Patent Application
20080196562
The invention relates to tools for driving fasteners such as nuts, bolts and screws, and more particularly to a nut driver or other tool that provides one or more visual and/or tactile feel elements to assist a user in determining the orientation of the device relative to a fastener, and methods to make such nut drivers or other tools.
Nut drivers, socket wrenches, and other tools are useful in securing nuts, bolts and other fasteners. Various features have been incorporated into such tools to ease their use. For example, visual indicators have been included on the handle of the tool to indicate the size or type of fastener for which the tool is compatible. In addition, indicators have been devised to assist users in orienting the nut driver with respect to the fastener or nut that the user wishes to engage. For example, nut drivers have been devised having a visual picture or indication of the fastener on the butt end of the handle, where the orientation of the pictured fastener coincides with the orientation of the socket that receives the fastener. With this feature, the user can potentially position the nut driver over the fastener with reduced trial and error, which would be particularly useful to technicians who use nut drivers on a frequent basis. Although the abovementioned feature is helpful, it presents the disadvantage that the user's hands cover the visual indication on the butt end of the handle during normal operation of the nut driver, thereby reducing the usefulness of the feature. Furthermore, the visual indication typically wears off over time or can become marred by dirt, paint, oil or other substances, which prevents the user from seeing the visual indication and makes it more difficult to orient the nut driver relative to a fastener or nut.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a nut driver or other tool that provides a visible indicator that is unobstructed during normal use and/or a tactile feel indicator that allows the user to orient the nut driver relative to the fastener by feeling the indicator.
One aspect of the present invention is directed to a device for driving a fastener, such as a nut driver, that includes an elongate shaft having a first end and a second end opposite the first end, an aperture disposed on the first end and having an interior aperture shape that is substantially the same as at least a portion of an exterior shape of the fastener, a handle disposed on the shaft, and a tactile feel element disposed on the shaft having an element shape. The element shape has an orientation that is at least substantially the same as an orientation of the interior aperture shape.
In another aspect of the invention, the interior aperture shape is a shape of the aperture in a plane perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the shaft, and the element shape is a shape of the tactile feel element in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The orientation of the interior aperture shape and the element shape is an angular position about the axis of rotation.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the interior aperture shape includes a plurality of corners and sides, and the element shape includes a plurality of corners and sides. The corners of the interior aperture shape have an angular position about the axis of rotation that is at least substantially equal to an angular position of the corners of the element shape about the axis of rotation. The element shape may be proportional to the interior aperture shape. The tactile feel element and the interior aperture may also be hexagonally shaped.
In a further aspect of the invention, the nut driver includes at least one magnet disposed in a socket head formed around the aperture so that a face of the magnet is located at or near a surface of the aperture. In another aspect, a first magnet is disposed in the socket head so that a face of the first magnet is located at or near a surface of a first side of the interior aperture shape, a second magnet is disposed in the socket head so that a face of the second magnet is located at or near a surface of a second side of the interior aperture shape, and the first side and the second side are not directly opposite each other.
Still another aspect of the invention is directed to a method of manufacturing a handle for a device for driving a fastener, including co-molding a first material defining a first color and forming at least a portion of an inner part of the handle, and a second material defining a second color and forming at least a portion of an outer part of the handle. At least one of the first and second colors is indicated by at least one of a size and a type of the device. The method may further include overmolding the second material and the outer part of the handle to the first material and the inner part of the handle.
The nut driver of present invention offers the advantage of providing the user with unobstructed visible and/or tactile feel elements that assist the user in determining the orientation of the nut driver and providing a more precise tool for engaging a fastener or nut.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims and accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Shaft 105 is preferably made from a metal or metal alloy, and may incorporate driving portion 110 as a portion having the same diameter as shaft 105. Driving portion may also have various larger diameters to accommodate nuts and fastener heads of various sizes, including those that are larger than shaft 105, as shown in
Shaft 105 may also be hollow. In a preferred embodiment, both shaft 105 and driving portion are hollow to allow nut driver 100 to engage a nut located on a length of a threaded rod. This feature allows the threaded rod to be received within the hollow area so that driving portion 110 can engage and rotate the nut. In this embodiment, shaft 105 is preferably a cold formed, through hardened or case hardened metal, such as carbon steel.
