Abstract: A device includes a body having a plurality of alternating drive regions and corner regions arranged about a central axis for cooperation to define a socket recess having an open outer end and an inner end. Each drive region has a drive surface disposed thereon and confined thereto. At least one drive surface slopes toward the central axis in a first direction generally parallel to the central axis and in a second direction generally traverse to the central axis. The device may be a rotatably driveable device for driving fasteners and the like, wherein the axis is the axis of rotation. The device can be used for retaining and driving a drive member. In one form, a drive member, comprising alternating flats and corners is inserted into the device. The flats of the drive member frictionally engage with at least two of the drive regions, thereby releaseably retaining the drive member in the body. The drive member can be rotated by rotating the body in one of the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions.

Abstract: A ratchet wrench is provided which includes a ratchet head having a part-cylindrical surface with head teeth thereon and an elongated handle hingedly coupled to the head. The handle has first and second handle ends, an axis extending between the ends and an axial first bore opening at the first handle end. The wrench also includes a rod disposed in and moveable within the first bore between an engaged condition engageable with the head teeth for locking the head in a selected position relative to the handle and a non-engaged condition disengaged from the head teeth and accommodating relative movement of the head and handle, and biasing structure for biasing the rod to the engaged condition. The wrench also includes retaining structure coupled to the rod for retaining the rod in its non-engaged condition. The retaining structure may be disposed at several locations relative to the ratchet head.

Abstract: A miniature, adjustable torque limiting screwdriver includes an elongated hollow handle internally threaded at one end. A torque-limiting mechanism is disposed within the handle and includes a rigid shaft having a hex inner end and a plurality of flexible resilient fingers engageable with the hex. An adjusting collar encircles and engages the fingers and is threadedly engaged with the handle for axial movement to adjust the force with which the fingers grip the hex end of the shaft. The outer end of the shaft sockets a driver shank. When the handle is rotated it rotates the shank up to a predetermined torque, at which point the flexible and resilient torque members slip with respect to the drive surface portions of the shaft to prevent further torque application.

Abstract: A linear clamp for releasably engaging an electrical connector is provided. The clamp includes a housing having a hand grip portion and an elongated barrel portion having a longitudinal axis, a fixed jaw carried by the barrel portion, and a moveable member having a moveable jaw thereon axially aligned with and facing the fixed jaw, wherein the longitudinal axis passes through the jaws. The clamp further includes resilient means for urging the moveable jaw toward the fixed jaw, and a lever pivotally connected to the hand grip portion and coupled to the moveable member for linearly moving the moveable jaw along the longitudinal axis away from the fixed jaw.

Abstract: An improved elongated side terminal adapter is of the type for use with a jumper cable clamp. The terminal adapter includes a clamp connecting portion mateably engageable with the jumper cable clamp and a terminal connecting portion having laterally opposing terminal gripping plates disposed substantially in a common plane and cooperating to define an opening therebetween. The gripping plates are laterally resiliently deflectable to facilitate sliding the side terminal adapter onto a side terminal of a battery. A number of terminal engaging prongs bent out of the plane in a first direction and a number of terminal engaging prongs bent out of the plane in a second direction opposite to the first direction are disposed along the opening and are cooperatively arranged to define at least one terminal-receiving slot to facilitate clipping onto the battery side terminal.

Abstract: A cable attachment apparatus for attaching a cable conductor having an outside diameter to a booster cable clamp is provided. The apparatus includes a generally tubular wall defining a receptacle for receiving the cable conductor. The tubular wall has an inside diameter slightly greater than the outside diameter of the cable conductor. The apparatus further includes a plurality of fingers circumferentially and axially spaced about the wall, wherein each finger is closest in the axial direction to another finger disposed at a different circumferential position on the wall.

Abstract: An interlock apparatus for connecting a drawer slide member having a planar connecting surface to a slide receiving member having first and second substantially parallel surfaces is provided. The interlock apparatus includes a plurality of male interlock members integral with the drawer slide member, each interlock member defining a loop extending out of the plane of the connecting surface and having a first bearing surface thereon. The apparatus also includes a plurality of apertures disposed in the slide receiving member, each aperture defining a single uninterrupted second bearing surface. Each interlock member extends through an aperture to a mounted condition with the first and second bearing surfaces in contact with each other to connect the drawer slide and the slide receiving member together. The loops are retained in the mounted condition by pins therethrough or by retaining surfaces thereon.

