Improvements in Adjustable or Shifting Wrenches.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1892-Accepted, 5th Nov., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
WARDWELL, Jr., of
40, Rutland Square, Boston, State of Massachusetts, United States of
America, Inventor.]
[Communicated from abroad by SIMON WILLARD
Improvements in Adjustable or Shifting Wrenches.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, 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 that class of adjustable wrenches used to turn screw-
nuts, and refers more especially to the devices for effecting the adjustment of the
wrench to different sizes of nuts, and to the construction of those parts by
which that adjustment is accomplished. It is fully illustrated in the accompanying
drawings in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the wrench, with a portion of the handle broken
away to show the construction and arrangement of the parts inside.
Fig. 2 is an end view of the outer jaw.
Fig. 3 is a front edge view of the wrench.
Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on the line of Fig. 1.
Figs. 5, 6, 7 & 8, show a modification of the devices for adjusting the wrench
to different sizes of screw-nuts.
This wrench is intended for one of the short, pocket, or kit wrenches, which are
usually shortened up in length as much as possible, by having the movable jaw
and handle in as close proximity to each other as may be, or by making them in
one piece, as in this case.
It consists of the head or outer jaw a', made in the usual monkey-wrench form,
and a shank constructed of two parallel bars ', d', firmly inserted in the jaw a¹,
in the position usually occupied by the rectangular shank of the monkey-wrench.
The other jaw g', usually considered the movable or adjustable one, is preferably
made in one piece, integral with the handle n', which is shaped in the most suitable
form to hold in the hand. This jaw g', and handle n', are preferably made of
steel in one drop forging, with an opening at s, extending through it sideways.
This forging is finished on its outer surface, and has two parallel holes drilled
nearly through it lengthways from the jaw end, the centres of which holes agree
in distance from each other with the centres of the two parallel bars h', d', and
are made of proper size to let these bars slide snugly in them. These two
bars, d', are each milled or turned off, say about two-fifths of their diameters on
their outer sides, or those sides farthest from the centre line between them, so that
these milled surfaces will form parts of the same circle. A screw-thread s¹, is then
made on this outer surface of the two bars, the same as if they were on one bar,
and a circular nut t¹, has a screw-thread made on its inside, to fit in the screw-
thread made on the outer milled surfaces of the two bars, so that the nut will screw
onto the two bars, the same as though they were one bar. As the two parallel
bars, d', are held in the holes in the handles in which they slide, so that they
cannot be brought closer together, the threads on the outer sides, will hold with
great solidity in the threads of the nut. By this arrangement the wrench is made
to utilize the full breadth covered by the two bars, in resisting any strain tending
to open the jaws. This resistance is very much the same as though the two
bars ', d, were made solidly fast in both jaws, for when the wrench is applied to
a nut to turn it, the strain tends to open the jaws and draw the bar h', out of the
handle, which is resisted by the thread in the nut; at the same time the strain

page_text: tends to push the bar d', into the handle, which is also resisted by the thread in
the nut t, which balances the strain of the other bar on the inside of the nut, in the
other direction.
In putting the wrench together, the nut t¹, is inserted in the opening s, in the
handle, and the parallel bars ', d, inserted in their respective holes in the end of
the movable jaw and handle, and pushed down until they reach the nut t', which
is then turned to engage with the screw-thread on the outer sides of the two bars,
and the wrench is ready for use.
In the modification shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 & 8, one of the bars, preferably h, the
one that comes nearest to a nut when the wrench is used, has a screw-thread made
on that end that slides into the handle for about one-half its length, and a round
nut t, has a hole made through it with a screw-thread in it, fitting on the threaded
part of the bar h. The nut t, also has a screw-thread made on its periphery.
agreeing in pitch with the threads inside of the nut, and a portion of the other
parallel bar d, has that side of it toward the bar h, cut away to form a concave
face v, (see Fig. 8) and a section of screw-thread is cut in this concave side
agreeing with the thread on the outside of the nut t, that when that nut is screwed
on to the threaded part of the bar h, the threads on its outside will fully engage
in the threads in the concave side v, of the bar d.
As the two parallel bars h, d, are held in the holes in the handle in which they
slide, so that they cannot spread apart the threads on the outside of the nut, and
the threads on the concave side of the bar d, are held firmly in engagement with
each other. By this arrangement the wrench is made to utilize the full breadth
covered by the two bars, in resisting any strain tending to open the jaws. The
resistance is very much the same as though the two bars h, d, were made solidly fast
in both jaws, for when the wrench is applied to a nut to turn it, the strain tends
to open the jaws and draw the bar h, out of the handle, which is resisted by the
thread in the nut; at the same time the strain tends to push the bar d, into the
handle, which is also resisted by the thread on the outside of the nut t, which
balances the strain of the other bar on the inside of the nut, in the other
direction.
In putting the wrench together, the nut t, is inserted in the opening s, in the
handle, and the parallel bars h, d, inserted in their respective holes in the end of
the movable jaw and handle, and pushed down until they reach the nut t, which
is then turned to engage with the screw on the bar h, and at the same time run the
thread on its periphery into the thread on the concave side of the bar d, and the
wrench is ready for use.
The section of screw-thread made on the concave face of the rod d, and on the
outside of the nut t, may be made ratchet-shape, as shown in the drawing, to
obviate the side thrust of a V-thread.
This makes a very strong wrench, which, from its construction, can be made
mainly of the best stock, bar steel, with the least amount of labor, especially in
the case of the head, jaw and parallel bars, which constitute that portion of the
wrench that has the most of the work to do.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1st. In a wrench, the combination of the following elements; viz., an outer jaw
to which are secured two parallel bars, which extend into the inner jaw and handle,
with means for holding and adjusting them lengthwise in said handle, substantially
as herein specified.
2nd. A wrench having a shank consisting of two parallel bars, in combination
with an adjusting nut having an internal screw-thread fitting into a screw-thread
on one of said bars, and a screw-thread on its outside fitting into a section of
screw-thread made on the concave milled side of the other of said bars, substantially
as specified.

page_text: 3rd. A wrench having a head with a shank consisting of two parallel bars, in
combination with an adjusting nut, having an internal screw-thread simultaneously
fitting into screw-threads made on the outer sides, relatively, of the two bars,
substantially as specified.
4th. A wrench having a head with a shank consisting of two parallel bars
adjustable in a handle, having an inner jaw attached thereto, in combination with
a nut having an internal screw-thread fitting in screw-threads on the outside of
said bars and chambered in said handle, to adjust the bars lengthwise therein,
substantially as specified.
Dated this 21st day of September 1892.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.