Shaft 105 may also incorporate wrench flats formed on exterior surfaces of shaft 105 so that nut driver 100 can be engaged and rotated by a wrench. In this embodiment, an aperture 130, located within driving portion 110, may be configured so that driving portion 110 engages a nut or head without engaging the corners of the nut/head. Shaft 105 may also have a size and/or type indication on its surface, which indicates the size and/or type of nut driver 100, i.e., the size and/or type of fastener for which nut driver 100 is compatible. An example of an indication 135 is shown in
Driving portion 110 includes aperture 130 having an interior shape that is at least substantially the same as the shape of a compatible nut or of the head of a corresponding bolt or other fastener (not shown). Aperture 130 may have any shape suitable to engage a fastener having a given head shape. In one embodiment, aperture 130 may have the shape of a polygon having any suitable number of sides and corners. In another embodiment, shown in
In one embodiment, the interior shape of aperture 130 is determined from a shape of aperture 130 in a plane perpendicular to an axis of rotation of shaft 105 and of nut driver 100. At any rotational position, the shape of aperture 130 has an orientation about the rotational axis. This orientation may be considered an angular position of any feature of the interior shape of aperture 130 about the axis of rotation.
Driving portion 110 is preferably forged or otherwise manufactured from a metal or metal alloy. Driving portion 110 may be a separate component that is welded or otherwise fixedly secured to shaft 105, or may be manufactured as part of shaft 105. In another embodiment, driving portion 110 is made of a harder material than is shaft 105 and/or is coated with a hardness coating such as titanium nitride (TiN) to increase the durability and wear resistance of nut driver 100 and particularly of aperture 130.
As shown in
Nut driver 100 includes a tactile feel indicator 145 that serves to indicate the orientation of aperture 130. Tactile feel indicator 145 allows a user to feel the orientation of aperture 130 by feeling the shape of tactile feel indicator 145. Tactile feel indicator 145 is advantageous over visual indicators on the handle butt, for example, which would be typically covered by the hand and thus be rendered useless while nut driver 100 is used. Tactile feel indicator 145 is also advantageous in that it is less susceptible to wearing off, or to being obscured by dirt and grime, than are such visual indicators.
In the present embodiment, tactile feel indicator 145 is a raised portion, preferably located on or proximate to handle 115. Tactile feel indicator 145 may be part of a monolithic handle, integrated into handle 115, or may be a separate component located proximate or adjacent to handle 115. In one embodiment, tactile feel indicator has a shape that protrudes from a surface of handle 115 or that protrudes from a component adjacent to handle 115. For example, as shown in
Tactile feel indicator 145 has a shape corresponding to or substantially the same as an interior shape of aperture 130. Tactile feel indicator 145 also has at least substantially the same orientation as the shape of aperture 130. In one embodiment, the shapes of both tactile feel indicator 145 and aperture 130 are determined in a plane that is at least substantially perpendicular to an axis of rotation of shaft 105 and of nut driver 100. At any rotational position, both the shape of tactile feel indicator 145 and the shape of aperture 130 have an orientation about the rotational axis. This orientation may be considered an angular position of any feature of the interior shape of aperture 130 or of tactile feel indicator 145 about the axis of rotation.
Preferably, tactile feel indicator 145 has a shape that is proportional to the interior shape of aperture 130, and has substantially the same orientation as the interior shape of aperture 130. In one embodiment, both tactile feel indicator 145 and aperture 130 may have the shape of a polygon having any suitable number of sides and corner. In the embodiment shown in
In another embodiment, tactile feel indicator 145 includes one or more protrusions or other tactile indicators on, for example, handle component 150 that correspond to corners or other features of the internal shape of aperture 130. For example, tactile feel indicator 145 may have a plurality of protrusions, each of which has substantially the same angular position as a corner of the internal shape of aperture 130.
