DIFFERENT TAPER STUD REMOVER/INSTALLER

Abstract: A tool for removing or installing a threaded stud (40) to an associated stud mounting member (50) having an elongated sleeve member (30) with an internally threaded gripping (3l) end and an internally tapered stud locking end (33). A pilot member (20) having a closed drive end (2l), and an internally threaded bore end (22) is provided. The drive end has an external angle of taper less than the internal angle of taper of the sleeve member, in which the angle of taper increases as it is directed toward the internally threaded bore end. The bore end of the pilot member has multiple finger splits (23) directed from the open end to the closed end. When the tool is in use, the pilot is co-axially disposed in the sleeve member, with the bore end of the pilot threaded onto the end of a stud. A plug member (l0) is provided, having a driving end (l3) and an externally threaded portion (l4) adapted to engage the internally threaded gripping end of the sleeve member and to axially abut the closed end of the pilot member. When the plug member is rotated within the sleeve, the plug member urges the pilot member co-axially along the sleeve toward the bore end until the external taper of the pilot member engages the internal taper of the sleeve member thereby forcing the finger splits on the pilot member to grip and frictionally lock on the free end of a stud. When the gripping end of the sleeve member is reversed, the stud is unthreaded from the associated stud mounting member. When the plug member is rotated in the opposite direction, the taper of the sleeve member and the taper of the pilot member may be disengaged by hand, thereby releasing the finger splits on the pilot member allowing the stud to be unthreaded from the tool.

Description: This invention relates generally to an improved device for pulling and removing headless bolts or studs and, particularly, for pulling and removing threaded studs of different diameters from devices with close clearances such as in aircraft, automobile, motorcycle, truck, snowmobile and other recreational type-vehicle engines and other mechanical devices. Many engines, transmissions and other mechanical devices use headless bolts or studs for the fastening of related components. As used herein, the term "stud" or "headless bolt" refers generally to a shaft having screw threads formed along part or all of its length. When disassembling components of an engine or other mechanical device for repair, studs must be removed without damaging the threads. The removal of these studs is often a difficult, tedious and very expensive task. One makeshift method commonly used is to "double nut" a stud by threading two nuts onto the stud to be removed, and tightening each nut against the other in opposite directions until they abut and fixedly lock onto the stud. The assembled double nut and stud combination is then removed from the required mechanical device using the double nuts as a "head" for a conventional wrench or socket tool. After the stud is removed, the nuts must be loosened by rotating each in opposite directions and then backed off from the removed stud. This cumbersome and time consuming method is eliminated by use of stud removal tools. However, in the past many stud removal tools were complex, either requiring many individual pieces, or were of a design which required a considerable amount of effort and physical manipulation in removing the headless bolt from tile associated mechanical device. Additionally, many of these tools were very expensive to manufacture because of the large number and intricacy of the individual components. Furthermore, many of these tools were of a design which damaged or created excessive wear of the studs' threads. US-A-2 798 392 discloses a tool for removing or installing a threaded stud comprising an elongated sleeve member having an internally tapered stud receiving end; a pilot member having a closed drive end, and an internally threaded open bore end, said open bore having an external angle of taper directed toward said open bore end, said open bore end having multiple finger splits directed from said open bore end towards said closed driven end, whereby in use said pilot member is disposed in said sleeve member, with said open bore end of said pilot member threaded onto the end of an associated threaded stud; and a plug member having a driving end, an opposite gripping end and an externally threaded portion between said driving end and said gripping end and adapted to engage said internally threaded gripping end of said sleeve member and to axially abut said closed end of said pilot member, wereupon rotating said plug member within said sleeve member said pilot member is urged co-axially along said sleeve member toward said receiving end until said external taper of said pilot member engages the internal taper of said sleeve member, thereby forcing said finger splits on said pilot member to grip the free end of an associated threaded stud within said sleeve member and whereupon counter-rotation of said gripping end of said sleeve member causes the associated threaded stud to