Patent Application
20110058356
The present application relates generally to handheld power tools. More particularly, the present application relates to handheld power tools having a light configured to shine onto a workpiece machined by the power tool.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Power tools are often used in a variety of conditions ranging from well-lit indoor work spaces to outside construction sites or other areas that are not always well-lit. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method or apparatus that permits a power tool to have a lighting feature that will illuminate the workpiece being machined or worked on by the power tool. Such a lighting feature will assist a user to be able to adequately view the workpiece or work area that is being worked on or machined by the power tool even in substandard light conditions.
Because power tools may be used in adverse environmental conditions, it is desirable to protect such a lighting feature from the adverse environmental conditions.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. In accordance with one embodiment of the present teachings, a power tool is provided. The power tool includes a housing, an end effector rotatable with respect to the housing, a collar non-rotatable with respect to the housing, a printed circuit board (PCB) fixed with respect to the housing using a heat stake process, and a lighting element operatively connected to the PCB. The lighting element is adjacent to the end effector and in a recess of a transparent housing and located to illuminate a workpiece machined by the power tool.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present teachings, a power tool is provided. The power tool includes a rotatable end effector, a non-rotatable collar, and a circular printed circuit board (PCB). Surface mount lighting elements are operatively connected to the PCB and are adjacent to the end effector to illuminate a workpiece machined by the power tool. The collar has a transparent cover supporting the PCB and wires configured to provide power to the PCB for illuminating the lighting elements. The lighting elements are annularly arranged on the PCB about the end effector. A portion of the end effector extends through a hole defined by the transparent cover and PCB. The transparent cover defines a groove and the PCB is coupled in the groove using a heat staking process.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
a and 1b represent side views of two embodiments of power tools according to the present teachings;
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. According to some embodiments of the invention, light emitting elements, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), are placed in an annular or ring shape around part of the end effector and are configured to shine forward to illuminate the tool or accessory held by the end effector and the workpiece being machined by the tool. The end effector may be a tool or accessory holder mounted to an output spindle of the tool as described in U.S. patent application Ser. no. 12/394426, entitled “Bit Retention Device” filed on Feb. 27, 2009, the contents being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Other examples of end effectors that may be used in accordance with the invention may be the 7000 Series chuck manufactured and marketed by the Jacobs Chuck Manufacturing Company of Clemson, S.C., and quick change chucks similar to that found on products such as a DC825KA Impact Driver and a DC815KA Impact Driver manufactured and marketed by the DeWalt Industrial Tool Company of Baltimore, Md.
Several different types of lighting elements can be used in accordance with the invention, such as light bulbs (for example, xenon bulbs) or other lighting elements. While having specific advantage, the LED lights discussed herein are an example, and do not limit embodiments in accordance with the invention to tools using LEDs. The LED lights, or other lighting elements, and associated parts are locked to the housing of the tool and do not rotate when the power tool is operated. It is, however, envisioned that the light elements can be incorporated into a rotatable member such as a chuck tightening ring. The lights may be powered by the same power source that provides power to the power tool's motor. In the case of cordless power tools, a battery powers the power tool and in the case of corded tools AC current is provided from a source voltage through a cord. This AC current may be modified according to the needs of the lighting device being employed. In the case of LED lights, a rectifier may be employed to convert AC current to DC.
A first embodiment in accordance with the present teachings is illustrated in
The end effector 53 may be configured to hold an accessory or tool such as a drill bit or a driving type accessory such as a Philips or standard screwdriver. Other types of tools or accessories may be held and used in the end effector 53 as can be appreciated by one skilled in the art. The movement of the end effector 53 may be controlled by the trigger 55. The trigger 55 may selectively provide power from the battery to the motor located within the housing 51. In some embodiments of the invention, the more the trigger or switch 55 is depressed the more power may be applied to the motor which may cause the end effector 53 to spin faster. The battery provides the power to energize the motor and controllably turn the end effector 53.
As shown in
The power tool 50, for example, can be equipped with a light emitting holder 52 at an end of the transmission housing 56. As described below, the holder 52 functions to couple a lighting circuit to a tool housing 51. A transparent or transparent cover 54 is shown mounted in a recess defined in the holder 52. The holder 52 is mounted to the transmission housing 56 which is, in turn, supported by the housing 51. A chin shroud 62 is located on the holder 52 and provides a housing for a portion of the wires 64 (See
The holder 52 is coupled to a stepped portion 88 of the transmission housing 56. The stepped portion 88 has a first surface 90 which is generally parallel to the centerline 92 of the tool 50. Generally perpendicular to this surface is a second surface 94 which acts as an abutment for the holder 52. The first surface 90 of the stepped portion 88 has a protruding flange 96 which functions as a locking feature to couple the holder 52 into the stepped portion 88. The flange 96 has a ramped surface 98 which facilitates the snapping of a corresponding holder 52 locking feature 100 onto the stepped portion 88. Defined within a second portion 102 the first surface 90 comprises the locking groove or channel 76. The locking groove 76 is annularly formed within the second portion 102 or can be formed of a plurality of radially disposed intermittent coupling grooves. The locking feature 74 comprises a chamfered flange member 106 having a ramped interfaced surface 108 and opposed planar bearing surface 110. The planar bearing surface 110 is configured to interface with a corresponding planar bearing surface 111 defined either on the flange 96 or locking groove or channel 76 defined within second portion 102 of the first surface 90.
The holder 52 has a generally cylindrical exterior surface 118. The exterior surface 118 functions to encapsulate the transparent cover 54, mounting member 108 and circuit board 82. The mounting member 108 has a depending wire support member 120 having a center flanged portion 122 which defines a pair of generally elongated wire bearing slots 124. The slots are configured to accept the pair of power wires 64 from the wire harness pig tail assembly 71. The wire support member 120 is generally disposed within the chin shroud 62 and facilitates the protection of the light source power wires. The mounting member 108 defines an axial through bore 126. The through bore 126 has an inner surface 128 with a plurality of associated stand off flanges 130. The stand off flanges 130 function to apply pressure onto the circuit board 82 when the mounting member is engaged with the holder 52. Further defined within the inner surface 128 is a notch 132 configured to accept a wire harness strain relief member 134. The wire harness strain relief member 134 has a pair of curved internal surfaces which accept the bent wires 64 in a manner to minimize the overall axial length of the holder 52.
The couplers or attachment mechanisms between the circuit board 82 and the transparent cover 54, the holder 52 and the transmission case 56, or the holder 52 and the transparent cover 54 can take the form of the heat stake joint, the bayonet joint, or the locking flange within a slot, exemplary embodiments of which are described above. The couplers or attachment mechanisms are configured to withstand the extreme cyclic torsional loading associated with hand held power tools. In this regard, the joints are configured to prevent vibrational noise or damage to these components, especially to the PCB.
Further defined on the inner tubular member 152 is a plurality of coupling notches 158. The notches 158 have a depth corresponding to the preferred locational position of the circuit board 82 within the transparent cover channel 80. Adjacent to the coupling notches 158 are corresponding coupling flanges 160 which are configured to be positioned within a corresponding set of notches 162 defined within an inner surface 164 of the circuit board 72. As described above, the coupling flanges 160 are configured to be melted in a heat staking process to rotationally and longitudinally fix the circuit board 82 within the channel 80. As best seen in
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
Example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “including,” and “having,” are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “engaged to,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly engaged to,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there may be no intervening elements or layers present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another region, layer or section. Terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms when used herein do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the example embodiments.
Spatially relative terms, such as “inner,” “outer,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. Spatially relative terms may be intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12379585 | Feb 2009 | US |
| Child | 12859036 | US |
