US2154507A - Battery terminal clamp - Google Patents

Description

April 18, 1939.

M. HUNEFELD ETAL BATTERY TERMINAL CLAMP Filed Dec. 1'7, 193'? Patented Apr. 18, 1939 PATENT OFFICE BATTERY TERMINAL CLAMP Mark Huneleld and Albert M. Kallanarud, Fort Dodge, Iowa Application December 17, 1937, Serial No. 180,374

2 Claims.

Electric storage batteries are usually provided with binding posts to which the terminal clamps are detachably fitted. In practice it frequently occurs that due to L rrosion and oxidation the battery posts and the clamps become coated with corrosion and frozen together, and under such conditions it is difficult to remove the clamps and the clamps are frequently damaged during such removal. Furthermore, due to erosion by the battery acid the bolts used in the clamps are frequently damaged to such an extent that after removal a new bolt must be supplied.

The object of our invention is to provide a battery terminal clamp of simple, durable and inexpensive construction in which the clamp may be quickly and easily applied to the battery post and thereafter the bolt may be inserted into position readily, quickly and without the use of tools, and then turned by a wrench to clamping position, and when it is desired to remove the clamp the bolt may be rotated with a wrench and the clamp spread open to break it free from the binding post and thereafter the bolt may be readily and easily removed and replaced without the use of tools.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 shows a top or plan view of our battery terminal clamp with parts broken away to show structural details.

Figure 2 shows a similar view with the clamp spread and the bolt ready for removal or re-" placement.

Figure 3 shows a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1. Figure 4 shows an end elevation with the bolt tilted to position for removal or replacement.

Figure 5E shows a plan view illustrating a modification.

Figure 6 shows a sectional view through the bolt and the bendable U-shaped washer applied thereto; and

Figure 7 is a similar view showing the washer bent to position for substantially encircling the bolt.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, we

have used the reference numeral ID to indicate the body portion of the clamp having an opening therein to receive the electrical conducting cable II. On one side of the body portion i0 are two clamping arms I2 and I3 shaped to receive a battery terminal post between them. The arm I! is provided with a screw-threaded opening I4, and the other arm has an opening in line with the opening I4, and this opening is in the form of a slot 15 arranged longitudinally of the arm i3, and this slot is extended upwardly and is open at the topof the arm at it.

The bolt is indicated generally by the numeral l1 and has a hexagonal head l8 which is preferably formed with openings 19 to receive irnplements by which the bolt may be rotated. The

end portion 20 of the bolt is screw-threaded, and an integral collar 2i is formed on the bolt at the end of the screw-threaded portion. This collar 2| is so positioned upon the bolt and is 10 of such width that, when the bolt is in position as shown in Figure 1, the collar stands between the twoarms 12 and I3 and is out of contact with both arms. Furtherniorathe length of the bolt is such that, when it is unscrewed to position for spreading the arms I! and I3 to the desired extent by means of the collar, 2|, then the screw-threaded endof' the bolt will bewithdrawn from the screw-threaded opening I! so that the bolt may be readily and easily removed 20 or replaced by simply grasping the head l8 and moving it upwardly to the tilted position shown in Figure 4. Furthermore, the slot l5 provides means whereby,so long as the bolt is wholly or partially within the screw-threaded opening 25 the body of the bolt may be moved forwardly and rearwardly in the slot l5 sothat it is always in line with the screw-threaded opening I.

In the modified form shown in Figures-5, 6 and detachable spacing device is inserted in the space between the collar, 2i, and the side of the slotted arm,- l3. In the drawing a 'U-shaped washer is shown, but any detachable device which may be inserted temporarily may be used. When 35 a washer is used it'is placed on the bolt before the bolt is screwed up tight, then the ends of the washer are bent over to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the bolt may be screwed up tight and the washer firmly held in position.- The advan- 40 tage of the spacing device is that with it the first unscrewing movement applied to the bolt begins the spreading of the arms, so that when the spreading action has proceeded far enough, the

washer or other spacing device may be removed 45 v and the unscrewing oi the bolt be completed easily by he :id without any objectionable pressure on the threads of the bolt and the screw threaded opening.

Two advantages are gained by using the spacing 50 device. First, the bolt and/or clamp may be loosened or removed very much more conveniently than before, without the use of tools, in'a brief time and without serious trouble due to the bolt's "freezing on account of the corroding 55 of the bolt and screw-threaded opening are under strain only while most of the threads are engaged.

