Auxiliary tool kit for a socket wrench set

An auxiliary tool kit for a socket wrench set is provided comprising an easy-out, an easily grippable extension with a rigid hand grip thereon, and an adapter extension for mating with an electric drill or alternatively, the kit is adapted for mating with a ratchet wrench.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to tool kits and in particular to tool kits for use 
with a socket wrench set. 
Socket wrench sets comprising a handle and a selection of sockets and 
accessories are widely used in varying ways. In general, a ratchet or 
socket handle will be connected either directly or through the use of an 
accessory, such as a drive extension or a U-joint, to an associated socket 
which is adapted to engage a threaded fastener, such as a bolt or nut, and 
rotate same to either tighten or loosen the fastener. 
Certain drawbacks exist in socket wrenches and accessories for socket 
wrenches. One such drawback is that the outside surface of a shank of an 
extension is usually polished or otherwise slick. Certain prior art has 
developed a pliable sleeve to place over the shank, but such sleeves tend 
to absorb grease and oil and not be effective in gripping the shank when 
substantial torque or leverage is needed to rotate the shank against worn 
or damaged threads of the fastener. This is particularly true when oil or 
grease contacts the surface of the shank. Because of this it is very 
difficult to exert any rotational impetus or torque to the extension and 
therefore socket through manual manipulation by a user. This is 
disadvantageous because it is sometimes more convenient to manipulate the 
associated socket manually in tightening or loosening the fastener 
particularly when little torque is required to rotate the socket. Further, 
in using a socket wrench to remove or engage an associated threaded 
fastener, the movement of the wrench handle itself is not continually 
producing the desired movement on the fastener thereby necessitating the 
use of more time to do the job. This is because for every rotation of the 
wrench there must be an associated counter rotation. Hence, use of the 
ratchet wrench in this manner is particularly cumbersome where the 
associated fastener must be rotated many times without great quantities of 
torque being applied thereto to either tighten or loosen the fastener such 
as with long shanked bolts. 
Another drawback of socket wrench sets is that some useful tools have 
heretofore not been made adaptable to a socket wrench set such as 
easy-outs and drive extensions which are capable of mating with a rotary 
drill. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Therefore, the objects of this invention are: to provide an auxiliary tool 
kit for use with a ratchet or socket wrench; to provide such a kit which 
includes an extension drive which has therearound a rigid gripping surface 
which is fixedly secured thereto to allow the extension to be rotated 
manually; to provide an extension which is capable of mating with a socket 
at one end thereof and a chuck of a rotary drill at the other end thereof; 
to provide an easy-out which is capable of operably engaging a fastener 
that is desired to be removed from an associated object which easy-out is 
further adapted to engage an associated socket wrench; to provide such a 
kit which is especially adapted to remove broken bolts, screws or the like 
from a threaded aperture by utilization of a reversible power hand drill; 
and to provide such a kit which is simple in design, easy to manufacture, 
capable of extended use and particularly adapted for the intended usage 
thereof. 
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from 
the following description taken in connection with the accompanying 
drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, 
certain embodiments of this invention. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An auxiliary tool kit for a socket wrench set is provided. The tool kit 
includes an easy-out which at a first end thereof has threads which are 
reverse to standard threads and at a second end thereof has a female 
socket opening such as to be matable with an associated socket wrench 
drive mechanism. The kit further comprises an extension drive which has 
securely positioned around a shank thereof a generally rigid hand grip 
having longitudinal ridges and an increased manipulation radius as 
compared to the remainder of the shank such that a user thereof may 
provide rotational impetus to the extension due to improved gripping and 
leverage. Also included in the kit is an extension adapted to be mated 
with an associated socket at one end thereof and at the other end thereof 
adapted to be positioned and securely held within a chuck of a rotary 
drill so as to be rotatable thereby. 
The kit is especially adapted to loosen a broken bolt or screw in a 
threaded aperture by utilization in conjunction with a power drill or 
alternatively, with a conventional ratchet wrench. After loosening, the 
broken bolt or screw can be further loosened and removed by manual 
rotation of the extension drive by manipulation of the grip thereof. 
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary 
embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and 
features thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed 
herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are 
merely exemplary of the invention which may be embodied in various forms. 
Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are 
not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims 
and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to 
variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately 
detailed structure. 
