Abstract:
An essentially complete screwdriver set or tool bit drive set is encompassed in a single hand tool with an ergonomic handle. Upwards of 26 different tool bit drives in combination with multiple hex nut drives are readily interchangeably used in the hand tool. The ergonomic handle is of partible molded clear plastic so that diverse color-coded tool bit drives are readily recognized and retrieved.

Description:
PRIOR RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No.08/977,453, filed Nov. 24, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,080, issued May 18, 1999, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/620,471, filed Mar. 22, 1996 now abandoned, and a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 08/960,090, filed Oct. 24, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,612, issued Oct. 13, 1998, which was a continuation of Ser. No. 08/608,195, filed Feb. 28, 1996, now abandoned, and a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 08/846,070, filed Apr. 25, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,048, issued Feb. 9, 1999. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to hand tools. Specifically this invention relates to a hand tool particularly wherein a high number of hand tool functions are provided in one hand tool. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The hand tool art traditionally provided tool sets, such as screwdriver sets and socket wrench sets. These sets were comprised of multiple hand tools to accomplish different tool bit drive functions as well as to accomplish differently sized similar tool bit drive functions. 
     Prior art commercial screwdriver sets would, by way of example, include from eight (8) to twenty-two (22) screwdrivers or separately housed tool bit drives, as shown in attached FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. Socket wrench sets and tool bit drive sets required specialized mounting and storage for the large pluralities of socket drives and tool bit drives. 
     The art desired multiple tool bit drive combination tools to reduce the mounting and storage requirements. Rocca, U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,097 granted May 15, 1994, disclosed a complex multiple piece housing construction which provided a total of six (6) tool bit drive functions and two (2) nut drive means functions. Kozak, U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,775 granted Sep. 19, 1995, disclosed a multiple tool bit drive function of complex housing design. These early attempts achieved some limited multiple functionality in a hand tool, and required complex construction. The hand tool art however ultimately desired a single hand tool which contained essentially an entire or complete screwdriver set or tool bit drive hand tool set. The prior art fell far short of that need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention in one broad aspect is a single hand tool which operably contains a complete screwdriver or multiple tool bit drive hand tool set. In another aspect, this invention is one hand tool which integrally contains upwards of 26 different tool bit drives in combination with multiple hex nut drives, which tool bit drives and hex nut drives are readily interchangeably used in the one hand tool. 
     The hand tool of the present invention provides an ergonomic handle design to house a maximized number of tool bit drives and hex nut drives. The handle in combination with a removable multiple tool bit drive shank provides a full complement of tool bit drives. 
     In another aspect, the present invention provides, in further combination with the aforesaid, a clear plastic ergonomic handle which permits ready viewing of and access to the tool bit drives within the handle. The tool bits may be color coded as to both size and function for viewing through the clear plastic handle for ready identification and access. 
     The hand tool of the present invention provides essentially a complete tool set to the user. The hand tool is of practical and safe design and construction, and readily manufactured by means known to those skilled in the art. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front elevational reduced scale view of a clear display package containing a prior art 22 piece hand tool set; 
     FIG. 2 is a front elevational reduced scale view of a clear display package containing a prior art 8 piece screwdriver set; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective partial exploded view of a hand tool of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3A is an enlarged perspective exploded view of the eight-in-one tool bit drive assembly, portion of the tool of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 3B is a reverse perspective exploded view of the tool handle cap of the hand tool of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 4 is a front perspective partial assembly view of the hand tool of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the hand tool of FIG. 3 with the handle cap and tool bit drives removed; 
     FIG. 6 is a half longitudinal sectional view taken of the hand tool of FIG. 4 with the handle cap on the hand tool; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective partial exploded view of another hand tool embodiment; and 
     FIG. 7A is an enlarged partial sectional view of the replacement bit chuck assembly component of the hand tool of FIG.  7 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 3-6, there is shown the hand tool  10  of the present invention. Hand tool  10  is formed of a clear plastic handle body  11 . Handle body  11  is formed with a generally rectilinear cross-section with four rounded corners  12  (typical). Handle body  11  is of a size and shape to be conventionally gripped by the user, and yet ergonomically provides maximized multiple tool bit drive storage within the handle, as will be more fully explained hereinafter. 
