Patent Application
20170311664
The glove of the present invention resembles a typical work glove, being of sturdy construction and covering the user's hand and wrist. This invention provides solutions for two common needs that are otherwise only met by act of grasping for other separate tools:
First, the typical work glove does not provide enough protection when a user deliberately strikes an object with the ball of the hand as can be needed often when working with and constructing large wood or metal objects, when working with chisels, or at times when the action requires nudges of the material being worked during assembly. Because of the lack of adequate protection in a typical glove, striking an object with a gloved hand can still allow the user's hand to be bruised or hurt when the ball of the hand is used as a mallet. Some work gloves have added extra padding to the ball area of the glove. However, were the glove to have a permanently placed, rigid, thick piece of protective material covering the ball of the hand as the prior art teaches, the rigid material impedes the closure of the hand for grasping objects. Many other examples of prior art, for example U.S. Pat. No. 8,935,812, show gloves with some protection but these nonetheless provide insufficient protection against deliberate and forceful impact by the user onto an object. U.S. Pat. No. 8,758,541 teaches a removable wrist protection device but the protection is incorporated into the body of the device in such a way that removing the device leaves the hand with no protection at all and there is no indication that a user would wear such a wrist protection device over another glove.
This invention provides a flap with the rigid protective piece of material encased in the flap. In a preferred embodiment, the protective piece is a molded sheet metal which forms a shallow “V” shaped plate generally conforming to the two lobes of the ball of the hand. Alternatively, a hard rubber or plastic material would also make for a suitable plate that would provide the type of desired protection. With additional padding placed between the plate and the outer side of the flap the user is significantly protected even when striking a blow with the ball of the hand. Velcro pads connected to the flap, and to the body of the glove, hold the flap in a first position against the wrist shroud and when the flap is turned to a second position the flap remains firmly affixed on the ball area of the hand via the Velcro pad sewn into the ball portion of the glove. Thus, the user may choose to easily and securely cover the ball of the hand with the flap when striking an object or position the flap away from the ball of the hand to allow for gripping an object.
Second, there often exists a need to drive a fastener such as a screw or nut into an object while wearing gloves. Wearing a glove can make starting a small fastener so difficult that the wearer is required to remove the glove. Having a reversible ratchet driver incorporated into the glove, the user can hold the fastener with one hand and immediately turn the fastener with the other without having to reach for a different tool or remove the glove to grip the fastener. This makes engaging the fastener into a hole or against a nut a quicker and easier process.
A first embodiment of the ratchet driver consists of a cylindrical body, a retracting toggle button, a ratchet, and a means for locking the ratchet in a forward or reverse direction using opposing pawls situated to engage a gear respectively, and a driver fitting for receiving common tool bits for Philips, flat head, hex, star, Allen and other fasteners of the like.
Situated at the end of the cylindrical body farthest from the fingertips, the driver uses a toggle button and follower cam mechanism as is used with retractable pens. When the button is at a first position, the ratchet means is locked to turn a fastener in a counterclockwise rotation (loosening the fastener). When the button is pressed into the cylindrical body, it moves inward and the cam locks in a second position. With the toggle button mechanism set in the second position, the ratchet means locks for clockwise rotation (tightening a fastener).
A pawl shaft is positioned coaxially to the cam and has a first end situated to fit in a depression in the middle of the cam as is commonly done with ink cartridges in retractable pens. A gear, situated along the shaft and secured hereto, is slaved to turn with the shaft and if further restricted against the shaft such that when the shaft moves forward and backward, the gear moves with the shaft as well. At least two pawls are secured to the cylindrical body. In a preferred embodiment two sets of the pawls are used. The pawls are situated such that the gear only engages one set of the pawls at any one time. Each set of pawls, located at opposite sides of the body, and in line with each other, is designed to restrict the rotation direction of the gear in one direction—one set restricts clockwise rotation while the second set restricts counterclockwise rotation. When the gear, which generally resembles the shape of a rugby ball, moves forward or backward, its tapered shape permits the pawls to be easily lifted and engage on or disengage from the tooth portion of the gear.
A second end of the shaft, situated opposite the end in the follower cam, is connected to a standard female hexagonal driver coupler which receives hexagonal driver bits common in the industry. A “C” ring holds the coupler in place. A first pawl is attached to the first pawl holder on the side of the gear closest to the button. A second pawl, attached to the second pawl holder, is in alignment with the first pawl and mirrors the first pawl in shape and position. Said second pawl is situated on the opposite side of the gear. When the button is in a first position, the second pawl, connected to the second pawl holder, engages the gear while the first pawl is separated from the gear, thus restricting free movement of the gear whenever counterclockwise rotational force is applied to the cylindrical body, thus the coupler spins with the rotation as well. However, when clockwise rotational force is applied to the cylindrical body, the gear and coupler spin freely. When the button is in the second position, the first pawl, connected to the first pawl holder, engages the gear while the second pawl is separated from the gear, thus restricting free movement of the gear whenever clockwise rotational force is applied to the cylindrical body thus the coupler spins with the rotation as well. However, when counterclockwise rotational force is applied to the cylindrical body, the gear and coupler spin freely.
