Information
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Patent Grant
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6230592
-
Patent Number
6,230,592
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Date Filed
Monday, October 2, 200023 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, May 15, 200123 years ago
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Inventors
-
-
Examiners
- Smith; James G.
- Shakeri; Hadi
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 081 125
- 081 129
- 081 146
- 081 150
- 081 151
- 081 901
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International Classifications
-
Abstract
A turnable tightening device includes a stationary member having a lower end portion adapted to be actuated by a driving tool to turn about an axis, and an upper end portion with a slot of a dimension adapted to permit only a joining member of a screw hook to have access thereto. A movable member is disposed on the stationary member and is movable relative to the upper end portion longitudinally, and has a retaining groove formed away from the upper end portion and adapted to retain a hook body of the screw hook. A biasing member is disposed for biasing the movable member away from the upper end portion such that a shoulder portion of the screw hook abuts tightly against an upper wall of the upper end portion, and such that the hook body of the screw hook engages tightly the movable member.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a turnable tightening device, more particularly to a turnable tightening device adapted to tighten a screw hook and adapted to be actuated by a driving tool for screwing the screw hook into a wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional turnable holding device
1
adapted to hold a screw hook
2
and to be driven by a screw driver
3
for screwing the screw hook
2
into a wall, is shown to be in the form of a plate, and has a rectangular slot
101
formed in an upper end thereof for receiving a hook body
201
of the screw hook
2
, and an actuating hole
102
formed in a lower end thereof such that an actuating end of the screw driver
3
can be inserted therein to turn the tightening device
1
and screw a threaded shaft
202
of the screw hook
2
into a wall. Since the hook body
201
of the screw hook
2
is movable in the slot
101
, the threaded shaft
202
tends to deviate from the rotating axis of the screw driver
3
so as to affect adversely the screwing operation of the screw hook
2
. In addition, the slot
101
of the fixed dimension cannot receive screw hooks of any size.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, another conventional turnable holding device has an upper forked end
301
which defines a V-shaped slot
302
adapted for accommodating screw hooks
2
of any size, and a lower hexagonal post end
303
adapted to engage a socket head of a screw driver
4
. This type of holding device is still disadvantageous in that the hook body of the screw hook
2
may deviate from the rotating axis of the screw driver
4
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a turnable tightening device which can position a screw hook thereto when being actuated by a driving tool for preventing deviation of the screw hook.
According to this invention, the turnable tightening device includes a stationary member, a movable member, and a biasing member. The stationary member has a lower end portion adapted to be actuated by a driving tool to turn about an axis, and an upper end portion disposed opposite to the lower end portion in a longitudinal direction which is parallel to the axis. The upper end portion includes a first upper wall, a first lower wall opposite to the first upper wall in the longitudinal direction, and a lateral wall extending in the longitudinal direction and joining the first upper wall with the first lower wall. The lateral wall is formed with a slot which extends in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction and which is disposed to communicate the first upper and lower walls. The slot is adapted to permit only a joining member which is disposed between a hook body and a threaded shaft of a screw hook to have access thereto in the transverse direction. The movable member is disposed on the stationary member and is movable relative to the upper end portion in the longitudinal direction by guidance of a guiding member. The movable member includes a second upper wall which faces and which is spaced apart from the first lower wall in the longitudinal direction, and a second lower wall which is disposed opposite to the second upper wall in the longitudinal direction and which has a retaining groove of a profile adapted to retain the hook body of the screw hook. The biasing member is disposed for biasing the movable member away from the upper end portion such that a shoulder portion of the screw hook abuts tightly against the first upper wall and such that the hook body engages tightly the movable member.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view of a conventional turnable tightening device;
FIG. 2
is a sectional view of the conventional tightening device in operation;
FIG. 3
is a side view of another conventional turnable tightening device in operation;
FIG. 4
is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a turnable tightening device according to this invention;
FIG. 5
is a sectional view of the preferred embodiment;
FIG. 6
is a schematic view showing the preferred embodiment when used to tighten a screw hook of a smaller hook body;
FIG. 7
is a schematic view showing the preferred embodiment when used to tighten a screw hook with a larger hook body;
FIG. 8
is a schematic view showing how the preferred embodiment is released from a screw hook after the screw hook has been screwed into a wall; and
FIG. 9
is a schematic view of another preferred embodiment according to this invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to
FIGS. 4
,
5
and
6
, the preferred embodiment of the turnable tightening device according to the present invention is shown to comprise an elongated stationary member
10
, a movable member
20
, and a biasing member
30
.
The stationary member
10
has a lower end portion
15
, and an upper end portion
13
which is disposed opposite to the lower end portion
15
in a longitudinal direction. In this embodiment, the lower end portion
15
is in the form of a hexagonal post that is adapted to engage an actuating end
51
of a driving tool
50
, such as a socket head of a screw driver, so as to be capable of being actuated to turn about an axis parallel to the longitudinal direction. The upper end portion
13
includes a first upper wall
131
, a first lower wall
132
opposite to the first upper wall
131
in the longitudinal direction, and a lateral wall
133
which extends in the longitudinal direction and which joins the first upper wall
131
with the first lower wall
132
. The lateral wall
133
is formed with a slot
14
which extends in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction and which is disposed to communicate the first upper and lower walls
131
,
132
. The slot
14
is of a dimension so as to permit only a joining member
62
, which is disposed between a hook body
61
and a threaded shaft
64
of a screw hook
60
, to access thereto in the transverse direction, as shown in FIG.
