TOOL HOLDER WITH COILED SPRINGS
Devices, systems and methods for holding devices, including tool holders and/or associated apparatus, that can be attached to various driving mechanisms. Various embodiments can include one or more canted, or slanted, coil springs that are capable of forming to various shapes by the application of a controlled force.
This application is a continuing application of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 15/442,599 entitled “Tool Holder With Coiled Springs,” filed Feb. 24, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/299,923 entitled “Tool Holder With Coiled Springs,” filed Feb. 25, 2016, the disclosures of which are each incorporated by reference herein in their entireties
TECHNICAL FIELDDisclosed are devices, systems and associated methods for holding devices, including tool holders and/or associated apparatus, that can be attached to various driving mechanisms that could be driven by hand, electricity, hydraulic, pneumatic or other forms of driving force. Desirably, such tool holders can accept various types of driven bits such as, but not limited to, a screwdriver, drill, nut driver or chisel. Various embodiments can include one or more canted, or slanted, coil springs that are capable of forming to various shapes by the application of a controlled force.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONTool holders used for inserting screws, drilling holes or revolving various devices or attachments have been used in the workforce for many years. A typical tool holder will desirably have a clearance between the tool and the tool holder (i.e. a shaft of a tool should be smaller than the hole in the tool holder it is being inserted into) so the tool can be easily inserted and removed from the tool holder. Because some attachments need to be precisely held in position without moving, or shaking around (especially when used with robotically controlled machines or precision placement of objects), there have been various products introduced, (i.e. Gao U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,249) that employ a variety of springs, sleeves and balls. In these devices, all of the components must typically be precisely machined so that the holder works as intended. Since many manufacturers produce such tools and/or tool holders, these manufacturers often use a wide variety of tolerancing for their devices, and thus there is often the chance that some of the tools and/or tool holders may not be held as precisely as intended or desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention includes a tool holder that employs one or more elastic and/or deformable peripheral member(s) in conjunction with other elements to engage tools, tool shafts, bits and/or driven members of varying shapes, sizes and/or configurations. In various embodiments, these elements, and the varying configurations and arrangements thereof, can replicate many features of prior art tool holding devices using fewer components, at lower cost and/or with less demanding machining and manufacturing requirements. In addition, various embodiments may allow a single tool holder design to accommodate multiple shapes of tool shafts and tools (i.e., both square drive and hex drive sockets using the same tool holder).
The present invention will be more understood in the detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments of the disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that these various embodiments are illustrative only and are not intended to be limiting in any way. In addition, for clarity purposes, not all of the routine features of the embodiments described herein may be shown or described for every alternative embodiment. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily appreciate that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions may be required or desirable to achieve specific design objectives. These design objectives may vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another, and the variations thereof are contemplated and included in the present disclosure.
Function
The intended use of the various embodiments of the tool holder with coiled springs is for holding, driving, moving and/or rotating a variety of attachments in order to drill, thread, drive, rotate, impact and/or place various components or other devices. Such tool holders can be utilized in conjunction with a wide variety of tools, including rotary, reciprocating and/or oscillating-type tools and tool drivers, as well as tools and/or tool holders of various designs that might benefit from the tool holding features described herein.
Components
Those of ordinary skill in the art should realize that the various embodiments described herein are illustrative only, are not intended to be limiting in any way and can be combined and subtracted to fit the specific needs during surgery or other procedures.
Desirably, the overall dimensions and/or thickness or width and/or diameters of the invention (as well as the various components of the invention) can be customized and/or particularized to an individual use.
Specifications
The various embodiments disclosed herein can include a variety of components and component arrangements. With comparison to the holding devices disclosed in the Gao patent (U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,249), for example, at least one embodiment of a tool holder disclosed herein can include various components that replace three spherical balls, two sliding collars, and a compression spring of the Gao device to radially and axially stabilize the tool in the body, or tool holder. In various embodiments, a single component, such as a canted, or slanted, coil spring, can be used in place of such multiple component assemblies described in Gao, to stabilize a wider variety of tools and/or tool types than those allowed by the Gao devices.
As depicted in
As depicted in
The body 150 can include surfaces 1504 and 1506 that provide a desired clearance for the surfaces 1103 and 1111 of the collar 110. The body 150 may also include elongated access holes 1502 that can allow a canted coil spring 120, or portions thereof, to pass into and/or through the holes. A chamfered surface 1505 can be provided that helps to align and/or guide a tool 100 into the body 150. If desired, the body can include female square driving surfaces 1503 that can mate with various surfaces on the tool, such as the male square driving surfaces 1003 depicted in the tool 100 of
Also shown on the body 150 (see
Though the body 150 and tool 100 show a cannulated, or through, diameter 1507 and 1004 respectively for the passage of guide wires, in alternative embodiments such features may not be absolutely necessary for the proper function of the invention.
As best seen in
As best seen in
Another embodiment of a tool holder 20 constructed in accordance with various teaching of the present invention is depicted in
Another alternative embodiment of a tool holder 30 constructed in accordance with various teaching of the present invention is depicted in
Another alternative embodiment of a tool holder 40 constructed in accordance with various teaching of the present invention is depicted in
Referring to
Although the figures in these drawings show two deflections of the spring 125, and two sets of corresponding engagement features on the body 155 and collar 170, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that these disclosed engagement and locking locations could alternatively be accomplished using only one deflection of the spring 145 and one corresponding set of features on the body 155 and collar 170. In a similar manner, those of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that such actions could also be accomplished with more than two deflections of the spring 125 and/or more than two sets of features on the body 155 and collar 170.
