IMPROVEMENTS IN SPANNERS OR WRENCHES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Andrew Comber at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th July 1873.
:
I, WILLIAM ANDREW COMBER, of Leeds, in the County of York,.
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPANNERS OR WRENCHES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the production of an improved spanner
or wrench, which in the first place is self-adjusting, that is, which has
its jaws so arranged that immediately any pressure is put on the handle
of the spanner the jaws will adjust themselves to the size of the object
placed between them in such a manner that the grip of the jaws will be
in exact proportion to the pressure of the handle.
Secondly, when made specially for nuts, bolt heads, or other articles
having parallel sides or surfaces, the jaws will grip the said sides instead
of the corners, as is now the case with nut spanners mostly in use.
And thirdly, the improved jaws will take up as little room as the
common spanner.

page_text: These objects I carry into effect by means of jaws made to turn
simultaneously round the same centre or pin in opposite directions, so
as to approach to or recede from each other, they are acted upon by a
lever or handle formed and arranged so as to press them apart or
together as above described; one jaw is made by two cheeks or plates
of iron made exactly alike, with two pin holes in each of them, the other
jaw is made of one cheek or plate of iron, which is placed and works
between the two cheeks of the other jaw, having a pin hole for a pin,
which also enters the two cheeks constituting the other jaw as before
described.
Beyond the pin hole and in an opposite direction to the jaw the plate
of the solid jaw is continued in the shape of a taper lever with rounded
end, which projects a little more than half way from the pin to the
second pin holes in the two cheeks of the other jaw. A handle with pin
hole and two taper lever pieces similar to a fork projecting beyond, it is
then inserted between the two cheeks, a pin going thro' the three, which
allows of the handle to work freely round it and press in either direction
by means of the taper lever pieces the lever piece of the solid jaw before
described which is placed between them, and so either open or close the
jaws at will.
The jaws are exactly alike in shape only turned opposite to each other,
and are of such form that when a nut is placed between them the parts
coming in contact with the sides of the nut are rounded points or
extremities, so that it is impossible to obtain any injurious pressure on
the nut edges or corners, and as the jaws close in proportion to the size
of the nut or other article placed between them the lateral space that
they occupy is no more than a spanner or wrench specially made for
that size, and as the jaws only press on the sides without encircling the
nut it is specially adapted for turning and gripping nuts in contracted
spaces.
I also propose to make spanners or wrenches without the self-adjusting
principle, whose jaws are formed of rounded points instead of parallel
faces, so distant from each other as to grip on its parallel faces the
special size of nut they may be intended for, with the distinct purpose of
turning nuts by means of pressure on their faces instead of on their
edges or corners, as is effected by the common form of spanner now
in use.

page_text: I intend also making the jaws of the self-adjusting spanner before
described of such a shape as will grip securely any round articles (such
as pipes) that may be inserted between them, the arrangement being
such that the jaws will open and close between a considerable space, so
that one spanner or wrench so made will be capable of being used for
several sizes of pipes commonly in use.
A peculiar feature of this Invention is the gripping parallel surfaces
(such as as nuts) between rounded points instead of between similar
parallel or straight surfaces, the object being the protection of the edges
or corners of these parallel surfaces from injury, and a further and
important part of the Invention being the making of a self-adjusting
spanner and pipe wrench consisting of two jaws moving round the same
centre in opposite directions, each of these jaws being operated upon by
a handle placed in such a manner as to press them round the said centre
in opposite directions.