Abstract:
The present invention discloses a quick removable chuck assembly and its cutting tool comprises a cutting tool with its positioning section passing through an axial hole of a main body; a sliding device being disposed on a wall of the main body and capable of moving back and forth horizontally along the axis of the main body; a device embedding groove being disposed at a positioning section of the cutting tool for embedding the sliding device; and a positioning sleeve being axially disposed outside the main body for controlling the sliding device to move back and forth by a rotary action; thereby the present invention can achieve the objectives of installing and removing the cutting tool in a quick and convenient manner.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a chuck, more particularly to a chuck that allows users to rotate and control a lower positioning sleeve of the chuck, so that the chuck can install or remove a drilling tool (such as a drill head).  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     In general, a chuck assembly of a traditional drilling tool (such as a drill head) usually connects a main body with a power axle of a transmission device, and the main body comprises a plurality of aslant guided holes on the walls of the main body, a clamper disposed in each aslant guided hole, and the clamper is controlled by a driving ring coaxially disposed outside the main body. In other words, a synchronous aslant movement can be produced along an axis not parallel to the main body by rotating the driving ring, so that when a plurality of clampers move slantwise towards the axial direction of the main body, a cutting tool is clamped. Conversely, the cutting tool is released.  
         [0005]     The aslant guided hole on the main body relates to the inclination of the clamper with the main body, the moving direction of the clamper and the force of clamping the cutting tool. Therefore, the structure of the aslant guided hole and the clamper requires a high precision which will relatively increase the manufacturing cost. If the cutting tool encounters a larger resistance in its operation, the clamper and the cutting tool probably will be stripped, which indicates an insufficient clamping force provided by the clamper. Therefore, many designs for improving the torque of the clamper chuck are introduced, but most of these designs come with a very complicated structure and have a very high manufacturing cost.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The primary objective of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior-art clamper chuck structure carrying a high manufacturing cost and having insufficient clamping force. The present invention intends to use a solution totally different from the prior art to overcome the foregoing shortcomings and achieve the objectives of simplifying the structure of the chuck, making the assembling and positioning of the cutting tool convenient and quick, providing a precise positioning in the axial direction and the direction of the rotation of the cutting tool, and improving the stability of installing the chuck onto the cutting tool. More particularly, the positioning along the direction of the rotation can effectively prevent the stripping and idle operation of the cutting tool, and thus improving the torque of the cutting tool. In addition, the present invention controls the installation and removal of the cutting tool by rotating a positioning sleeve; after the positioning sleeve is rotated to an appropriate angle, the present invention also provides a solution for limiting the angle of rotation appropriately instead of freely rotating in 360 degrees. Such arrangement assures the positioning of the related objects and prevent any damage caused by an over rotation.  
         [0007]     The technical measures taken by the present invention for solving the foregoing problems comprises: 
        a main body, having an axial hole at its center, a cutting tool receiving hole disposed at a lower section of the axial hole, a device receiving hole disposed on a wall of the cutting tool receiving hole, and a sliding device disposed in the device receiving hole;     a lower positioning sleeve, having an axial hole at its center that sheathes onto the lower section of the main body, at least a recessed space disposed on an internal wall of the axle hole along a radial direction and a pushing surface being extended aslant along a wall of the axle hole in the recessed space, such that the recessed space and the push surface being corresponsive to the sliding device;     a cutting tool, having a positioning section at an end other than its working end, and the positioning section passing through the cutting tool receiving hole along the axial direction of the main body and having at least one device embedding groove disposed on the surface of the positioning section for latching the sliding device; 
 
 an upper positioning sleeve, having an axle hole at its center for fixing the upper positioning sleeve outside an upper section of the main body; 
    a spring, being coupled onto the exterior of the main body and disposed between the upper and lower positioning sleeves; and     a positioning device disposed on a wall of the cutting tool receiving hole along its radial direction, and one end of the positioning device is protruded from the cutting tool receiving hole, and the cutting tool at its positioning section has at least one channel for embedding an end section of said positioning device, and the other end of the positioning device is protruded from an external wall of the main body, and a limit groove is disposed on part of the periphery of a wall of the hole at the lower section of the positioning sleeve for accommodating an end section of the positioning device.       
