaft


16


, the pinion


17


, the tooth gear


18


, the overload clutch


19


, the intermediate shaft


20


, the bevel gear transmission


22


, and the drilling spindle


23


form drive members of a drive strand


25


for rotatable drive of the tool receptacle


26


, and correspondingly for the drilling tool


27


received in it. The machine housing


12


and the drilling spindle


23


can be additionally received in a not shown impact mechanism so that the power drill


10


can be used also as an impact-drilling machine, for example as a hammer drill.




A blocking device


30


for the drive strand of the power drill


10


is arranged in the machine housing


12


. The blocking device


30


is controllable by a detection device


40


. The detection device has a sensor


46


which is formed as an acceleration sensor and an evaluating device


47


. The detection device


40


is formed for this purpose so that it recognizes an uncontrolled operation condition of the power drill


10


, and in this case outputs an electrical output signal to the blocking device


30


. The blocking device, which will be explained herein below with several embodiments, makes possible coupling of the drive strand


25


with the machine housing


12


in a form-locking manner, so that the drive strand


25


is blocked. In this way the drilling tool


27


is non rotatably connected with the machine housing


12


. With the drilling tool


27


which is fixed in the workpiece


49


it is therefore prevented that the power drill


10


is accelerated around a longitudinal axis


44


of the drilling spindle


23


. The overloading clutch


19


located between the blocking device


30


and the drive motor


11


prevents in the case of blocking that a drive torque is transmitted to the intermediate shaft


20


or to the drilling spindle


23


. Via a motor control


48


, the drive motor


11


in the case of blocking is turned off.





FIG. 2

shows a first embodiment of a blocking device


30


. In this and other embodiments the same and identically operating parts are identified with the same reference numerals. The blocking device


30


has an electromagnet


31


which is mounted on a housing part


15


fixed in the machine housing


12


. The electromagnet


31


is formed as a bipolar stroke magnet. It can reciprocate a switching rod


32


which forms a magnet armature, between two axial end positions. In

FIG. 2

the switching rod


32


is shown in a disengaged position, in which the drive strand


26


is not blocked.




The switching rod


32


is arranged symmetrically in extension to the intermediate shaft


20


and coincide with the intermediate shaft


20


. The switching rod


22


carries a locking member


33


at its end which faces the intermediate shaft


20


. The locking member


33


is articulated axially displaceably to the switching rod


32


and is held by a pressure spring


34




a


in a forward position facing the intermediate shaft


20


. The locking member


33


at its end facing away from the intermediate shaft


20


has an inwardly extending collar


35


which engages behind an axially fixed locking block


36


at the end of the switching rod


32


. The locking member


33


is displaceable thereby axially within certain limits against the force of the pressure spring


34




a


on the switching rod


32


. A strip-shaped projection


42


on the locking member


33


engages radially in a guiding groove


41


in the housing part


15


and forms in this way a rotation securing for the locking member


33


against the machine housing


12


.




The locking member


33


at its end side


37


which faces the intermediate shaft


20


carries a locking toothing


38


which is composed of a plurality of locking teeth


39


. The locking member


33


is located opposite to a blocking member


33


which is provided with a blocking toothing


28


composed of a plurality of blocking teeth


29


. The blocking toothing


28


is formed at the end side


52


of the intermediate shaft


20


facing away from the bevel gear transmission


22


, so that the blocking member


43


in this case is formed by the intermediate shaft


20


. The blocking member


43


and the locking member


32


form a joint engaging axis


45


which coincides with the rotary axis


24


of the blocking member


43


. In the shown example the blocking member


43


has the same rotary axis


24


as the intermediate shaft


20


.





FIG. 3

shows a first embodiment of a toothed pair


28


,


38


. Here the locking toothing


38


is formed by two opposite locking teeth


39


, while the blocking toothing


28


includes six blocking teeth


29


which are uniformly distributed over the end side of the intermediate shaft


20


. The locking teeth


39


and the blocking teeth


29


reduce conically radially inwardly toward the engaging axis


45


.





FIG. 4

shows a second embodiment of a toothed pair


28


,


38


. Here the blocking toothing


28


also includes total six blocking teeth


29


, while the locking toothing


38


, instead of two, also has six locking teeth


39


. Due to the high tooth number, the loading of the locking member


33


is increased when compared with the embodiment with two teeth only.




In both cases the blocking device


30


operates identically. In the blocking case the electromagnet


31


is controlled by the evaluating device


47


so that the switching rod


32


is displaced in direction of its second end position (blocking position) axially to the blocking toothing


28


. Since the locking member


32


and the locking rod


32


are coupled with one another with an axial gap, the switching rod


32


reaches its end position regardless of whether the locking toothing


38


actually engages with the rotatable blocking toothing


28


. Due to the pretensioning of the pressure spring


34


, the locking member


33


is forced in direction into the blocking toothing


28


, so that the locking toothing


38


after short relative turning of the blocking member is engaged with the blocking toothing


28


.




