Patent Publication Number: US-11648704-B2

Title: Power tool router

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to power tools. 
     BACKGROUND 
     There are various existing power tools. It is desired to provide a power tool with an efficient depth adjustment mechanism. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is a router. The router includes a router body; a motor housed in the router body; an output member drivable by the motor; and a router base adjustably connected to the router body. wherein the router base includes a mounting rod, a latching lever and an adjustment lever. The latching lever and the adjustment lever may both be mounted on the mounting rod. 
     The latching lever may be rotatable about a first axis and the adjustment lever is rotatable about a second axis. 
     The second axis may be transverse to the first axis. 
     The first axis may be transverse to a longitudinal axis of the mounting rod. 
     The second axis may be along the longitudinal axis of the rod. 
     The router body may further include a threaded rod extending along an outer surface of the router body. 
     The router body may further include an adjustment knob. 
     The adjustment knob may be connected to the threaded rod and rotation of the adjustment knob causes the threaded rod to rotate. 
     The adjustment lever may include adjustment lever threads configured to selectively engage the threaded rod. 
     The adjustment lever may be biased in a direction of the adjustment lever threads engaging with the threaded rod. 
     The latching lever may be rotatable from a closed position to an open position. 
     The latching lever may be in the closed position the router base is held in place on the router body. 
     The latching lever may be in the open position the router base is movable relative to the router body. 
     The latching lever may be in the closed position it covers a portion of the adjustment lever. 
     The router base may further include a battery receptacle configured to receive a removable battery pack. 
     According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is a router. The router includes a router body; a motor housed in the router body; an output member configured to hold a router bit, the output member being drivable by the motor; and a router base adjustably connected to the router body. The router base includes a latching lever and an adjustment lever. The latching lever is rotatable between a closed position in which the router base is held in place on the router body and an open position in which the router base is movable relative to the router body. The latching lever is transverse to the adjustment lever. 
     The router base has an upper end and a lower end; the upper end of the router base engages the router body; the lower end of the router base is adjacent to a workpiece; the adjustment lever has a first end and a second end; the second end of the adjustment lever includes threads; and the first end of the adjustment lever is closer to the lower end of the router base than the second end of the adjustment lever is to the router base. 
     The first end of the adjustment lever may be configured to be actuated by a user to rotate the adjustment lever. 
     The second end of the adjustment lever may extend above a top of the upper end of the router base. 
     The first end of the adjustment lever may be below the top of the upper end of the router base. 
     The router base may further comprise a pair of tabs and a mounting rod extending through the pair of tabs. 
     The adjustment lever may be mounted on the mounting rod. 
     The latching lever may be mounted on the mounting rod. 
     According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is a router including a router body; a motor housed in the router body; an output member configured to hold a router bit, the output member being drivable by the motor; and a router base adjustably connected to the router body. The router body includes a threaded rod extending along an outside of the router body. The router base includes a latching lever an adjustment lever. The latching lever is rotatable between a closed position in which the router base is held in place on the router body and an open position in which the router base is movable relative to the router body. 
     The adjustment lever may include threads configured to selectively engage the threaded rod. 
     The latching lever may partially cover the adjustment lever when the latching lever is in the closed position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a router; 
         FIG.  2    is front perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router; 
         FIG.  3    is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a router body; 
         FIG.  4    is a side view of the exemplary embodiment of the router body with the housing partially removed; 
         FIG.  5    is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a router base; 
         FIG.  6    is a close-up perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a router base; 
         FIG.  7    is a perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router; 
         FIG.  8    is another perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router; 
         FIG.  9    is another perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router; 
         FIG.  10    is another perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router 
         FIG.  11    is another perspective view of the exemplary embodiment of the router; 
       and 
         FIG.  12    is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a battery pack. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     An exemplary embodiment of a router according to the present application is shown in  FIGS.  1 - 12   .  FIGS.  1  and  2    illustrate a router  10  including a body  50  assembled with an adjustable base  100 .  FIG.  1    is a perspective view of the router  10  and  FIG.  2    is a front view of the router. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates a perspective view of the router body  50  without the base  100 .  FIG.  4    illustrates the router body  50  with the housing partially removed to show internal components.  FIG.  5    illustrates the base  100  alone. 
