Paint roller extension pole with coupling

An extension pole for a paint roller or the like. The pole has a threaded neck for engaging interior threads of a handle. An O-ring or neck engages an end of the handle to resist rotation of the pole relative to the hollow handle.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention relates to a combination of a paint roller and an 
extension pole therefor that is designed to prevent the paint roller from 
coming loose from the pole. 
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
One of the problems of paint rolling ceilings and other relatively 
inaccessible areas such as upper portions of high sidewalls is the 
difficulty of reaching the same. A ladder is often time consuming to move 
about and provides only a limited work area in the range of the ladder. 
It is therefore desirable to provide an extension pole for a paint roller, 
so that normally inaccessible areas can be painted without the use of a 
ladder. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,380,097, Pharris; 4,461,057, Unger; and 
4,524,484, Graham pertain to such poles. 
Conventional paint rollers have internally threaded handles so as to be 
capable of mounting on a cooperatively threaded extension pole. One of the 
problems with current configurations is that the roller assembly tends to 
come loose on the extension pole, which is obviously undesirable. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a combination of a 
paint roller assembly and an roller extension pole therefor that is 
designed to prevent the roller assembly from coming loose from the pole 
during painting operations. 
This invention achieves this objective by providing an extension pole 
having an externally threaded neck portion adapted to be threaded into the 
roller assembly handle, the pole having provisions for retaining an O-ring 
that is compressed by the handle when it is mounted on the pole so that 
unthreading of the handle is resisted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of an extension 
pole 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention for 
cooperative engagement with a conventional paint roller assembly 12. The 
paint roller assembly 12 comprises an elongated hollow body or handle 14 
having an upper end 16 and a lower end 18. The upper end of the handle 14 
is secured to a metal rod 20 which rotatably supports a roller 22. The 
handle or body 14 has an internally threaded bore 24 defined at the lower 
end 18 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. 
Referring to FIGS. 1-5, the extension pole 10 comprises an elongated 
tubular member 26 having a top most portion 28. In the preferred 
embodiment, the tubular member 26 is made of a light weight material such 
as plastic or aluminum. The tubular member 26 can also be solid as long as 
the top-most portion 28 is hollow. 
Mounted to the top-most portion 28 is a coupling element 30 including an 
elongated cylindrical base portion 32 disposed inside the top-most portion 
28, as best seen in FIG. 3. Fastening means, such as glue at 31 or a rivet 
33 is provided to fix the base portion 32 to the tubular member 26. 
The element 30 has a cylindrical neck portion 34 of a lesser diameter than 
the base portion 32 protruding from the top-most portion 28. The neck 
portion 34 has external threads 36 formed on its external surface 38 for 
cooperatively engaging in the threaded bore 24 of the handle 14. The 
external threads 36 are of a standard type such as ACME No. 5 to fit most 
roller assemblies. The neck portion 34 also has an outwardly protruding 
circumferential shoulder 40 positioned between the threads 36 and the 
top-most portion 28 of the tubular member 26. 
A retaining sleeve 42 surrounds the top-most portion 28 and the shoulder 
40. The sleeve 42 has an internal collar 44 abutting the top-most portion 
28 of the tubular member 26 so that the collar 44 is captured between the 
shoulder 40 and the top-most portion 28. The sleeve 42 is formed with a 
quarter-circle recess immediately above the shoulder 40 and the neck 
portion is provided with an opposing arcuate surface so that together they 
define an annular seat 46 of semicircular cross section. 
A resilient O-ring member 48 is disposed around the neck portion 34 and 
seated against the seat 46 for exerting a force against the handle 14 when 
the same is threaded onto the neck portion 34 so that relative rotation 
between the handle 14 and neck portion 34 is resisted. An undeformed ring 
member is shown in FIG. 3 and a deformed ring member is shown in FIG. 5. 
The deformation of the ring member 48 causes an axial force to be exerted 
between the external threads 36 of the extension pole and the internal 
threads 24 of the handle 14 so that rotational movement between them is 
resisted to resist loosening of the roller assembly 12 from the pole 
during operation. The pole 10 can be detached easily from the roller 
assembly 12 by rotating the pole 10 to unthread it from the handle 14. 
In an alternative embodiment, the ring member 48 and seat 46 may be of 
rectangular cross section. 
Having illustrated and described a preferred embodiment, it should be 
apparent to those persons skilled in the art that the illustrated 
embodiment may be modified in arrangement and detail. I claim as my 
invention, not only the illustrated embodiment, but all such 
modifications, variations and equivalents thereof as come within the true 
spirit and scope of the following claims.