Abstract:
A wrench for driving an eye bolt comprising a shaft and a cup, the cup including a cavity that snugly receives the eye portion of an eye bolt for driving said eye bolt.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Present invention relates to wrenches and more particularly to wrenches that are driven by a power unit. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Wrenches have been used for many years in driving bolts and nuts in a variety of mechanical applications. For more than a hundred years wrenches have been available for example in hexagonal shapes. Early wrenches were formed by bending of sheet metal into a hexagonal shape. These wrenches were driven by an integral lever. 
     Wrenches have been improved over the past century and are now available in a wide variety of types. The types include socket wrenches, open end wrenches, box wrenches, Crescent wrenches, pipe wrenches and a wide variety of others. In the early part of the century, wrenches were hand driven. In other words, the wrench included a handle portion to be grasped by the user&#39;s hands. The user&#39;s hand rotates the handle around the portion of the wrench which grips the bolt, screw or the like. The longer the wrench handle, the greater the power that is applied to the bolt. 
     Later developments of the wrench found power driving mechanism. Early in this development the power driver was an electrical drill power unit in which a socket was mounted. Later pneumatic and hydraulic power drivers were developed for driving the wrench. Screw drivers followed a similar development pattern. Early screwdrivers were hand driven. More recently power driven screwdrivers and bit attachments have been developed. 
     Eye bolts provide a unique situation since they are not easily grasped by a wrench. Historically, eye bolts have been driven by insertion of a short bar through the eye of the bolt. The bar is then moved to rotate the eye bolt until the eye bolt is secured in place. Any of a variety of short bars have been used in the past. For example, the shaft of a screwdriver was often used as the bar. Use of a bar for rotating the eye bolt is slow and clumsy. This is not a serious problem if a very limited number of eye bolts are being secured in place in a given application. However it becomes slow, tedious, and particularly clumsy if a large number of eye bolts are inserted in place. There has long been a need for a wrench adapted for use with eye bolts. 
     The present invention overcomes this long standing problem by providing a wrench that is adapted for use with an eye bolt. The present eye bolt wrench may be used to insert a large number of eye bolts in place using any of various conventional power driving devices such as electrical screwdrivers, electrical drills, pneumatic rotational drivers, hydraulic rotational drivers and the like. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the wrench for engaging eye bolts. The term eye bolts refers to a support mechanism that includes a threaded shaft and integral loop. The threaded shaft may be frustaconically shaped, e.g., the shaft decreases in diameter terminating in a point. Alternatively, the eye bolt may include a threaded shaft that is of a constant diameter. The eye bolt may be screwed into a cavity such as a cavity in a concrete wall. The eye bolt may create its own cavity as the eye bolt is screwed into a structure, such as screwed into a piece of lumber. 
     The present wrench includes a shaft and a cup. The shaft may be releasibly engaged with the cup such that the shaft is rotationally locked with respect to the cup and yet disengageable when one wishes to use a different sized cup with the shaft. Alternatively, the shaft and cup may be integral, e.g., cast as one piece. The cup may define an elongated cavity. In other words, the cavity may be semicircular in vertical cross section from one plan view. The cavity may be of a narrower semicircular shape in a cross sectional view from a ninety degree plan view. This creates a cavity adapted for reception of a portion of the eye portion of the eye bolt. The wrench may be driven by an electrically powered screwdriver or any other suitable rotational driving device such as a hydraulic driver or pneumatic driver. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a vertical plan view of the wrench of the present invention with a portion broken away, an eye bolt and a structure into which the eye bolt is to be inserted; 
     FIG. 2 is a similar vertical plan view showing the present invention mounted in a powered driving device with an eye bolt secured within the wrench ready for insertion of the eye bolt into the support structure; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the wrench of the present invention with a portion broken away to show underlying structure. 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV—IV in FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V—V in FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The eye bolt wrench  10  of the present invention, FIGS. 1-5 includes a shaft  11  and an eye bolt cup  12 . The shaft  11  and cup  12  may be constructed of tempered steel. The shaft  11  may have a hexagonal shape that engages in the opening  13  defined in the cup  12 . Mechanism may be provided to releasably lock the shaft to the cup. For example, a ball detent  14  of conventional design may be used. 
     The size of wrench  10 , of course, will be dependent upon the size of the eye bolt  18  which is to be driven. The cup  12  includes walls  12   a  that define a cavity  17  that is oval in horizontal cross section as shown in FIG.  4 . The cavity  17  is semi-circular in vertical cross section as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. The dimensions of the cavity  16  are such as to snugly but releasably receive the eye of the bolt  18 . The cavity  16  may be deep enough to readily support the eye bolt  18  during the driving of the eye bolt  18 . 
     The shaft  11  is large enough to provide the strength necessary to drive the eye bolt  18 . The shaft  11  may be of any desired length. The shaft  11  may be uniform in shape and dimensions throughout its length, e.g. hexagonal in shape. Alternatively, the shaft may have a hexagonal end portion that engages the opening  13  and circular portion that engages the device which drives the tool  10 . 
     USE OF THE INVENTION 
     The tool  10  may be used by assembling the shaft  11  and the cup  12  by insertion of the shaft  11  into the opening  13  with the shaft being suitably locked in place. The tool  10  may be mounted in a driving device such as a pneumatic power driver  20 . The shaft is locked with respect to the bit  21  for the power driving. An eye bolt  18  is inserted in the cup  12  with the eye portion of the eye bolt  18  resting within the cavity  17 . The eye bolt  16  may be driven into an opening  26  in the structure  27  such as a concrete wall. In some instances the threaded portion of the eye bolt may create the opening  26  during the driving of the eye bolt  18  by the driver  20 . In other instances an opening will be pre-drilled in the structure  27 . 
     PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes use of the tool  10  in the driving and mixing of a catalyzed polymer or copolymer. In the preferred embodiment an opening  26  is first drilled in the structure  27 . The opening is of a size, e.g., diameter and depth, that will readily receive the threaded portion of the eye bolt  18 . A pair of capsules  28  and  29  are inserted into the opening. One of the capsules may be contained within the other capsule. One of the capsules contains a monomer. The other capsule contains a catalyst. The eye bolt  16  is then inserted into the opening  26  and driven by the tool  10  which is mounted in the driver  20 . The driver  20  may rotatably drive the eye bolt  18  which simultaneously breaks open the capsules  28 ,  29  mixing their contents together. Alternatively, the driver  20  may oscillate the eye bolt  18  such that the eye bolt  18  is driven first in one direction and then in the other direction until the monomer and catalyst are thoroughly mixed. The catalyst causes the monomer to polymerize and set into a strong bond between the eye bolt  18  and the structure  27 .