In addition, the disclosed embodiment of a tool holder 50 also depicts cleaning or flushing ports 1713, which are radially placed around the collar 170, in order to easily flush the tool holder 50 from foreign matter and/or to lubricate the tool (if desired). Those of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that similar features could be added to various components in the other embodiments described herein, including tool holders 10, 20, 30 and 40.
Alternative Configurations
The various components described herein may be formed in a variety of shapes, sizes and/or configurations. For example, the embodiments may be formed in a variety of shapes and configurations, which will desirably facilitate the use of various shaped tools. Similarly, the various features described herein could include features that are unique to specific attachments without departing from the spirit or essential character of the invention.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEThe entire disclosure of each of the publications, patent documents, and other references referred to herein is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes to the same extent as if each individual source were individually denoted as being incorporated by reference.
EQUIVALENTSThe invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The foregoing embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects illustrative rather than limiting on the invention described herein. The scope of the invention is thus intended to include all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the descriptions provided herein.
Many of the aspects and advantages of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated by reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrating embodiments of the present invention and together with the description, disclose the principles of the invention.
Although the foregoing inventions have been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings of this invention that certain changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure herein.
Claims
1. A tool holder assembly for connecting a rotary tool to a rotary tool driver, the rotary tool including a shaft having a shaft end and a shaft diameter, the tool holder comprising:
- a body including a first end configured to connect to a rotary tool driver and a second end configured to receive the rotary tool, the body including a generally cylindrical bore and at least one opening extending through a lateral wall of the body;
- a locking sleeve extending around at least a portion of the body, the locking sleeve slidable along a longitudinal axis of the body from a first position to a second position;
- a first canted coil spring disposed within the generally cylindrical bore at a location proximate to the second end of the body, a portion of the first canted coil spring extending through the at least one opening;
- wherein the portion of the first canted coil spring is not deformed by the locking sleeve when the locking sleeve in in the first position and the portion of the first canted coil spring is deformed by the locking sleeve when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
2. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, wherein the deformed portion of the first canted coil spring directly engages with and rotationally locks the shaft of the rotary tool within the generally cylindrical bore when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
3. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, further comprising a longitudinally extending spring positioned between the body and the locking sleeve, the longitudinally extending spring biasing the locking sleeve towards the second position.
4. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, wherein an inner diameter of at least a first portion of the first canted coil spring is smaller than the shaft diameter of the rotary tool.
5. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, wherein an inner diameter of at least a portion of the first canted coil spring is smaller than the shaft diameter of the rotary tool when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
6. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, further comprising a second canted coil spring disposed within the generally cylindrical bore at a location distal from the second end of the body.
7. The tool holder assembly of claim 6, wherein an inner diameter of at least a portion of the second canted coil spring is smaller than the shaft diameter of the rotary tool when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
8. The tool holder assembly of claim 7, further comprising a longitudinally extending spring positioned between the body and the locking sleeve, the longitudinally extending spring biasing the locking sleeve towards the second position.
9. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, further comprising a laterally extending inner surface within the generally cylindrical bore which engages with and rotationally drives a corresponding outer surface on the shaft of the rotary tool.
10. The tool holder assembly of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the generally cylindrical bore has a non-circular cross-section.
11. A collet for connecting a rotary tool to a rotary tool driver, the rotary tool including a shaft having a shaft end and a shaft diameter, the collet comprising:
- a body including a first end configured to connect to a rotary tool driver and a second end configured to receive the rotary tool, the body including a central bore and first and second lateral openings extending completely through a peripheral wall of the body, the first and second lateral openings longitudinally spaced apart from each other;
- a sleeve extending around at least a portion of the body, the sleeve slidable on the body from a first position to a second position;
- a first canted coil spring disposed within the central bore at a location proximate to the second end of the body, a portion of the first canted coil spring extending through the at least one opening; and
- a second canted coil spring disposed within the central bore at a location distal from the second end of the body, a portion of the second canted coil spring extending through the second lateral opening.
12. The collet of claim 11, wherein the portion of the first canted coil spring is compressed by the sleeve when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
13. The collet of claim 11, wherein the portion of the second canted coil spring is compressed by the sleeve when the sleeve is in the second position.
14. The collet of claim 11, wherein the portion of the first canted coil spring and the portion of the second canted coil spring are each deformed by an inner surface of the sleeve when the sleeve is in the second position.
15. The collet of claim 14, wherein the deformed portion of the first canted coil spring directly engages with and locks a portion of the shaft of the rotary tool within the central bore when the sleeve is in the second position.
16. The collet of claim 13, wherein the shaft of the rotary tool further includes a reduced diameter portion proximate to the shaft end, and the portion of the second canted coil spring is compressed at least partially into the reduced diameter portion when the sleeve is in the second position.
17. The collet of claim 11, wherein the portion of the first canted coil spring contacts an inner surface of the sleeve when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
18. The collet of claim 17, wherein the portion of the first canted coil spring is elastically deformed by contact with the sleeve when the locking sleeve is in the second position.
19. The tool holder assembly of claim 11, wherein a transverse cross-section of at least a portion of the central bore is non-circular.
20. The tool holder assembly of claim 11, further comprising an inner surface portion within the central bore which engages with and rotationally drives a corresponding outer surface of the shaft proximate to the shaft end of the rotary tool.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 15, 2019
Publication Date: Dec 5, 2019
Inventor: James A. Rinner (Franksville, WI)
Application Number: 16/541,625