Improvements in or relating to Screw Drivers.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Feb., 1893—Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Screw Drivers.
I, CHARLES FITZHENRY HILL of St. Denys House, Southampton, in the
County of Hants, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an attachment for screw drivers which may be specially
adapted to the particular screw driver or may be fitted to existing screw drivers,
the object being to hold the screw while it is being driven.
The attachment may consist of a spring device presenting jaws which may be
placed over the point of the screw driver in such a manner that the screw may be
placed between the jaws and brought up so that the point of the screw driver
enters the nick of the screw. The device may be secured in any convenient way
to the screw driver as by a wing nut or screw and if desired another wing nut or
screw may be employed for drawing the jaws nearer together so as to grip the
screw; if spring jaws are employed the second screwing device would not be
needed.
With the arrangement above described this device may be attached to an
ordinary screw driver by merely drilling and tapping a hole therein into which the
thumb screw enters and secures the device in place.
The attachment however may be so constructed as to slip on to the screw driver
and slide upon it especially where the screw driver is constructed especially to
accommodate the attachment. If desired in all cases the attachment may be so
arranged as to slide or turn out of the way so that the screw driver may be
employed as an ordinary one without using the attachment. A projection or knob
may be provided upon the attachment for convenience in moving it about.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a screw driver constructed according to this invention
with a screw, shown in position.
Fig. 2 is a side view of the lower part of Fig. 1 and
Fig. 3 is a side view of a similar part of a screw driver, but with the screw
removed and arranged so that it may be used as an ordinary screw driver.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are sections taken respectively on the lines 4-4, 5-5 and 6—6
of Fig. 2 and
Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 3 the screw driver being omitted in
this figure.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A is the blade which in the ordinary manner is secured in the handle B. C is.
the attachment which is suitably guided by the loops C¹ C² so that it may slide
longitudinally on the blade A which for this purpose may be shaped so as to
present parallel guiding surfaces as shown in Fig. 1.
A' is a stud or guiding eye secured in the blade A. and through which a wire C³
is capable of sliding in the direction of its length, this wire C3 being secured in the
stud or projection (secured to the attachment C. D is a spring which by
bearing at its ends against the studs A and C tends always to push the
attachment C³ towards the handle B. The lower part of the attachment C is
preferably first bent outwards away from the screw driver as shown in Figs. 2 & 3
and then towards and beneath it, its end being slotted as at C³ so that a screw may
be passed through the slot to the countersunk hole C which accommodates the
head of the screw, the lower part C' of the attachment C, which part is herein-
after referred to as the claw, may be transversely recessed as at C so as to
accommodate a wider screw driver than that to which it is shown applied in the

page_text: drawings. These recesses C8 however may be omitted should there be sufficient
room in the hole C for the end of the screw driver to pass through it in the
manner shown in Fig. 3. The end of the claw C may as shown be bevelled off.
C' is a lug or projection against which the user of the screw driver may press his
thumb when it is necessary to raise the screw driver from the claw C' for the
purpose of getting a screw into or out of the countersunk hole C*.
In using the before described screw driver the thumb is pressed against C' and a
screw is placed into the position shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6, the pressure of the
thumb then being removed from C so that the end of the screw driver may engage
with the head of the screw, the slot having been for this purpose presented in a
proper direction which in the accompanying drawings is transverse to the claw C',
the screw may then, without further holding be driven into the hole to receive it
and when driven so far that the underside of claw C nearly approaches the surface
of the material into which it is screwed, the operator by pressing his thumb
against C raises the screw driver out of the slot of the screw and can then move
the screw driver sideways, the screw at this time passing through the slot or
recess Co.
When the screw driver is thus disengaged from the screw and the
thumb piece C° relieved from pressure, the spring D will move the attachment C
nearer to the handle B in the manner shown in Fig. 3 so that the screw driver
may then be used in the ordinary manner to drive the screw completely home.
J
If desired the attachment instead of being mounted on a screw driver in the
manner before described may be attached to it by means of a winged nut, bolt or
the like or it may otherwise be modified without departing from the spirit of the
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination with a screw driver of an attachment such as C adjustable
thereon in such manner that the screw may be held by it up against the end of the
screw-driver without assistance from the operator or it may assume or be moved
to such a position that the screw driver may be used in the ordinary manner
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination with a screw driver of a spring controlled attachment such
as C having a claw shaped and slotted end such as C5 C C7 and a projection such
as C substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete screw
holding or driving device substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 22nd day of February 1893.
CHARLES FITZHENRY HILL.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.