In one embodiment shown in
As shown in
Nut driver 100 may also include visual size and type indicators, located on or near handle 115. Such indicators provide a visual indication of the size and type of nut driver 100 or other tool. The size or type of a tool typically refers to the size or type of fastener with which the tool is compatible.
In one embodiment, color-coding may be included on any part of the handle to provide a quick indication of the type or size of the nut driver. In
In another embodiment, symbols and/or alphanumeric characters may be included on nut driver 100, preferably on handle 115, to indicate the size and/or type of nut driver. As shown in
Referring again to
In a second step, after central component 156 is formed and sufficiently cool, an outer component 157 having a different color than the central component, is co-molded with central component 156. Co-molding components refers to any method of molding multiple components and incorporating those components into an integral structure. Co-molding may include overmolding outer component 157 to the central component 156, or superimposing outer component 157 over central component 156 and mechanically compressing outer component 157 and central component 156 together. In each case the outer component 157 and central component 156 may be sealed together, such as by mechanical compression. Preferably, outer component 157 is overmolded onto the central component 156. In this process, central component 156 is inserted into a second cavity, and plastic material having a second color, such as white, is injected into the second cavity so that an outer component 157 is formed around the color-coded central component 156. Alternatively, both central component 156 and outer component 157 may be molded in the same cavity using, for example, a rotary injection mold tool. Preferably, both central component 156 and outer component 157 are molded from plastic materials. This method yields interior portion 155 that is substantially white or another desired color(s), with the exception of a color-coded tactile feel indicator 145 and a color-coded end portion 165.
In a third step, interior portion 155 is inserted into gripping portion 160 to complete handle 115. The resultant handle 115 features color coded portions on both ends of handle 115. Shaft 105 may have already been molded into handle 115 during the first step, or may be inserted into handle 115 after the third step to complete the manufacture of nut driver 100. As may be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art, the central inner component and outer component in the handle may be over molded or otherwise co-molded in any of numerous different ways that are currently known or that later become known. One advantage of such co-molding method is that the different colored portions are formed at the time of molding, thus forming a durable and long-lasting coloration.
Symbols and/or alphanumeric indicators may be incorporated into the handle by co-molding and overmolding processes similar to those described above. For example, an indicator such as a type/size indicator or a logo is incorporated into handle 115 by first molding the indicator, having a first color, into the desired shape. The remaining handle, or a portion of the handle such as a gripping portion, is molded over/around the indicator using material of a second color, so that one or more surfaces of the indicator are flush with the exterior of the handle. The indicator thus forms the desired symbol and/or alphanumeric indicator on a surface of the handle. Because the indicator is not simply stamped or otherwise printed on the surface of the handle, the indicator formed by this method is very durable and will not rub off over time.
In the example shown in
In one embodiment, magnets 785 are positioned at adjacent faces of hexagonal aperture 730, or are otherwise positioned on any faces of aperture 730 so that magnets 785 are not located directly opposite one another or facing one another. This configuration of magnets 785 will ensure that a fastener having a slotted head, such as a slotted hex screw, will have at least one surface that comes in contact with a magnet 785 when the slotted head is inserted into aperture 730.
The embodiments described above are exemplary, and are not intended to restrict the invention to a nut driver. Various other tools and devices may utilize the features described above, such as sockets or ratchets, shafts for reversible screwdrivers, etc.
As may be recognized by those skilled in the pertinent art based on the teachings herein, numerous changes and modifications may be made to the above-described nut driver, method of making, and exemplary use thereof without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, nut driver components may be made of any of numerous different materials that are currently known or that later become known for performing the functions of the various components. The nut driver 100, and components thereof, may take any of numerous different configurations that are currently known or that later become known for performing the functions of the different features described herein. Similarly, the nut driver 100 and components thereof may take any of numerous different shapes that are currently or later become known. Further, the socket head aperture can be adapted to receive fasteners and nuts of varying shapes and sizes in both U.S. standard and metric units. Accordingly, this detailed description is to be taken in an illustrative, as opposed to a limiting sense.
