Abstract:
The present invention relates to a structure of wrench, which is mainly that a handle extends out from one side of a ratchet wheel integrally, a plurality of forefront surfaces and grooves are disposed around the internal periphery of the opening of the ratchet wheel in an interlaced order, and the forefront surfaces each has a concavity disposed on the middle portion of the protruded curved surface thereof. The concavities have different shapes from grooves and both are to be used to accommodate a workpiece. Besides, projected stop parts are provided on inside of the opening, with which the objectives of being suitable for various workpieces in multiple specifications and preventing the workpieces from passing through the ratchet wheel randomly would be achieved.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to a ratchet wheel of a wrench, and more particularly to a ratchet wheel that is suitable of being used for various workpieces in multiple specifications, and able to prevent the workpieces from passing through thereof randomly. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    A conventional ratchet wheel  70  shown in  FIG. 45  has an outer periphery provided with a plurality of engaging teeth  72  and an inner periphery with twelve V-shaped grooves  71 , which can only fit a hexagonal or dodecagonal workpiece. Further, a conventional structure of wrench, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,758, as shown in  FIG. 46 , has a handle  81  extending out integrally from one side of an annular driving head  80  that is internally equipped with twelve equidistant and continuous V-shaped grooves  82  with the same shape, six of the twelve equidistant V-shaped grooves  82  have each a stop part  83  on one end such that the six grooves  82  are not through. When the driving head  80  is engaged with a workpiece, top of a workpiece would be limited by the stop part  83  and then efficacy of preventing the workpiece taking off randomly from the wrench would be achieved. However, the conventional wrench aforementioned has the shortcoming as follows. 
         [0003]    General workpieces have various shapes, such as gear-shaped, E-shaped, triangle, quadrangle, hexagon, etc. The conventional ratchet wheel  70  and driving head  80  aforementioned has twelve V-shaped grooves  72 ,  82 , which can only fit a hexagonal or dodecagonal workpiece. Therefore, the conventional ratchet wheel  70  and driving head  80  is suitable for limited various workpieces so as to cause a shortcoming of inconvenience in use. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The main objective of the present invention is to provide a ratchet wheel of a wrench that is suitable of being used for various workpieces, and for preventing the workpieces from passing through the ratchet wheel of the wrench randomly. The structure of the ratchet wheel is that a plurality of forefront surfaces and grooves are disposed around the internal periphery of the opening of the ratchet wheel in an interlaced order, and the forefront surfaces each has a concavity disposed on the middle portion of the protruded curved surface thereof. The concavities have different shapes from grooves and both are to be used to accommodate a workpiece together. Besides, projected stop parts are provided on inside of the opening, with which the objectives of being suitable for various workpieces in multiple specifications and preventing workpieces from passing through the wrench randomly would be achieved. 
         [0005]    The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings that show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the wrench of the present invention; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the wrench of the present invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a partial enlarged view of the wrench of the present invention; 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a top view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is a partial enlarged view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a top view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 9  is a partial enlarged view of rotating a hexagonal workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of rotating an E-shaped workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 11  is a top view of rotating an E-shaped workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 12  is a perspective view of rotating a gear-shaped workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 13  is a top view of rotating a gear-shaped workpiece of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 14  is a perspective view of the 2nd embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 15  is a top view of the 2nd embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 16  is a perspective view of the 3rd embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 17  is a top view of the 3rd embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0023]      FIG. 18  is a perspective view of the 4th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0024]      FIG. 19  is a top view of the 4th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0025]      FIG. 20  is a perspective view of the 5th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 21  is a top view of the 5th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 22  is a perspective view of the 6th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0028]      FIG. 23  is a top view of the 6th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0029]      FIG. 24  is a perspective view of the 7th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0030]      FIG. 25  is a top view of the 7th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0031]      FIG. 26  is a perspective view of the 8th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0032]      FIG. 27  is a top view of the 8th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0033]      FIG. 28  is a perspective view of the 9th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0034]      FIG. 29  is a top view of the 9th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0035]      FIG. 30  is a perspective view of the 10th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0036]      FIG. 31  is a top view of the 10th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0037]      FIG. 32  is a perspective view of the 11th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0038]      FIG. 33  is a top view of the 11th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0039]      