Patent Publication Number: US-11045923-B2

Title: Vice jaw assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to vice mountable jaw devices and more particularly pertains to a new vice mountable jaw device for allowing differently structured coupling members to be simultaneously attached to a machine vice. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a unitary body that has a top side, a bottom side, a front side, a rear side, a first lateral side and a second lateral side. The unitary body is elongated from the first lateral side to the second lateral side. The top side has an elongated channel therein that is spaced from the front side and the rear side. The channel is defined by a bottom wall, a first lateral wall and a second lateral wall. The first lateral wall includes the front side and the second lateral wall includes the rear side. The bottom wall has a plurality of first wells extending therein. The first wells are configured to receive and releasably engage a male coupler. The first wells are aligned with each other and are equally spaced from the first and second lateral walls. The bottom wall has a plurality of second wells extending therein. The second wells are configured to receive and releasably engage a male coupler. Each of the second wells is centered within one of a plurality of annular depressions. Each of the annular depressions extends into the bottom wall and has a circular shape. The annular depressions each extend into the first lateral wall such that the lateral wall includes a plurality of semi-cylindrical grooves therein. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a rear isometric view of a vice jaw assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a rear view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a right side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken along line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken along line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken along line  9 - 9  of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 10  is an in-use, top isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 10  thereof, a new vice mountable jaw device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 10 , the vice jaw assembly  10  generally comprises a unitary body  12  that has a top side  14 , a bottom side  16 , a front side  18 , a rear side  20 , a first lateral side  22  and a second lateral side  24 . The unitary body  12  is elongated from the first lateral side  22  to the second lateral side  24 . The unitary body  12  is typically comprised of a rigid material such as steel and has a length from the first lateral side  22  to the second lateral side  24  between 5.0 inches and 12.0 inches and a width from the front side  18  to rear side  20  between 1.0 inches and 1.75 inches. A height from the bottom side  16  to the top side  14  may be between 1.5 inches and 3.0 inches. 
     The top side  14  has an elongated channel  26  therein that is spaced from the front side  18  and the rear side  20 . The channel  26  is defined by a bottom wall  28 , a first lateral wall  30  and a second lateral wall  32  wherein the first lateral wall  30  includes the front side  18  and the second lateral wall  32  includes the rear side  20 . The first lateral wall  30  may have a width from the channel  26  to the front side  18  that is greater than a width of the second lateral wall  32  from the channel  26  to the rear side  20 . The channel  26  extends through the first  22  and second  24  lateral sides. 
     The bottom wall  28  has a plurality of first wells  34  extending therein. The first wells  34  are configured to receive and releasably engage a male coupler. The male coupler is typically a threaded rod that extends through a grip. These types of grips are sold, for example, under the name Talon Grips and are widely available for purchase from numerous vendors. This type of grip, which typically has a rectangular shape, is configured to grip straight edged materials that are to be milled by a computer numerical control (CNC) milling tool  70 . The grip is positioned in the channel  26  and the male coupler extends into one of the first wells  30  and threadably couples to the unitary body  12 . The grip extends above the top side  14  to engage the straight edge of the material to be milled. The first wells  34  are each aligned with each other and are equally spaced from the first  30  and second  32  lateral walls. An outer opening of the first wells  34  is coplanar with the bottom wall  28  as is shown in  FIG. 9  and the surfaces of the first  30  and second  32  walls most adjacent to the first wells  34  are planar. 
     The bottom wall  28  also has a plurality of second wells  36  extending therein. The second wells  36  are also configured to receive and releasably engage a male coupler in a same manner as the first wells  34 . The second wells  36  are aligned with each other and are positioned nearer to the first lateral wall  30  than the second lateral wall  32 . However, each of the second wells  36  is centered within one of a plurality of annular depressions  38 . Each of the annular depressions  38  extends into the bottom wall  28  as shown in  FIG. 9  and has a circular shape. The annular depressions  38  each extend into the first lateral wall  30  such that the lateral wall  30  includes a plurality of semi-cylindrical grooves  40  therein. The second lateral wall  32 , unlike the first lateral wall  30 , is free of grooves  40  and is planar from the first lateral side  22  to the second lateral side  24 . More specifically, the openings for the second wells  36  are positioned below a plane of the bottom wall  28  and instead are coplanar with a surface of the corresponding annular depression  38 . 
     The second wells  36  and their accompanying annular depression  38  are configured to receive cylindrical shaped grips. These types of grips may, for example, be found easily under the trade name VersaGrips. These types of grips may include annular depressions within their cylindrical shaped outer walls that allow for gripping on rounded edges of materials to be milled. 
     The front side  18  has a plurality of mounting apertures  42  extending therein and through the rear side  20 . The mounting apertures  42  are spaced from the channel  26  and the first  34  and second  36  wells. The mounting apertures  42  allow fasteners to be extended through the unitary body  12  and into a vice  72  of a milling machine  70 . Typically, a pair of the unitary bodies  12  are utilized and positioned opposite of each other such that the vice  72  moves the unitary bodies  12  toward each other and the grips mounted thereon engage the piece of material to be milled. 
     In use, the unitary body  12  is used as a conventional gripping jaw mount for a CNC milling machine  70 . However, the dual inclusion of first wells  34  having planar surfaces positioned on opposite sides of the first wells  34  and second wells  36  including annular depressions  38  and one adjacent wall having an annular groove  40  therein, allows a user of the assembly  10  to use different types of grips without having to change the jaw mount, that is the unitary body  12 , as is the conventional practice. This allows a user of the assembly to retain fewer unitary bodies  12  and to increase productivity. Additionally, a pair of unitary bodies  12  may be used with all shapes of materials to be milled including those materials having non-uniform structures such as one straight edge and one round edge. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.