Patent ID: 6976671

Claim:
Toggle-lever clamping device for clamping work pieces, of the type comprising: a box-shaped body having a longitudinal axis; at least one hook-shaped clamping member which partially protrudes from an elongated aperture at a fore end of said box-shaped body, said clamping member being movably supported between a forward disengaging position and a backward clamping position in which it locks a work piece; control means being provided for controlling the clamping member, said control means being operatively connected to the clamping member by an intermediate toggle-lever connecting link, having a longitudinal axis, and an articulated quadrilateral system, said intermediate toggle-lever connecting link having a dead center position, corresponding to a condition of irreversibility of the clamping member movement in its backward clamping position, characterised in that the intermediate toggle-lever connecting link is in the form of an axially yielding flat spring, said flat spring comprising a plurality of side by side arranged elastically yieldable spring sections; and in that the articulated quadrilateral system and the intermediate toggle-lever connecting link are constructed and disposed in such a way as to maintain an irreversible clamping condition of the clamping member to lock the work piece, compensating differences in thickness of the work pieces by means of a corresponding elastic yielding of the intermediate connecting link.