FIG. 34  is a perspective view of the 12th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0040]      FIG. 35  is a top view of the 12th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0041]      FIG. 36  is a perspective view of the 13th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0042]      FIG. 37  is a top view of the 13th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0043]      FIG. 38  is a perspective view of the 14th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0044]      FIG. 39  is a top view of the 14th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0045]      FIG. 40  is a partial enlarged view of the 14th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0046]      FIG. 41  is a perspective view of the 15th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0047]      FIG. 42  is a top view of the 15th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0048]      FIG. 43  is a perspective view of the 16th embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0049]      FIG. 44  is a top view of the 16th embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0050]      FIG. 45  is a perspective view of a ratchet wheel of the prior art; and 
           [0051]      FIG. 46  is a perspective view of a wrench of the prior art. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0052]    As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a basic structure of a ratchet wheel of a wrench of the present invention comprises a ratchet wheel  10 . The ratchet wheel  10  is annular and has an outer periphery provided with plurality engaging teeth  15 , and has a first end and a second end in opposite directions, and a central longitudinal axis that extends to connect the first end and the second end. At least one said end of the ratchet wheel  10  is equipped with an opening  100  extending along the central longitudinal axis. The opening  100  has a plurality of grooves  12  that are distributed equidistantly around the internal periphery thereof. The extending directions of the grooves  12  are parallel to the central longitudinal axis. A portion connecting each two adjacent said grooves  12  forms a forefront surface  11 . Each forefront surface  11  is equipped with a concavity  13  on the middle thereof. The extending directions of the concavities  13  are parallel to the central longitudinal axis. The concavities  13  and the grooves  12  are able to accommodate the teeth of a gear-shaped workpiece together. Wherein, one said end of the ratchet wheel  10  is equipped with at least a stop part  14  projecting toward the central longitudinal axis on the inner of the opening  100 , so that when the workpiece is inserted into the opening  100  from the other said end of the ratchet wheel  10 , which can be blocked by the stop part  14 . 
         [0053]    As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the number of the forefront surfaces  11  and the grooves  12  each are six, which are disposed annularly in an interlaced order. The forefront surfaces  11  may be a curved surface projecting toward the central longitudinal axis. The grooves  12  and the forefront surfaces  11  each are in the form of curved surfaces, and the junction of the two curved surfaces is tangent to each other. The number of the concavity  13  is six and the size of the concavity  13  is big enough to accommodate a tooth  41  of a gear-shaped workpiece  40  (as shown in  FIGS. 12 and 13 ), or a tooth  31  of an E-shaped workpiece  30  with six encircling teeth (as shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 ). Moreover, in the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the concavity  13  includes two side surfaces  130 ,  131  and a bottom  132 , in which the bottom  132  may be an arc surface or a flat surface. The included angle of the two side surfaces  130 ,  131  may be zero degree (namely parallel), greater or smaller than 90 degree. In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the two side surfaces  130 ,  131  of the concavity  13  are parallel to each other, and the bottom  132  is a flat surface. Moreover, in the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1 to 3 , the number of the stop part  14  is six and the stop parts  14  may be located on the concavities  13  near the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 , which makes the concavities  13  not through. The distal end of the stop part  14  is in the form of a curved surface that is on the same curved surface as the forefront surface  11 , with which the ratchet wheel  10  is able to fit on various shapes of workpieces and has the function of preventing the workpieces taking off randomly. 
         [0054]    Referring to  FIGS. 4 to 6 , when the ratchet wheel  10  of the present invention accommodates a workpiece  20  with an angle, the forefront surfaces  11  of the ratchet wheel  10  are engaged with the six edges of the workpiece  20 , which is the same as the conventional operation. 
         [0055]    Referring to  FIGS. 7 to 9 , when the ratchet wheel  10  accommodates the workpiece  20  with another angle, the forefront surfaces  11  of the ratchet wheel  10  are also engaged with the six edges of the workpiece  20  and the top portions of the workpiece  20  touch the stop parts  14 , so as to prevent the workpiece  20  from passing through the opening  100  of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0056]    As shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , when the ratchet wheel  10  accommodates an E-shaped workpiece  30  with six teeth  31 , the teeth  31  are accommodated within the concavities  13  and the top portions of the teeth  31  touch the stop parts  14 , thus to prevent the E-shaped workpiece  30  from passing through the opening  100  of the ratchet wheel  10 . In the embodiment of these two figures, the stop parts  14  are located on the concavities  13  near the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0057]    As shown in  FIGS. 12 and 13 , when the ratchet wheel  10  accommodates a gear-shaped workpiece  40  with twelve teeth  41 , the teeth  41  are accommodated within the concavities  13  and the top portions of the teeth  41  touch the stop parts  14 , thus to prevent the gear-shaped workpiece  40  from passing through the opening  100  of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0058]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 14 and 15 , the number of the stop part  14  is three, which are located on three equidistant said concavities  13  respectively. 