Therefore, when the button is in the first position the mechanism is used to loosen a fastener, and when the button is depressed into the body to the second position, the mechanism is used to tighten a fastener. Upon depressing the button again, the gear moves back to its first position. By “clicking” the button at will, the user can easily and quickly switch between the first and second position. Tension springs keep pressure on the follower cam to spin about the long axis of the main body by one tooth each time the button is depressed as is done with common retractable pens. Unlike a retractable pen, however, this action of the button and cam moves the engagement position of the gear and pawls to function as a dual-setting switch. Whereas most ratchet wrenches use either a lever or a small knob only capable of moving from a first setting or a second setting, and whereas these levers and knobs are small and would be difficult to operate with a glove covering the hand, the push button of this invention permits the user to easily operate the single push button actuator even with the gloves on.
A second embodiment of the ratchet driver also consists of a cylindrical body, a toggle button, a ratchet, and a means for locking the ratchet in a forward or reverse direction using opposing pawls situated to engage a gear respectively, and a driver fitting for receiving sockets. Unlike the first embodiment that has the coupler coaxially situated with the long axis of the body, in the second embodiment the coupler is transversely situated with the long axis of the body. With this embodiment there is not a gear slaved on the pawl shaft. Here a sprocket gear is situated behind and coaxially to the coupler and is attached with a sprocket shaft such that both the sprocket and the coupler spin together. Inside the body of the cylinder, the pawl shaft is connected to a pawl holder. The pawl holder straddles the sprocket gear shaft and terminates on the other side. Two pawls located on the pawl holder, one on each side of the sprocket gear engage the sprocket gear independently depending on whether the button mechanism is in the first position or the second position.
The present invention generally relates to gloves designed to protect the hand, more particularly, to a glove that can directly and safely impart a kinetic force on an object as well as to turn a fastener such as a screw, bolt, nut or socket without having to reach for a screwdriver or ratchet wrench.
Gloves have been developed to protect the hand from dangers such as being cut and having abrasions. Some gloves include padding and/or other materials to further protect against impacts. However, these protection devices have been created with a defensive objective. By contrast, the current invention permits the wearer to impart direct kinetic force on an object without damaging the hand or the object stricken. The flap, consisting of a suitably hard material and padding, is set in a first position protecting the ball portion of the hand allowing a user to easily strike an object as desired. Further, the flap can be moved in a second position out of the way when not in use. When using a hammer or mallet, a user may have difficulty controlling the amount of kinetic force transferred onto an object, cannot easily determine the amount of force required to move an object, or risks denting or damaging the object by striking it with a hammer. These problems occur, for instance, when using a chisel; or when trying to nudge a wood beam into position during a construction project; or building a piece of furniture.
Additionally, a user may have need of turning a fastener such as a screw, bolt, nut or socket while wearing a glove but may find reaching for a screwdriver or ratchet wrench difficult or impractical. Common ratchet devices provide a lever or small tooth that the user must move to reverse the direction of the locking mechanism of the ratchet. In order to manipulate the lever a user may have difficulty operating the lever and may be required to remove the glove. If removing the glove is not possible or impractical, then the user must hold the ratchet with one gloved hand while moving the lever with another pointy tool in the other gloved hand. Having a toggle button reversible driver, literally at one's fingertip, solves this issue. Electricians, for example, who regularly work in cramped crawl spaces while wearing gloves, have use of a glove that provides these features incorporated into it while still also having the ability to adequately grip objects without restriction.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is the object of this invention to provide protection for the user's hands while allowing the user to safely impart mallet-like kinetic force on objects that need to be struck.
A further object of this invention is to provide a reversible ratchet mechanism incorporated into the glove allowing a user to turn a fastener without the need to reach for a separate driver or ratchet tool.
It is also the object of this invention to provide a reversible ratchet mechanism that is operated by a single toggle-action button mechanism; that mechanism being easily pressed from a first position to a second position and then again back to a first position all the while without having to remove the glove to operate the reversing ratchet mechanism.
Another object of this invention is to have a plurality of ratchet mechanisms be interchangeable on the glove to provide multiple types of ratchets for varying types of fastening requirements.
Still another object of this invention is to have ratchet tool that can be used independently of the glove.
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