,These threads are easily damaged because soft tery acid the clamp has become "irozen to the I such an extent as to make it impracticable to; ll

battery post and the bolt has become eroded to reuse it, under such conditions the operator applies a rotary unscrewing movement to the bolt by means of a wrench applied to the bolt head. As soon as the collar engages the arm the bolt forces the arms I! and I3 apart so'that their frozen position on the post is broken. Then, as soon as the bolt is. turned far enough so that itsthreads do not any longer engage the threads in the screw-threaded opening M, then the head of the bolt may be grasped and moved upwardly. and the clamp is free from the post, and when it is desired to replace the clamp, the operator simply provides a new bolt and places it in position without the use of tools and then turns it up to clamping position.

We have shown the slot I! through which the bolt is removed as being at the upper edge of the arm l3, and this is of advantage because there is always room to move the bolt head upwardly in the battery, but in some instances there would be no room to move it horizontally away from the body It. It is an .important feature that the outer edge of the slot be perpendicular to the axis of the arm for the reason that if the outer sides of the arms, l2 and I3,

incline toward each other, because the diameter of the battery post is reduced by wear, or for some other reason, there is danger of the bolt working outward if the surfaces are thus inclined together, and thereby loosening the clamp.

It is important that the collar 2| be of such size and so positioned upon the bolt that the bolt may be rotated a short distance before the collar engages the arm 13 and that the bolt be of such length that when the collar engages the arm I3 and the bolt is rotated enough turns to properly spread the arms, that the bolt will then be out of engagement with the screw-threads in the opening l4 so that it can be easily removed.

With our improvement, the clamp may be applied to the post quickly and easily and clamped thereto simply by turning the bolt head, and when removing the clamp this may also be accomplished quickly and easily by simply unscrewing the bolt. The removal or replacing of a used bolt with a new one can be done by the operator's hand and-without tools, and the cost of the bolts is very slight.

bolt between said collar 9,154,507 action of the battery acids. Second, the threads As shown in the drawing, the slot is wider than the bolt so that the arms may be spread sufiiciently and so that the bolt will move' in the slot with little friction. An additional reason is that,-with a wide slot, lateral tension on the bolt,

which tends to spoil the threads of the bolt and screw-threaded opening, is eliminated.

We claim as our invention:

1. A battery terminal clamp, comprising a body portion adapted to receive an electrical conducting cable, two arms fixed to the body portion and shaped to receive a battery post between them, oneof the arms having a screw-threaded opening and the other having a slot in line with the screw-threaded opening and extended to the edge of the arm, a bolt having a screw-threaded end and a bolt head and a collar formed on it between the head and the screw-threaded end, said bolt being extended through said slot and into said screw-threaded opening, said collar being of such size and so positioned that it is normally between and spaced apart from both arms, and when the bolt has been partly unscrewed from the screw-threaded opening, said collar will engage the adjacent arm so that further unscrewing movement will spread the will have been removed from the screw-threaded opening and may then be removed from said slot by tilting it toward the open end of the slot, and a bendable U-shaped washer applied to the and the side of the adjacent arm.

2. A battery terminal clamp, comprisinga body portion adaptedto receive an electrical conducting cable, two arms fixed to .thebody portion and shaped to receive a battery post between them, one of the arms having a screw-threaded opening and the other having a slot in line with the screw-threaded opening and extended to the edge of the arm, a bolt having a screwthreaded end and a bolt head and a collar formed on it between the head and the screw-threaded end, said bolt being extended through said slot and into said screw-threaded opening, said collar being of such size and so positioned that it is normally between and spaced apart from both arms, and when the bolt has been partly unscrewed irom the screw-threaded'opening, said collar will engage. the adjacent arm so that further unscrewing movement will spread the arms, and saidbolt being of such length that when the arms have been thus spread, the bolt will have been removed from the screw-threaded opening and may then be removed from said slot by tilting it toward the open end of the slot, and a U-shaped washer applied to the bolt between said collar and the side of the adjacent arm and removable in a lateral direction from the bolt.

HUNEFELD. ALBERT M. KALLANSRUD.

, arms, and said bolt being of such. length that when the arms have been thus spread, the bolt

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