be unthreaded from the associated stud mounting member, whereby upon said plug member being rotated in the opposite direction said taper of said sleeve member and said taper of said pilot member may be disengaged by hand, thereby releasing said finger splits on said pilot member and allowing the associated threaded stud to be unthreaded from said pilot member. The principal object of the present invention is to provide a tool capable of removing or installing studs with a greater gripping strength and to provide a tool capable of removing helicoils and dowel pins as well as studs and headless screws. The present invention provides a tool for removing or installing a threaded stud threadably to an associated stud mounting member, said tool comprising an elongated sleeve member having an internally threaded gripping end and an internally tapered stud receiving end; pilot member having a closed drive end, and an internally threaded open bore end, said open bore end having an external angle of taper directed toward said open bore end, said open bore end having multiple finger slits directed from said open bore end towards said closed drive end, whereby in use said pilot member is disposed in said sleeve member, with said open bore end of said pilot member threaded onto the end of an associated threaded stud; and a plug member having a driving end, an opposite gripping end and an externally threaded portion between said driving end and said gripping end and adapted to engage said internally threaded gripping end of said sleeve member and to axially abut said closed end of said pilot member, whereupon rotating said plug member within said sleeve member said pilot member is urged co-axially along said sleeve member toward said receiving end until said external taper of said pilot member engages the internal taper of said sleeve member, thereby forcing said finger splits on said pilot member to grip the free end of an associated threaded stud within said sleeve member and whereupon counter-rotation of said gripping end of said sleeve member causes the associated threaded stud to be unthreaded from the associated stud mounting member, whereby upon said plug member being rotated in the opposite direction said taper of said sleeve member and said taper of said pilot member may be disengaged by hand, thereby releasing said finger splits on said pilot member and allowing the associated threaded stud to be unthreaded from said pilot member; and whereby said open bore end of said pilot member having an external angle of taper less than the internal angle of taper of said stud receiving end of said sleeve member (30), such that with the split fingers in their grasping state the taper of the pilot member and the taper of the sleeve member are not in contact along their whole length. The tool of this invention is compact in design and facilitates removal of studs from locations with close clearances and other obstructions such as cooling fins on engine blocks. The tool is easy and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and, in use, is efficient for removal of studs in repair work or for insertion of studs in mass production applications. In a preferred embodiment, the pilot is constructed in various sizes for receiving studs of various diameters. The present invention augments efficiency of manufacture and use through integrally molded gripping means, whereby handles or external means are not needed to drive the e tool and thereby remove the stud from the mechanical device and lock the tool. A fuller understanding of the foregoing may be had by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure l, appearing on the second sheet of the drawings, is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the tool of the present invention in partial cross-section with a stud engaged within the tool; Figure 2 is an exploded lateral view of the individual components of the present invention with a stud; Figure 3 is a lateral view in partial cross-section of the stud removal tool in preparation for removal of a stud from an associated mounting device; Figure 4 is a lateral view in partial cross-section showing a stud engaged and locked within the tool and depicting the locking plug in physical abutment to the pilot; Figure 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the stud locking end of the pilot and sleeve, depicting the interference of the tapers between the pilot and sleeve to cause the pilot's finger splits to grip and lock a stud; Figure 6 is a partial perspective view of the threaded stud receiving end of a pilot of the present invention; Figure 7 is a top plan view of the stud receiving end of the pilot of the present invention; and Figure 8 is a top plan view of the stud receiving end of the pilot co-axially engaged by the sleeve of the present invention. Referring now to Figures l and 2, the stud removal insertion tool of the present invention is identified generally as numeral l. Sleeve 30 is depicted co-axially engaged with pilot 20. Locking plug l0 with closed driving end l3 is shown abutting pilot closed end 2l. Stud 40 is shown in Figure l threadably received within