 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a top view of the disassembled parts of the chuck assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a bottom view of the disassembled parts of the chuck assembly according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the disassembled parts of the lower positioning sleeve according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the chuck assembly according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of Section  5 - 5  of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 6A  is a cross-sectional view of Section  6 A- 6 A of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 6B  is an illustrative view of the movements as depicted in  FIG. 6A .  
         [0020]      FIG. 7A  is a cross-sectional view of Section  7 A- 7 A of  FIG. 6A .  
         [0021]      FIG. 7B  is a cross-sectional view of Section  7 B- 7 B of  FIG. 6B .  
         [0022]      FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0023]      FIG. 9  is: a cross-sectional view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0024]      FIG. 10  is an exploded view of the chuck according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0025]      FIG. 11  is an exploded view of the chuck according to a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0026]      FIG. 12  is an exploded view of the chuck according to a sixth preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0027]     The present invention relates to a quick removable chuck assembly, comprising: 
        a main body  10  as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  5  and  6 , with an axial hole passing through its center, and the axle hole can be divided into an upper section and a lower section, wherein the upper section is a power axle hole  12  for connecting a power axle of a transmission device (not shown in the figures) and the lower section is cutting tool receiving hole  13  for passing a cutting tool  80  (such as a drill head) through a positioning section  81  disposed at an end other than the operating end, and the main body  10  has a stop member  15  with an expanded diameter;     a positioning assembly as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2  and  6 A, having a device hole disposed at a corresponding position on the wall of the cutting tool receiving hole  13 , and a sliding device  20  disposed in each device hole, and the sliding device  20  could be a rolling needle  201  as shown in  FIG. 1  or a rolling ball  202  as shown in  FIG. 10  or a sliding member  203  as shown in  FIG. 11 , and the device hole  14  can appropriately block the sliding device  20  protruded from the cutting tool receiving hole  13  by the internal side of the hole of the device hole  14  to prevent the sliding member  23  from falling out; two device embedding grooves  82  are disposed at the corresponding positions on the surface of the positioning section  81  of the cutting tool  80 , such that the positioning section  81  passes into the cutting tool receiving hole  13 , and part of the periphery of the sliding device  20  is latched into the device embedding groove  82  to fix the cutting tool  80  in the axial direction and the direction of the rotation; the sliding device  20  at its center comprises an external circular groove  21  and a washer  22  is disposed in the external circular groove  21 , such that when the sliding device  20  is latched into the device embedding groove  82 , the washer  22  fills the gap to prevent the sliding device  20  from shaking;     a cutting tool positioning reinforcing structure as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 , having at least one through hole  16  along the axial direction of the wall on the main body corresponding to the cutting tool receiving hole  13 , and a positioning device  30  is disposed in the through hole  16  with its internal end  31  protruded inwardly into the cutting tool receiving hole  13  and its external end  32  protruded outwardly from the through hole  16 ; a channel  83  is disposed in the axial direction on the wall of the positioning section  81  of the cutting tool  80  and defines an opening at the open end of the positioning section of the channel  83  to pass the internal end of the positioning device  30  when the positioning section  81  passes through the cutting tool receiving hole  13  to reinforce the positioning of the rotation of the main body  10  and the cutting tool  80 ;     an upper positioning sleeve  40  as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  3  and  5 , having an axle hole  41  and the upper half of the axle hole  41  with an expanded diameter defines a spring accommodating section  42  and forms an expanded accommodating groove  43  and a stop position  44  at an end other than the spring accommodating section  42  and further builds an arc limit groove  45  recessively disposed along the axial direction and on part of the periphery of the stop position  44 ; two recessed spaces  46  are disposed along the radial direction at the corresponding positions on the wall of the axle hole  41  and a pushing surface  47  is extended slantwise form the internal wall of the axle hole  41  along one side of the space  46 ; the main body  10  goes through the axle hole  41 ; the accommodating groove  43  accommodates a section of the stop member  15 , and stop each other by the stop position  44  and the stop member  15 ; wherein the two sliding devices  20  correspond with the space  46  and the push surface  47 , and the external end  32  of the positioning device  30  is disposed in the limit groove  45 ;     an upper positioning sleeve  50  as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 , being a hollow sheath and having an axle hole  51  with the interior of its wall extended to a predetermined distance for closely coupling the top end of the main body  10  into the axle hole  51 ; a spring accommodating section  52  is reserved between the axle hole  51  and the internal wall of the upper positioning sleeve  50 ; and     a spring  60  as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 , being coupled onto the exterior of the main body  10  and disposed in the spring accommodating section  52 ,  42  between the upper and lower positioning sleeves  50 ,  40 .        
