Patent ID: 7444903

Claim:
A ratchet wrench, comprising: a wrench body having an end portion provided with a mounting hole and a receiving chamber connected to the mounting hole; a ratchet wheel mounted in the mounting hole of the wrench body and having an outer wall provided with a plurality of ratchet teeth; a pawl member defining a top surface and a bottom surface mounted in the receiving chamber of the wrench body having a first side including a first end provided with a plurality of locking teeth extending from the top surface to the bottom surface engaged with the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel successively and completely and a second end provided with a sliding face extending from the top surface to the bottom surface slidable on the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel, said first and second ends defining a whole circumferential length of the first side of the pawl member; an elastic member mounted in the receiving chamber of the wrench body and biased between a peripheral wall of the receiving chamber of the wrench body and a second side of the pawl member to push the pawl member toward the ratchet wheel; wherein the elastic member is located adjacent to the sliding face of the pawl member and the sliding face of the pawl member is located between the elastic member and the locking teeth of the pawl member; wherein the first side of the pawl member is a concave surface which extends through the whole circumferential length of the first side of the pawl member; wherein the sliding face of the pawl member is a concave recessed smooth surface which extends successively and completely through a circumferential length of the second end of the first side of the pawl member that is half of the circumferential length of the first side of the pawl member; and wherein the pawl member is movable relative to the ratchet wheel between a first position where all of the locking teeth of the pawl member are engaged with the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel closely and completely, and the sliding face of the pawl member evades the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel, and a second position where all of the locking teeth of the pawl member are disengaged from the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel, and the sliding face of the pawl member is movable on the ratchet teeth of the ratchet wheel.