EP2098335B1

EP2098335B1 - Improved magnetic socket structure

Info

Publication number: EP2098335B1
Application number: EP20090154246
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wen-Hsiung Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-03-05
Filing date: 2009-03-03
Publication date: 2012-11-28
Anticipated expiration: 2029-03-03
Also published as: EP2098335A3; EP2098335A2; TWM342237U

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a socket structure, in particular to an improved magnetic socket structure.

Description of the Related Art

In general, a bushing tool is applied for installing or removing a polygonal turning part such as a nut or a spark plug, but the part cannot be attached to a socket easily when a conventional socket is used for installing or removing the part, and the part falls off very often during the installation or removal process, and obviously such conventional socket causes tremendous inconvenience to users. Therefore, a magnetic bushing tool is introduced to the market. With reference to FIG. 5 for a common conventional magnetic socket structure, the structure includes a fixing base 52 embedded into a driving end 51 of a socket 50, a shaft 53 passed into the fixing base 52, a fixing portion 54 extended outward and formed at an end of the shaft 53, a magnetic device 55 installed at another end of the shaft 53, and an elastic element 56 installed between the fixing base 52 and the magnetic device 55, such that a magnetic attraction is provided to the socket 50 for attracting a part such as a nut or a spark plug by the magnetic device 55 to prevent the part from falling off. However, when the socket 50 with this structure is used, no support is provided to the shaft 53, and thus the magnetic device 55 may be moved and deviated easily by non-uniform forces, and thus making the insertion of a workpiece into the socket 50 very difficult.
With reference to FIG. 6 for another magnetic bushing tool structure, an acting end 61 of a bushing tool 60 includes a fixing base 62, an elastic element 63, a magnetic device 64 and a slide bushing 65 installed sequentially, wherein the magnetic device 64 is sheathed into an internal periphery of the slide bushing 65, and the external periphery of the slide bushing 65 is attached to an internal sidewall 66 of the acting end 61, such that when a force is exerted onto the elastic element 63, the slide bushing 65 is driven to move along the sidewall of the acting end 61, and the external periphery of the slide bushing 65 is attached closely to the internal sidewall 66 of the acting end 61 to prevent the elastic element 63 from being moved or correct a deviation caused by the movement of the elastic element 63. However the bushing tool 60 with such magnetic structure has the slide bushing 65 of a size corresponding to the internal sidewall 66 of the acting end 61 of the bushing tool 60, and thus the slide bushing 65 with a single size specification cannot be applied to the bushing tool 60 of a different size specification, and it is necessary to manufacture another slide bushing 65 for the required size specification. Obviously, the conventional bushing tool is not cost-effective.
In view of the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed a magnetic socket structure in accordance with the present invention to guide the moving path of a magnetic part and provide an application of the bushing tool to fit different size specifications.