     Handle body  11  is formed with a central elongated cylindrical compartment or through hole  13  and four immediately adjacent elongated non-central cylindrical compartments  14  (typical). Each compartment  14  is similarly sized, but of lesser cross-dimension or diameter than central compartment  13 . Each compartment  14  is juxtaposed to a respective handle body portion corner  12 , and each compartment  14  is contiguous with and to central compartment  13 . This ergonomic design, construction and arrangement maximizes handle storage capability while minimizing the overall size or cross-dimension of the handle so as to provide conventional gripping by the user. Further discussion of a similar ergonomic handle design and construction is disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/960,090, filed Oct. 24, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,612, granted Oct. 13, 1998, which disclosure is fully incorporated herein by reference thereto. 
     Each non-central compartment  14  is formed with a bottom wall  16  and side wall  17 , for purposes hereinafter appearing. Handle body portion  11  is formed at its proximate end  18  with a peripheral lip  19 , and at its distal end  20  with receiving recess  21  formed in central compartment  13 , as further discussed and for purposes hereinafter appearing. 
     A shank housing  25  of unitary cold heading construction is provided to store and retain diverse tool bits and to provide a functional tool bit drive at distal end  24  for hand tool  10 , as best shown in FIGS. 3-3 a.  Housing  25  is formed of elongated tubular construction with a cylindrical outer surface  26  and oppositely disposed inner hexagonal cavities  27  and  28  and a solid central wall  89  having oppositely facing hexagonal wall portions  29  and  30  forming the bottoms or end walls of cavities  27  and  28 , respectively (FIG.  7 ). Cylindrical surface  26  is formed with oppositely disposed ears  31  and oppositely disposed detents  32 . Housing  25  is sized to be slidably retained in recess  21  of central compartment  13 , with ears  31  retained in recesses  33 , with detents  32  seated in handle indents (not shown). By the immediately aforesaid construction, shank housing  25  is non-rotatably operably retained in the handle body portion  11 . 
     Two hexagonal tool bit drive housings  34  and  35  are of unitary construction and sized to be slidably received in the respective shank housing cavities  27  and  28 . Each hexagonal housing  34  and  35  is sized to be received in one or both of the shank housing cavities  27  and  28 . Two (2), tool bit drive members  40  and  41  are provided to be retained in the respective hexagonal cavities  42  and  43  for housing  34  sub-assembly. Each member  40  and  41  is formed with a hexagonal body portion  44  and opposed tool bit drives  45  (typical) disposed at opposite ends of the body portion. It is understood that the tool bit drives  45 , disclosed herein are of different size and/or configuration to provide upwards of 26 different tool bit drives in the entire tool  10 . By way of example, tool bit  45   a  is a Phillips head screw drive and tool bit  45   b  is a slotted head screw drive. Housing  35  has a similar sub-assembly. That is, housings  39  and  35  are formed of unitary construction and provided with inner hexagonal cavities for receiving two tool bit members with respective tool bit drives  45 . 
     The hexagonal housings  34  and  35  with the tool bit drive members  40  and  41  and tool bit drives  45  are assembled and in turn assembled into shank housing  25  which in turn is slidably assembled to the handle body portion central compartment  13  to provide an 8-in-1 sub-component tool bit drive construction. A similar 8-in-1 tool bit drive construction is further shown and described in U.S. Ser. No. 08/977,453, filed Nov. 24, 1997, which disclosure is fully incorporated herein by reference thereto. 
     Referring specifically to FIGS. 3 and 6, there is shown a set of four similarly sized hexagonal housings  55 , formed of unitary cold heading construction forming separated oppositely disposed hexagonal cavities  56 . Each of eight (8) tool bit drive members  57  (typical) is formed with a hexagonal coupling body portion  58  formed with two oppositely disposed tool bit drives  45 , similar to those afore-described. Tool bit drive member  57  hexagonal body portion  58  is sized for slidable retention in cavities  56 . 
