This application claims priority of Taiwanese Patent Application No. 111104756, filed on Feb. 9, 2022, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
This disclosure relates to a pair of locking pliers, more particularly to a locking pliers that is shiftable to two types of use.
Referring to
Referring to
For meeting different requirements of usage, both the conventional locking pliers (1a and 1b) will need advanced preparation before use, which results in inefficiency and inconvenience during usage.
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a XXXX that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a pair of locking pliers that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to this disclosure, the locking pliers includes a pliers-body, a rotating shaft and an operating and pivoting unit. The pliers-body includes a fixed jaw, a movable jaw which is pivotable disposed relative to the fixed jaw, and a jaw end member which is disposed on a tip end of the movable jaw. The rotating shaft is movably connected with the fixed jaw, and includes a shaft body and a clamp member. The shaft body is rotatably connected with the fixed jaw about a pivot axis and is movable relative to the fixed jaw along the pivot axis. The shaft body has a clamp end and an insert end opposite to each other. The clamp member is disposed on the clamp end. The rotating shaft is operable to rotate relative to the fixed jaw between a first position, where the clamp member is disposed proximate to the jaw end member, and a second position, where the insert end is disposed proximate to the jaw end member. The operating and pivoting unit includes a pivot member and at least one retaining member. The pivot member extends along the pivot axis and through the fixed jaw and is connected with the rotating shaft. The pivot member is operable to move along the pivot axis to bring the rotating shaft into movement close to or away from the fixed jaw. The retaining member extends through the fixed jaw and the rotating shaft along a retaining axis that is parallel to and offset from the pivot axis so as to retain the rotating shaft to a selected one of the first and second positions. The pivot member is operably moved to bring the rotating shaft into movement away from the fixed jaw and to release the retention of the rotating shaft by the retaining member so as to permit rotation of the rotating shaft about the pivot axis.
With the rotating shaft operable to rotate relative to the pliers-body between the first and second positions, the locking pliers can be shifted to two types of use for improved versatility, and hence cost savings may be obtained.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale.
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics. In the following description, directions, such as “front-rear direction (X)”, “left-right direction (Y)” and “up-down direction (Z)”, indicate the orientations of the embodiments in the figures.
Referring to
The pliers-body 2 includes a fixed handle 21 which extends in a front-rear direction (X) to have front and rear ends 211, 212, a fixed jaw 22 which is connected with the front end 211 of the fixed handle 21 and which extends upwardly and forwardly, a movable jaw 23 which is pivotably disposed on the front end 211 of the fixed handle 21 relative to the fixed jaw 22 and which extends downwardly and forwardly to be in a C-shaped contour, a movable handle 24 which is pivotably connected with the movable jaw 23 and which extends rearwardly, and a jaw end member 25 which is pivotably disposed on a tip end 231 of the movable jaw 23. The fixed jaw 22 has a mounting end 221 which is distal from the front end 211 of the fixed handle 21 in the front-rear direction (X), a pivot hole 222 which extends through the mounting end 221 and along a pivot axis (L) in a left-right direction (Y), and a retaining hole 223 which extends through the mounting end 221 and along a retaining axis (L1) that is parallel to and offset from the pivot axis (L) and which is spaced apart from the pivot hole 222 in an up-down direction (Z).
In this embodiment, the retaining hole 223 is formed above the pivot hole 222. Alternatively, the retaining hole 223 may be formed below the pivot hole 222. The mounting end 221 is spaced apart from the tip end 231 by a clearance 26.
The adjusting unit 3 is disposed to adjust the clearance 26 of the pliers-body 2. The adjusting unit 3 includes a biasing spring 31, a linkage 32, an adjustment screw 33 and an unlocking lever 34. In this embodiment, the biasing spring 31 is a tension spring connected between the fixed handle 21 and the movable jaw 23 to bias the tip end 231 of the movable jaw 23 away from the mounting end 221 of the fixed jaw 22. The linkage 32 is pivotably connected with the movable handle 24 and extends rearwardly toward the fixed handle 21. The linkage 32 has a protrusion 321 projecting downwardly, and a rear abutted end 322. The adjustment screw 33 is threadedly engaged with the rear end 212 of the fixed handle 21 to press the rear abutted end 322 of the linkage 32. The unlocking lever 34 is pivotably connected with the movable handle 24 and has one end pressed by the protrusion 321 to permit the other end to be pivotable relative to the movable handle 24.
