Abstract:
A two jaw vise having a base extending in a longitudinal direction between two ends, a central fixed block and opposing jaws on either side of the central block. The opposing jaws being movable longitudinally and joined to the base for controlled movement longitudinally. The base including a base block extending longitudinally between the first and second ends and including first and second longitudinally extending rails. The first and second rails extending parallel to the base block and being spaced from the base block. The first and second rails at least partially forming the controlled movement of the jaws. The base further including first and second pluralities of vertically extending columns extending between the base block and the first and second rails, respectively. The base including at least one gap between adjacent columns.

Description:
This application claims priority in Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/112,859 filed on Nov. 10, 2008 which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     The invention of this application relates to vises and, more particularly, to multiple jaw vises. 
     INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE 
     The invention of this application relates to vises and, more particularly, to multiple jaw vises wherein multiple jaw vises are known in the art. In particular, Buck U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,694 discloses a multiple jaw vise and is incorporated by reference herein for showing the same. Similarly, Buck U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,704 discloses a multiple jaw vise and is incorporated by reference herein for showing the same. Buck U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,001 discloses a multiple jaw vise and is incorporated by reference herein for showing the same. Cousins et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,551 discloses a multiple jaw vise with machinable jaws and is incorporated by reference herein for showing the same. Lenz U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,073 discloses a multiple jaw vise with a double threaded screw and is incorporated by reference herein for showing the same. Also incorporated by reference herein in its entirety is JERGENS Production Vise Catalog which is attached and forms part of this specification as does the above incorporation by reference documents. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Vises are well known in the art and have evolved over the years. Further, multiple jaw vises are also known in the art and have been well received. In particular, the vises shown in the Buck patents listed above and incorporated by reference in this application as background material have been well received. These patents disclose two jaw vises that are effective and which have been used in industry for many years. However, the vises shown in the Buck patents are costly to manufacture and are costly and difficult to maintain in the field. One such difficulty in the field is that the chips produced by an associated machining operation can become lodged in the vise&#39;s actuation mechanism and can be difficult to remove from portions of the vise. This can cause considerable down time for a machining operation which can be costly. This is especially true in view of the costs associated with operating the machines in which these kinds of vises are used. Further, these costs include both machine cost for the machine being idle during this cleaning work and the labor cost associated with the operator working on non-productive work during this cleaning operation. As is known in the art, both the machining time and operator time for these kinds of machining operations are costly. Further, having one of these operations down to allow for the chip removal or cleaning of the vise also impacts the operation&#39;s production numbers. 
     With special reference to FIG. 3 of Buck U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,001, shown is an end sectional view of Buck&#39;s vise or work holding device 11 with a base member 12. Also shown is right movable jaw assembly 16. Jaw assembly 16 is one of the two jaws disclosed in Buck. Particular reference is taken to base member 12 which is a solid block of material wherein a central guide passage or channel 26 must be machined to form this base. More particularly, base member 12, after machining, has upwardly projecting side legs 20, 22 extending on either side of central passage 26. This longitudinally extending guide passage 26 has a generally inverted T-shaped cross-sectional configuration wherein it has an upward opening between the parallel side legs 20, 22 that is smaller than the bottom region of this passage. This guide passage is defined in part by opposed guide surfaces 28, 30 which define opposite sides of the upper portion of guide passage 26. The bottom portion of guide passage 26 is partially defined by a bottom guide surface 32 that is wider than the spacing between surfaces 28 &amp; 30 which forms this “T” shape. As can be appreciated, passage 26 requires one or more expensive machining operations to transform a solid block of material into the disclosed T-shaped block. While other manufacturing methods could be used, each would require expensive tooling and/or machinery to produce the base. Yet even further, this method of machining block  12  makes producing multiple sizes of these vises difficult and expensive. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention of this application relates to vises and more particularly to multiple jaw vises that are more cost effective to produce and which are less costly to operate. More particularly, the vise according to the present invention includes a multi-piece base section that reduces the number of machining operations necessary to produce the vise. 
     According to one aspect of the invention of this application, the base member is formed by a lower member and an upper member joined by vertically extending supports. 
     According to another aspect of the invention of this application, the vertical members are a plurality of spaced cylindrical members extending along the side edge of the upper and lower base members. 
