US2064264A - Valve spring lifter - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1936. H w KULP 2,064,264

VALVE SPRING LIFTER Filed March 7, 1956 Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VALVE SPRING LIFTER Application March 7,

6 Claims.

This invention relates to valve-spring lifters or compressors of the one-hand-operated plier type such as shown in a general way in the Kulp and Dellinger Patent No. 1,879,330 granted September 27, 1932 for Valve spring lifter.

This present invention has in view the same broad objects set forth in said patent.

In addition, the lifter of the present invention has primarily in mind to provide a very short lifter for use on the modern automobile, the very limited space between the fender aprons and the motor, among other considerations, making the point of length one of paramount importance. At the same time, it is essential that the lifter shall be such that its upper jaw will extend through the low-port opening and fit up behind the port flange or apron and can be forced upward behind said apron or flange to lift the lower end of the valve-spring, and also that the application of leverage shall be extremely efficient so that notwithstanding the short length of the tool it may be operated easily by the grip or closing of the hand with very little or no more effort than is required to lift the same size and strength valve-spring with a longer one-hand plier type lifter such, for. instance, as shown in said patent.

A further object is to provide for a compensatory forward movement of the upper jaw-beam to compensate for the forwardly and downwardly inclined angle of the supporting lower edge face of the lower jaw members of the lower beam, whereby the lifter may be used efficiently on motors with extremely narrow port openings, while retaining the advantage of close nesting of the jaw-beams in extreme closed position.

Further objects are to increase the durability and sturdiness of the tool and maintain the simplicity of its lifting and lowering or releasing operations by employing a compound swinging leverage construction while avoiding the use of sliding pivots or other slide constructions and so relating the parts as to prevent the lever elements from passing through or to or beyond dead center with resultant blocking of reverse movement of the jaw-beams on the release of the locking means until said lever element or elements are moved to non-blocking relation again.

In this application I show and describe only the present preferred embodiment of my invention simply by way of illustration of the practice of my invention as by law required, However, I realize that my invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and that the several 5 details thereof may be-modified'in various dif- 1936, Serial No. 67,718

(01. sea-86.3)

ferent ways, all without departing from my said invention. Therefore, the drawing and description. herein are to be considered as merely illustrative and not as exclusive.

In the accompanying drawing, which is made 5 to a scale of four-fifths actual size from a full size valve-spring lifter, with the exception that no effort has been made to adhere to this scale in showing such details as rivets, adjusting screws, 011 the thickness of the material from 10 which the parts are made:

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a valvespring lifter embodying my invention, in extreme open condition; 7

Figure 2, a top plan View thereof;

Figure 3, a bottom plan View thereof;

Figure 4, a side elevation in extreme closed condition; and

Figure 5, a section view on the line 55 of Figure 4, looking in the direction of the arrows. 20

Referring now in detail to the drawing, l and p 2 represent the respective hand-levers or operating handles preferably formed of sheet metal preferably U-shape in cross-section. Hand-lever or handle I may be integral with the plates or bars 4 of the lower jaw-beam, or welded to the rear ends thereof or otherwise connected thereto to be operatively rigid therewith. Hand-lever or handle 2 has its front or forward end interposed between the bars or plates 4 of the lower jaw 30 beam and pivotally connected thereto for swinging movement about a fixed axis by the rivet 3 which passes through the bars 4 and the intervening forward end portion of handle 2 and has its ends spread or upset as usual. Preferably a plate of suitable metal and substantially thicker than the material from which handle 2 is formed is set into the forward end portion of handle 2 and secured therein by ,a rivet l5 passing through the sides of said handle 2 and the intervening portion of plate I 4, the rivet 3 also passing through the sides of the handle 2 and said plate 3 and so serving to hold the plate [4 securely and rigidly in the end of handle 2. In lieu of such rivet fastening, the plate l4 may be 45 secured in the forward end of the handle 2 by welding or any other suitable usual known means or method, or the handle 2 may be formed as one integral piece with its forward end of the form of the plate l4, which is of bell-crank or 50 L-shaped lever form, the pivot pin or rivet 3 passing through the heel of the L.

The lower jaw-beam comprises the bars or plates 4 having front end jaw portions I2 formed with forwardly downwardly inclined supporting lower edge faces to engage and bear against the valve-tappet, crank-case or other adjacent fixed part or element. The plane of inclination of said supporting edge faces is such that if an imaginary line were drawn rearwardly as a straight continuation of the lower edge of said jaws I2 said imaginary line would extend at a substantial distance above the handle I before passing beyond the end thereof. However, while the inclination of said supporting edges as shown is preferred, the exact degree of inclination thereof is not essential and it may be either more or less, in which case the inclination of the top jaw members I3 would be varied to the end and such degree as to result in their most efficient cooperation.

Preferably the forward end portions of the bars 4 will be adjustable toward and from each other by means of an adjusting screw extending through said bars 1 and having screw-thread engagement with one of them so as to provide for the adjustment of the jaw members I2 toward and from each other, this construction and relationship being substantially as described in said Kulp and Dellinger patent.

