Patent Publication Number: US-6701810-B2

Title: Radiator cap tool

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 09/903,271 Jul. 12, 2001, now abandoned. 
    
    
     GOVERNMENT INTEREST 
     The invention described here may be made, used and licensed by The United Sates government for all governmental purposes without paying us any royalty. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     In one aspect this invention relates to automotive tools. More particularly it relates to tools used to remove radiator caps. 
     2. Prior Art 
     In general many different radiator cap removal devices have been proposed. They range from relatively simple to quite complex. One example of a simple structure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,025. This device shows a single piece tool with a hollow handle that can be gripped by hand and a flanged hollow face. The flange is formed with a recess in the flange, the recess being shaped with openings and indentations so as to grip a radiator cap. The device allows a cap to be removed and the flange covering the cap will provide a measure of protection. 
     A second device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,327 which has a U-shaped bail attached to a base with screws that can be used to attach the device to a radiator cap for removal. The U-shaped bail provides a good griping device that can provide a substantial amount of torque to the radiator cap for removal. 
     Yet a third structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,493. This device has elongated tongs with a shaped cap enclosing, gripping jaws on one end. This device allows a cap to be gripped and turned from a distance of up to several feet. 
     The prior art devices provide a variety of different means to grip and remove a radiator cap having various degrees of adjustment and substantial robustness. What is desired is a strong robust tool, which can be adjusted to closely fit a wide range and style of radiator caps. The tool can be formed so it can be engaged by a common socket wrench to provide good twisting action to the radiator cap and thereby remove the cap. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Briefly the present invention is an improved robust radiator cap tool. It comprises a base member having a socket drive member disposed on one side, the socket drive member being adapted to receive the drive portion of a socket handle to allow a twisting motion to be applied to the socket drive member. A pair of adjustable detents are disposed on the side of the base member opposite the socket drive, the detents extending orthogonally to the base member to form a gap on the side of the base member opposite the ratchet drive member. The detents are mounted on the base member so as to be adjustable to vary the gap so it can snuggly grip a variety of different diameter radiator caps. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the accompanying drawing: 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of this invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of a second embodiment of this invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 is a side view of another embodiment of this invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a top view of the embodiment of FIG. 5; and 
     FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the detent mechanism used in FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to the accompanying drawing in which like numerals refer to like parts and initially to FIG. 1, a radiator cap removal tool according to this invention is designated generally as  10 . The tool  10  has a base member  12  with a socket drive  14  disposed on one side or surface which has a square aperture  16  formed to receive the drive portion of a socket wrench handle. Such wrench handles are known in the art and further description is omitted in the interest of brevity since they form no part of this invention. 
     The base member  12  has at least one rectangular aperture on each side of the socket drive. As shown in FIG. 1, there are a plurality of rectangular apertures  18  which are arranged in a spaced linear array and equally divided on either side of the socket drive. As shown in FIG. 2, there are three rectangular apertures  18  disposed on each side of the socket drive  14 . The rectangular apertures  18  have a small depression  20  on one sidewall for use as will be explained later. 
     The radiator cap removal tool has a pair of pins  22 , formed with a rectangular cross section complimentary to the cross section of apertures  18 , attached to the base  12 . Each pin  22  is formed with a head  24  and has the head attached to a line  26 , the line being attached to an anchor post  28 , one anchor post being associated with each set of apertures  18 . The anchor posts  28  are located on opposite sides of the drive socket  14  on the same face of the base member  12 . The pins  22  have a spring-loaded, ball  30  of standard design, which will engage sidewall depression  20 , when the pin  22  is inserted into rectangular aperture  18 , the ball  30  serving to firmly hold the pins  22  in place. The pins  22  are of sufficient length that when they are inserted into the rectangular apertures  18  they will extend through the base member  12  and form detents extending orthogonally from the base member  12  on the side of the base member opposite the socket drive  14 . The resulting spaced detents extend from the base  12  and form a gap. The pins  22  will be positioned in the rectangular apertures  18  so as to span the diameter of a particular radiator cap (not shown) to be removed, but small enough to firmly engage the lobes extending from the periphery of such caps when the base member  12  is rotated. The provision of a plurality of rectangular apertures  18  allows the pins  22  to be mounted in the base member  12  so the gap will fit snuggly and grip a wide variety of radiator cap sizes and shapes. 