     According to yet a further embodiment of the invention of this application, the base is formed by a bottom block having a generally rectangular cross-sectional configuration with two ends and opposing sides extending between these ends. This base further includes vertically extending support columns positioned along both of these opposing sides in a spaced relationship joining the bottom block to a pair of parallel top blocks extending with the bottom block with are spaced from one another thereby forming a central slot for guiding the jaws of the vise. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The foregoing, and more, will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out more fully hereinafter in conjunction with a written description of preferred embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a bottom perspective view of a vise according to certain aspects of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of the vise shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the vise shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken along lines  4 - 4  in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a sectional view taken along lines  5 - 5  in  FIG. 2 ; and, 
         FIG. 6  is a side view of yet another embodiment according to certain aspects of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view taken along lines  7 - 7  in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a side view of yet a further embodiment according to certain aspects of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 9  is a sectional view taken along lines  9 - 9  in  FIG. 8   
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring now to the drawings, in view of the background material of this application, and with special reference to  FIGS. 1-5 , shown is a two jaw vise  10  which generally includes a base  12 , a central jaw block  14  and a pair of opposing vise jaws  16  and  18 . As is known in the art, jaws  16  and  18  move relative to base  12  toward and away from one another and function to clamp one or two work pieces (not shown) between the respective vise jaws and central block  14 . The movement of these jaws is in a working portion WP of the vise. Details on this vise and jaw arrangement are not described herein in the interest of brevity in that it is well known in the art and is shown and described in the Buck patents incorporated by reference in this application and which form a part of this description. 
     Base  12  has an overall length OL extending in a longitudinal direction  13  and is a multi-component base as opposed to the machined solid block found in the prior art. In this respect, base  12  includes a bottom or base block  20  that can be a single solid block, multiple components joined together, a non-solid block and variations thereof. In that it has been found that a single unified component block works particularly well, this single block arrangement is shown while this application is not to be limited to a single component bottom block. Bottom block  20  further includes a top surface  20 T and an oppositely facing bottom surface  20 B with ends  20 E 1  and  20 E 2 , and sides  20 S 1  and  20 S 2 . Further, block  20  can be substantially rectangular across a major portion of length OL or at least along portions WP. 
     Base  12  further includes upper rails  22  and  24  that extend parallel to one another in a longitudinal direction  13 . As with bottom block  20 , rails  22  and  24  can be formed by any method known in the art including, but not limited to, a machined rail and an extruded rail. Further, these rails can be a single component as is shown or formed by multiple components, such as multiple rail sections, to form the needed profiles to allow controlled motion of the jaws as is needed to produce a vise that can effectively hold a work piece. In one embodiment, rails  22  and  24  are rectangular rails such that rail  22  includes a top  22 T, a bottom  22 B, an inner edge  221  and an outer side edge  22 S; similarly, rail  24  can include a top  24 T, a bottom  24 B, an inner edge  241  and an outer side edge  24 S. Rails  22  and  24  further include ends  22 E 1  and  22 E 2 ; and  24 E 1  and  24 E 2 , respectively. As with bottom  20 , rails can be substantially rectangular across a major portion of length OL or at least along portions WP. Rail  22  and  24  can produce the controlled motion of the jaws by including inwardly facing portions  26  and  28 . In other embodiments, the controlled motion of jaws  16  and  18  can be by both portions  26  and  28  and top  20 T of block  20 . 
     Further, the rails and/or blocks can also include any known feature in the art to help the vise mount onto and maintain its position relative to a machining operation. This can include, but is not limited to keyways  30  and  32  in block  20  and fastener openings  34  for alignment pins and/or securing bolts  36 . 
     Base  12  further includes vertically extending columns  40  that extend between bottom block  20  and rail  22  and vertical extending columns  42  that extend between block  20  and rail  24 . In this embodiment, columns  40  and  42  are mounted columns in that they are separate components mounted between the rails and the bottom block. Columns  40  and/or  42  can be any form of column like structure without detracting from the invention of this application. Further, all of columns  40  do not need to be identical and, similarly, all of columns  42  do not need to be identical. Further, some or all of columns  40  can be different than some or all of columns  42  and visa versa. In one embodiment, columns  40  and  42  are cylindrical columns which can be formed by a column bolt  46  and a sleeve  48  wherein sleeve  48  has a length  48 L and a central passage which allows bolt  46  to pass therethrough. In this respect, sleeves  48  and/or columns  40 / 42  can extend between a top extent  50  and a bottom  52  extent wherein top  50  engages rail bottoms  22 B and  24 B and bottom  52  engage base top  20 T, and define length  48 L. 
     Sleeve  48  can be a wide range of configurations including the cylindrical configuration shown and length  48 L can be used to maintain a desired spacing between the rails and the bottom block. Further, these columns could be a unified component or could include multiple fasteners. In yet even other embodiments, one or more columns could be spacers wherein dowels or other components hold them in place. But, these columns can be configured such that they do not include locking fasteners such as a bolt which will be discussed in greater detail below. 