For relasing the blocking engagement of the locking toothing


38


and the blocking toothing


28


, the electromagnet


31


obtains a corresponding disengaging signal from the evaluating device


47


, with which the switching rod


32


is displaced axially back to its initial position (disengaging position). The pulling rod


32


pulls the locking member


33


through the form lock of the ring collar


35


and the locking block


36


from the form-locking engagement with the blocking toothing


28


. Due to the symmetrical axial arrangement of the blocking toothing


28


and the locking toothing


38


with formation of a plurality of teeth


29


,


39


, the loading of each individual tooth


29


,


39


is reduced and a clamping of the toothing


28


,


38


with one another can be reduced and can be counteracted. In this way a disturbance-free automatic return of the locking member


33


to its initial position is always guaranteed.





FIG. 5

shows a second embodiment of the blocking device


30


. Also in this embodiment the engaging axis


45


coincides with the rotary axis


24


of the blocking member


43


. In other words, the locking member is arranged symmetrically to the blocking member


43


. The electromagnet


31


is formed however as a one-pole electromagnet. In other words, the switching rod


32


is loaded with a spring force.




In the embodiment of

FIG. 5

, the switching rod


32


is loaded by a pressure spring


34




b


which forces the switching rod


32


to a blocking-free initial position. For engaging of the locking member


33


the electromagnet


31


is supplied with current, so that the switching rod


32


is displaced opposite to the spring force of the pressure spring


34




b


in direction to the blocking member


43


, and the locking member


33


is brought in engagement with the blocking toothing


28


.




The switching rod


32


carries the locking member


33


axially fixedly through a thread connection. The locking member


33


is provided with an outer toothing


54


which includes five radially projecting locking teeth


39


shown in FIG.


6


. The locking member


33


is secured from rotation relative to the machine housing


12


by the locking teeth


39


, of which two engage in the longitudinal grooves


41


, and the housing part


15


.




The blocking toothing


28


is formed on a separate blocking member


43


which is coupled with the intermediate shaft


20


in non rotatable manner. The blocking member


43


for this purpose is pressed on a pin


57


which is arranged at the one side on the intermediate shaft


20


. The blocking toothing


28


is formed as an inner toothing


55


in the blocking member


43


as shown in FIG.


7


. The blocking teeth


29


extend correspondingly radially inwardly.




The operation of the blocking device


30


is similar to the first embodiment. When the detection device


40


recognizes an uncontrolled operational case, the electromagnetic


31


is correspondingly controlled. In this case, it is sufficient to interrupt current to the electromagnet


31


so that the magnetic pulling action causes a displacement of the switching rod


32


and the locking member


33


is axially displaced in direction to the blocking toothing


28


. After a short relative turning between the rotatable blocking member


43


and the locking member


33


fixed in the housing part


15


in the rotary direction of the blocking member


43


, the locking toothing


28


and the blocking toothing


28


engage with one another. Thereby the intermediate shaft


20


is non rotatably connected with the machine housing


12


.




For disengagement of the locking member


33


, the electromagnet


31


is again correspondingly controlled by interrupting the current, so that the pretensioning of the pressure spring


34




b


forces the switching rod


32


to its initial position shown in FIG.


5


.




I n this embodiment it is advantageous with the sufficiently great diameter of the blocking toothing


38


of the blocking member


43


, the outer surface of the blocking member


43


is available as an operation support, for example for bearing and sealing purposes, and thereby a small axial extension of the blocking member


43


or the intermediate shaft


20


is provided. Since the blocking force is distributed simultaneously over all blocking teeth, the corresponding surface pressure on each tooth is optimally small.





FIG. 8

shows a third embodiment of the blocking device


30


. In contrast to the both preceding embodiments, here the engagement axis


45


extend parallel to the rotary axis


24


of the blocking member


43


. The electromagnet


31


with the switching rod


32


is offset correspondingly parallel to the rotary axis


34


.




The locking member


33


is pin-shaped and formed directly by the engagement-side end of the switching rod


32


. The switching rod


32


is loaded by the pressure spring


34




b


opposite to the engaging direction with a force. The blocking toothing


28


is formed by a plurality of pieces


51


which are distributed in a ring disk


53


uniformly in the peripheral direction. The ring disk


53


is non rotatably connected with the intermediate shaft


20


. The ring disk


53


can be simultaneously formed as an output-side drive part in the overload clutch


19


, so that an additional component can be saved.





