Patent ID: 7121169

Claim:
A ratchet mechanism comprising: a case having a first cavity and a second cavity, the first cavity being contiguous to the second cavity and the second cavity having at least a first ramped surface; a main gear that rotatably resides in the first cavity, the main gear including a plurality of teeth; a pawl that rotatably resides in the second cavity, the pawl being shaped to have at least a first catch portion, the pawl being rotatably movable about a pawl axis to at least a first engaged position wherein the first catch portion of the pawl engages at least one of the teeth of the main gear to prevent the main gear from rotating in a first direction and the pawl being rotatable away from the engaged position to permit rotation of the main gear in a second direction opposite the first direction, wherein a bore extends through the pawl along a bore axis that is generally parallel to the pawl axis; and a spring positioned within the bore; a lower contact ball and an upper contact ball, the lower and upper contact balls being positioned at opposite ends of the spring, holding the spring in compression, whereby the spring urges the contact balls away from each other, at least one of the contact balls being urged into contact with the first ramped surface, and wherein the contact being movable along the first ramped surface to rotationally bias the pawl toward the first engaged position.