threaded bore 25 co-axially formed with open stud receiving end 22. Multiple split fingers 23 grasp and frictionally lock onto stud 40 responsive to the compression caused by pilot's 20 external taper 24 interferring with the sleeve's interior taper 34. External taper 24 is depicted with increasing severity from the commencement of the split fingers 23 to the stud receiving end 22. The interior taper 34 of the sleeve 30 is greater than that of the external taper 24 of the pilot 20. In the preferred embodiment the sleeve 30 has an internal taper of 5° and the pilot 20 has an external taper of 3°. Gripping end ll of locking plug l0 is depicted with a hex configuration l2 for threads l4 to interengage interior threads 35 of sleeve 30. Sleeve 30, with a gripping end 3l, is configured with a hex configuration 32 for rotatably driving tool l. Open stud receiving end 33 is depicted as the other end of sleeve 30. A headless screw or threaded stud is shown generally as numeral 40. Figure 3 is a lateral view in partial cut-away of the stud removal tool l in preparation for removal of a stud 40 from an associated mounting device 50. Threads l4 of locking plug l0 are in threadable engagement with sleeve 30 at open gripping end 3l which is configured for a hex configuration 32. Closed driving end l3 of locking plug l0 is shown spatially distanced from closed end 2l of pilot 20. Open stud receiving end 22 of pilot 20 is likewise shown in spatial distance from stud 40. External taper 24 of pilot 20 is shown adjacent to, but not interfering with, interior taper 34 of sleeve 30. Multiple split fingers 23 are depicted in their rest or non-use state co-axially positioned around threaded bore 25. Sleeve interior threads 35 and open stud receiving end 33 are further depicted. Referring now to Figure 4 in which is shown a lateral view in partial cut-away showing an associated mounting device 50 with a stud 40 engaged in tool l by and through open stud receiving end 33 of sleeve 30. Pilot 20 is shown by a partial cut-away view where closed end 2l is in contact and physical abutment with closed driving end l3 of locking plug l0. Interior threads 35 of the open gripping end 3l is further depicted. Hex configurations l2 and 32 are shown. Threads l4 are shown depicted outside of open gripping end 3l. Gripping end ll is also shown. Stud 40 is shown co-axially engaged within threaded bore 25. Figure 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the open stud receiving end 22 of pilot 20 and open stud receiving end 33 of sleeve 30. Stud 40 is shown threadably engaged in threaded bore 25 and frictionally grasped and locked by multiple split fingers 23. Multiple split fingers 23 are shown in their locked or gripping position because of the interference of external taper 24 with interior taper 34. Figure 6 is a partial perspective view of the threaded stud receiving end 22 of pilot 20 depicting threaded bore 25. Multiple split fingers 23 and external taper 24 are further shown. Figure 7 is an end plan view of the stud receiving end 22 of pilot 20 depicting threaded bore 25 and multiple split fingers 23. Figure 8 is an end plan view of the stud receiving end 22 of pilot 20 being co-axially engaged by sleeve 30 at the stud receiving end 33 in which external taper 24 is shown in meeting to interior taper 34. Multiple split fingers 23 are also depicted in their grasping state. Use of the present invention may be simply and effectively described as follows. The tool l is assembled by co-axially sliding one of the variously sized pilots 20 into the sleeve 30 at the open gripping end 3l as shown in Figure 3. Then the tool l, is threaded onto a mounted stud 40 mounted into an associated mounted device 50 into threaded bore 25. Locking plug l0 is then engaged with sleeve 30 by threads l4 and interior threads 35 until the closed driving end l3 meets and abuts closed end 2l forcing pilot 20 and external taper 24 to interfere with interior taper 34 of sleeve 30 as shown in Figure 4. Locking plug l0 is tightened upon pilot 20 co-axially mounted within sleeve 30 by the use of a hex configuration l2 on gripping end ll. Hex configuration 32 on open gripping end 3l of sleeve 30 is used to prevent the movement of sleeve 30 while locking plug l0 is being tightened, by counteracting the rotation of hex configuration l2. The gripping end ll of locking plug l0 and the sleeve 30 may be wrench engaging, whereby a wrench is employed to tighten and drive the locking plug l0 into contact with the closed end of the pilot 2l. This action in turn pushes the pilot 20 forward to cause respective tapers 24 and 34 to interfere which in turn compresses split fingers 23 and locks stud 40 into the bore 25 to be removed or mounted. The stud 40, locked within the tool, is removed from its mounting location 50 by rotating the tool l and the locked stud 40 combination. After the stud 40 is removed from its mounted location 50, the stud 40 is removed from the tool l by loosening the locking plug l0 by wrench or other means through hex configuration l2, tapping the stud 40 on a hard surface which disengages the pilot 20 from the sleeve 30 and releases