With reference to
With reference to
Specifically, the shaft body 41 has a clamp end 411 and an insert end 412 opposite to each other. The clamp member 42 is pivotably disposed on the clamp end 411. The shaft body 41 has two retained holes 413 which are spaced apart from each other and which extend in the direction of the pivot axis (L) (i.e., in the left-right direction (Y)) to be aligned with the retaining hole 223, and a connecting hole 414 which extends therethrough and which is aligned with the pivot hole 222 along the pivot axis (L). The retained holes 413 are located respectively proximate to the insert end 412 and the clamp end 411. The connecting hole 414 has an inner diameter smaller than that of the pivot hole 222 of the fixed jaw 22.
In this embodiment, each of the jaw end member 25 of the pliers-body 2 and the clamp member 42 of the rotating shaft 4 is in the form of a flat pad.
The operating and pivoting unit 5 includes a pivot member 51, a retaining member 52 and a biasing member 53.
The pivot member 51 extends along the pivot axis (L) and through the pivot hole 222 of the fixed jaw 22 and the connecting hole 414 of the rotating shaft 4 and is operable to move along the pivot axis (L) so as to bring the rotating shaft 4 into movement close to or away from the fixed jaw 22. Specifically, the pivot member 51 has an enlarged head portion 511 and a shank portion 512 which extends from the head portion 511 along the pivot axis (L). The head portion 511 is disposed to be spaced apart from the rotating shaft 4 in the direction of the pivot axis (L) by the fixed jaw 22. The shank portion 512 extends through the fixed jaw 22 and the rotating shaft 4. The shank portion 512 has a pivot axle section 513 which extends through the pivot hole 222 of the fixed jaw 22, a connecting section 514 which extends from the pivot axle section 513 and into the connecting hole 414 of the rotating shaft 4 and which has an outer diameter smaller than that of the pivot axle section 513, and a shoulder 515 which is interposed between the pivot axle section 513 and the connecting section 514 and which abuts against the rotating shaft 4.
In this embodiment, the connecting hole 414 is in the form of a circular hole. The connecting section 514 has a circular cross-section and is rotatably engaged in the connecting hole 414 to permit rotation of the rotating shaft 4 relative to the pivot member 51 about the pivot axis (L).
In this embodiment, the retaining member 52 is in the form of a rivet which extends through the fixed jaw 22 and the rotating shaft 4 along the retaining axis (L1) so as to restrict rotation of the rotating shaft 4 relative to the fixed jaw 22. The retaining member 52 has a rivet head 521 and a rivet shank 522 extending from the rivet head 521 along the retaining axis (L1). The rivet shank 522 has first and second retaining sections 523 which are connected with each other along the retaining axis (L1) and which are respectively engaged in the retaining hole 223 of the fixed jaw and either one of the retained holes 413 of the rotating shaft 4.
The biasing member 53 surrounds the pivot axle section 513 of the pivot member 51 and is disposed between the head portion 511 and the fixed jaw 22 to bias the head portion 511 away from the fixed jaw 22 so as to bring the rotating shaft 4 toward the fixed jaw 22.
With reference to
During the shifting of the rotating shaft 4 from the first position to the second position, the pivot member 51 is firstly operated to bring the rotating shaft 4 into movement along the pivot axis (L) and away from the fixed jaw 22 so as to disengage the second retaining section 523 of the retaining member 52 from the retained hole 413, as shown in
Therefore, the user presses the head portion 511 of the pivot member 51 with one hand to bring the rotating shaft 4 into movement away from the fixed jaw 22 along the pivot axis (L) so as to release the rotating shaft 4 from the fixed jaw 22, and rotates the rotating shaft 4 with the other hand to bring either the insert end 412 or the clamp member 42 close to the jaw end member 25. Then, the user releases the pressing force to permit the rotating shaft 4 to be retained in the first position or the second position.
In this embodiment, the biasing member 53 is disposed to bias the pivot member 51 away from the fixed jaw 22 so as to move the rotating shaft 4 back to abut against the fixed jaw 22 for facilitating retention by the retaining member 52. Alternatively, the rotating shaft 4 may be moved manually to be retained to the fixed jaw 22 so as to dispense the biasing member 53 therewith.
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
As illustrated, with the rotating shaft 4 operable to rotate relative to the pliers-body 2 between the first and second positions, the locking pliers of the disclosure can be shifted to two types of use, and hence the cost of usage is reduced. Moreover, the retaining member 52 of the operating and pivoting unit 5 is kept to engage with one of the fixed jaw 22 and the rotating shaft 4 during shifting of the rotating shaft 4, which prevents loss of the retaining member 52 from the locking pliers.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the most practical and embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretations and equivalent arrangements.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
111104756 | Feb 2022 | TW | national |