The reference numeral 1 generally designates an auxiliary tool kit for a 
socket wrench set embodying the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the 
tool kit 1 comprises an easy-out 3, a grippable drive extension 5 and a 
drill adapter extension 7, which are adapted for being rotated by an 
associated rotary drill such as a reversible electric drill 9, as shown in 
FIG. 2, and/or a ratchet wrench, as shown in FIG. 8, to remove a threaded 
fastener 11, especially such a fastener with a broken or damaged portion, 
from an associated object 13. 
The easy-out 3, shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, is adapted to engage a predrilled 
opening or bore 27 in the fastener 11 which is shown here as a bolt 12 
such that upon rotation of the easy-out in a generally counterclockwise 
direction or direction opposite that used to insert the bolt 12 into the 
object 13, the bolt 12 will be withdrawn from the object 13. This is 
desirable because in many instances fasteners such as bolts become stuck, 
broken, damaged or otherwise nonremovable by a conventional screwdriver, 
wrench or the like. A typical instance is when the surfaces of a bolt head 
15 which comprise gripping surfaces 14 for an associated wrench (not 
shown) become rounded or otherwise nonfunctional through excessive or 
improper use or the head 15 of the bolt 12 may be entirely broken off by 
overtorquing, such as shown in FIG. 2. The easy-out 3 provides a means by 
which an otherwise nonremovable bolt or the like can be withdrawn from an 
associated object. 
As shown, the easy-out 3 has a first end 23 which is tapered and includes a 
shank 24 which may have a variety of sizes having thereon threads 25. The 
threads 25 have a pitch which is reverse relative to threads 26 of the 
associated fastener 11. 
At a second end 29 of the easy-out 3 there is a first socket drive member 
comprising an inwardly projecting female socket drive mechanism 31. The 
female drive mechanism or opening 31 comprises four walls or shoulders 33, 
each being of the same general dimensions such that the drive opening 31 
is generally square. The drive opening 31 is adapted to mate with a 
conventional male socket drive mechanism. 
The grippable drive extension 5, FIGS. 4 and 5, comprises a first end 37, a 
second end 39 and an intermediate shank portion 41. The first end 37 
comprises a second socket drive member such as a male socket mechanism 43. 
The male socket drive mechanism 43 has four surfaces 45 and an end portion 
47. The dimension of surfaces 45 is such that the end portion 47 generally 
comprises a square. The male socket drive mechanism 43 is adapted to 
operably engage and snugly retain thereon associated sockets or 
accessories (not shown). As shown in FIG. 1, the male socket drive 
mechanism 43 is also adapted to be matable with the easy-out female socket 
drive mechanism 31. 
A detente ball 49 is positioned in a bore (not shown) in the male socket 
drive mechanism 43. The detente ball 49 is biased outwardly by means such 
as a spring (not shown) abutting against a shoulder of the bore (not 
shown) as is well known. When the male socket drive mechanism 43 mates 
with female socket mechanism 31 the detente ball 49 engages an associated 
hemispherical surface 51 formed in the female socket walls 33. This 
assures that the easy-out 3 will not inadvertently slip off of the 
grippable extension 5. 
At the grippable extension second end 39 is a third socket drive member 
comprising a female socket drive mechanism 53 similar to the easy-out 
female socket mechanism 31 which includes walls 55 and an associated 
hemispherical surface 57. It is noted that instead of having a 
hemispherical surface such as 57 or 51 formed in the walls of the female 
socket opening 53, an inwardly projecting groove (not shown) could be 
formed around all wall surfaces so as to engage the detente ball 49. 
The grippable extension shank 41 contains thereon a generally rigid hand 
grip 61 which is received around the shank 41. The hand grip 61 has ridges 
63 which extend radially outward and longitudinally thereof and which are 
adapted to be gripped by a user thereof. The hand grip 61 is fixedly 
retained on shank 41 by means of lugs 65 or the like which prohibit the 
hand grip 61 from rotating relative to the shank 41 when torque is applied 
thereto. This allows a user to manually rotate the extension drive 5 and 
any associated fitting even when the user's hand is slick. 
It is anticipated that the hand grip 61 could be formed of a suitable 
plastic material which could be heated and forced over either the first 
end 37 or the second end 39 of the drive extension 5 and placed around the 
drive extension shank 41 adjacent the lugs 65 or, that plastic or the like 
could be molded about the shank. Thereafter, upon cooling and contracting, 
the hand grip would snugly and interferingly engage the lugs 65. 