     A plurality of columns  40  and/or  42  can be spaced longitudinally along the rails to produce side gaps  54  between adjacent columns which also will be discussed in greater detail below. In this particular embodiment, ten columns are used on each rail wherein there are a total of twenty columns. In other embodiments, some of which will be discussed in greater detail below, more or less columns could be used without detracting from the invention of this application. 
     Base  12  further includes end caps or plates  56  and  58  positioned on the longitudinal ends  20 E 1  and  20 E 2  of bottom  20 , respectively. End cap  56  extends between rail ends  22 E 1  and  24 E 1  and bottom block end  20 E 1  wherein cap  56  also joins block  20  to rails  22  and  24  and maintains spacing  48 L similar to that of columns  40  and  42 . Similarly, end cap  58  extends between rail ends  22 E 2  and  24 E 2  and bottom block end  20 E 2  wherein cap  58  also joins block  20  to rails  22  and  24 . End caps  56  and  58  can be joined to the rails and the bottom in any way known in the art including, but not limited to removable fasteners. In one embodiment, caps  56  and  58  are joined to the rails and the bottom by way of fasteners  64  which threadingly engage with the rails and the bottom. By using threaded fasteners, vise  10  can be disassembled to allow for cleaning and the repair of internal components. However, in other embodiments, and for certain industries, the vise may be designed to be tamperproof. As with all fasteners referenced in this application, any fastener known in the art can be used for fastener  64  and others. 
     End plates  56  and  58  can include any feature or configuration known in the art to allow the vise to operate in the field including opening  70  which can allow for access to a driving or actuation mechanism  71  of vise  10  and opening  72  which allows crank  74  to actuate the driving mechanism which will not be discussed in greater detail herein in the interest of brevity in that vise driving mechanisms are known in the art. Crank  74  can be any crank known in the art including a crank which includes a transverse handle  76  joined to a shaft  78 . In addition, mechanism  71  can include an adjustable length shaft portion  79  to allow mechanism  71  to be used for more than one size vise which will be discussed in greater detail below. 
     Rails  22  and  24  can at least partially control the movement of jaws  16  and  18  to allow for their longitudinal movement. Further, this control can be supplemented by portions of the base block. As is shown, this control is assisted by base top  20 T. 
     In the embodiments discussed below, like reference numbers are used to describe like or similar components of the vises described above and further discussions of these components is not being repeated in the interest of brevity. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , shown is vise  100  having an overall length OL and which includes yet other column arrangements. In these embodiments, vise  100  includes both a different number of columns and more than one configuration of column. More particularly, vise  100  includes columns  110  having an inner pin  112  and a sleeve  114 . However, while shown as two component columns, these columns and other columns can be formed by a single component without detracting from the invention of this application. 
     In one embodiment, vise  100  includes two columns  110  and four columns  40  extending between rail  22  and bottom  20 . While, in this embodiment, columns  40  can be used to secure or fasten the rail to the bottom and columns  110  can be used to merely maintain a desired spacing  48 L, columns  110  could be press fitted into the rail and the bottom to also fasten the two components together at least in part. As is discussed above, this could be used to help make the vise tamperproof. Further, other joining methods could be used, such as welding, to join the columns to the bottom and rails. Similarly, the same column arrangement can be used to secure rail  24  to bottom  20 . However, as is mentioned above, while it may be preferred to make both sides the same, this is not necessary and this application should not be limited in that way. Further, this particular column arrangement, including the specific location and columns  110  relative to columns  40 , is not required and this application should not be limited to this specific spacing and/or locations. 
     As with the other embodiments of this application, spacings or gaps are produced in these side portions of the vise. In the embodiments shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , gaps of different sizes are produced. In this respect, vise  100  includes gaps  120 - 124  which have differing sizes. Gaps  121  and  123  are in working portions WP, which are closer to the machining locations of the vise. These gaps can be larger to allow for the chips to be cleaned more easily from these working regions. While not shown in the interest of brevity, the opposite side of vise  100  can include the same column configuration; however, this is not a requirement. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , shown is vise  200  that includes yet other embodiments. In this respect, vise  200  includes side rails wherein at least a portion of the rails extending to bottom  20  thereby having an integral column arrangement. In this respect, vise  200 , which has an overall length OL, includes a rail  210  having downwardly extending columns  212 - 214  which extend downwardly from a top rail portion  220 . Rail  210  has a length OL and extends between ends  220 E 1  and  220 E 2 . In this embodiment, the columns are an integral component of the rail portion or could be fabricated to the rail portion by any joining method known in the art including, but not limited to, welding. In that columns  212 - 214  are spaced from one another, rail  210  includes spacings or gaps  230  and  232  in working portions WP. Further, while vise  200  is shown to include columns having different widths in the longitudinal direction, this is not required and rail  210  could be formed by columns having uniform widths and/or equal spacings or gaps therebetween. The same is true with the size of the gaps. These do not need to be identical and there could be any number of these spacings depending on the size of the vise. Further, in yet other embodiments, the vise can include a combination of integral columns and mounted columns. Rail  210  can be joined to base  20  by fasteners  240  that pass through bottom  20  and thread into one of columns  212 - 214 . 
