Levels are used to measure the angle of surfaces on construction sites and in other locations.
To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number in which that element is first introduced.
In the illustrated construction, the level 100 is a box-type level where the body 102 is substantially box shaped as illustrated in
Returning to
In general, clip 402 is received within hollow area 302 of level body 102, and outer member 206 is received within hollow area 302 of level body 102 and within clip 402. Next locking member 208 is received within outer member 206 and pushes a moveable portion of outer member 206 in to a frictional engagement that couples outer member 206 in a fixed position relative to the level body. As will be discussed below, in a specific embodiment, this pushing causes a projection on the outer member 206 to engage an aperture of the clip 402 coupling the outer member to the level body. In this manner, the locking member 208 is moveable within the outer member 206 between a locked in which frictional coupling is generated coupling the end cap to the level body and unlocked position in which the end cap is removable from the level body.
With reference to
To mount end cap 110 to level body 102, the clip 402 is arranged in the body 102 with each of the clip sidewalls 404 running along and generally parallel to the inner surfaces of body sidewalls 314 with each hexagonal boss 408 disposed within a hexagonal aperture 202 (shown in
As shown in
Turning to
With reference to
Once the clip 402 is mounted into level body 102, the outer member 206 is then installed into the body 102 and into the clip 402. The outer member 206 is preferably manufactured from a relatively resilient or soft material such as rubber. Thus, the movable walls 604 are generally free to move and do not engage the aperture 406 to lock the outer member 206 in place until insertion of locking member 208.
The locking member 208 is next inserted into the locking member aperture 602 of outer member 206. The locking member 208 is preferably formed from a hard, less resilient material than the outer member 206. For example, a hard plastic might be used for the locking member 208, while a softer or more flexible material may be used for at least portions of outer member 206. In specific embodiments, at least a portion of moveable walls 604 are formed from a material that is more flexible than locking member 208. In specific embodiments, moveable walls 604 are formed, at least in part, from a material that has a lower durometer and/or higher modulus of elasticity than that of a material of locking member 208.
When locking member 208 is installed into outer member 206 for the first time, each tab 506 is forced past the locking surface 704 of the outer member 206. The resiliency of the outer member 206 along with the ramped arrangement of each tab 506 facilitate this insertion. As the block portion 504 moves between the movable walls 604 of outer member 206, the movable walls 604 are deflected outward until each locking button 606 engages an aperture 406 of clip 402 to lock the end cap 110 in position relative to level body 102. In this arrangement, locking button 606 is located completely within the hollow area 302 and does not extend through level body 102. In this position, each guide member 510 is received in a guide slot 702. In addition, each engagement bump 508 cooperates with the guide member 510 to sandwich the locking surface 704 and hold the locking member 208 in the locked position.
To remove the end cap 110, the user pulls on the locking member 208 to remove the block portion 504 from between the movable walls 604 moving locking member outward away from level body 102. In the embodiment shown, each tab 506 engages the locking surface 704 to inhibit the full removal of the locking member 208 from the outer member 206. In other words, engagement between tabs 506 and locking surface 704 acts to hold locking member 208 to outer member 206, when in the unlocked position. With locking member 208 in the unlocked position, block portion 504 is moved such that block portion 504 does not push moveable walls 604 into engagement with the openings of the clip. Thus, without the block portion 504 providing structural support for the movable walls 604, the movable walls 604 are free to deflect inwardly to release each locking button 606 from each aperture 406, thereby allowing the removal of the end cap 110. In specific embodiments, moveable walls 604 are not biased inward, and in such embodiments, the end cap structure is shaken such that buttons 606 disengage from apertures 406.
It should be understood that the figures illustrate the illustrative embodiments in detail, and it should be understood that the present application is not limited to the details or methodology set forth in the description or illustrated in the figures. It should also be understood that the terminology is for the purpose of description only and should not be regarded as limiting.
Further modifications and alternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only. The construction and arrangements, shown in the various exemplary embodiments, are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. Some elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. The order or sequence of any process, logical algorithm, or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. Other substitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may also be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the various illustrative embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Unless otherwise expressly stated, it is in no way intended that any method set forth herein be construed as requiring that its steps be performed in a specific order. Accordingly, where a method claim does not actually recite an order to be followed by its steps or it is not otherwise specifically stated in the claims or descriptions that the steps are to be limited to a specific order, it is in no way intended that any particular order be inferred. In addition, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more component or elements, and is not intended to be construed as meaning only one. As used herein, rigidly coupled refers to two components being coupled in a manner such that the components move together in fixed positional relationship when acted upon by a force.
