Patent Publication Number: US-11654542-B2

Title: Pneumatic tool with forward and reverse rotation control structure

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The technical field relates to a pneumatic tool, in particular, to a pneumatic tool with a forward and reveres rotation control structure. 
     Description of Related Art 
     For a pneumatic tool, to control the forward and reverse rotations of such pneumatic tool, it is necessary to provide a forward and reverse rotation control structure in order to control the forward and reverse rotations of the power unit. 
     Presently, a forward and reverse control structure cannot be manufactured via molding formation process directly such that there is a need to install a push button retaining piece additionally. Currently, most of the push button retainer plates adopt the permanent bonding method with the use of adhesive gel or the screw fastening method for securement. When an adhesive gel is used for permanent bonding, the drawback would be that the retaining piece cannot be subsequently removed for replacement or repair. In addition, if screws are used for fastening, then there are drawbacks of damaged threads and unpleasant appearance due to the exposure of the screw heads. 
     Moreover, it is also known that the structure of hook is used between a push button and a push button retainer plate to achieve the retention therebetween. Nevertheless, since the structure of hook tends to slip off or snap off, such drawback also causes inconvenience to users during the use thereof. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one aspect, the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure, capable of using a positioning pin to penetrate into a housing, and a retaining member is secured between the housing and a fixation pin. Consequently, it is to achieve the effect of firmly securing the retaining member while allowing the retaining member to be removed for replacement or repair easily. 
     In another aspect, the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure, capable of using a positioning pin to penetrate into a housing from the inner side to the outer side in order to allow a pin head or a rear end of the positioning pin to be retained by a power unit, thereby ensuring that the positioning pin is secured without slippage or disengagement. 
     In still another aspect, the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure, capable of providing a relatively greater structural strength between a sliding block of a push button and a slot wall of a retaining member in order to prevent the occurrence of slipping off or snapping off of component parts. 
     Accordingly, the present invention provides a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure, comprising: a housing having an installation space; a retaining member arranged inside the installation space and configured to divide the installation space into two push button accommodating cavities; two push buttons configured to movably slide inside the two push button accommodating cavities respectively, and the retaining member configured to restrict sliding ranges of the two push buttons; and a positioning pin penetrating into the housing, and the retaining member being secured by the housing and the positioning pin. 
     In comparison to the prior art, the present invention is able to achieve the following technical effects: It is able to firmly secure the retaining member while allowing the retaining member to be removed for replacement or repair easily; it is able to prevent any slippage or disengagement of the positioning pin; it is able to prevent the occurrence of slipping off or snapping off of component parts between the sliding block of the push button and the slot wall of the retaining member. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the rear; 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective view of the housing in the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front; 
         FIG.  3    is a perspective exploded view of the present invention according to  FIG.  1   ; 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective exploded view of the retaining member, push buttons and elastic positioning members of the present invention according to  FIG.  3   ; 
         FIG.  5    is a perspective exploded view of the retaining member, push buttons and driven gear member in the first preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  6    is a cross sectional side view of the present invention according to  FIG.  1   ; 
         FIG.  7    is a cross sectional side view of the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  8    is a cross sectional side view of the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  9    is a cross sectional side view of the first and second exemplary embodiments showing the state when a push button is pressed; and 
         FIG.  10    is a cross sectional side view of the first and second exemplary embodiments showing the state when the other push button is pressed; 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following provides a detailed technical content of the present invention along with the accompanied drawings. However, it shall be understood that the accompanied drawings are provided for reference and illustration purposes only such that they shall not be used to limit the scope of the present invention. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , the present invention provides a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure. The forward and reverse rotation control structure (at least including the push buttons  3  for driving a driven gear member  6  to perform forward or reverse rotations as shown in  FIG.  5   ) is used to control the forward rotation or reverse rotation of a power unit (not shown in the drawings) in the pneumatic tool. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1    to  FIG.  6   , according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention of a pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure (referred to as the “pneumatic tool”) comprises: a housing  1 , a retaining member  2 , two push buttons  3  and a positioning pin  5   a , preferably further comprising two elastic positioning members  4 . 