6
. The slot
14
has proximate and distal ends relative to the lateral wall
133
and opposite to each other in the transverse direction. In this embodiment, the proximate end has a width which is larger than that of the distal end. Particularly, two guiding wall surfaces
141
are formed at the proximate end and diverge towards the lateral wall
133
so as to facilitate entry of the joining member
62
of the screw hook
60
into the slot
14
. An elongated guiding groove
11
is formed in the stationary member
10
between the upper and lower end portions
13
,
15
, and extends in the longitudinal direction. A guiding shaft
40
passes through the guiding groove
11
and two secured holes
12
which are respectively formed in the upper and lower end portions
13
,
15
, and extends in the longitudinal direction.
The movable member
20
includes a sliding block
21
and a retaining block
22
which extends from the sliding block
21
in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction. The sliding block
21
engages slidably the guiding groove
11
so as to cooperate with the guiding groove
11
to serve as a guiding member for regulating the movement of the movable member
20
relative to the upper end portion
13
of the stationary member
10
in the longitudinal direction. A through hole
211
is formed through the sliding block
21
for slidable passage of the guiding shaft
40
. The retaining block
22
includes a second upper wall
222
which faces and which is spaced apart from the first lower wall
132
of the upper end portion
13
in the longitudinal direction, and a second lower wall
223
which is disposed opposite to the second upper wall
222
in the longitudinal direction and which has a retaining groove
221
of a profile that is adapted to retain a part of the hook body
61
of the screw hook
60
.
The biasing member
30
, such as a compression spring
30
, is mounted in the guiding groove
11
and around the guiding shaft
40
, and has two ends which abut against an upper wall of the guiding groove
11
and the sliding block
21
, respectively, for biasing the movable member
20
away from the upper end portion
13
of the stationary member
10
.
In use, as shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, a pressing force is first applied on the movable member
20
to move the latter towards the upper end portion
13
of the stationary member
10
against the biasing force of the compression spring
30
. Then, the hook body
61
of the screw hook
60
is retained in the retaining groove
221
, and the threaded shaft
64
and a shoulder portion
63
of the screw hook
60
extend outwardly of the upper end portion
13
through the slot
14
. Subsequently, the movable member
20
is released to move away from the upper end portion
13
by virtue of the biasing force of the compression spring
30
with the guidance of the guiding member so that the shoulder portion
63
of the screw hook
60
abuts tightly against the first upper wall
131
of the upper end portion
13
, and so that the hook body
61
engages tightly the movable member
20
.
The actuating end
51
of the driving tool
50
can be sleeved on the lower end portion
15
of the stationary member
10
to turn the latter about the axis so as to screw the screw hook
60
into a wall
7
(as shown in FIG.
8
). As shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
, in view of the construction as such, the turnable tightening device according to this invention is suitable for tightening screw hooks
60
,
60
′ of any size.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, when the screw hook
60
has been screwed into a wall
7
, the stationary member
10
can be slightly rotated about the hook body
61
of the screw hook
60
to detach the joining member
62
from the slot
14
. Then, the hook body
61
is detached from the retaining groove
61
by a slight upward movement of the stationary member
10
, thereby detaching the turnable tightening device from the screw hook
60
.
Referring to
FIG. 9
, another preferred embodiment of the turnable tightening device according to this invention is shown to be similar to the previous embodiment, except that the lower end portion
15
′ of the stationary member
10
′ is secured to the driving tool
50
′, which is in the form of a handle.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention 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.
Claims
- 1. A turnable tightening device adapted to tighten a screw hook, and adapted to be actuated by a driving tool which includes a handle and a shank with an actuating end, for screwing the screw hook into a wall, the screw hook including a hook body, a threaded shaft, and a joining member interposed between the hook body and the threaded shaft and forming a shoulder portion with the hook body, said turnable tightening device comprising:a stationary member having a lower end portion adapted to be actuated by the driving tool to turn about an axis, and an upper end portion disposed opposite to said lower end portion in a longitudinal direction which is parallel to the axis, said upper end portion including a first upper wall, a first lower wall opposite to said first upper wall in the longitudinal direction, and a lateral wall extending in the longitudinal direction and joining said first upper wall with said first lower wall, said lateral wall being formed with a slot that extends in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction and that is disposed to communicate said first upper and lower walls, said slot having a dimension adapted to permit only the joining member of the screw hook to have access thereto in the transverse direction; a movable member disposed on said stationary member and movable relative to said upper end portion in the longitudinal direction, said movable member including a second upper wall facing and spaced apart from said first lower wall in the longitudinal direction, and a second lower wall disposed opposite to said second upper wall in the longitudinal direction and having a retaining groove of a profile adapted to retain the hook body of the screw hook; a guiding member disposed to regulate movement of said movable member relative to said upper end portion in the longitudinal direction; and a biasing member for biasing said movable member away from said upper end portion such that the shoulder portion of the screw hook abuts tightly against said first upper wall and such that the hook body of the screw hook engages tightly said movable member.
- 2. The turnable tightening device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guiding member includes a guiding groove formed in said stationary member between said upper and lower end portions and extending in the longitudinal direction, and a sliding block extending from said movable member in the transverse direction and away from said retaining groove and disposed slidably in said guiding groove.
- 3. The turnable tightening device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said biasing member is a compression spring mounted in said guiding groove and having two ends abutting against said upper end portion and said sliding block, respectively.
- 4. The turnable tightening device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said guiding member further includes a guiding shaft mounted in said guiding groove, extending in the longitudinal direction, and slidably extending through said sliding block such that said sliding block is slidable along said guiding shaft, and wherein said compression spring surrounds said guiding shaft.
- 5. The turnable tightening device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said slot has proximate and distal ends relative to said lateral wall and opposite to each other in the transverse direction, said proximate end having a width which is larger than that of said distal end so as to facilitate entry of the joining member of the screw hook into said slot.
- 6. The turnable tightening device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lower end portion of said stationary member is formed as a hexagonal post that is adapted to engage the actuating end of the driving tool.
US Referenced Citations (6)