Various embodiments of the invention relate to any combination of any of the features, and any such combination of features may be claimed in this or future applications. Any of the features, elements, or components of any of the illustrative embodiments discussed above may be utilized alone or in combination with any of the features, elements, or components of any of the other embodiments discussed above.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/849,104, filed Dec. 20, 2017 which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/US2017/067601, filed Dec. 20, 2017, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/437,416, filed Dec. 21, 2016, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
232982 | Langdon | Oct 1880 | A |
675464 | Carlson | Jun 1901 | A |
730790 | Newman | Jun 1903 | A |
1033742 | Skates | Jul 1912 | A |
1145195 | Heisler | Jul 1915 | A |
2171971 | Cravaritis et al. | Sep 1939 | A |
2535791 | Fluke | Dec 1950 | A |
2634509 | Roberts | Apr 1953 | A |
2695949 | Ashwill | Nov 1954 | A |
2789363 | Miley | Apr 1957 | A |
2939947 | Schultz | Oct 1958 | A |
3036791 | Siggelkow | Feb 1960 | A |
3046672 | Lace | Jul 1962 | A |
3100937 | Burch | Aug 1963 | A |
3110115 | Hubbard | Nov 1963 | A |
3116563 | Gelb an | Jan 1964 | A |
3180036 | Meeks | Apr 1965 | A |
3187437 | Hampton | Jun 1965 | A |
3213545 | Wright | Oct 1965 | A |
3279080 | Stepshinski | Oct 1966 | A |
3832782 | Johnson et al. | Sep 1974 | A |
3881259 | Pigeon | May 1975 | A |
4099331 | Peterson et al. | Jul 1978 | A |
4126944 | Burkhart | Nov 1978 | A |
4338725 | Martin et al. | Jul 1982 | A |
4407075 | Mac Dermott et al. | Oct 1983 | A |
4463501 | Wright et al. | Aug 1984 | A |
4546774 | Haught | Oct 1985 | A |
4589213 | Woodward | May 1986 | A |
4593475 | Mayes | Jun 1986 | A |
4793069 | McDowell | Dec 1988 | A |
4888880 | Parker | Dec 1989 | A |
5077911 | von Wedemeyer | Jan 1992 | A |
5080317 | Letizia | Jan 1992 | A |
5119936 | Sevey | Jun 1992 | A |
5165650 | Letizia | Nov 1992 | A |
5188234 | Fukuda et al. | Feb 1993 | A |
5199177 | Hutchins et al. | Apr 1993 | A |
5388338 | Majors | Feb 1995 | A |
5412876 | Scheyer | May 1995 | A |
5479717 | von Wedemeyer | Jan 1996 | A |
5495673 | Gardiner et al. | Mar 1996 | A |
5505001 | Schaver | Apr 1996 | A |
5535523 | Endris | Jul 1996 | A |
5659967 | Dufour | Aug 1997 | A |
5671856 | Lisch | Sep 1997 | A |
5709034 | Kohn | Jan 1998 | A |
5749152 | Goss et al. | May 1998 | A |
5755037 | Stevens | May 1998 | A |
5784792 | Smith | Jul 1998 | A |
5813130 | MacDowell | Sep 1998 | A |
5878802 | Richter et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
6003234 | Seibert | Dec 1999 | A |
6029360 | Koch | Feb 2000 | A |
6070336 | Rodgers | Jun 2000 | A |
6173507 | Scarborough | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6213672 | Varga | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6381859 | Wedemeyer | May 2002 | B1 |
6430827 | Ruther | Aug 2002 | B2 |
6568095 | Snyder | May 2003 | B2 |
6675490 | Krehel et al. | Jan 2004 | B1 |
6732441 | Charay et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6760975 | Schmidt | Jul 2004 | B1 |
6782628 | Liao | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6785977 | Crichton | Sep 2004 | B1 |
6792686 | Krehel et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6792868 | Teilhol et al. | Sep 2004 | B2 |
6818824 | Marcou et al. | Nov 2004 | B1 |
6839973 | Woodward | Jan 2005 | B1 |
6915585 | Von Wedemeyer | Jul 2005 | B2 |
6935035 | Smith | Aug 2005 | B2 |
6988320 | Kallabis et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
7028413 | Filipescu | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7073270 | Kim | Jul 2006 | B2 |
7089676 | Godinez | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7150106 | Kallabis et al. | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7152335 | Nichols | Dec 2006 | B2 |
7204029 | Trait et al. | Apr 2007 | B2 |
7228637 | Kim | Jun 2007 | B2 |
7278218 | Levine | Oct 2007 | B2 |
7316074 | Thin et al. | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7343692 | Gould | Mar 2008 | B2 |
7360316 | Hoover et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
7363719 | Levinson et al. | Apr 2008 | B2 |
7392594 | Kesler | Jul 2008 | B2 |
7398600 | Ming | Jul 2008 | B2 |
7406773 | Helga | Aug 2008 | B2 |
7409772 | Morrissey | Aug 2008 | B1 |
7467475 | Cheek | Dec 2008 | B1 |
7472486 | Trait et al. | Jan 2009 | B2 |
7472487 | Trait et al. | Jan 2009 | B2 |
7484307 | Abrecht | Feb 2009 | B2 |
7513055 | Montgomery | Apr 2009 | B2 |
7513056 | Hobden et al. | Apr 2009 | B1 |
7520065 | Vernola | Apr 2009 | B2 |
7536798 | Silberberg | May 2009 | B2 |
7552540 | Ming | Jun 2009 | B2 |
7565749 | Helcia | Jul 2009 | B2 |
7568292 | Maruyama | Aug 2009 | B2 |
7607235 | Morrissey | Oct 2009 | B1 |
7644506 | Wong | Jan 2010 | B2 |