The lower jaw beam together with its rigid hand lever or handle I preferably will be in the form of an elongated or gentle S-curve from the rear end of the handle I forward to the rear end of the lower jaw members I2.

The upper jaw beam comprises two bars or plates 5 receiving between their extreme rear end portions the toe of the bell-crank or L-shape lever IQ of the handle 2 and being pivotally connected thereto by a pivot pin 9 passing through said bars 5 and said intervening toe portion. The front or forward end portions of the bars 5 are provided with preferably integral upper jaw members I3 and an adjusting screw I5 passing freely through one of said bars 5 and having screw-thread engagement with the other bar 5 provides means for adjusting said jaw members I3 transversely with relation to each other.

A straight bar lever 8 having its lower end perforated and receiving the adjusting screw 6 between bars 4 of the lower jaw beam and having its upper end pivotally mounted between the bars 5 of the upper jaw beam by means of the pivot pin I serves to pivotally connect the upper and lower jaw-beams intermediate their jaw members and the pivot pin 3. The form of this lever 8 may be otherwise than illustrated, it is not essential that it be straight, or that it be disposed between the bars or the upper and/or lower jaw-beams, it being sunlcient if it be substantially rigid so that the two axes of pivotal connection of its end portions will remain substantially constant and fixed or uniformly spaced with relation to each other and it functions by its changing position with relation to its points of pivotal connection to the respective jaw-beams to move the jaws I2 and I3 toward and away from each other or to move the jaws I3 toward and away from jaws I2.

Preferably the lever B will be a straight lever formed of a sheet metal stamping of U-form in cross-section.

It is not essential that the lower end of the lever 8 be not pivotally connected to the lower jaw beam by a pivot pin or other means distinct from the adjusting screw 5. However, it is preferred to have the screw 6 serve the dual functions of transverse adjustment means for the bars 4 with their jaw members I2 and of pivotally connecting the lower end of the lever 8 to the lower jaw beam as promoting simplicity and economy of manufacture.

The upper jaw members I3 will be inclined downwardly and forwardly and the upper edges of the upper jaw beam bars 5 immediately adjacent the rear of the jaw members I3 will be concavely downwardly curved to provide good clearance whereby they will not strike against the lower edge of the port flange or apron during operation of the lifter in lifting or raising a valve-spring.

It will sufiice if the lower or supporting beam comprising bars 4, the upper jaw-beam comprising bars 5, and the fulcrum lever B and operating lever comprising movable handle 2 with its operatively integral or rigid supplement or insert I4 be so constructed, connected and related that a movement of the handle 2 toward handle I will cause a bodily forward and upward movement of the upper jaw-beam with an increasing inclination from the horizontal toward the vertical and with the forward end of the jaw-beam having a greater degree of movement than its rear end, the details of construction whereby this is accomplished being of no particular importance.

In the embodiment illustrated the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points 3 -and 9 is approximately four-sevenths of the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points 6 and I and the inclinations of the supporting edges of the jaw members I2 and of the jaw members I3 are calculated in direct relation to this difference in distance between the respective sets of fulcrum points. However, this relation or proportion of distances between the respective sets of fulcrum points while preferred is not vital or essential, but in case of variation therefrom, or of a modified construction with new relationship of movement, the inclinations of the jaws I2 and I3 should be varied accordingly.

In the construction illustrated and above described the jaws are not maintained strictly parallel or even approximately or substantially parallel, but by actual use of a full size commercial device it is found that they are maintained near enough to parallel for proper functioning or performance of the job for which the lifter is intended, which is all that is necessary.

Preferably the rear portions of the bars 5 of the upper jaw-beam will be laterally inwardly offset to just snugly receive between them the toe of the bell-crank lever I I of the handle 2 and to be received between the rear end portions of the plates 4 of the lower jaw-beam when the parts are moved to extreme closed or nested condition and the handle 2 is formed with laterally extending parts I8 extending between the respective sides of the bell-crank lever I4 and the opposed inner faces of the bars 4 of the lower jaw-beam and constituting stops engaging the lower edges of the bars 5 of the upper jaw-beam, as illustrated in Fig. 4 and limiting movement of the parts beyond a definite extreme closed condition.

Preferably some suitable lock and release means will be provided. Such means may comprise an arcuate rack bar A pivoted at B between the sides of the hand-lever, or handle 2 and sliding through a vertical slot in the binding catch plate C mounted by pivot pin c in the hand-lever or handle I and spring-pressed to operative locking position by the wire spring of usual known construction, a wire loop 0 7 threaded or looped through a hole in the extreme end of the rack-bar A serving to prevent separation of these parts after assembly, such locking means being substantially the same as shown, and more fully described in Kulp and Dellinger Patent No. 1,461,275 granted July 10, 1923.