 
         [0034]     The lower positioning sleeve  40  as shown in FIGS.  5  to  7 B is a device provided for a user to hold and rotate to move the sliding device  20  between the space  46  and the push surface  47  or move the sliding device  20  from the external end of the positioning device  30  into the limit groove  45 .  
         [0035]     If the cutting tool  80  is installed in or removed from the corresponding space  46  of the sliding device  20 , the positioning section  81  will push the sliding device  20  towards the direction away from the axle of the main body  10  into the space  46 . Therefore, the positioning section  81  of the cutting tool  80  can move freely in and out of the cutting tool receiving hole  13 . If the positioning section  81  is located in the cutting tool receiving hole  13  and the lower positioning sleeve  40  is rotated, the guide provided by the push surface  47  will push the sliding device  20  towards the axial direction of the main body  10  to latch the sliding device  20  into the device embedding groove  82  of the cutting tool  80 , and the cutting tool is fixed in the axial direction. In the meantime, the internal end  31  of the positioning device  30  is stopped in the channel  83 , and thus the cutting tool  80  can be limited in the direction of the rotation and the main body  10  can drive the cutting tool  80  to rotate. Even if the cutting tool encounters a larger resistance during its operation, the cutting tool  80  will not run in idle and thus improving the torque of the cutting tool.  
         [0036]     If the lower positioning sleeve  40  is rotated, the positioning device  30  and the limit groove  45  of the lower positioning sleeve  40  provide the best solution for the angle of rotation. In other words, when the sliding device  20  corresponds to the space  46  or the terminal of the push surface  47 , the external end  32  of the positioning device  30  will be located at one end of the limit groove  45  and blocked by the wall of the groove, so that the lower positioning sleeve  40  cannot be rotated further in the same direction, and the operator can know that the cutting tool  8  has been installed into a fixed position or can be removed. In addition, the arrangement of the limit groove  45  and the external end  32  of the positioning device  30  can also prevent the chuck from being rotated to secure with the main body  10  and the lower positioning sleeve  40  too tight as the operation goes on and also prevent the situation that the cutting tool cannot be removed manually after the operation is completed.  
         [0037]     In  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the positioning section  81  of the cutting tool  80  and the cutting tool receiving hole  13  have a circular cross section. Of course, the positioning section  81  could be a polygonal cylinder  811 ,  812  such as a hexagonal cylinder or a rectangular cylinder, and the cross-section of the cutting tool receiving hole  131 ,  132  should be in the corresponding shape. With the connection by a polygonal cylinder, the same function for rotating and fixing a cutting tool can be achieved. In the figure, the circle indicated by doted lines refers to a cutting tool receiving hole  131 ,  132  in the shape of a hexagon or a square or any other shape corresponding to the cylindrical positioning section  81 .  
         [0038]     Please refer to  FIG. 12  for another preferred embodiment of the present invention. The main body  10  comprises two embedded bars  17  protruded from the axial direction of the internal wall of the main body  10 , and the embedded bar  17  can be embedded into the channel  83  of the cutting tool  80  to provide the rotating and positioning functions for the main body  10  and the cutting tool  80 . To match up the disposition of the embedded bar  17 , the original position of the positioning device can be changed slightly. In other words, the positioning device  30 ′ only has the external end  33  protruded from the main body  10  in the radial direction, but it does not have the internal end protruded from the power axle hole  12 . Therefore, this embodiment still adopts the design of the external end  33  of the positioning device  30 ′ together with the limit groove  45  of the lower positioning sleeve  4  to control the angle of rotating the lower positioning sleeve  40 .  
         [0039]     In summation of the description above, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior-art and enhances the performance than the conventional structure and further complies with the patent application requirements and is submitted to the Patent and Trademark Office for review and granting of the commensurate patent rights.  
         [0040]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.