Patent Publication Number: US-6704986-B1

Title: Air over oil riveter with rotatable head piece

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention is related to an air over oil riveter, and more particularly, to an air over oil riveter with a rotatable head piece which has two rotatable members connecting between a head piece and a handle for rotation. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     The conventional riveter is used to join plate components in industry or for decorative effects. First, holes in the overlap of plate components are drilled and then rivets are used to join the plates with a riveter. When the operator presses the trigger of the riveter, the head will move back so that the main body of rivet deforms for fastening the plate components. 
     Therefore, the head and handle of conventional riveter are one piece so that the head cannot rotate at any angles during operation. The limitation of the conventional riveter where the head of the riveter cannot rotate, is a disadvantage for its use. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an air over oil riveter with a rotatable head piece which uses two rotatable members connecting between the head piece and the handle. 
     It is another object of the present invention is to provide an air over oil riveter with a rotatable head piece which can change the rivet-pulling apparatus. 
     The riveter of the present invention comprises a head piece, a handle, two rotatable members, a connecting sleeve with a hollow body, an oil sleeve, and a main body. The head piece includes an opening for placing an outer sleeve and a driving sleeve, where the driving sleeve is housed in the outer sleeve. The front of the driving sleeve has a joint for connecting the rivet-pulling apparatus. The rivet-pulling apparatus is disposed in a housing of the head piece. The bottom of the head piece has a first inclined plane with a first positional hole, and the front of the handle has a second inclined plane disposed in opposition to first inclined plane and having a second positional hole aligned with the first positional hole. And, two rotatable members are respectively coupled to the first and second positional holes. The connecting sleeve connects through an oil path of the handle and the two rotatable members to the head piece by a nut fastening on the screw thread of the front of the connecting sleeve. Further, the oil sleeve is disposed in the hollow of connecting sleeve, the front of which connects to a channel of the head piece and the rear of it connects to the oil path of the handle. 
     During the rivet-pulling operation, when the trigger is pressed, the oil will flow from the oil path through the oil sleeve to the channel. The oil pushes the outer sleeve back with the driving sleeve because the flange of the outer sleeve jams the flange of the driving sleeve. When the driving sleeve moves back, the rivet-pulling apparatus will move back in correspondence therewith to complete the rivet-pulling operation. And, the head piece can rotate to any angles to accommodate the operating space. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following more detailed description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a explosive view for head piece and handle of the prior art; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an illustrated view for the riveter working of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4A is a perspective view for the head piece working of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4B is a perspective view for the rivet-pulling apparatus working of the present invention; 
     FIG. 5 is an illustrated view for the rotatable head piece working of the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view for changing the rivet-pulling to the nut-pulling apparatus of the embodiments of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7A illustrates a cross-sectional view of the replacement of an anchor riveting apparatus with a nut-pulling apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7B illustrates a left side view of an anchor riveting apparatus shown in FIG.  7 A: 
     FIG. 7C illustrates a cross-sectional view of the movement of an anchor rivet mounted therein at an anchor riveting apparatus; and 
     FIG. 8A illustrates a view of movement shown in FIG.  7 A. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Refer to FIGS. 1 and 2, the riveter of the present invention comprises a head piece  9  with a bore  10  horizontally extending between the front and rear of hand piece  9 . The bore  10  has respective front and rear openings  11  and  12 , with the diameter of the front opening  11  being smaller than the rear opening  12 . The bore  10  receives a driving sleeve  13  and an outer sleeve  14  therein, with the driving sleeve  13  housed in the outer sleeve  14 . The rear of the driving sleeve  13  has a hex socket cap screw  16  to be easily operated by a hex tool. The front of driving sleeve  13  extends out of the outer sleeve  14  to connect with a joint  17  which couples a rivet-pulling apparatus  18  thereto. The front of head piece  9  has a housing  19  for fastening the rivet-pulling apparatus  18 . And, the wall of front opening  1 I 1  of bore  10  tightly connects to the outer sleeve  14  by at least one o-ring  20  and a pad  21  for preventing oil from leaking. The rear of outer sleeve  14  has a flange  22 . The diameter of flange  22  is larger than the front opening  11  of bore  10 . Further, the wall of the rear opening  12  of bore  10  tightly connects to the flange  22  of outer sleeve  14  by at least one o-ring  23  and a pad  24  for preventing the oil from leaking. The rear of outer sleeve  14  contacts a spring  25  that is disposed between the outer sleeve  14  and a cover  26  of the head piece  9 . 
     The bottom of the head piece  9  has a first inclined plane  28  with a bottom opening  30  having a centrally disposed channel  34  and a plurality of screw holes  32 . The bottom opening  30  connects to the rear opening  12  by the channel  34  at the front of flange  22  of outer sleeve  14 . 
     A handle  40  has a second inclined plane  42  disposed in opposition to the plane  28 . The inclined plane  42  has a front opening  44  aligned with the bottom opening  30  and a plurality of screw holes  45 . The center of front opening  44  has a hole  46  for connecting to an oil path  47 . Further, the handle  40  has a trigger  48 . 
     Two rotatable members  50 ,  51  are respectively disposed at the bottom and front openings  30 ,  44  and have a plurality of screw holes  52 ,  53  and positional holes  56 ,  57 . The two rotatable member  50 ,  51  are respectively coupled to the bottom opening  30  of head piece  9  and the front opening  44  of handle  40  by a plurality of screws  54 ,  55 . The flange  61  of a connecting sleeve  60  is disposed in the handle  40 , and the connecting sleeve  60  connects through the positional holes  56 ,  57  of the two rotatable members  50 ,  51  to the head piece  9  by a nut  62  being fastened to the front screw thread of the connecting sleeve  60 . The two rotatable members  50 ,  51  have a wave pad  59  between them for increasing the localization effect. 
