Patent Publication Number: US-9889545-B2

Title: Pipe wrench assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Field of the Disclosure 
     The disclosure relates to pipe wrench devices and more particularly pertains to a new pipe wrench device for gripping multiple pipes simultaneously. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a pair of pipe grips. A handle has a front end and a rear end. A housing is attached to the front end of the handle and is attached to each of the pipe grips adjacent to the second ends such that one of the pipe grips includes a receiving opening facing in a first direction and another of the pipe grips includes a receiving opening facing in a second direction. A ratchet drive is mounted in the housing and is mechanically coupled to each of the pipe grips such that the housing is rotatable with respect to the pipe grips. The pipe grips are movable in a ratcheting movement opposite of each other. 
     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 THE DRAWINGS 
       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 top perspective view of a pipe wrench assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a top 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 in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 6  thereof, a new pipe wrench 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 6 , the pipe wrench assembly  10  generally comprises a pair of pipe grips  12 . Each of the pipe grips  12  includes a head  14  having a first end  16 , a second end  18  and a perimeter wall  20  that is attached to and extends between the first  16  and second  18  ends. A fixed jaw  22  is attached to the first end  16  and has teeth  23  facing away from the head  14 . A movable jaw  24  includes an upper jaw  26  and an arm  28  is attached to and extends away from the upper jaw  26 . The arm  28  extends into the first end  16  so that the upper jaw  26  includes teeth  29  facing the teeth  23  of the fixed jaw  22 . The fixed jaw  22  and upper jaw  26  may each include concavely arcuate faces facing each other. An actuator  40  is mounted on the head  14  and is mechanically engaged to the arm  28 . The actuator  40  is actuated in a first direction to move the movable jaw  24  towards the fixed jaw  22  and a second direction to move the movable jaw  24  away from the fixed jaw  22 . The actuator  40  may include a cylinder threadably engaged to the arm  28 . Alternate means to move the arm  28  conventional to wrenches may be utilized as well. 
     A handle  30  has a front end  32  and a rear end  34 . The area adjacent to the rear end  32  defines a grip to be held by a user of the assembly  10 . A housing  36  is attached to the front end  32  of the handle  30  and is in a fixed positioned relative to the handle  30 . Moreover, the handle  30  and the housing  36  may be of unitary construction. The housing  36  is attached to each of the heads  14  adjacent to the second ends  18  such that one of the pipe grips  12  includes a receiving opening  38  facing in a first direction and another of the pipe grips  12  includes a receiving opening  38  facing in a second direction. More particularly, the handle  30  may be horizontally oriented so that one of the receiving openings  38  is directed upwardly while the other one of the receiving openings  38  is directed downwardly. 
     A conventional ratchet drive  42  is mounted in the housing  36 . The ratchet drive  42  is mechanically coupled to each of the heads  14  of the pipe grips  12  such that the housing  36  is rotatable with respect to the pipe grips  12 . The pipe grips  12  are movable in a ratcheting movement opposite of each other. Thus, when the handle  30  is turned around a pipe  44  downwardly, one pipe grip  12  will remained fixed relative to the handle  30  while the other one will be allowed to rotate. When the handle  30  is then turned around the pipe  44  upwardly, the previously fixed pipe grip  12  will rotate relative to the handle  30  while the other one will be fixed. This will allow two pipes to be simultaneously mounted onto a T-fitting with the assembly by holding the T-fitting while the handle  30  is moved up and down relative to the T-fitting. The ratchet drive  42  may include a selector  46  to reverse the pipe grip  12  movements so that each of the pipe grips  12  are selectively pivotable in a first direction or a second direction with respect to the housing  36  when the ratchet drive  42  is actuated. Each of the pipe grips  12  may further be mechanically coupled to a lock  48  to selectively lock the pipe grips  12  with respect to the housing  36 . This will allow the pipe grips  12  to be used simultaneously with a pipe  44  as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     In use, the assembly  10  is used in a conventional manner with respect to pipe wrenches, however, the ratchet drive  42  allows the user to use two pipe grips  12  that pivot independently and opposite of each other to grip two pipes, simultaneously, and rotate them in opposite directions with respect to each other. 
     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.