     A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In this embodiment, the base member  12  has two axially aligned, elongated rectangular slots  31  formed along the longitudinal axis of the base member. The socket drive  14  is disposed on one side of the base member  12  located between the rectangular slots  31 . A pair of pintles  32  are mounted on base member  12  one pintle being associated with each of the rectangular slots  31  and being located near opposite ends of the base member. Thus, the pintles  32  are mounted juxtaposed the ends of the slots furthest from the socket drive  14 . Pintles  32  are formed with an aperture  34  having its axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rectangular slot  31 . Each pintle  32  has an elongated threaded drive  36  journaled in its aperture  34 , the threaded drive having its longitudinal axis parallel to the surface of the base plate, and the rectangular slot  31 . 
     Each elongated threaded drive  36  has an associated moveable pin  38 , with a threaded aperture  40  the aperture&#39;s threads being complimentary to and mateing with threaded drive  36 . The pins  38  have a rectangular cross-section that allows longitudinal movement of the pins  38  within the associated rectangular slot  31 . The pins  38  cross section allows its longitudinal movement along the slot  31  but prevents the pin  38  from twisting within the slot when a force is applied to one side of the pin as might happen when a twisting force is applied to a radiator cap when used. The pins  38  extend orthoganally from the threaded drive  36  through the slot  31  and project beyond the base member  12  extending so as to form a gap between the pins on the side of the base member  12  opposite the socket drive  14 . 
     The gap between the pins  38  can be modified by rotating the threaded drive  36  using a knurled head  42  which moves the pins  38  longitudinally along the slot  31  to the desired spacing. That portion of the pins  38  extending past the base member  12  act as the adjustable detents of this embodiment which can be used to engage the lobes on a radiator cap. The use of threaded drives  36  as shown will allow the gap to be adjusted with infinite variability between the widest and narrowest positions. 
     Turning to FIGS. 5,  6  and  7 , a third embodiment of the invention is presented. In this embodiment, the base  12  has two cruciate slots  50  formed with their longitudinal axes aligned with the longitudinal axis of the base member  12 . A plurality of paired cross arms  52  extend orthogonally outward from the longitudinal axis of the cruciate slot  50 . The cruciate slots  50  shown are formed with three sets of the paired arms  52  which provide three separate and distinct points for placement of a spring loaded pin  54  on each side of the drive socket  14 . This structure will provide several different spring pin  54  positions. 
     The detailed structure of an individual spring-loaded pin  54  is shown in greater detail in FIG.  7 . The spring-loaded pin  54  has a rectangular center portion  56  adapted to fit and move easily along the longitudinal axis of the cruciate slot  50 . The center portion  56  has a crossbeam  58  mounted thereon the crossbeam having rectangular openings. The cross beam  58  is larger than the cruciate slot so as to prevent the pin from passing through the base  12  once the spring loaded pin  54  is positioned in the base  12 . A further support plate  60  having rectangular openings is attached to the crossbeam  58 , the support plate having openings, which correspond to the openings in cross beam  58 . 
     A pair of moveable, spring loaded legs  62  are disposed with one leg on each side of center portion  54 . The legs  62  extend parallel to the center portion  56  and are biased outwards away from the center portion by associated springs  64  one spring being attached to each leg  62 . The spring loaded pin  54  is sized so the spring loaded legs  62  can be collapsed and moved to a position near center portion  54  to reduce the cross sectional area allowing the entire structure to be moved longitudinally along the cruciate slot  50  to another position where the cross arms  52  extend outward and are then released the arms  62  expanding the cross section of the pin  54  into the cross arms to hold the pin  54  in place. 
     Various alterations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention and it is understood this invention is limited only by the following claims.