     It is important to note that there are heretofore disclosed twelve (12) tool bit drive members providing a total of twenty-four (24) tool bit drives  45 . As previously stated, each tool bit drive  45  may be of a different size and/or configuration and/or function from the other so as to provide up to twenty-four (24) different tool bit drive combination functions within the sub-component handle body  11  and sub-component shank housing  25  combination assembly. It is also important to note that the hexagonal sizes of the inner cavities of the shank housing  25  may be differently cross-dimensional from the hexagonal inner cavities  56  of the handle body housings  55  so as to provide a plurality of hex nut drives in addition to the plurality of tool bit drives. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 3,  3   b  and  6 , there is shown a generally rectilinear tool handle cap or proximate cap portion  65 . Cap  65  is formed with a generally clear molded plastic body portion  66  and a metal insert  67  fixedly attached or molded to plastic portion  66 . Insert  67  is attached by crimping, force fitting, insert molding or other means well known to those skilled in the art. Portion  66  is formed with a peripheral lip  68  which releasably clips or seats onto handle body portion lip 19  (FIG.  7 ). Insert  67  is formed with a cylindrical outer surface  69  and an inner hexagonal recess or cavity  70 . Hexagonal cavity  70  may be of a different size than the heretofore discussed hexagonal cavities to provide a still larger plurality of available hex nut drives for tool  10 . A tool bit assembly  75  is provided with a hexagonal coupling body portion  76  formed with two (2) oppositely disposed tool bit drives  45 . Assembly  75  is slidably retained in cavity  70  by means previously discussed. The combination of tool bit assembly  75  with_ cap  65  provides an awl type hand tool. The user holds cap  65  with assembly  75  engaged to the cap to provide a separate tool or awl-type hand tool. 
     Cap  65  when assembled to the handle body  11  provides by interchanging twenty-six (26) tool bit drive functions in the hand tool  10 . That is, eight (8) tool bit drives are housed in sub-component shank housing  25 , and sixteen (16) tool bit drives  45  are housed in sub-component  55  within handle body  11 . And as best shown in FIGS. 3,  3 A,  3 B and  6 , hand tool  10  in its complete assembly provides thirteen (13) tool bit drive assemblies in turn providing twenty-six (26) tool bit drive functions and a plurality of hex nut drive functions. 
     Referring now specifically to FIGS. 7 and 7A, there is shown an alternate embodiment  100 . Embodiment  100  is similar to embodiment  10 , except that a tool chuck shank assembly  101  is provided in lieu of one of the aforementioned hexagonal tool bit drive assemblies. Shank assembly  101  is sized to be housed one of the non-central handle body compartments  114 . Assembly  101  is formed at its proximate end  102  with a hexagonal shank  103  of conventional configuration for assembly to, by way of example, a hand power tool (not shown). Assembly  101  at its distal end  104  is formed with a inner hexagonal cavity  105  sized to receive tool bit member  106  with mating hexagon coupling body portion  107 , and having opposed tool bit drives  45  which tool bit drives  45  are similar to those described in connection with embodiment  10 . In operation, assembly  101  is removed from a non-central compartment  114  in handle body portion,  111  and then the proximate end  102  of the shank is assembled to a chuck (not shown) hand power tool to drive the tool bit drive  145  disposed at distal end  104 . 
     The handle body  11  and handle cap portion  66  may preferably be of clear molded plastic construction. This clear handle construction permits the user to first view the diverse tool bit drives to determine the exact location of the particularly desired tool bit drive. The user then removes the cap portion  66 , and removes the hexagonal tool bit drive assembly that contains the desired tool bit drive. Additionally, the tool bit drives may be color coded as to both size and function to assist the user in readily determining the location of the desired tool bit drive in the handle. By way of example, the tool bit drive may have one color dot or encompassing color band that signifies size and another differently color dot or encompassing band that signifies function, which dots or bands would be readily viewed through the clear handle. Color coding schemes for the tool bit drives are well known in the art. 
     While the foregoing has disclosed certain preferred embodiments of the invention it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the adjoined claims.