US3466956A - Wrench socket with multi-sided and special shaped driving faces - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 16, 1969 c. w. BOWERS WRENCH SOCKET WITH MULTI-SIDED AND SPECIAL SHAPED DRIVING FACES Filed Dec. 4, 1967 m W/ 4 R W m a v w w m a A W M 2 9 Y m a B n 7 l, 0 2 .2 R n H M n s u R 2 a 2 0 MM W %M 0 f XE United States Patent O 3,466,956 WRENCH SOCKET WITH MULTI-SIDED AND SPECIAL SHAPED DRIVING FACES Charles W. Bowers, Sabina, Ohio, assignor to Mac Tools, Inc., Sabina, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 687,649 Int. Cl. B25b 13/06 US. Cl. 81-121 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is to a wrench socket having a nut driving cavity with multi-sided and specially shaped driving members to impart torque turning loads. Clearance areas exist between the driving members and have an arcuate wall lying in and bisected by a maximum radius of the wrench body cavity, said wall subtending an angle of substantially 12 degrees with respect to two radii of the cavity which pass through the side edges of the wall. The driving faces are each divided in pairs and a face of each intersect in an inwardly projecting dihedral angle having an outside dimension of substantially 150 degrees.

The present invention relates to wrenches and is particularly directed to improvements in socket wrench driving surfaces devised and formed to reduce marring of the contacted surfaces of polygonally shaped, driven elements under relatively high torque conditions, while precluding damage to the corners of the driven elements especially when maximum standard clearances tolerances exist between the driven and driving surfaces.

Heretofore wrench structures have been developed which had for their purposes the prevention or lessening of the marring effect on the surfaces of driven elements, such as the heads of bolts or nuts when the wrenches were used to drive, loosen or hold the driven elements under relatively high torque conditions. These efforts generally resulted in wrench cavity configurations which had a loose or sloppy fit with the driven elements or which created a tool that although reducing the marring effect on the driven faces produced weakened wrench bodies that would tend to burst under said torque conditions.

It is therefore the principal object of the invention to provide a strong wrench body having standard driving faces and which has nut corner cleraance areas that preclude damage to the nut corners even under maximum standard nut and wrench clearance conditions and which reduces marring of the planar faces of the nut by obviating sharp corners between the nut driving faces and the clearance areas.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved Wrench having the foregoing characteristics that will have a longer life than comparable wrenches and which also will provide a greater operating leverage on a driven nut and a consequent lowering of the power required to secure the required operating torque for the Wrench.

With these and other objects in view, the following is a description of the preferred embodiment of the in- In the drawing, the numeral 9 represents in dotted lines a polygonally shaped element such as a conventional, hexagonal nut, a bolt head, or the like, said element having a number of planar faces 10, adjacent pairs of said faces intersecting at dihedral angles to form corners 11. The illustrated nut is to be considered as having standard dimensions for any given size and is Within the maximum-minimum standard dimensions across opposed faces Ill-10. It is contemplated that the improved wrench 12 of this invention, although shown as a 12-pont wrench, could be manufactured as a 6-point or a 4-point wrench without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

The socket wrench comprises a generally cylindrical body 13 which is provided at its upper end with a substantially square socket 14 for the reception of the operating stern of a suitable socket Wrench, a motor driven spindle or other actuating member (not shown). The lower end of the body 13 is provided with a 12-point work receiving cavity 15 having a plurality of planar, work contacting nut driving surfaces 16, adjacent driving faces having formed between them nut corner clearance areas 17. Because of the twelve (12) points provided the illustrated wrench each of the planar driving faces 16 is divided centrally and is represented in spaced apart pairs and it will be understood that within the wrench cavity each pair of driving faces has an opposed and parallel pair of driving faces; the distance across opposed pairs being the standard distance for a particular Wrench size, which includes the recognized standard clearance between the driven and driving faces for said size.

-It will also be recognized by those skilled in the art that in a 6-point wrench constructed in accordance with this invention every other nut clearance area 17 and associated driving face would be omitted therefrom and that a 4-point wrench would have the configuration of the square socket 14 (FIG. 2) described hereinbefore which also has corner clearance areas 17 located between planar faces 170.

