Patent ID: 7708288

Claim:
A chuck for use with a manual or powered driver having a rotatable drive shaft, said chuck comprising: a generally cylindrical body having a nose section and a tail section, said tail section being configured to rotate with said drive shaft and said nose section having an axial bore formed therein; a plurality of jaws movably disposed with respect to said body in communication with said axial bore; a sleeve rotatably mounted about said body in operative communication with said jaws so that rotation of said sleeve in a closing direction moves said jaws toward a longitudinal axis of said axial bore and rotation of said sleeve in an opening direction moves said jaws away from said longitudinal axis; an O-ring disposed adjacent said sleeve, said O-ring lying in a plane that is transverse to said longitudinal axis of said axial bore; and a bearing having a first race adjacent said body, a second race adjacent said sleeve and at least one bearing element disposed between said first race and said second race, one of said first race and said second race defining a ratchet and the other of said first race and said second race defining a pawl biased toward said ratchet; wherein said O-ring exerts a biasing force on said pawl toward said ratchet and wherein said ratchet and said pawl are configured so that when said pawl engages said ratchet, said ratchet and pawl prevent said second race from rotating in said opening direction with respect to said first race.