Summary of the Invention

Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an improved magnetic socket structure capable of guiding the moving path of the magnetic part and preventing the elastic element from deviating from its moving path.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an improved magnetic socket structure applied to a bushing tool that fits different size specifications.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides an improved magnetic socket structure, as defined in Claim 1.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Only some embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in the drawings, but it should be pointed out that many other modifications are conceivable within the scope of the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an application of the present invention, showing the state when a magnetic element is moved by a force;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an application of the present invention, showing the state when the elasticity of an elastic element is acted on a magnetic element;
FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a conventional bushing tool with a magnetic structure; and
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another conventional bushing tool with a magnetic structure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides an improved magnetic socket structure comprising a body 11, a guide element 21 and a magnetic module 31.
The body 11 is substantially in a cylindrical shape, and an end of the body 11 is formed as a driven end (in the following also force exerted end) 12 having a quadrilateral hole, and the force exerted end 12 is aligned with a driving end (not shown in the figure) of a driving tool, and another end of the body 11 is formed as a driving end (in the following also acting end) 14 with a hexagonal hole for sheathing a workpiece such as a hexagonal bolt, nut or spark plug.
The guide element 21 is made of an elastic material and used for being accommodated at an internal side of the force exerted end 12 of the body 11, wherein the guide element 21 has a substantially U-shaped cross-section, and the guide element 21 includes a guide penetrating hole 22 therein, a side wall 24 disposed on a lateral side of the guide penetrating hole 22, and a through hole 26 disposed in the side wall 24, and the guide element 21 has an external periphery slightly greater than a hole diameter of the force exerted end 12 of the body 11, such that when the guide element 21 is plugged into the force exerted end 12 of the body 11, the elasticity of the external periphery of the guide element 21 compresses and fixes the guide element 21 into the force exerted end 12 of the body 11.
The magnetic module 31 is comprised of a position limit shaft 32, a magnetic element 34 and an elastic element 36, wherein the position limit shaft 32 is passed through the through hole 26 of the guide element 21, and an end of the position limit shaft 32 is extended outward to form a position limit portion 33, and another end of the position limit shaft 32 is coupled to the magnetic element 34, and the position limit shaft 32 is embedded into the guide penetrating hole 22 of the guide element 21 through the position limit portion 33, and the position limit portion 33 has an external periphery matched precisely with the hole diameter of the guide penetrating hole 22, such that the position limit portion 33 can be moved linearly along the guide penetrating hole 22, and the elastic element 36 is installed between the magnetic element 34 and the guide element 21 for applying an elastic force onto the magnetic element 34.
When the magnetic socket structure with the aforementioned components of the invention as shown in FIG. 3 is used, and the acting end 14 of the body 11 is embedded and engaged with a screw workpiece 40, the magnetic element 34 is in contact with a distal surface of the screw workpiece 40, such that the magnetic element 34 is forced to move by an external force. Since the guide penetrating hole 22 guides the moving path of the magnetic module 31, the magnetic element 34 will not be deviated from its moving path by the external force. After the installation or removal of a part is completed as shown in FIG. 3, the elasticity provided by the elastic element 36 props the screw workpiece 40 attracted by the magnetic element 34 to restore its original position outside the socket 11, so as to facilitate users to remove the screw workpiece 40.
With reference to FIG. 4 for a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, a fixing base 37 is disposed between the magnetic element 34 and the position limit shaft 32, and the magnetic element 34 is installed in the fixing base 37, and the fixing base 37 is connected to the position limit shaft 32, and the action of the fixing base 37 limits the magnetic attracting position of the magnetic element 34.
It is noteworthy to point out that the size specification of the socket is determined by the hole diameter of the acting end 14, and the force exerted end 12 of the socket corresponds to the driving end of the driving tool, and thus the size specification of the force exerted end 12 must be the same as that of the socket. However, the invention adopts an elastic guide element 21 to be compressed and fixed into the force exerted end 12 of the body 11, so that the invention simply requires to design the guide element 21 with a size corresponding to the force exerted end 12 of the body 11 to fit a bushing tool with an acting end 14 of a different size specification. In addition, the guide element 21 of the invention is elastically compressed and fixed into the force exerted end 12 of the body 11, such that the guide element 21 can be removed from the force exerted end 12 of the body 11 and then installed to a bushing tool with another different-sized acting end 14. Therefore, the invention provides a good interchangeability to fit acting ends 14 of different sizes.
In addition, the shape of the guide element 21 is not limited to a circular shape only. Since the guide element 21 is compressed and fixed into the force exerted end 12 of the bushing tool by the elasticity of the guide element, we can simply design the guide element 21 with an external diameter slightly greater than the hole diameter of the force exerted end 12 of the bushing tool. Thus, the guide element 21 can also be in a square shape, a polygonal shape or an irregular shape to achieve the equivalent effect of compressing and fixing the guide element 21 into the force exerted end 12 of the bushing tool in accordance with the present invention.
In summation of the description above, the present invention herein enhances the performance over the conventional structure and further complies with the patent application requirements and thus is duly filed for patent application.

Claims

An improved magnetic socket structure, comprising:
a body (11), including an end formed as a driven end (12), and another end formed as an driving end (14);

a guide element (21), for being accommodated at an internal side of the driven end (12) of the body (11), and the guide element (21) having a guide penetrating hole (22) disposed therein, a side wall (24) disposed on a side of the guide penetrating hole (22), and a through hole (26) disposed in the side wall (24);

a magnetic module (31), comprised of a position limit shaft (32), a magnetic element (34) and an elastic element (36), and the position limit shaft (32) passed through the through hole (26) of the guide element (21), and an end of the position limit shaft (32) being extended outward to form a position limit portion (33), and another end of the position limit shaft (32) being coupled to the magnetic element (34), and the position limit portion (33) of the position limit shaft (32) being embedded into the guide penetrating hole (22) of the guide element (21), and the external periphery of the position limit portion (33) matching precisely with a hole diameter of the guide penetrating hole (22), such that the position limit portion (33) can be moved linearly along the guide penetrating hole (22), and the elastic element (36) being installed between the magnetic element (34) and the guide element (21) for applying an elastic force onto the magnetic element (34).
The improved magnetic socket structure of claim 1, wherein the guide element (21) is made of an elastic material, and the guide element (21) has a substantially U-shaped cross-section.
The improved magnetic socket structure of claim 2, wherein the guide element (21) has an external periphery slightly greater than a hole diameter of the driven end (12) of the body (11).
The improved magnetic socket structure of claim 2, wherein the guide element (21) is in a shape selected from the collection of a circular shape, a square shape, a polygonal shape and an irregular shape.
The improved magnetic socket structure of claim 1, further comprising a fixing base (37) disposed between the magnetic element (34) and the position limit shaft (32), and the magnetic element (34) is installed in the fixing base (37), and the fixing base (37) is connected to the position limit shaft (32).