Patent Publication Number: US-11034008-B2

Title: Nail puller

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/850,640, filed on May 21, 2019, for NAIL PULLER. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention pertains to hand tools, and more particularly to apparatus for pulling nails. 
     Various tools have been developed to pull nails from boards and other materials. For example, claw hammers and claw bars are well known. Other nail pulling devices have been developed wherein the foot and handle of the device are pivotable relative to each other for thereby providing a jaw which is closed by rotating the handle above the foot to grip a nail shank therebetween. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,997,163 and 6,105,935, and US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0062025. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention pertains to an improvement of these afore-described nail pullers. The nail puller of the present invention includes a lever arm assembly having a lever arm with a handle portion at an upper end thereof and an arcuate gripping jaw plate secured to a bottom end of the lever arm. A concave upper face of this arcuate gripping jaw plate faces upwardly toward the lever arm, and an open end gripping slot is centrally located in the arcuate gripping jaw plate. This gripping slot extends transversely to the concave face of the arcuate gripping jaw plate. 
     A base assembly is pivotally secured to a bottom portion of the lever arm and is provided with an arcuate rocker base plate with an upwardly extending pivot arm pivotally secured to the bottom portion of the lever arm. The arcuate rocker base plate is positioned below and directly adjacent the arcuate gripping jaw plate and has an upwardly exposed arcuate face that generally reflects an arcuate bottom surface of the arcuate gripping jaw plate whereby the arcuate rocker base plate is pivotally movable concentrically relative to the arcuate gripping jaw plate. The arcuate rocker base plate also has an open end slot therein which is transverse to the upwardly exposed arcuate face, and this rocker base plate slot is positioned to be aligned with the aforesaid gripping slot of the arcuate gripping jaw plate, with the open ends of these slots aligned with each other, when the lever arm is held in a generally upright or vertical position. This mechanism permits an exposed nail shank to be passed into these aligned slots simultaneously through the open ends thereof, or alternately through the slots themselves, for removal of the nail by rotating the lever arm with the handle to thereby pinch the nail shank between the respective slots and leverage the nail upward by rocking a bottom surface of the arcuate rocker base plate on a surface in which the nail is embedded. 
     The nail puller of the present invention provides a nail puller which is more readily and more easily securable to the nail to be removed than the nail pullers of the prior art, and in addition, provides the convenience of being able to remove the secured nail by rocking the nail puller in either a left hand or a right hand direction as desired. In addition, as the nail puller of the present invention is being rocked in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, the gripping pressure of the nail puller on the nail being removed proportionately increases with the rocking rotation of the lever arm. 
     A nail claw may be secured to an upper end of the lever arm for conventionally raising imbedded nail heads to a level wherein the nail shank may be accessed for gripping by the nail puller. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the following description and the appended claims. The appended drawings show, for the purpose of exemplification, without limiting the scope of the present invention or the appended claims, certain practical embodiments of the present invention wherein: 
         FIG. 1A  is a left side view in elevation of the nail puller of the present invention; 
         FIG. 1B  is a view in front elevation of the nail puller shown in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 1C  is a view in right side elevation of the nail puller shown in  FIG. 1B ; 
         FIG. 1D  is a view in rear elevation of the nail puller shown in  FIG. 1B ; 
         FIG. 1E  is an isometric view in rear elevation of the nail puller shown in the previous figures; 
         FIG. 1F  is an isometric view in front elevation of the nail puller shown in the previous figures; 
         FIG. 1G  is an isometric view in front elevation of the nail puller shown in the previous figures with the exception that the upper handle assembly portion is shown to be pivoted relative to the base assembly at the bottom foot portion of the device; 
         FIG. 2A  is an enlarged view of the bottom portion of the nail puller shown in  FIG. 1F ; 
         FIG. 2B  is an enlarged view of the bottom portion of the nail puller as illustrated in  FIG. 1G ; 
         FIG. 2C  is an enlarged view of the bottom portion of the nail puller as illustrated in  FIG. 1B ; 
         FIG. 2D  is an enlarged view in front elevation of the bottom portion of the nail puller of the present invention shown in  FIG. 1B ; 
         FIG. 3A  is a view in front elevation illustrating the application of the nail puller of the present invention as being applied to a nail lodged in a board for initially grasping the nail shank with the nail puller of the present invention for removal from the board; 
         FIG. 3B  is an enlarged view of the bottom portion of the combination illustrated in  FIG. 3A ; 
         FIG. 4A  is an isometric front view of the nail puller of the present invention as illustrated in  FIG. 3A ; and 
         FIG. 4B  is an isometric view of the configuration illustrated in  FIG. 3B . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Referring to the drawings, the nail puller  10  consists of two primary parts which are in a pivotal relationship to each other, namely, the lever arm assembly  11 , which includes the lever arm  12  and the arcuate gripping jaw plate  13 , and the base assembly  14 , which includes the arcuate rocker base plate  15  having an upwardly extending pivot arm  16 . Base assembly  14  is pivotal relative to lever arm assembly  11  about pivot  17  as is best illustrated in  FIGS. 1G, 2B and 2D . 
     Lever arm assembly  11  is provided with a handle portion  24  at an upper end  25  thereof and an arcuate gripping jaw plate  13  is secured to a bottom end  26  of the lever arm  12 . A concave upper face  27  of arcuate gripping jaw plate  13  faces upwardly towards lever arm  12  and an open end gripping slot  18  is centrally located in arcuate gripping jaw plate  13 . Gripping slot  18  extends transversely to the concave upper face  27 . 
     Base assembly  14  is pivotally secured to bottom portion  26  of lever arm  12  and is provided with an arcuate rocker base plate  15  which is secured to and depends from an upwardly extending pivot arm  16  that is pivotally secured to bottom portion  26  of lever arm  12 . Arcuate rocker base plate  15  is positioned below and directly adjacent arcuate gripping jaw plate  13  and has an upwardly exposed arcuate face  29  that generally reflects the arcuate bottom surface  28  of arcuate gripping jaw plate  13 . Arcuate rocker base plate  15  is pivotally movable concentrically about pivot  17  relative to arcuate gripping jaw plate  13 . Arcuate rocker base plate  15  is also provided with an open end slot  19  therein which is transverse to the upwardly exposed arcuate face  27  and which is positioned to be aligned with gripping slot  18  of arcuate gripping jaw plate  13 , with the open ends  30  aligned with each other, when lever arm  12  is held in a generally upright or vertical position as illustrated in  FIGS. 1B, 2A, and 2C . 
     Accordingly, as is best illustrated in  FIGS. 3A-4B , the exposed shank of nail  20  may be passed into aligned slots  18  and  19  simultaneously through the open ends  30  thererof for removal of the nail by rotating the lever arm  12  in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction to thereby pinch the nail shank between slots  18  and  19  and thereby leverage the nail  20  upward by rocking the bottom surface  31  of arcuate rocker base plate  15  on a surface  21  in which nail  20  is embedded. 
       FIGS. 3A-4B  illustrate the lever arm  12  being rotated to the right or in a clockwise direction in order to extract nail  20 . However, if desired, the lever arm  12  may be just as easily rotated instead in a counterclockwise direction to the left in order to extract nail  20 . 
     The upper end  25  of lever arm  12  is provided with a conventional nail claw  23  which may be initially utilized by hammering the claw  23  under a nail head which is recessed or embedded into the upper surface of a board in a conventional fashion to expose the nail head above the upper surface  21  of the board for further access to the shank of the nail for easy extraction utilizing the nail puller of the present invention as described. 
     The side edges of gripping slot  18  are tapered as shown to provide secure gripping of a nail shank.