     An oil sleeve  64  with a hollow passage is disposed in the connecting sleeve  60 , and front and rear of the oil sleeve  64  respectively connect to the channel  34  of head piece  9  and the oil path  47  of handle  40 . And, the front and rear of the oil sleeve  64  respectively have at least one o-ring  65  and pad  66 . 
     A main body  70  is located at the bottom of the handle  40  and has an air chamber  71  including a piston rod  72 . The front of piston rod  72  is located in the oil path  47  and has at least one o-ring  73 . The rear of piston rod  72  connects to a piston  74 . The top of the piston  74  has a fastening member  75  positioning a shockproof member  76  at the side thereof. The center of piston  74  and bottom of piston  74  respectively have a pad  77 . The top and side wall of air chamber  71  respectively have vent holes  78 ,  79 . Further, the bottom of air chamber  71  has a cover  80  with an o-ring  81 . 
     The side of air chamber  71  has a hole  82 , the bottom of hole  82  having an inlet  84  for a path of air between air chamber  71  and outside of main body  70 . A hole  82  has a pull rod  85  therein. The top of rod  85  has an o-ring  86 , a ferrule  87  and a spring  88 . The bottom of pull rod  85  has a plug  90  for the vent hole  84 . The bottom of plug  90  has a spring  91 . The bottom of hole  82  has a cover  92  with an o-ring  93 . The main body  70  has a lever member  94  at the same side as hole  82  connecting to a pull rod  95  which coupled to the trigger  48  of the handle  40 . And, the other side of lever member  94  presses the top of the rod  85 . Therefore, when the trigger  48  is pressed, the plug  90  leaves the inlet  84  so that the outside air can enter into the air chamber  71  through the inlet  84 . 
     Referring to FIG. 3, during the rivet-pulling process, when the trigger  48  is pressed by operator, the trigger  48  moves the rod  95  upwardly and the rod  95  displaces the lever member  94  to press down the rod  85 . The rod  85  can move the plug  90  leaving the inlet  84  exposed for outside air to enter into the air chamber  71 . The piston  74  is moved up by the air so that the rod  72  moves up to push oil in the oil path  47 . The oil passes through the oil sleeve  64  to the channel  34  and flows into the opening  10  of head piece  9 . When the oil is pushed by air, the flange  22  of outer sleeve  14  is moved back with the driving sleeve  13  by oil so that the rivet-pulling apparatus  18  is moved back by the driving sleeve  13 . And, when the trigger  48  does not have any force, the springs  88  and  91  can go back to a no compression state, returning the rod  85  and plug  90  to their original position. During the decreasing air pressure, the spring  25  pushes the flange  22  of outer sleeve  14  returning the driving sleeve  13  and rivet-pulling apparatus  18  to their original position. The flange  22  forces the oil to flow from the opening  10  through the oil sleeve  64  to the oil path  47 . Therefore, the rod  72  and piston  74  are moved to their original state by the oil. 
     Refer to FIGS. 4A and 4B, when the rivet-pulling process is not being carried out, the opening  10  of head piece  9 , channel  34  and oil sleeve  64  do not fill with oil. When the rivet-pulling apparatus  18  clips on to the center rod  98  of rivet  97  at two plate components  96 , the operator presses the trigger  48  leading the oil to push the flange  22  which pushes the driving sleeve  13  and rivet-pulling apparatus  18  move back, refer to the arrow direction. The head of rivet  97  expands to break the center rod  98  by the rivet-pulling process so that the plate components  96  are joined by rivet. 
     Refer to FIGS. 5 and 6, the rotatable head  9  can rotate to accommodate the operational situation. Furthermore, the riveter can change the rivet-pulling apparatus to, for example, a nut-pulling apparatus  99 , an anchor riveting apparatus, a bolt-pulling apparatus. 
     The air over oil riveter of the present invention discloses two rotatable members placed between the head piece and handle for providing a rotatable head of the riveter. The present invention improves the conventional riveter which cannot rotate the head thereof. Furthermore, the present invention can change the rivet-pulling apparatus to, for example, a nut pulling apparatus  99 , which connects on the joint  17 . 
     Refer to FIGS. 7A,  7 B and  7 C, as the user works on the combination of the plate components, the nut-pulling apparatus  99  shown in FIG. 6 can be replaced with an anchor riveting apparatus  100  by releasing the nut-pulling apparatus  99  from the joint  17 . The anchor riveting apparatus  100  includes an inner sleeve  110  and an outer sleeve  120  which is separately tightened to the joint  17  and the front of head piece  9 . The inner sleeve  110  is mounted into the outer sleeve  120  by a pin  130  which is positioned into the positioning hole  122  of the outer sleeve  120  and the sliding groove  112  of the inner sleeve  110 . The inner sleeve  110  can easily slide inside the outer sleeve  120 . A gap  114  of the inner sleeve  110  is then fitted into the gap  124  of the outer sleeve  120 . The head of the central shaft  142  of the anchor rivet  140  is then positioned inside the inner sleeve  110  through the gap  114  and  124 . The anchor rivet  140  is then mounted into the anchor riveting apparatus  100 . 
     Referring to FIG. 8, as the operator grips the trigger  48 , the flowing oil pushes the flange  22  and the driving sleeve  13  to move backwards. The movement of the driving sleeve  13  pulls the anchor riveting apparatus  100  to move backwards and pulls the center shaft  142  of the anchor rivet  140  back to deform the outer sleeve  146  of the anchor rivet  140  (the direction of the movement is shown by the arrow in the figure).