Abstract:
A ratchet device comprises a ratchet body and an adjustable dimension opening member to accommodate varying size bolt heads or nuts. The adjustable dimension opening member is rotationally connected to the ratchet body. In one specific form, the adjustable dimension opening member comprises two opposing arms, with at least one of the arms being translatable toward the other arm thereby adjusting an opening between the two arms. In an alternative form, the adjustable dimension opening member is selectable between two configurations, with one configuration permitting exclusive clockwise rotation relative to the racket body and a second configuration permitting exclusive counterclockwise rotation relative to the racket body.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a tool for removing bolts and nuts, and in particular, a ratcheting tool for bolt or nut removal, which is adjustable to accommodate varying sizes of bolt heads and nuts.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Various tools are used for tightening or loosening bolts and nuts. Two such tools are an open-ended wrench and a close-ended wrench. Both types of wrenches have a specific opening to accommodate corresponding size bolt heads or nuts. In order to accommodate different sizes of bolt heads or nuts, one would need different wrenches having different corresponding opening sizes.  
         [0003]     One advancement over individual open-ended or closed-ended wrenches is a crescent wrench having an adjustable opening to accommodate varying sizes of bolts or nuts, depending on the adjustment of the wrench opening.  
         [0004]     An alternative wrench design to open-ended and closed-ended crescent wrenches is a socket wrench, which includes a ratchet and a socket end for accepting a plurality of different size interchangeable sockets. Each socket is specifically dimensioned to accommodate a specific size bolt head or nut. An advantage of a socket wrench is its ratcheting feature which allows selective movement in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction relative to the handle of the wrench thereby providing for what is know in the art as a “ratcheting action” to allow one to quickly loosen or tighten a bolt or nut.  
         [0005]     A disadvantage of conventional adjustable crescent wrenches is that they do not provide a ratcheting action. Therefore, these wrenches do not allow one to quickly and easily tighten or loosen a bolt or nut by rotating the wrench over a desired arc or degree of rotation around the bolt or nut. A disadvantage with conventional socket wrenches is that, since the sockets are not adjustable, one needs a specific socket for each different size bolt or nut one wishes to adjust. Since bolts and nuts come in variety of different sizes including both English and metric units, one needs to have numerous sockets at his or her disposal in order to accommodate these different sizes of bolts and nuts.  
         [0006]     Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved tool which provides fast and easy bolt and nut removal using an adjustable tool.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention relates to an adjustable tool such as a ratchet device having a ratchet body and an adjustable dimension opening member which accommodates varying sizes of bolt heads or nuts. The adjustable dimension opening member is rotatably connected to the ratchet body. Advantageously, the adjustable dimension opening member is selectively rotatable either clockwise or counterclockwise relative to the body. For example, the adjustable dimension opening member can be selectable between one of two configurations in which one configuration permits exclusive clockwise rotation, and a second configuration permits exclusive counterclockwise rotation, of the adjustable dimension opening member relative to the body.  
         [0008]     In one specific form of the adjustable dimension opening member, the member includes two opposing fork arms in which at least one of the fork arms is translatable towards the other fork arm thereby adjusting an opening between the two fork arms. Advantageously, the adjustable opening between the two fork arms forms or accommodates varying sizes of bolt heads and nuts. In one further form, a thumb wheel is rotatable to move the fork arms together or away from each other.  
         [0009]     In yet another further form, each of the adjustable fork arms has a V-shaped cross-section portion for accommodating varying bolt and nut surfaces. In still another form, each fork arm has a longitudinal channel formed through respective vertices of each V-shaped cross-section portion for accommodating varying bolt and nut surfaces.  
         [0010]     In another form of the present invention, a tool for tightening or loosening bolts or nuts includes an adjustable dimension opening member having two opposing fork arms. At least one of the fork arms is translatable towards the other fork arm thereby adjusting an opening between the two fork arms. Each fork arm has a V-shaped cross-section portion. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a plan view of an adjustable ratchet in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the ratchet of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the ratchet of  FIG. 1  taken along line  3 - 3 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of an adjustable dimension opening member of the adjustable ratchet in  FIG. 3  taken along line  4 - 4 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is an exploded view of the ratchet of the view in  FIG. 2 ; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is an exploded view of a ratchet in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , ratchet  10  includes a handle  12  which forms the body of the ratchet and an adjustable opening member in the form of two opposing adjustable fork arms  20 ,  22 . The fork arms  20 ,  22  are disposed in housing  14  which is selectively rotatable either clockwise or counterclockwise relative to the handle  12 .  
         [0019]     Handle  12  is formed from two exterior handle members  12   a ,  12   b  and two intermediate handle members,  12   c ,  12   d . A plurality of rivets  15  are disposed in a respective one of a plurality of holes  17  to form the handle  12 .  
         [0020]     Handle  12  can be modified to include a tool bit tray for accommodating various tool bits such as screw driver bits or hex bits. Further, the handle  12  can be modified to include a tool bit holder extending in the longitudinal direction of the handle, at the end of the handle opposite the fork arms  20 , 22 . The tool bit holder accommodates various tool bits including those which can be disposed in the tool bit tray.  