Abstract: A position latch device is used with a clamp of the type including a pair of pivotally coupled gripping members respectively defining gripping jaws at one end and first and second handle portions at the opposite end. The gripping members are operable between a latched open-jaw condition and a non-latched closed-jaw condition. The position latch device includes a resilient spring extending from the first handle portion toward the second handle portion in an arcuate manner and deflectable by the second handle portion as the gripping members move from the closed-jaw condition to the open jaw condition so as to exert on the second handle portion a force component in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the second handle portion. The spring has a fixed end connected to the first handle portion and a free end.

Abstract: A flexural pivot joint is used to join two members for pivotal movement about a pivot axis. The pivot joint comprises two pairs of resilient spring wire sections spaced apart along the pivot axis. Each wire section is coupled to both of the members and has a longitudinal axis. The wire sections of each pair are disposed in cross-arrangement with respect to each other and are deflectable from their respective longitudinal axes to accommodate pivoting of the members from an at-rest condition about the pivot axis. In an alternative embodiment the flexural pivot joint includes first and second brackets respectively coupled to the members. The brackets are disposed facing each other and include a plurality of slots.

Abstract: A booster clamp is provided and includes a first lever having a first planar surface and a second lever pivotally connected to the first lever and having a second planar surface. The booster clamp has a substantially cylindrical pivot joint which includes a substantially cylindrical elastomeric element and first and second substantially planar surfaces substantially parallel to one another, wherein the first planar surface of the joint is connected to the first planar surface of the first lever and the second planar surface of the joint is connected to the second planar surface of the second lever.

Abstract: A low-cost, low-noise, and low-weight, high strength three-piece slide assembly is provided for use with cabinet drawers. The slide assembly includes a corrugated drawer-side member having a first corrugated surface with elongated corrugations having a first extending longitudinal axis parallel to the direction of drawer travel, and a cabinet-side member having a second corrugated surface with second corrugations extending parallel to the longitudinal axis. Also included is a corrugated intermediate member sized and shaped for sliding movement between the drawer-side and the cabinet-side members. The intermediate member includes a drawer-facing surface having third corrugations, and a cabinet-wall-facing surface having fourth corrugations. The third and fourth corrugations are respectively mateably engageable with the first and second corrugations.

Abstract: A cabinet assembly capable of storing various configurations of drawers of different depth is provided. The cabinet assembly includes first and second walls each having a length and height, and first and second one-piece support members each having a length and a height and integral with the first and second walls, respectively. Each of the support members includes a plurality of ledges spaced along the height of the support member substantially perpendicular to the associated wall, the walls being disposed so that each ledge on the first support member cooperates with a corresponding ledge on the second support member to form a pair of opposed ledges.

Abstract: A disconnect latch is provided for use with a drawer slide assembly of the type including an elongated drawer member and a stopper for limiting longitudinal travel of the elongated drawer member. The disconnect latch includes the unitarily formed combination of a lever, a mounting section for non-pivotally coupling the disconnect latch to the elongated drawer member, and a main body portion integral with the lever at one end thereof and with the mounting section at the opposite end thereof. The main body portion includes a stop surface for maintaining the elongated drawer member in a locked condition. A plurality of longitudinally spaced grooves is further included, each spanning the whole vertical height of the main body portion. The grooves facilitate the non-pivotal flexing of the disconnect latch so as to allow the stop surface to clear the locking member when downward pressure is applied to the lever, as well as to allow shock absorption during impact of the stop surface against the stopper.

Abstract: The wrench holder has a plurality of pairs of elements separated by a space substantially equal to the thickness of a wrench. One element in each pair is fixed and the other is hingedly mounted for movement toward and away from the first element. Two bosses are respectively carried by the two elements and are directed laterally toward each other. A wrench is inserted into a space, forcing the second element away from the first until the bosses are aligned with a hole in wrench, whereupon the two bosses seat within the wrench hole.

