Patent ID: 7455302

Claim:
A chuck for use with a manual or powered driver having a drive shaft and a housing, said chuck comprising: a. a generally cylindrical body having a nose section and a tail section, said generally cylindrical chuck body being rotationally fixed to the drive shaft of the driver and said nose section having an axial bore formed therein; b. a plurality of jaws movably disposed with respect to said generally cylindrical body in communication with said axial bore; c. a nut rotatably mounted about said generally cylindrical body and in operative communication with said jaws so that rotation of said nut in a closing direction moves said jaws toward the axis of said axial bore and rotation of said nut in an opening direction moves said jaws away from said axis; d. a catch formed on one of the drive shaft and said generally cylindrical body, said catch comprising a plurality of equally spaced recesses formed about a circumference of said generally cylindrical body tail section; and e. at least one lock body comprising a plurality of balls forward of and rotationally fixed to the driver housing and moveable between a unlocked first position at which said generally cylindrical body is rotatable with respect to the driver housing and a locked second position at which said at least one lock body engages said catch to rotationally lock said generally cylindrical body to the driver housing, wherein said plurality of balls is moveable into and out of engagement with said plurality of recesses such that all balls simultaneously engage said recesses in said locked second position and disengage said recesses in said unlocked first position.