Abstract:
A adjustable wrench comprised of a body, a pressing piece, a sliding block and a micro-adjustment applicable to bolts of various sizes since the sliding block for adjusting the spacing between the micro-adjustment and a first and a second planes respectively can be automatically restored to its original location by means of the bouncing force provided by a first flexible element, and such spacing can be inched by rotating the micro-adjustment.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an adjustable wrench, and more particularly, to one that allows easy and fast adjustment, and firm positioning. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     In the prior art of the present invention as illustrated in FIG. 7, a wrench is provided with a handle  8  and a slide  9 . A multiple of tooth  81  is provided on one side of the handle  8 , a clamping member  82  to hold a bolt  7  is provided at the end of the handle  8 , an axis  91  is provided at one side of the slide  9 , said axis  91  is pivoted to a thumb  92  held against by a passive flexible tab  93 , and one end of said thumb  92  is provided with a multiple of tooth  921  to ratchet the tooth  81  from the handle  8 . 
     In use, a user has to press the thumb  92  to make the tooth  921  of the thumb  92  to disengage from the tooth  81  of the handle  8  before moving forward or backward the handle  8  to change the distance between the clamping piece  82  and the inner edge  94  of the slide  9 . In the process of moving the handle  8 , the tooth  921  from the thumb  92  must be completely cleared away from the tooth  81  of the handle  8 . While pressing the thumb  92 , the handle with inherited heavy weight must be pushed with a force that prevents an easy movement precisely by one tooth for the handle  8 . The difficulty in inching just for a distance of one tooth results in the creation of a space between the clamping piece  82  and the bolt  7  to be turned, and furthermore in the failure of securing the bolt  7 . 
     Whereas the thumb  92  is pivoted to the slide  9  by the axis  91 , and is ratcheted to the tooth from the handle  8  due to the plunging from the flexible tab  93 . In use, the thumb  92  must be pressed to completely disengage its tooth  921  from the tooth  81  of the handle  8  before pushing the handle  8  to adjust the distance between the clamping piece  82  and the inner edge of the slide  9 . In case of any failure to press the thumb  92  all the way to the end to move the handle  8 , the thumb  92  can get easily worn out since certain piece of the tooth  921  close to the axis  91  has not yet disengaged from the tooth  81  of the handle  8 . When said piece of the tooth  921  is worn out, with only the remaining tooth  921  ratcheted to the tooth  81  of the handle  8  resulting in sliding, thus to serious affect the positioning effect of the thumb  92 . 
     Furthermore, the distance between the clamping piece  82  and the inner edge  94  of the slide  9  is adjusted by pushing the handle  8 . Since the bolt  7  is available indifferent sizes, and the adjustment can only be achieved by the multiplex of pitch of the tooth  81 , the adjustment fails to be made exactly depending on the individual size of the bolt  7 . If the pitch of the tooth  81  is made wider, the greater ratcheting force is provided, but the range for adjustment gets narrower. On the contrary, if the pitch of the tooth  81  is made narrower, the ratcheting force gets too small to cause sliding. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a wrench to facilitate easy adjustment by a very smooth slide that is used to adjust the spacing between the micro-adjustment and the first and the second planes respectively, as well as by an automatic restoration due to the bouncing force from a first flexible element. 
     Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a wrench that is capable of avoiding local tear and wear of the ratcheting block, and allowing sufficient contact and ratcheting force to be applied between the ratcheting block and the slide since the tooth from the slide can be ratcheted to or separated from the tooth of the ratcheting block at the same time. 
     Another purpose yet of the present invention is to provide a wrench that is capable of inching the spacing between the micro-adjustment and the first and the second planes respectively by rotating the micro-adjustment. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a blowout view of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing that the present invention is applied to a larger bolt. 
     FIG. 3 is schematic view showing that the present invention is applied to a smaller bolt. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing that the present invention is used as a driver in conjunction with a tooling head. 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the operation of the micro-adjustment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing that the tooth of the ratcheting block is engaged to and disengaged from the tooth of the slide at the same time. 
     FIG. 7 is a blowout view of the prior art of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 through 6, the present invention is related to a wrench essentially comprised of a body  2 , including a filler  203  formed by the lay up of a plurality of flat plates  204  sandwiched between a top plate  201  and a base plate  202 . A space to accommodate members is provided within the filler  203 . A clamping portion  23  provided at the front end of the body  2  contains at lest a first and a second plane  21 ,  22  and an angle between the two planes  21 ,  22  forms a clamping space  24 . In the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the angle between the planes is 60 degrees. A rectangular sliding trough  25  is separately provided to the body  2  and a hooker  251  is provided at the bottom of said sliding trough  25 . One side to the sliding trough  25  is provided with two slots  26 , and a hollow compartment  27  is provided in the middle section of the body  2 . 