FIG. 9

shows the ring disk


53


on a plan view. The recesses


51


which are uniformly distributed in the peripheral direction of the ring disk


53


can be clearly recognized. They are formed as elongated openings. The electromagnets


31


is offset parallel to the rotary axis


24


of the intermediate shaft


20


. Because of the parallel offset of the rotary axis


24


, the pin


50


which forms locking members


33


does meet here any rotation safety measures relative to the housing part


12


. Because of the relatively great radial distance from the rotary axis


24


of the blocking member


43


, the blocking forces which act on the locking member


43


and the blocking member


43


are reduced, so that a single locking member


33


is sufficient. The dimension of the radial distance has moreover the advantage that within a predetermined reaction time of the blocking device


30


, the rotary angle covered by the blocking member


33


, due to the great number of the recesses


51


corresponding to the locking teeth of the blocking toothing, is shorter. Because of a lower number of components, a very compact and cost-favorable solution is thereby provided.





FIG. 10

shows the ring disk


53


which is formed-lockingly non rotatably fixed by the pin


50


. The pin


50


extends through the machine housing


12


or the housing part connected with it. The locking member


33


is longitudinally displaceably guided in a passage


56


in the machine housing


12


. Because of the asymmetrical arrangement, the blocking device


30


with the ring disk


53


in accordance with the third embodiment can be directly provided on the drilling spindle


23


of the power drill


10


, regardless of the impact drive arranged conventionally in the extension of the drilling spindle


23


.




The invention is not limited to a power drill, but of course can be used for other handheld power tools such as for example angle grinders, etc.




It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.




While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in hand-held power tool, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.




Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.




What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by letters patent is set forth in the appended claims:



Claims
  • 1. A hand-held power tool, comprising a machine housing; a drive motor; a tool receptacle; a drive strand accommodated in said machine housing and extending between said drive motor and said tool receptacle; a detection device for detecting an uncontrolled operational condition of the hand-held power tool; and a blocking device which in case of the uncontrolled operational condition form-lockingly connects said drive strand with said machine housing, said blocking device including at least one locking member which is housing-fixed in a rotary direction of said drive strand and at least one blocking member which co-rotates in said drive strand so that said locking member and said blocking member are bringable in engagement with one another, said locking member and said blocking member being bringable in engagement with one another axially in direction of a rotary axis of said blocking member.
  • 2. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 1, wherein said machine housing is provided with a housing-fixed component, said blocking device in the uncontrolled operational condition of said drive strand being form-lockingly connected with said housing-fixed component.
  • 3. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 2, wherein said locking member has a locking toothing provided with a plurality of blocking teeth, said blocking member device being provided with a blocking toothing having a plurality of blocking teeth.
  • 4. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 3, wherein said locking toothing and said blocking toothing are formed at end sides of said locking member and said blocking member, said locking teeth and said blocking teeth extending axially.
  • 5. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 3, wherein said locking toothing and said blocking toothing are formed as radial toothings, said locking teeth and said blocking teeth being oriented radially and formed as inner teeth and outer teeth correspondingly.
  • 6. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 3, wherein said locking member is coupled with a switching rod and is axially displaceable as a magnet armature of an electromagnet.
  • 7. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 6, and further comprising a pressure spring arranged between said locking member and said switching rod so as to load said locking member in a direction toward said blocking member with an engaging force.
  • 8. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 6, wherein said locking member is connected fixedly with said switching rod, and said switching rod being loaded by pressure spring in direction toward said blocking member with an engaging force.
  • 9. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim as defined in claim 1, wherein said locking member forms with said blocking member an engagement axis which coincides with the rotary axis of the blocking member.
  • 10. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 1, wherein said locking member forms with a blocking member an engaging axis which is offset parallel to the rotary axis of said blocking member.
  • 11. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 10, wherein said blocking member is disk-shaped and provided with a plurality of end-side recesses which are uniformly distributed in a peripheral direction of said blocking member, said recesses being axially engagable with said locking member.
  • 12. A hand-held power tool as defined in claim 11, wherein said locking member is formed by a pin which is formed at an engaging side on said switching rod, said machine housing having a passage in which said locking member is longitudinally displaceable guided.
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
199 00 882 Jan 1999 DE
US Referenced Citations (7)
Number Name Date Kind
3454111 Neiss Jul 1969 A
4029159 Nymann Jun 1977 A
4448261 Kousek et al. May 1984 A
5085280 Rassieur Feb 1992 A
5401124 Hettich Mar 1995 A
5947212 Huang Sep 1999 A
5996707 Thome et al. Dec 1999 A
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number Date Country
195 40 718 Nov 1995 DE
0 841 127 May 1998 EP