7675612 | Kailibis | Mar 2010 | B2 |
7685723 | Kailibis | Mar 2010 | B2 |
7748128 | Martin | Apr 2010 | B2 |
7735229 | Allemand | Jun 2010 | B2 |
7765706 | Scheyer | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7770298 | Wojciechowski et al. | Aug 2010 | B1 |
7802371 | Ming | Sep 2010 | B2 |
7827699 | Montgomery | Nov 2010 | B2 |
7832112 | Christianson | Nov 2010 | B2 |
7866055 | Zhang et al. | Jan 2011 | B2 |
7946045 | Allemand | May 2011 | B2 |
8011108 | Upthegrove | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8061051 | Allemand | Nov 2011 | B2 |
8109005 | Hudson et al. | Feb 2012 | B2 |
8291605 | Christianson | Oct 2012 | B2 |
8336221 | Steele et al. | Dec 2012 | B2 |
8413342 | Christianson | Apr 2013 | B2 |
8443812 | Regalado et al. | May 2013 | B2 |
8631584 | Steele et al. | Jan 2014 | B2 |
8826554 | Bariteau | Sep 2014 | B2 |
8850710 | Rodrigue et al. | Oct 2014 | B1 |
8910390 | Steele et al. | Dec 2014 | B2 |
8925212 | Allemand | Jan 2015 | B2 |
9021710 | Silberberg | May 2015 | B2 |
9625260 | Pelletier | Apr 2017 | B2 |
9909870 | Neitzell | Mar 2018 | B2 |
10845193 | Doyle | Nov 2020 | B2 |
20010013176 | Ruther | Aug 2001 | A1 |
20030005590 | Snyder | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030163927 | Kallabis et al. | Sep 2003 | A1 |
20050155241 | Scheyer | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050160610 | Scheyer | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050223577 | Scarborough | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050229417 | Kim | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20060053563 | Skinner | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060123644 | Szumer et al. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060143933 | Kallabis et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060196061 | Nichols | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060283031 | Ming | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20070028472 | Brown | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20070113413 | Feliciano | May 2007 | A1 |
20070113414 | Levinson et al. | May 2007 | A1 |
20070175056 | Tran et al. | Aug 2007 | A1 |
20070234581 | Ming | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20080022543 | Kesler | Jan 2008 | A1 |
20080141546 | Strutt et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
20080222907 | Silberberg | Sep 2008 | A1 |
20080271331 | Allemand | Nov 2008 | A1 |
20080282562 | Allemand | Nov 2008 | A1 |
20080301957 | Vernola | Dec 2008 | A1 |
20090013545 | Cheek | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20090158605 | Montgomery | Jun 2009 | A1 |
20100000105 | Zhang | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20100000106 | Zhang | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20100005671 | Hudson et al. | Jan 2010 | A1 |
20100095543 | Inthavong | Apr 2010 | A1 |
20100205814 | Allemand | Aug 2010 | A1 |
20110099823 | Christianson et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
20110099824 | Christianson et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
20110119941 | Steele et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
20110265338 | Christianson et al. | Nov 2011 | A1 |
20130091717 | Steele | Apr 2013 | A1 |
20130167387 | Lueck et al. | Jul 2013 | A1 |
20130305548 | Lueck et al. | Nov 2013 | A1 |
20140007438 | Silberberg | Jan 2014 | A1 |
20140007439 | Silberberg | Jan 2014 | A1 |
20140101950 | Zhuang | Apr 2014 | A1 |
20140373371 | Silberberg | Dec 2014 | A1 |
20160061604 | Wojciechowski | Mar 2016 | A1 |
20160138916 | Neitzell | May 2016 | A1 |
20160138917 | Schwoegler | May 2016 | A1 |
20160138918 | Neitzell | May 2016 | A1 |
20180094925 | Mackey | Apr 2018 | A1 |
20190056225 | Guma et al. | Feb 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2888081 | Oct 2015 | CA |
101487701 | Aug 2011 | CN |
204788374 | Nov 2015 | CN |
105444739 | Mar 2016 | CN |
7233283 | Feb 1973 | DE |
126844 | Dec 1984 | EP |
919786 | Jun 1999 | EP |
1167921 | Jan 2002 | EP |
1225671 | Jul 2002 | EP |
1340960 | Sep 2003 | EP |
2056065 | May 2009 | EP |
1529608 | Oct 1978 | GB |
2364950 | Feb 2002 | GB |
2436432 | Sep 2007 | GB |
H11173843 | Jul 1999 | JP |
H11183170 | Jul 1999 | JP |
WO 2008144545 | Nov 2008 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report and Written Opinion for Application No. PCT/US2015/060652 dated Jan. 28, 2016, 13 pages. |
International Search Report and Written Opinion for PCT/US2017/067601, dated Mar. 26, 2018, 14 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20210048295 A1 | Feb 2021 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62437416 | Dec 2016 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 15849104 | Dec 2017 | US |
Child | 17084344 | US | |
Parent | PCT/US2017/067601 | Dec 2017 | US |
Child | 15849104 | US |