     As shown in  FIGS.  1  and  2   , the router  10  includes a router body  50  and an adjustable base  100  connected to the router body  50 . As shown in  FIGS.  1 - 4   , the router body  50  includes a battery receptacle portion  55 . The battery receptacle portion  55  is configured to receive the power tool battery pack  200  shown in  FIG.  12   . The power tool battery pack  200  may be a twenty-volt lithium-ion removable battery pack that is configured to power a variety of tools such as sanders, saws, drills, impact drivers and the like, in addition to the router  10 . As shown in  FIG.  1   , the battery receptacle portion  55  is at a top of the router body  50 . 
     The router body  50  includes a power switch  60 . The power switch  60  is used to activate and deactivate the router  10 . The router body also includes a depth adjustment knob  70 . The depth adjustment knob  70  can be rotated by a user. The depth adjustment knob  70  is connected to a threaded rod  71  so that when a user rotates the depth adjustment knob  70 , the threaded rod  71  rotates along with the depth adjustment knob  70 . As shown in  FIG.  3   , for example, the threaded rod  71  extends vertically along the lower length of the router body  50 . 
     As also shown in  FIG.  3   , the router body  50  includes an output member  75 . The output is a router chuck  75  that holds various router bits. The router chuck  75  rotates about a vertical axis when the router  10  is activated so that the motor is activated and drives the chuck  75 . The router body  50  also includes a spindle lock  76 . The spindle lock  76  can be depressed by a user so that the spindle lock  76  extends into the spindle on which the chuck  75  is mounted. That holds the spindle and chuck  75  in place so that a router bit can be removed or attached to the chuck  75 . 
       FIG.  4    is a side view of the router body  50  with a housing shell removed. As shown in  FIG.  4   , the battery receptacle portion  55  includes electrical connectors  56  for electrically connecting with the battery pack  200 . Wires  57  connect the components such as the electrical connectors  56 , motor  80 , switch  60  and rotatable dial  61 . The dial  61  is rotatable to adjust the speed of the motor  60 , as can be done through a potentiometer. As shown in  FIG.  4   , the router  10  includes a motor  80 . When the router  80  is activated, power is provided to the motor  80 . The motor drives spindle  77  on which the chuck  75  is mounted so as to rotatably drive the chuck  75  and any router bit held by the chuck  75 . As shown in  FIG.  4   , a fan  78  may be mounted on the spindle  77  in order to provide a cooling effect. As previously discussed, the spindle lock  76  may be pressed to engaged with the spindle  77  and prevent rotation of the spindle  77 . The spindle lock  76  is biased by a biasing member away from the spindle  77  and a user must depress the spindle lock  76  and overcome the biasing force to engage it with the spindle  77 . The biasing member may be one or more springs. 
     The adjustable base  100  is shown in various figures, including  FIGS.  1 ,  2 ,  5  and  6   . The adjustable base  100  is configured to be selectively clamped onto the router body  50 . As shown, the base  100  includes a cylindrical sleeve  101 . At a bottom of the cylindrical sleeve  101 , there is a ring  102 . The ring  102  is attached to a foot plate  103 . The foot plate  103  can be placed on a workpiece, such as a piece of wood. Adjusting the position of the base  100  changes the depth of a cut performed by a router bit driven by the output member  75 . 
     As shown in  FIGS.  5  and  6   , the base  100  includes a rotatable latch lever  110 . The sleeve  101  has a pair of projections or tabs  105 . A rod  120  extends through holes in the projections  105 . One end of the rod includes a vertical through hole and a pin  125  extends through the rod  120  and engages with the lever  110 . The lever  110  is rotatable about the pin  125 . 
     A macro-adjustment lever  130  is also mounted on the rod  120 . The macro-adjustment lever has a first end  131  configured to be pressed by a user to rotate the lever  130 . The second end  132  of the lever  130  is selectively engaged with the threaded rod  71 . As shown in  FIG.  6   , the second end  132  of the lever  130  includes threads  133  for engaging with the threaded rod  71 . A torsion spring  135  biases the macro-adjustment lever  130  in a direction of the threads  133  at the second end  132  of the lever  130  into engagement with the threaded rod  71 . A user may push on the first end  131  in order to rotate the lever  132  and dis-engage the threads  133  from the threaded rod  71 . The latching lever  130  is transverse to the latch lever  110 . In the exemplary embodiment, the latching lever  130  is disposed vertically and rotates about a horizontal axis and the latch lever is disposed horizontally and rotates about a vertical axis. 