     A sliding block  3  is provided in the sliding trough  25  to the body  2 , and a plurality of teeth  31  are provided on one side of the sliding block  3 . A stationary push button  32  fixed to the sliding block  3  protrudes from the body  2 , while a worm gear  33  is provided at the front end of the sliding block  3 . A larger radius section  41  is provided on the far end, away from the worm gear, of a micro-adjustment  4  locked onto the worm gear  33 . A protruding portion  331  is provided at the terminal end of the worm gear  33  to stop at the end surface of the larger radius section  41 , to prevent the micro-adjustment  4  which is located inside the clamping space  24  from escaping. Furthermore, a hooker  34  is provided at the rear end of the sliding block  3 , and a return spring, as the first flexible element  35 , is provided between the hookers  251 ,  34  respectively from the body  2  and the sliding block  3 . 
     A pressing piece  5  extending sideways from the top of the body  2  penetrates through the slots  26  of the body  2  with two fixation pieces  51  and a ratcheting block  52  is fixed to the pressing piece  5 . A plurality of teeth  53  are provided on a surface of the ratcheting block  52  at a location that corresponds to the sliding block  3  while the teeth  53  can be ratcheted to or separated from the teeth  31  of the sliding block  3  at the same time. A push piece  54  is formed by the pressing piece on the other side of the sliding block  3  and a plurality of second flexible elements  6 , i.e. compression springs, are provided between the push piece  54  and the body  2  to keep the teeth  51  from the pressing piece  5  constantly being ratcheted to the teeth of the sliding block  3 . 
     A side lid  7  is pivoted to one side of the hollow space  27  in the body  2 , and a plurality of grooves  71  are provided on the side lid  7  to receive insertion of a tooling head  11 . 
     A ratchet and pawl  8  provided in the rear of the body  2  includes a pivoting ratchet  81  sandwiched between the top plate  210  and the base plate  202 , a pawl  82  is engaged with the ratchet  81  to restrict it to engage in only unidirectional rotation. A thumb member  83  is provided to switch the direction of the pawl  82 , and a spring  84  is provided to bias the pawl  82 . A socket connector  85  is provided at the center of the ratchet  81  so that the present invention can become a socket wrench. 
     In use, a bolting piece  1 , that can be a bolt or nut, is received within the clamping space  24 . As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, both of the first and the second planes  21 ,  22  are in contact with corresponding sides of the bolting piece  1 , so that a user is able to adjust the spacing between the micro-adjustment  4  at the front end of the sliding block  3  and the bolting piece  1 , to have the top of the micro-adjustment  4  holding against the bolting piece  1  simply by pushing the sliding block  3  with the push button  32 . Whereas the sliding block  3  allows light and quick motion, a fast and convenient adjustment can be achieved. Once the micro-adjustment  4  is held against the bolting piece  1 , the body  2  is turned to either tighten or loosen the bolting piece  1 . To withdraw the wrench, the push piece  54  of the pressing piece  5  is pressed to disengage the teeth  53  of the ratcheting block  52  from the teeth  31  of the sliding block  3 . Then, the first flexible element  35  will retract, due to its inherent flexibility, to pull back the sliding block  3  for them micro-adjustment  4  to automatically return to its previous location. Since the micro-adjustment  4  is no longer holding against said bolting piece  1 , the wrench can be removed without the user&#39;s finger being used to push both the sliding block  3  and the micro-adjustment  4  back to their previous locations. 
     As illustrated in FIG. 4, said clamping space  24  can receive the toling head  11  therein, the tooling head  11  being removed from compartment  27  of the body  2  for the wrench to function as a screwdriver. 
     To adjust the spacing between the micro-adjustment  4  and the first and the second planes  21 ,  22  respectively, turn the micro-adjustment  4  to inch the spacing respectively between it and the first and the second planes  21 ,  22  in conjunction with the worm gear  33  from the sliding block  3 , as illustrated in FIG.  5 . The adjustment can be easily made depending on the individual size of the bolt by directly turning the micro-adjustment  4  with one&#39;s thumb. 
     Now referring to FIG. 6, the teeth  31  of the sliding block  3  of the present invention can be ratcheted to or separately from the teeth  53  of the ratcheting block  52  at the same time. If the pressing piece  5  is not fully pushed to its bottom, contact remains between the teeth  31  and the teeth  53  to prevent pushing said sliding block  3 . Thus, to prevent local wear and tear for the teeth  53  from the ratcheting block  52 , and to provide sufficient contact and ratcheting force between the ratcheting block  52  and the sliding block  3 . Therefore, the wrench is firmly secured in position to avoid displacement. Slots  26  in the body  2  guide the operation of the pressing piece  5  to further guarantee the firm positioning of the wrench. 
     To sum up, the present invention permits a fast and convenient adjustment due to a very light and smooth operation of the sliding block  3  in adjusting the spacing between the micro-adjustment  4  and the first and the second planes  21 ,  22 , and the automatic restoration by the first flexible element  35 . Furthermore, the teeth  31  of the sliding block  3  are capable of ratcheting or separating from the teeth  53  of the ratcheting block  52  at the same time, thus, local wear and tear to the teeth  53  of the ratcheting block  52  can be avoided. Meanwhile, sufficient contact and ratcheting force are provided between the ratcheting block  52  and the sliding block  3  to firmly hold the wrench in position, and the spacing between the micro-adjustment  4  and the first and the second planes  21 ,  22 , can be inched by rotating the micro-adjustment  4  depending on the individual size of the bolt.