     The housing  1  includes an installation space  11  (as shown in  FIG.  1   ) and a power unit positioning portion  14  (as shown in  FIG.  6   ). To be more specific, the housing  1  further includes an inner housing plate  12  and an outer housing plate  13  arranged at two opposite portions of the installation space  11  respectively. In an exemplary embodiment, the outer housing plate  13  is positioned at a bottom side of the housing  1 , and the inner housing plate  12  is positioned between the outer housing plate  13  at the bottom side and the outer housing plate (not indicated with a component sign) at the top side. Preferably, the inner housing plate  12  and the outer housing plate  13  include a first pin hole  121  and a second pin hole  131  formed thereon respectively. 
     The power unit positioning portion  14  is positioned inside the housing  1  and is used to position the power unit (not shown in the drawings) in order to allow the power unit to be detachably positioned at the power unit positioning portion  14 . In an exemplary embodiment, the power unit is a power unit using pneumatic power, and such power unit includes the component parts of cylinder sets etc. 
     The retaining member  2  is arranged inside the installation space  11  to divide the installation space  11  into two push button accommodating cavities (not shown in the drawings). To be more specific, the top surface of the outer housing plate  13  includes a recess slot  111  (as shown in  FIG.  3   ). The retaining member  2  is installed into the installation space  11  via the recess slot  111 , as shown in  FIG.  6   , and the retaining member  2  is vertically bridged between the inner housing plate  12  and the outer housing plate  13 . Preferably, the retaining member  2  includes a third pin hole  21  formed thereon, and the third pin hole  21  is positioned between the first pin hole  121  and the second pin hole  131  in order to be connected to each other. 
     The positioning pin  5   a  penetrates into the housing  1  and the retaining member  2 , thereby allowing the retaining member  2  to be secured by the housing  1  and the positioning pin  5   a . In other words, the retaining member  2  can be firmly secured between the housing  1  and the positioning pin  5   a . In an exemplary embodiment, the positioning pin  5   a  detachably penetrates into the first pin hole  121 , the second pin hole  131  and the third pin hole  21  in order to allow the retaining member  2  to be firmly secured while permitting removal for replacement or repair by removing the positioning pin  5   a.    
     In addition, the penetrating direction of the positioning pin  5   a  can penetrate into the outer housing plate  13  from the inner housing plate  12  via the retaining member  2 ; in other words, it penetrates from the inner side to the outer side. The positioning pin  5   a  detachably penetrates into the second pin hole  131  from the first pin hole  121  via the third pin hole  21  of the retaining member  2  in order to allow the pin head  51  of the positioning pin  5   a  to be positioned between the power unit and the inner housing plate  12 . In other words, the pin head  51  only appears at the top surface of the inner housing plate  12 . Accordingly, at the outer appearance, the second pin hole  131  is only visible on the housing  1  as shown in  FIG.  1    such that it is able to achieve the effect of concealing the positioning pin  5   a  and the preferred appearance visual effect of preventing the exposure of the pin head  51 . In addition, by retaining the power unit at the pin head, it is able to ensure that the positioning pin  5   a  is not retracted in a reverse direction. Moreover, to perform replacement or repair, the user can simply remove the power unit form the power unit positioning unit  14  in order to remove the positioning pin  5   a  in a reverse direction, followed by removing the retaining member  2 . 
     The two push buttons  3  are configured to movably slide inside the two push button accommodating cavities, and the retaining member  2  can be used to restrict the sliding ranges of the two push buttons  3 . To be more specific, the push button  3  includes a gear rack  33 , and the gear rack  33  of each push button  3  engages with the corresponding portion of a driven gear member  6  in order to drive the driven gear member  6  to perform forward and reverse rotations respectively, thereby controlling the forward and reverse rotations of the pneumatic tool of the present invention. Furthermore, the driven gear member  6  is also installed inside the housing  1 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  4    to  FIG.  6    and  FIG.  9   , two walls of the retaining member  2  further include a sliding slot  23  formed thereon respectively, and the sliding slot  23  is of an open front end. The retaining member  2  includes a slot wall  231  formed at a rear end corresponding to each one of the sliding slots  23 . The slot wall  231  blocks a sliding direction of the push button  3 . To be more specific, one end of the retaining member  2  includes a retaining end  22  formed thereon, and the retaining end  22  is exposed at the installation space  11  in order to block another sliding direction of the push button  3 . Preferably, the front end of the retaining member  2  corresponding to each one of the sliding slots  23  further includes a positioning portion  232  formed thereon, and the slot wall  231  and the positioning portion  232  are spaced apart from each other. As long as the positioning portion  232  is able to achieve the positioning effect, it is not limited to any type of structures, and in an exemplary embodiment, the positioning portion  232  is embodied as a slot for illustration purpose. 
