Extended tool

A ratchet wrench with a sleeve on its handle which is rotatable and slidable. The handle is hollow with a spring or spring steel loaded detent extending out through a hole adjacent to the free end of the handle with a threaded cover providing easy access to replace the detent and/or its spring. The sleeve is provided with a plurality of holes to receive the detent for positioning the sleeve. By extending the sleeve, the tool can be employed to increase the amount of torque or leverage to be applied as desired.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a hand tool and more particularly to a hand tool 
which is extensible for obtaining improved leverage. 
Some hand tools, such as ratchet wrenches, have extended arms to provide 
leverage in loosening or tightening nuts or other members. In some cases, 
the presence of corrosion requires a very high torque to loosen or tighten 
the member 
It is possible to extend the arm length of the tool sufficient to obtain 
any maximum torque which could conceivably be required, but this makes the 
tool unwieldy large and bulky for every day use when the additional torque 
is not required. 
A number of United States Patents have been issued for tools which have 
extensible arms. The following are examples of such patents. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,382,291 shows an extensible hand tool relying on a split 
ring as a holding member. 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,963,930 discloses an extensible torque bar which relies on 
a ball mounted in a sleeve which slides. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,306,639 describes an extensible torque rod which relies on 
a roller mounted in a sleeve and drops into slots on the rod. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,932 provides an extendible handle for a tool in which a 
spring mounted sleeve is locked in place by a set screw. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,517 discloses an adjustable torque-multiplier breaker 
bar which relies on a pair of balls to drop into slots in a sleeve. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,866 shows a tool handle with a trigger member with a 
leg to lock a handle in place. 
U. S. Pat. No. 4,581,958 has an extensible handle assembly relying on a 
ball falling into a groove to set the handle length and provision to lock 
the extensible member on the handle. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,406 discloses an extendible wrench relying on detent 
pins to hold the extendible member in place. 
The arrangements appearing in the preceding patents are complex and costly 
to make, and, in addition, they do not appear to be designed for ease of 
separation of the extensible portion or repair None of these patents 
teaches the present invention. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention comprises a tool having an extendible arm member for 
improved torque when required, and which may conveniently be removed if 
desired so that the tool need not be bulky, excessively heavy, or unwieldy 
in normal use. 
A preferred embodiment of this invention consists of a ratchet wrench 
having mounted adjacent the tip of the handle a spring mounted detent. The 
tip of the handle has a threaded opening to provide access to the detent 
and its spring and a screw member to close the opening, thus rendering it 
convenient and easy to remove or replace the detent and/or its spring. A 
sleeve with openings to accomodate the detent is slipped over the handle 
when additional torque is required, thus the sleeve is normally stowed for 
those occasions when it is actually required. 
It is thus a principal object of this invention to provide an extensible 
tool which is convenient to use while at the same time is economical in 
construction and easy to maintain, repair and to operate. 
Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter be obvious 
from the following description of preferred embodiments of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, ratchet wrench 10 embodying the principles of this 
invention comprises a shank 12 with a knurled cylindrical handle 14 at one 
end and a tool-engaging assembly 16 at the other end which, as is 
understood in the art, could consist of a ratchet lug as illustrated. 
Fitted over handle 14 is a slidable and rotatable cylindrical sleeve member 
18, seen also in FIG. 5, with a plurality of holes 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d, and 
22e in a line as illustrated. 
When sleeve member 18 is extended to its furthest outward position which 
extends to almost twice the length of the original sized tool handle 14 as 
shown in FIG. 1 then maximum torque can be applied to tool-engaging 
assembly 16 which may be engaging a nut, for example, but not shown. When 
sleeve member 18 is retracted to its most contracted position as shown in 
FIG. 2, no additional torque is added to wrench 10, in other words, it 
would be as if sleeve member 18 were not present. In this position of 
sleeve 18, if desired, wrench 10 may be stowed, taking up little, if any, 
additional space in a tool box or drawer. 
As will be seen from the following description, sleeve member 18 may be 
adjusted to any number of intermediate positions, providing additional 
torque capability as required, and yet capable of adjusting to many space 
limitations which might apply at the time of use, not only because a 
certain torque or leverage may be desired but the user may be in a 
predicament where he is forced to use one of the middle notches for torque 
or leverage due to the fact that certain components will be in the way and 
the full extension of the handle will not be possible. 
In order to lock sleeve member 18 in any preselected position along the 
length of handle member 14, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, showing wrench 
10 without sleeve member 18, handle 14 is circular in cross section and 
hollow with a threaded opening 24 at its free end to accomodate a screw 
26. Screw 26 comprises a male threaded barrel 26a and a slotted head 26b. 
It is understood that instead of a slotted head, there may be instead a 
hex head or a phillips head as is understood in the art. In the side wall 
of handle 14 adjacent the threads lining opening 24 is an opening 28 to 
accomodate a detent 32, also seen in FIG. 6, which is cylindrical in shape 
with a spherical surface 34 at one end and a shoulder 36 at the other end. 
A spring 40 under shoulder 38 as seen in FIG. 3 biases detent 32 
outwardly, and can be compressed inwardly as is understood in the art. 
Hence, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, sleeve member 18 may be adjusted into 
any one of five fixed positions, depending on the number of holes, and 
detent 32 popped into the selected hole in sleeve member 18 will hold the 
latter in that position. To move sleeve member 18, detent 32 will be 
depressed using a finger, for example, and sleeve member 18 can be moved 
or rotated. 
Sleeve member 18 can also be adjusted to any position between the holes in 
this member, and to facilitate its adjustment, member 18 can be rotated so 
that detent 32 is not aligned with the holes, to make it easier to adjust 
its position along the length of handle member 14 without detent 32 
accidentally popping into a hole. 
In the normal use of wrench 10, sleeve member 18 can either be removed and 
stored separately to reduce the weight of the tool, or can be moved into 
the position shown in FIG. 2 where sleeve member 18 will not interfere 
with the normal use of the tool. 
Certain variations of this invention are possible. Instead of coil spring 
40, for example, a spring comprising a spring steel member 72 as shown in 
FIG. 7 may be employed to bias detent 32. Instead of screw 26, a screw 82 
as shown in FIG. 8 may be used. Screw 82 is provided with a hex hole 84 
instead of a slot avoiding a sharp edge on the tool, and a hole 86 in the 
side may be provided for a loctite plastic insert as is understood to 
prevent loosening of the screw over a period of time as the tool is being 
employed. 
The invention has been described in connection with its use on a ratchet 
wrench, but it is understood it could be useful on a number of tools such 
as a pipe wrench, an adjustable crescent wrench, bottle jack handles, 
etc., wherever it would be handier to have adjustable increased torque. In 
addition, a single sleeve 18 can be used on a number of different tools 
having handles which are sized and shaped to receive it. 
A tool incorporating this invention not only provides the mechanic with 
more leverage in loosening a fastener or more torque for tightening, but 
also highly reduces the chances of knuckle injury with which any mechanic 
is familiar. 
Important advantages of the tool herein described are its simple and 
economic construction, its ease of use, and a construction which lends 
itself to the convenient replacement of detent 32 and/or its spring 40. 
The latter feature is very important because tools of this type tend to be 
roughly used, i.e., by dropping or tossing, for example, and high quality 
tools can be very expensive. Thus, being able to disassemble the tool for 
cleaning or to replace a defective detent or spring simply and 
inexpensively rather than purchasing a new tool is an important aspect of 
this invention. 
While only a preferred embodiment of this invention has been described, it 
is understood that many variations of this invention are possible without 
departing from the principles of this invention as defined in the claims 
which follow.