The drill adapter 7 includes a first end 67 and a second end 69 and a shank 
portion 68. The first end 67 includes a fourth socket drive member which 
comprises a male socket drive mechanism 71 similar to the drive extension 
male socket drive 43. The male socket drive mechanism 71 includes shoulder 
surfaces 73 and an end portion 75 which surfaces and end portion are 
substantially square as before. A detente ball 77 is positioned in one of 
the surfaces 73 similarly to detente ball 49. The drill adapter second end 
69 comprises an elongate cylindrical member 79 which functions as a male 
drill connection and which is adapted to be received within a chuck 81 of 
rotary drill 9. The drill adapter shank portion is an elongate cylindrical 
member and preferably has a knurled surface 70 to facilitate manual 
manipulation of the drill adapter. 
The drill adapter 7 can be used to incorporate the advantages of an 
electric drill with a socket wrench set. The speed of removing and 
replacing fastening devices such as nuts and bolts can be increased by use 
of an electric drill with such a drill adapter 7. Further, the drill 
adapter 7 can allow the electric drill 9 to function somewhat as an impact 
wrench and therefore allow an owner of such a drill 83 acquire the 
advantages of an impact wrench without necessitating the expenditure of a 
large amount of money. 
It is noted that various portions of the kit such as the easy-out 3, or 
other accessories such as various sockets or associated socket engaging 
devices such as U-joints can be mated with the drill adapter 7. Further, 
the easy-out 3 can be mated for use with the drive extension 5 or an 
associated socket or ratchet wrench 90 with no extension incorporated. 
The grippable extension 5 can also be used with associated sockets and 
socket accessories such that the extension 5 can be manipulated and 
rotated by hand which at times is easier and faster than attempting to 
rotate such an extension by an associated ratchet wrench or the like in 
cramped areas. 
In FIG. 1 the tool kit 1 is shown being used to remove a fastener shown as 
a portion of bolt 12 from an associated object 13. In removing the bolt 12 
from the associated object 13, the easy-out first end 23 is positioned 
into the bore 27 which has previously been drilled into the bolt 12 which 
bore 27 is smaller than the diameter of the bolt 12 and generally coaxial 
therewith. The threads of the easy-out which progress the easy-out 
inwardly into the bolt 12 are pitched in the direction of rotation which 
removes the bolt 12 from the associated object 13. For example, most bolts 
have threads which open clockwise rotation of the bolt progress the bolt 
into an object. Therefore, the easy-out should have threads such that, 
upon counterclockwise rotation, the easy-out 3 is progressed into the bolt 
12 while placing an opposite torque on the bolt 12 so as to urge same from 
the aperture holding same in the object 13. 
The easy-out 3 is preferably made of a material which is harder than the 
bolt 12 such that upon rotation of the easy-out 3 the threads 25 thereon 
will cut into the bolt 12 thereby progressing the easy-out into the bolt 
12. When the easy-out 3 has been rotated sufficiently such that the 
easy-out shank 24 snugly and interferingly contacts the bolt bore 27, any 
further rotation of the easy-out in the same direction will tend to rotate 
the bolt 12 in a direction so as to remove it from the object 13. 
It is noted that after the bolt 12 has begun to rotate the user of the tool 
kit 1 could remove the drill 9 and drill adapter 7 from engagement with 
the grippable extension 5 and manually turn the easy-out 3 by using the 
grippable extension 5. 
Further, it is foreseen that if the torque required to initiate the 
rotation of bolt 12 is high, a means designed to increase torque, such as 
a socket wrench 90 as shown in FIG. 8, could be used. The socket wrench 90 
includes a first end 92, a second end 94 and a shank 96 extending 
therebetween. At the wrench first end 92 is a socket drive member shown 
here as a male socket drive mechanism 98 which is similar to male socket 
drive mechanisms 43 and 71. The socket wrench male mechanism 98 is 
mateable with the grippable extension female mechanism 53. At the socket 
wrench second end 90 is a socket drive member such as female socket 
mechanism 100 which is similar to female socket mechanisms 31 and 53. As 
shown in FIG. 8, the wrench 90 is mated with the grippable extension 5 
such that the male socket drive mechanism 98 of the socket wrench 90 is 
received into the grippable extension female drive mechanism 53. 
In order to apply greater torque the socket wrench 90 could be used in 
connection with the drill adapter 7 with the drill adapter male socket 
drive mechanism 71 being received in the socket wrench female mechanism 
100. 
It is to be understood that while certain embodiments of the present 
invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is not to be 
limited to the specific forms or arrangement of parts described and shown.