Tool handle with contoured through passageway and spring biased trigger

• US 4,409,866 A
• Filed: 12/28/1981
• Issued: 10/18/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1981
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Joan Mcbride
• Original Assignee: Joan Mcbride
• Inventors: McBride, Joan
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, James G.
• Application Number:
  US06/334,577
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 145/61 L, 145/64, 81/177 A, 81/438
• US Class Current: 81/177.2
• CPC Class Codes: B25G 1/04 telescopic; extensible; sectional
• CPC Class Codes: B25G 3/18 comprising catches or pawls

Abstract

This invention includes and is directed toward and to a tool handle exemplified in two embodiments. A variety of tool blades can safely be inserted in one end of the tool handle allowing length and leverage heretofore impossible. This feature allows a person to carry the wrench in a closed tool box since the parts disassemble for storage. A ratchet can be inserted in the opposite end of said handle to provide the user with much greater torque to assist in many difficult jobs. The handle has a through passageway substantially along its longitudinal axis. In the passageway there is formed at least one flat surface with the passageway sized to snugly retain the shank of a tool. The tool handle includes a body provided with a trigger having two legs, one of which has an aperture which is moved in way of the passageway to allow the shank of the tool to be moved therein and therethrough. The trigger is biased outwardly to bring a portion of the trigger in way of one of a series of slots or detents formed in the tool shank and locking said shank in the selected position. The trigger is limited in its outward movement and against loss by a retaining pin secured in the handle and arranged to engage the other leg of the trigger and limit the outer travel of the trigger.

Claims

1. A tool handle having a through passageway adapted for securing a selected and inserted shank portion of a tool, said tool handle sized for grasping and manipulating by a user and when grasped having a trigger mechanism incorporated in and extending from said handle and as and when actuated to allow insertion, adjustment and/or withdrawal of said shank portion of a tool in said passageway, said shank portion of the tool characterized as having a substantially uniform cross section in that portion that is insertable and carried by the through passageway in the tool handle, a plurality of substantially alike grooves formed in said tool shank portion of a tool slidable and removably mountable in the passageway in the tool handle, these grooves substantially alike and selectively spaced at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis of the tool, said tool handle and trigger mechanism including:

(a) a tool handle body member having a through passageway which is generally parallel with or is in coincidence with the longitudinal axis of said body member, said passageway having a generally uniform cross section therethrough and with at least one flat surface therein said passageway disposed to slidably receive and retain a shank portion of a tool so as to provide a contiguous relationship of these surfaces so that in mounted condition the shank portion of a tool is positively turned and moved with and by manipulation of the tool handle body member;

(b) a trigger carried in and by said tool handle, this trigger having a generally U-shape including two extending leg portions and with a first forward leg portion longer than the other, said first longer leg portion having an aperture formed therethrough, said aperture shaped and sized to slidably pass a shank portion of a tool insertable and movable in said passageway, this first longer leg portion of the trigger disposed to be slidable and guided in a slot formed in the tool handle body member, said slot and first leg portion extending transversely of and through said passageway, this trigger also having a second leg portion spaced from said first leg portion, this second leg portion a shorter leg portion substantially parallel to the first longer leg portion and slidable and guidable in a second slot formed in the tool handle body member;

(c) bias means carried by and in the tool handle body member and providing an outwardly directed bias;

(d) a bridge portion disposed and extending between said extending first and second leg portions, this bridge portion adapted to receive and retain said bias means so as to move said trigger outwardly, and

(e) restraining means fixedly carried by the tool handle and disposed to engage said second trigger leg portion while permitting inward movement of the first and second leg portions of the trigger in said guide and retaining slots to bring said aperture in the first leg portion of the trigger in way of the through passageway in the tool handle so that an insertable portion of a portion of a tool shank may be moved in and out of the passageway and with said restraining means including a small metal pin mounted in a hole formed in the tool handle body and with said metal pin engaging compatible means formed in said second leg portion, this restraining means adapted to inhibit and limit the outward movement of the trigger while retaining the trigger in and on the tool handle body member and to prevent loss of said trigger and bring the lower portion of the first leg and the form aperture therethrough in way of and into a groove to lock the shank portion of a tool in the desired position in the passageway of the tool handle body member.

2. A tool handle as in claim 1 in which said second leg portion is also provided with an elongated aperture through which said small metal pin is passed to provide the retaining means and to control the outward exten of movement of the trigger.

3. A tool handle as in claim 2 in which the metal pin is a straight pin mountable in a drilled hole formed in the tool handle body member.

4. A tool handle as in claim 2 in which the metal pin is L-shaped with the longer leg portion of said L-shaped pin mountable in a drilled hole in the tool handle body member and the short leg of the L-shaped pin is adapted for moving into and retention is provided in a substantially right angle recess formed in the outer surface of the tool handle body member.

5. A tool handle as in claim 1 in which said bias means to move the trigger outwardly is a compression spring carried in a recess formed in the tool handle body member intermediate the first and second legs of the trigger.

6. A tool handle as in claim 1 in which said bias means to move the trigger outwardly is a resilient rubber-like plug carried in a recess formed in the tool handle and intermediate the first and second legs of the trigger.

7. A tool handle as in claim 1 in which the second rear leg portion is formed with a turned end which is substantially normal to the plane of said second leg and the metal pin is transversely carried in said formed hole in the tool handle, said hole and the pin mounted therein adapted to be adjacent to said second leg portion as it is moved and with the mounted pin engaging turned end portion thereof to provide therewith an outer limiting stop.