Now with particular reference to FIG. 4 of the drawing illustrating the relaxed coaxial positions of the wrench cavity 15 and the hexagonal nut 9, it will be noted that each standard planar driving face 16 of the cavity meets with an adjacent planar driving face 16 in the corner clearance area 17 and in accordance with this invention each clearance area has an outside arcuate wall 18 lying in and bisected by the maximum radius R of the wrench body cavity, said wall subtending an angle of substantially 12 with respect to two other such radii R, and R of the wrench cavity which pass through the side edges of the wall 18. Stated another way the included angle between the radius R which bisects the Wall 18 and a radius R or R is approximately 6.

Angularly spaced apart on each side of the wall 18 to define the lateral boundaries of each clearance area 17 are inwardly divergent, planar side walls 19 and 20 each lying in a plane disposed at a substantially outside dihedral angle with respect to the planar driving face 16 of the wrench cavity with which it is associated. The foregoing dimensions and measurements would obtain for all wrench sizes in 4, 6 and 12-point models and with respect to the 12-point wrench depicted in FIG. 4 of the drawings it will be noted that each planar driving face 16 of the wrench cavity is divided in pairs and that the radius R of the wrench cavity intersects the inwardly projecting dihedral angle formed by adjacent pairs of said planar driving faces, said planar faces forming an outside angle of approximately Adjacent pairs of planar driving faces meet common side walls 19 and 20 of the clearance area 17 at inwardly facing dihedral angles cut by planes 21 and 22 disposed parallel to and equally spaced from the radius R, the spaced apart distance D of the planes 21 and 22 for a 3 particular six inch wrench size opening being computed by the radius R times .395 (R .39S). As shown in FIG. 4 the outside angle between each side wall 19 and 20 of a clearance area 17 and the planes 21 and 22, respectively, is substantially 30.

It will therefore be understood that I have provided a wrench cavity having standard planar driving faces and included nut corner clearance areas which is devoid of sharp corners that weaken the wrench body around such corners and cause fracture of the body under high torque conditions. As pressure is applied contact of the planar driving faces 16 is made at points away from the nut corners 11 where the improved wall thickness of the socket is relatively thick by reasons of a particular configuration of the clearance area 17. The socket by making contact with the nut away from but close to the corners will have a greater torque and because the corners are not sharp the socket will not tend to mar the driven faces of the nut. Further the driving faces of the socket have standard dimensions and will therefore satisfactorily drive nuts and bolts that are sometimes manufactured to minimum tolerances without sticking to the bolt or nut when especially high driving torque is applied thereto by my wrench.

What is claimed is:

1. In a wrench for turning objects of polygonal configurations comprising a wrench body having a cavity formed by a plurality of opposed standard object engaging planar driving surfaces, and clearance areas disposed between adjacent driving surfaces for receiving the corners of said objects, the improvement that consists of each clearance area having an arcuate outside wall bisected by and lying on a maximum radius of the cavity and subtending an included angle of substantially 12 with respect to two radii of the cavity, and a planar side wall bounding each side of each clearance area and intersecting the planar driving faces of the concavity at an outside angle of substantially 2. In a wrench as set forth in claim 1 wherein the opposed standard object engaging planar driving faces are each divided in pairs, and a face of each pair intersect in an inwardly projecting dihedral angle having an outside dimension of substantially planes parallel and on opposite sides of a radius of the cavity bisecting the dihedral angle being disposed at outside angles of 30 with respect to each planar side wall bounding each side of each clearance area.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,685,219 8/1954 Diebold 81-119 3,079,819 3/1963 Wing 81l21 3,125,910 3/1964 Kavalar 81121 3,242,775 3/1966 Hinkle 81-121 X 3,273,430 9/1966 Knudsen et al 81--121 FOREIGN PATENTS 678,464 1/ 1964 Canada.

281,431 12/ 1927 Great Britain.

864,514 4/ 1961 Great Britain.

602,687 3/1960 Italy.

MYRON C. KRUSE, Primary Examiner

Images