         [0059]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 16 and 17 , the number of the stop part  14  is one, which is located on one said concavity  13 . 
         [0060]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 18 and 19 , the number of the stop part  14  is six, three of the stop parts  14  are located on the opening  100  near the first end of the ratchet wheel  10  and other three are located on the opening  100  near the second end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The preferred embodiment of  FIGS. 18 and 19  shows that three of the stop parts  14  are located equidistantly on the concavities  13  near the first end of the ratchet wheel  10  and other three are located equidistantly on the concavities  13  near the second end of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0061]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 20 and 21 , the distal ends of the stop parts  14  are formed as concave curved surfaces, the forefront surfaces  11  are convex curved surface, the junctions of the curved surfaces of the stop parts  14  and the curved surfaces of the forefront surfaces  11  are round corners. Furthermore, the distal ends of the stop parts  14  are formed as concave curved surfaces, and the shapes of the concave curved surfaces of the stop parts  14  can be the same as the groove  12 . 
         [0062]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 22 and 23 , the number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are located on the grooves  12  and the concavities  13  one by one and are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . These stop parts  14  connect with each other to form a hexagonal inner circumference for accommodating another workpiece  20 . If the forefront surfaces  11  of the ratchet wheel  10  can rotate a 19 mm workpiece, the inner circumference of the stop parts  14  can rotate an 18 mm workpiece. 
         [0063]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 24 and 25 , the number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are located on the grooves  12  and the concavities  13  one by one and are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  includes twelve round arc indentations  143  that have the same shapes and are spaced equidistantly. 
         [0064]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 26 and 27 , the number of the forefront surface  11 , the groove  12  and the concavity  13  each are six. The number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The shape of the inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  is the same as the inner shape of the second end of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0065]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 28 and 29 , the number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The number of the forefront surface  11 , the groove  12  and the concavity  13  each are six. The inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  includes six equidistant first indentations  144 . The shape of each said first indentations  144  is similar to the shape of the groove  12 , which has the function of rotating dual size of workpieces. 
         [0066]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 30 and 31 , the number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are located on the grooves  12  and the concavities  13  one by one and are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  includes twelve equidistant V-shaped second indentations  145 . 
         [0067]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 32 and 33 , the number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are located on the grooves  12  and the concavities  13  one by one and are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  includes twelve equidistant V-shaped third indentations  146 . The partial portions of the forefront surfaces  11  are more prominent than the third indentations  146 . 
         [0068]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 34 and 35 , the stop parts  14  are located on the grooves  12 . In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 50 and 51 , the ends of the stop parts  14  may have fourth indentations  147  that have the same shapes as the concavities  13 . 
         [0069]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 36 and 37 , the stop parts  14  are located on the forefront surfaces  11 . 
         [0070]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 38 to 40 , the concavities  13  are round arc surfaces and the stop parts  14  are located on the concavities  13 . 
         [0071]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 41 and 42 , the number of the forefront surface  11 , the groove  12  and the concavity  13  each are six. Each said concavity  13  is a round arc surface. The number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The shape of the inner circumference formed by the connection of these stop parts  14  is similar to the inner shape of the opening  100  on the second end of the ratchet wheel  10 . 
         [0072]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 43 and 44 , the number of the forefront surface  11 , the groove  12  and the concavity  13  each are six, each said concavity  13  is a round arc surface. The number of the stop part  14  is twelve, which are all located on the first end of the ratchet wheel  10 . The inner circumference formed by the connection of the stop parts  14  includes six equidistant fifth indentations  148  and six equidistant sixth indentations  149 . The shape of each said fifth indentation  148  is similar to the shape of the groove  12 , and each said sixth indentations  149  includes two parallel sides  150 . 
         [0073]    Another embodiment of the present invention, the forefront surface of the ratchet wheel includes at least two protruded curved surfaces, which is not shown with a figure. 
         [0074]    While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.