     As shown in  FIG.  6   , the base  100  has an upper end  107 . The threads  133  start slightly below the upper end  107  and extend slightly above the upper end  107 . The rod  120  and its central axis is below the upper end  107 . 
     Operation of the base  100  and its adjustment mechanism will be described with respect to  FIGS.  7 - 11   .  FIGS.  7  and  8    illustrate operation of micro or fine adjustment of the base  100 . As shown in  FIG.  7   , first, a user opens the latch  110  by rotating it in the direction of the arrow A. A camming surface  121  on the latch  110  is moved away from the tab  105  so that the base  100  is loosened on the router body  50  so that the base is able to be moved up and down. As shown in  FIG.  8   , the user can then rotate the depth adjustment knob  70  in either direction. As previously discussed, when the depth adjustment knob  70  is rotated, the threaded rod  71  rotates along with the adjustment knob  70 . The threaded rod  71  is engaged with the threads  133  at the second end  132  of the lever  130 . Because of the engagement of the rod  71  with the threads  133 , when the threaded rod  71  is rotated, the base  100  is translated up or down, depending upon the direction of rotation of the depth adjustment knob  70 . If the depth adjustment knob  70  is rotated in a first direction, the lever  130 , and thus the base  100 , is moved downwardly along the threaded rod  71 . If the depth adjustment knob  70  is rotated in the other/second direction, the base is moved upwardly along the threaded rod  71 . The screw thread allows for fine or micro-adjustments to be made. That is, when the depth adjustment knob  70  is rotated, the screw thread interaction causes relatively small or fine relative movements of the router base  100  relative to the router body  50 . This allows a user to precisely adjust the depth. Once the base  100  reaches the appropriate depth, the user can rotate the lever  100  back to the closed position shown in  FIGS.  1 ,  2  and  5   . This tightens the base  100  so that it is secured in place on the router body  50 . The thread pitch and the size of the depth adjustment knob  70  can be varied to provide an appropriate level of fine adjustment. 
       FIGS.  9 - 11    illustrate a macro-adjustment of the router base  100  relative to the router body  50 . In some instances, a user may wish to change the depth of the router base  100  by a relatively large amount. Using the fine adjustment method of  FIGS.  7  and  8    can be slow in such an instance. Macro-adjustment may instead be performed as shown in  FIGS.  9 - 11   . As shown in  FIG.  9   , to begin the macro-adjustment process, the lever  110  must again first be released by rotating it in the direction A to loosen the base  100 . Next, as shown in  FIG.  10   , the first end  131  of the lever  130  is depressed by a user as shown by arrow B. That causes the lever  130  to pivot about the rod  120  so that the second end  132  of the lever  130  including the threads  133  moves away from the threaded rod  71 . In particular, the threads  133  are moved out of contact with the threaded rod  71  so that the lever  130  is no longer connected to the threaded rod  71 . As shown in  FIG.  11   , the user may move the base  100  up or down relative to the router body  50 . This allows for quick macro adjustments. When the user believes the base  100  is in the correct position or relatively correct position, the user can release the adjustment lever  130  so that it moves back into contact with the threaded rod  71 . The user can then, if desired, make micro adjustments using the adjustment knob  70 . Once the base  100  is in the desired position, the rotatable latch lever  110  can be rotated back to the locked position shown in  FIGS.  1 ,  2  and  5   . This pulls together the projections  105  and tightens the base  100  on the body  50  so that the base  100  is secured in place. 
     As shown, the latch lever  110  and the adjustment lever  130  both are secured to the same rod  120 . This allows for an efficient and compact configuration. Additionally, the latch lever  110  covers a portion of the adjustment lever  130  when the latch lever is in the closed position (e.g.,  FIGS.  1  and  2   ). 
     While the invention has been described by way of exemplary embodiments, it is understood that the words which have been used herein are words of description, rather than words of limitation. Although the description provided above provides detail for the purpose of illustration based on what is currently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that the disclosure is not limited to the expressly disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. It is to be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that, to the extent possible, one or more features of any embodiment can be combined or exchanged with one or more features of any other embodiment.