         [0021]     Cog  16  is affixed to housing  14 . Rocker  18  is pivotally disposed between exterior handle member  12   a  and exterior handle member  12   b  about rivet  11  which pass through bore  13 . Rocker  18  is selectable between one of two positions. In a first position, as depicted in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , rocker surfaces  18   a ,  18   b  abut one of a plurality of cog surfaces  16   a ,  16   b  respectively. As a result of the abutting surfaces, housing  14  can rotate exclusively counterclockwise as depicted by arrow  19  but not clockwise i.e., a direction opposite of arrow  19 . In this configuration, since the housing  14 , which holds the adjustable member, is fixed with respect to the handle  12 , one can use the ratchet  10  to tighten a bolt or nut as will be discussed in further detail below.  
         [0022]     In an alternate configuration (not shown), rocker  18  is pivoted along rivet  11  such that rocker surfaces  18   c  and  18   d  abut cog surfaces  16   a ,  16   b , respectively. In this configuration, housing  14  is permitted to turn clockwise in a direction opposite to that of arrow  19 . In this configuration, the ratchet  10  can be used to loosen a bolt or nut.  
         [0023]     Axel  24  is disposed in axel bore  26  and fixed to fork  20 , on one end, and slidingly disposed through axel bore  28  of fork arm  22 , on the other end. Thumb screw  30  includes threads  32 ,  34  which are complementary to threaded bores  36 ,  38  of fork arms  20 ,  22 , respectively. Rotation of thumb wheel  30  causes fork arms  20 ,  22  to move towards or away from each other as fork arm  22  slides along axel  24 . As a result of the rotation of thumb wheel  30 , the fork arms  20 ,  22  form a variably sized dimension opening to accommodate varying sizes of bolt heads and nuts.  
         [0024]     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , fork arms  20 ,  22  have a broad V-shaped cross-section with a longitudinal channel  40 ,  42  formed through respective vertices of each V-shaped cross-section portion of fork arms  20 ,  22 , respectively. Fork arm surfaces  20   a - 20   e  and  22   a - 22   e  are adapted to make contact with various surfaces of a bolt head or nut to be adjusted. For example, an apex or corner of a bolt head or nut may be located within the longitudinal channel  40 ,  42  with other bolt head/nut surfaces making contact with selected portions of surfaces  20   a ,  20   e ; and  22   a ,  22   e . Alternatively, if the bolt head or nut is partially stripped, surfaces  20   b ,  20   c ,  20   e  or  22   b ,  22   c ,  22   d  may make physical contact with the bolt head or nut. Rotation of thumb screw  30 , as described above, permits fine adjustment of the fork arms  20 ,  22  so that the surfaces  20   a - 20   e  and  22   a - 22   e  make a sufficiently tight fit around the head of a bolt or nut to permit its tightening or loosening.  
         [0025]     In an alternative embodiment to the one depicted, fork arms  20 ,  22  may not include a longitudinal channel  40 , 42  and instead, each fork arm forms a true V-shaped vertex.  
         [0026]     As noted above, fork arms  20 ,  22 , include surfaces  20   a ,  20   e  and  22   a ,  22   e , respectively, which make contact with a non-striped bolt head or nut. Consequently, the ratchet  10  would be referred to as a four point wrench, with each fork arms  20 ,  22  making contact with two surfaces of a bolt head or nut for a total of four points of contact. In alternative embodiments, the fork arms  20 ,  22  can be modified to have additional surfaces which make contact with a bolt head or nut to be adjusted. For example, the fork arms  20 ,  22  may each include one or two additional surfaces which make contact with a bolt head or nut thereby forming a six and an eight point wrench, respectively. Alternatively, the fork arms  20 , 22  together may have any number of points as desired including twelve or sixteen points.  
         [0027]     In yet an alternative embodiment, the length of the fork arms  20 ,  22  can be lengthened to accommodate the adjustment of bolts and nut which may not be accessible with a shorter fork arm length.  
         [0028]     In use, ratchet  10  is adjustable to accommodate varying sizes of bolt heads or nuts to be tightened or loosened. A user adjusts the rocker  18  to select between a tightening configuration or a loosening configuration of the ratchet  10 . Thumb wheel  30  is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise until the fork arms  22  form a desired opening size to accommodate a bolt head or nut to be tightened or loosened. Subsequently, ratchet  10  is used like a conventional socket wrench to tighten or loosen a bolt or nut.  
         [0029]     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , where like elements are numbered the same as in the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-5  but increased by  100 , in an alternative embodiment, ratchet  110  includes a lever  121  with stem  123 . Step  123  passes through bore  113  and engages the hexagonal surfaces thereof. Rotating lever  121  pivots rocker  118  to thereby select between a clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation of the fork arms  20 ,  22  relative to the handle  120 .  
         [0030]     It will now be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present adjustable ratchet  10  offers advantages and features not found in prior tools. For example, the present ratchet  10  provides an adjustable dimension opening member which accommodates varying sizes of bolt heads and nuts. Further, the present ratchet  10  provides quick and easy ratcheting action to expedite the tightening or loosening of a bolt or nut via its cog and rocker elements.  
         [0031]     Further, the unique and novel design of the fork arms, which includes a V-shaped cross-section and longitudinal channel, accommodates varying bolt and nut surfaces. As a result, the present ratchet is less likely to strip a bolt head or nut and is able to accommodate irregularly shaped bolt heads and nut such as ones that have become previously stripped or worn.  
         [0032]     In addition, the present adjustable ratchet wretch can be composed of different appropriate materials including various steel and alloy materials. Further, the wretches in accordance with the present invention can have various body sizes and handle lengths depending on the desired use and preference.  
         [0033]     Although the invention has been described in considerable detail with respect to preferred embodiments, it will be apparent that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations, apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.