Abstract: A flexural pivot joint includes two pivoting members, which may be levers of a pivotal hand tool, and two substantially identical flexible blade elements, each substantially Z-shaped and having opposite ends respectively connected to the pivoting members. In particular, each blade end has an enlarged coupling portion adapted to be press-fitted in a groove which may be formed either directly in the lever member or in a bushing which is fixed to the lever member. Each bushing may be either a full cylinder or a split cylinder. In one embodiment the joint includes, in addition to the Z-shaped elements, two non-identical flexible elements, the four elements being equiangularly spaced. The grooves and coupling portions may be complementarily shaped, with each groove having a bead receivable in a recess in the coupling portion to inhibit relative rotation.

Abstract: An air impact tool has an air motor driving a rotary impact mechanism which has a drive shaft which is coupled to a coaxial load shaft through a torque-limiting clutch mechanism which includes a rigid torque member coupled to one of the shafts and having a peripheral drive surface with drive surface portions, and a yieldable torque member coupled to the other shaft. A plurality of flexible and resilient arms on the yieldable torque member are equiangularly spaced apart around the axis of rotation parallel thereto and are cantilevered from a support yoke, the distal ends of the arms being respectively engaged with the drive surface portions of the torque receiving member. A retaining cylinder encircles the arms and holds them against the drive surface, the retaining cylinder being threadedly engaged with an adjusting member which is rotatable but axially fixed to effect axial movement of the retaining cylinder to vary the retaining force on the torque transmitting arms.

Abstract: A hand tool includes first and second lever members which intersect and have aligned openings therethrough in which is received a flexural pivot assembly, including a pair of cylindrical members respectively disposed in the lever member openings and respectively fixed to the lever members for movement therewith. In one embodiment the cylindrical members of the pivot assembly are press fitted directly in the openings of the lever members. In another embodiment, bushings are press-fitted in the openings between the lever members and the cylindrical members. A spacer is disposed between the cylindrical members to prevent their axial movement toward each other, and the spacer may extend between the lever members and has a very low coefficient friction so as not to impede pivotal movement of the levers.

Abstract: A device includes a member having an axis and a socket recess formed axially therein. The recess is polygonal in shape at its open outer end and has planar drive surfaces parallel to the axis alternating with retaining surfaces disposed at the corners of the polygonal shape and sloping inwardly of the recess toward the axis. Each of the retaining surfaces is substantially triangular in shape, having one apex at the adjacent corner at the outer end of the recess and having the other apices in adjacent drive surfaces at the inner end of the recess. The device may be a rotatably drivable device, wherein the axis is the axis of rotation.

Abstract: A force-multiplying device includes a base or stationary structure and three levers all pivotally mounted on the base and each having a force input end and a force output end and being arranged in a folded configuration such that each lever extends from the force input and to the force output end thereof in a direction generally opposite to that of adjacent levers in the series. The pivot point of each lever is closer to its force output end than to its force input end so that the force delivered at the output end is greater than that applied at the input end. The base and the output lever may operate as a pair of opposed jaws, each carrying a removable force application device for different applications such as cutting, crimping, punching, lifting and spreading. The input lever and the base structure may be configured as handles of a hand-operated tool and the levers may be arranged to either open or close the jaws in response to movement of the handles together.

Abstract: An air impact tool has an air motor driving a rotary impact mechanism which has a drive shaft which is coupled to a coaxial load shaft through a torque-limiting clutch mechanism which includes a rigid torque member coupled to one of the shafts and having a peripheral drive surface with drive surface portions, and a yieldable torque member coupled to the other shaft. A plurality of flexible and resilient arms on the yieldable torque member are equiangularly spaced apart around the axis of rotation parallel thereto and are cantilevered from a support yoke, the distal ends of the arms being respectively engaged with the drive surface portions of the torque receiving member. A retaining cylinder encircles the arms and holds them against the drive surface, the retaining cylinder being threadedly engaged with an adjusting member which is rotatable but axially fixed to effect axial movement of the retaining cylinder to vary the retaining force on the torque transmitting arms.