the locking fit of the interfering tapers 24, 34. Because the tapers 24 and 34 no longer interfere, the split fingers 30 and bore 25 of the pilot 20 release the frictional hold on stud 40, allowing the stud to be easily unthreaded from the pilot 20. The stud 40 is thereafter unscrewed and removed from the tool l. The stud remover/installer tool may likewise be used to install studs by reversing the above procedure. In other embodiment, left hand threads may be provided for threads l4 and 35. Left hand threads eliminate the need for an additional motion of rotating hex configuration 32 on sleeve 30 after locking driving end l3 against closed end 2l to remove the stud 40 from an associated mounting device 50. The use of left hand threads allows the locking plug l0 to be tightened against pilot 20 not only for grasping and locking the stud 40 but also to remove the stud 40 from an associated mounting device 50 by continuing to rotate locking plug l0 which will rotate the entire tool l and unthread stud 40 from the associated mounting device 50. This assumes that the stud 40 is threaded with right-hand threads. The present invention is embodied in a tool which is useful in the removal not only of threaded studs but also for dowel pins, headless screws, helicoils and other devices used in fastening mechanical components together. The stud remover/installer tool may additionally be adapted to be driven by a conventional pneumatic or other rotatably driven power source. While the foregoing has presented certain specific embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood, that these embodiments have been presented by way of example only.

Claims: A tool for removing or installing a threaded stud (40) threadably to an associated stud mounting member (50), said tool comprising by an elongated sleeve member (30) having an internally threaded gripping end (31) and an internally tapered stud receiving end (33); a pilot member (20) having a closed drive end (21), and an internally threaded open bore end (22), said open bore end (22) having an external angle of taper directed toward said open bore end(22) said open bore end (22) having multiple finger splits (23) directed from said open bore end (22) towards said closed drive end (21), whereby in use said pilot member (20) is disposed in said sleeve member (30), with said open bore end (22) of said pilot member (20) threaded onto the end of an associated threaded stud(40); and a plug member (10) having a driving end (13), an opposite gripping end (11) and an externally threaded portion (14) between said driving end (13) and said gripping end (11) and adapted to engage said internally threaded gripping end (31) of said sleeve member (30) and to axially abut said closed end (21) of said pilot member (20), whereupon rotating said plug member (10) within said sleeve member (30) said pilot member (20) is urged co-axially along said sleeve member (30) toward said receiving end (33) until said external taper of said pilot member (20) engages the internal taper of said sleeve member (30), thereby forcing said finger splits (23) on said pilot member (20) to grip the free end of an associated threaded stud (40) within said sleeve member (30) and whereupon counter-rotation of said gripping end (32) of said sleeve member causes the associated threaded stud (40) to be unthreaded from the associated stud mounting member(50), whereby upon said plug member (10) being rotated in the opposite direction said taper of said sleeve member (30) and said taper of said pilot member (10) may be disengaged by hand, thereby releasing said finger splits (23) on said pilot member (20) and allowing the associated threaded stud (40) to be unthreaded from said pilot member(20); characterized by said open bore end (22) of said pilot member (20) having an external angle of taper less than the internal angle of taper of said stud receiving end (33) of said sleeve member (30), such that with the split fingers in their grasping state the taper of the pilot member (20) and the taper of the sleeve member (30) are not in contact along their whole length. The tool of claim 1, characterized in that said sleeve member (30) has an internal angle of taper of 5° and said pilot member (20) has an external angle of taper of 3°. The tool of claim 1 or 2 characterized in that said sleeve member (30), pilot member (20) and plug member (10) are cylindrical in shape. The tool of any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said gripping end (32, 11) of said sleeve member (30) and said plug member (10) each have a hex-drive configuration. The tool of any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said sleeve member (30) and said plug member (10) threads (35, 14) are left-hand threads. The tool of any preceding claim characterized in in that said taper of said sleeve member (30) is tapered along a portion of said sleeve member; and said taper of said pilot member (20) is tapered along a portion of said pilot member.

Inventors: RACHANSKI, MICHAEL A.
Applicants: EEM RACHANSKI ENTERPRISES, INC.
Application year: 1986
Main classification: B25B13
IPC codes: B25B23, B25B27, B25B13