     The push button  3  includes a sliding block  31  and a retaining block  32  protruded thereon and arranged spaced apart from each other. Each push button  3  is engaged with the two walls of the retaining member  2  in order to allow the push button  3  to slide inside the sliding slot  23  with the sliding block  31 . The slot wall  231  blocks on a path of the sliding block  31  sliding toward a rear direction. In addition, the retaining end  22  of the retaining member  2  blocks a path of each one of the retaining blocks  32  sliding toward a front direction. 
     The elastic positioning member  4  is arranged between the sliding block  31  and the sliding slot  23 . The push button  3  drives the elastic positioning member  4  to slide together in order to be positioned corresponding to the positioning portion  232 , thereby allowing the push button  3  to be equipped with the effect of sliding positioning. To be more specific, the elastic positioning member  4  comprises a positioning ball  41  and an elastic element  42 . The sliding block  31  includes a receiving hole  311  formed thereon. The elastic element  42  is elastically supported between the positioning ball  41  and the receiving hole  311 , and the positioning ball  41  protrudes out of the receiving hole  311 . Accordingly, the positioning ball  41  can be locked into the positioning portion  232  correspondingly for positioning. Furthermore, as the positioning ball  41  collides with the retaining member,  2  a sound can be generated upon the completion of the positioning. 
     Accordingly, as shown in  FIG.  9    and  FIG.  10   , the user is able to press the two push buttons  3  respectively in order to allow the two push buttons  3  to slide inside the two push button accommodating cavities. When the push button  3  slides toward the front, the retaining end  22  is able retain the retaining block  32  of the push button  3 . When the push button  3  slides toward the rear, the slot wall  231  is able to retain the sliding block  31  of the push button  31 . Consequently, the front and rear sliding ranges of the push button  3  is restricted. It shall be noted that since the push button  3  is retained as the sliding block  31  with a protruding shape being retained by the slot wall  231  also with a protruding shape, a preferred structural strength can be obtained between the sliding block  31  and the slot wall  231 , thereby preventing the occurrence of slipping off or snapping off of component parts. 
       FIG.  7    shows a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the second exemplary embodiment is generally identical to the first exemplary embodiment. The difference mainly relies in the structure of the positioning pin  5   b  in the second exemplary embodiment different from the structure of the positioning pin  5   a  in the first exemplary embodiment. 
     As shown in the drawing, the positioning pin  5   b  does not include the pin head  51  shown in the first exemplary embodiment, and the positioning pin  5   b  in the second exemplary embodiment is an insertion pin with a rear end  52 . The rear end  52  is also positioned between the power unit and the inner housing plate  12  such that the power unit also retains the rear end  52 , thereby achieving the effect described in the first exemplary embodiment. 
       FIG.  8    shows a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the third exemplary embodiment is generally identical to the second exemplary embodiment. The difference mainly relies in the structure of the positioning pin  5   c  in the third exemplary embodiment different from the structure of the positioning pin  5   b  in the second exemplary embodiment, and the positioning pin  5   c  penetrates into the housing  1  only; meaning that it does not penetrate into the retaining member  2 . However, the positioning pin  5   c  is able to retain the retaining member  2  in order to allow the retaining member  2  to be secured by the housing  1  and the positioning pin  5   c.    
     As shown in the drawing, the positioning pin  5 C is a simple insertion pin with a rear end  53  and a retaining section  54 . The retaining section  54  protrudes between the inner housing plate  12  and the outer housing plate  13 . The rear end  53  is also positioned between the power unit and the inner housing plate  12  in order to allow the power unit to retain the rear end  53 . The retaining section  54  is retained at the retaining end  22  of the retaining member  2  in order to allow the retaining member  2  to be secured between the housing  1  and the positioning pin  5   c . Consequently, it is able to achieve the effect described in the first exemplary embodiment. 
     In view of the above, the pneumatic tool with a forward and reverse rotation control structure of the present invention is able to achieve the expected objectives of use and to overcome the drawbacks of the prior arts. Therefore, the present invention is of novelty and inventive step, complying with the patentability for an invention patent. Accordingly, patent application is hereby filed according to the law in light of the grant of the patent right for the protection of the rights of the inventor. 
     The above describes the preferable and feasible exemplary embodiments of the present invention for illustrative purposes only, which shall not be treated as limitations of the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the scope of the claims of the present invention shall be considered to be within the scope of the claim of the present invention.