In use the hand-levers or handles l and 2 will be spread to move the jaw-beams to extreme closed condition as illustrated in Fig. 4 and in that condition the jaws l2 and I3 will be shoved between the valve tappet and the spring retaining plate or cup, preferably and most naturally with the forward end portions of the lower supporting edges of the lower jaw members [2 resting on the tappet and the rear portions thereof out of contact therewith, The operator then closes his hand to swing the handles toward each other, so causing the forward and upward tilting movement of upper jaw beam, the forward and upward movement of the upper end of which compensates the slight rearward and downward rocking movement of the lower jaw beam as the supporting lower edges of the jaw members I2 come to rest flat against the top of the tappet.

Of course this manner of use of the lifter, while preferred, is not essential and it may be inserted between the parts mentioned and the lower supporting edges of the jaw members I2 allowed to rest flat on the tappet before lifting movement of the handles l and 2 is initiated with substantially equally eflicient operation and operative results. In this it is recognized that in various garages and shops it will be applied and used in a great variety of different ways and under a wide variety of difierent conditions and has been designed to efficiently operate under a large range of different means and ways of application and operation.

It is found in actual practice and in comparative use on the same spring of the same engine that the lifter of the present invention may be operated to raise the spring without requiring any more effort or energy, or if so extremely little the difference not being noticeable by hand test by the usual mechanic, than is required to operate the lifter forming the subject matter of Kulp and Dellinger Patent 1,879,330 in its commercial embodiment in the form substantially as there illustrated and the latter in its extreme closed condition shown in Fig. 4 of said patent has a length of approximately ten and oneeighth inches, whereas the commercial embodiment of the present invention used in said comparison under actual usual operative conditions on the same engine and same valve-spring thereof in its extreme closed condition as shown in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawing has an extreme length of approximately, and not exceeding, eight and seven-eighths inches, a difference of a little more than an inch in length with no sacrifice, or at least no noticeable sacrifice, in ease of operation, and this difference of slightly over an inch in length is of much importance having in view the conditions under, and close quarters in, which the lifter of the present invention is to be used.

I claim:

1. A valve-spring-lifting tool comprising a supporting beam comprised of a pair of resilient spaced bars and a handle connecting their rear portions and having jaw members at their forward ends having forwardly and downwardly inclined supporting lower edge faces, and an adjusting means'engaging said bars to relatively adjust the positions of said jaw members transversely of said beam, in combination with an upper jaw-beam having forwardly and downwardly inclined jaw members at its forward end, a relatively rigid lever having its lower end freely pivotally mounted on said adjusting means, means pivotally connecting the upper end of said lever to said jaw-rbeam to the rear of said adjusting means, a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted on said supporting beam, and means pivotally connecting the rear end portion of said jaw-beam and the toe portion of said bell-crank lever, the distance between the axes of the pivotal mounting of said bell-crank lever and the pivotal connection between-the latter and said jaw-beam being equal to approximately foursevenths of the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points of said relatively rigid lever.

2. A valve-spring-lifting tool comprising a supporting beam having a jaw at its forward end having forwardly and downwardly inclined supporting lower edge faces, in combination with an upper jaw-beam having a forwardly and downwardly inclined jaw at its forward end, a relatively rigid lever, means pivotally connecting the lower end of said lever to said supporting beam, means pivotally connecting the upper end of said lever to said jaw-beam to the rear of its pivotal connection to said supporting beam, an operating lever pivotally mounted on said supporting beam, and means pivotally connecting the rear portion of said jaw-beam and said operating lever, the distance between the axes of the pivotal mounting of said operating lever and the pivotal connection between the latter and said jaw-beam being only slightly in excess of one-half of the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points of said relatively rigid lever.

3. A valve-spring-lifting tool comprising a supporting beam, in combination with an upper jaw-beam, a relatively rigid lever, means pivotally connecting the lower end of said lever to said supporting beam, means pivotally connecting the upper end of said lever to said jawbeam to the rear of its pivotal connection to said supporting beam, an operating lever pivotally mounted on said supporting beam, and means pivotally connecting the rear portion of said jaw-beam! and said operating lever, the distance between the axes of the pivotal mounting of said operating lever and the pivotal connection between the latter and said jaw-beam being less than two-thirds of the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points of said relatively rigid lever.

4. A valve-spring-lifting tool comprising a supporting beam, in combination with an upper jaw-beam, an upwardly and rearwardly inclined lever having its lower end pivotally connected to said supporting beam and its upper end pivotally connected to said jaw-beam, an operating lever pivotally mounted on said supporting beam, and means pivotally connecting the rear portion of said jaw-beam and said operating lever, the distance between the axes of the pivotal mounting of said operating lever and the pivotal connection between the latter and said jawbeam being less than the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points of said inclined lever.

5. A valve-spring-lifting' tool comprising a supporting beam, in combination with an upbeam and its upper end pivotally connected to said jaw-beam, an operating lever pivotally mounted on said supporting beam, and means pivotally connecting the rear portion of said jaw-beam and said operating lever, the distance between the axes of the pivotal mounting of said operating lever and the pivotal connection between the latter and said jaw-beam being less than the distance between the axes of the fulcrum points of said relatively rigid lever.

6. A valve-spring-lifting tool comprising a supporting beam having a handle portion, in combination with an upper jaw beam, a relatively rigid lever having its lower end pivotally HARRY W. KULP.

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