     As a result of this construction, base  12  can be formed without the need to perform multiple and deep grinding operations to a solid metal block. Further, these grinding operations can be dimensionally critical wherein precision grinding equipment along with special grinding wheels can be necessary. As can be appreciated, these grinding wheel operations can also require costly wheel dressing operations to achieve the necessary internal dimensions and/or profiles of this machined block. While this can be simplified by using computer control grinding and/or milling operations (CNC), the amount of material that needs to be removed can use a considerable amount of machining time which is also costly. 
     As can also be appreciated, not only is it expensive to perform multiple machining operations to the base block, a considerable amount of waste is also produced by these machining operations. In this respect, the machining necessary to produce prior art bases can result in a significant amount of scrap metal in that much of the block is machined away. While metal chips can be salvaged, this is wasteful especially in view of the costly metal that is often used to produce these bases and the energy costs associated with this amount of machining. In the embodiments of the invention of this application, significant amounts of scrap and energy can be eliminated in that the bottom, rails and end caps can be purchased such that they are configured similar to their final dimensions and relatively simple machining operations can produce parts within the desired dimensional tolerances. 
     Furthermore, this base configuration also advantageously produces the openings, spacings or gaps  54 ,  120 - 124 ,  230  and/or  232  spaced about the sides of the base that allow the chips, produced during an associated machining operation using vise  10 ,  100  and  200 , to be easily blown out of these bases. As can be appreciated, when these vises are in use a considerable amount of chips can often be produced as the component part, that is being held by the vises are being machined. These chips need to be cleaned from the vise or the vise could eventually jam which can cause down time for the particular machining operation. 
     Again, as is discussed above, the vises of this application can have any actuation mechanism known in the art including, but not limited to, manually cranked vises and hydraulic vises. 
     In even yet other embodiments, combinations and equivalences thereof of the components including, but not limited to, the column arrangements can be used to produce even more vises according to the invention of this application. 
     Yet another benefit of the vise of this application is the ability to quickly and easily produce a wide range of sizes of these vises. As is known in the art, virtually any item can be machined to produce a finished part or component. In that virtually any component can be machined, there is a need for vises in a wide range of sizes. This situation is difficult for the vise manufacturing of prior art vises in that each component must be machined differently for each size. As a result, it is difficult and costly to stock multiple sizes of vise bases and it is then difficult to fill vise orders quickly in that unique components must be manufactured or inventoried to produce each vise. 
     However, a vise according to the present invention can be quickly made to order in view of the ability to stock common components to produce a much wider range of vise sizes. In this respect, the primary components of the vises of this application can be quickly formed into a vise of a desired size without the need for high cost inventory. For example, the rails and the bottom blocks discussed above are much less costly to produce than the prior art machined base in that they can be extruded and/or require much less costly machining operations. This alone greatly reduces inventory costs. In addition to this benefit, these less costly parts can be made in lengths much longer than overall length OL of each vise. Then, once an order arrives, these components can be quickly cut or trimmed to the desired overall length of the particular vise. This can be a relatively simple trimming operation in that the overall length dimension does not require the tight tolerances of the internal machining operation of the prior art vises. Further, multiple lengths of the actuating shafts and/or adjustable shaft sections  79  of the vise can also be utilized to allow for these differing lengths. As a result, different size vises can be quickly made with common components and these common components can be inventoried at much lower costs than was possible with prior art vises. This can further include stocking a single base for different widths of vises wherein a relatively simple trimming operation could also be used to transform a universal base block into more than one size vise. 
     While not shown, the vise according to the present invention can be used for any known application, and even newly found applications, for these styles of vises. This includes powered versions of these vises wherein hand crank  74  is replaced with a powered crank (not shown). Further, the vise according to the present invention could be incorporated as a component of a clamping system without detracting from the invention of this application. 
     While considerable emphasis has been placed on the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated that other embodiments and/or equivalents thereof can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.