ANTI-RUNOUT COLLARS

DISPOSITIF DE SECURITE

English Abstract

During the manual assembly of any product in a manufacturing environment, the
people who
actually perform the assembly in most cases use either air or electric powered
tools with various
attachments i.e. extensions, sockets or screw driver bits to complete their
work. Over recent years
through Ergonomic research, it has been found that the vibration resulting
from the looseness in the
connections between the tools and these attachments is causing injuries to the
production personnel
who are continually being exposed to this vibration. These injuries are adding
a great deal of cost to
the manufacturing process as a result of employee lost time incidents.
The invention I am seeking to patent is a simple nylon or aluminum collar type
mechanism
that fits snugly over the body of the tool with a fastening mechanism to hold
it in place. The front of
the collar containing a bearing slides over the attached extension and then by
means of a taper thread
lock mechanism is tightened securely to the extension. This mechanism
completely removes the
vibration at the joint between the tool and the extension which results when
the tool is operated.
Injuries will be reduced, tools will last longer and quality will increase.

Claims

Claim:
"The embodiments of the invention in which exclusive property or privilege is
claimed are
defined as follows:"
1) A collar apparatus made from Aluminum with a locking mechanism on the front
end to
securely hold an attached extension(of various sizes) that when fitted over
the body of production
tools(of various types) and held in place by a variety of means, will
virtually eliminate the vibration
coming back to the operator through the tool as a fastener is being installed
resulting in fewer injuries
to production personnel and reducing the costs involved.
2) A collar apparatus as defined in claim 1 made from Aluminum with a locking
mechanism on
the front end to securely hold an attached extension(of various sizes) that
when fitted over the body of
production tools(of various types) and held in place by a variety of means,
will virtually eliminate the
vibration coming back to the operator through the tool as a fastener is being
installed resulting in the
extension of the life of the tool and reduction of repair/replacement costs.
3) A collar apparatus as defined in claim 1 made from Aluminum with a locking
mechanism on
the front end to securely hold an attached extension(of various sizes) that
when fitted over the body of
production tools(of various types) and held in place by a variety of means,
will virtually eliminate the
vibration coming back to the operator through the tool as a fastener is being
installed resulting in
greater control of the tool and fastener accessories which prevents damage to
the product being
manufactured and the fasteners themselves and reduces resulting
repair/replacement costs.

Description

213594'
Specification
Disclosure:
This invention pertains to a collar type adaptor which contains a bearing and
is fitted over
various production tool housings and the extensions attached to them, to
reduce the amount of run-out
vibration that occurs as a result of looseness in the joint between them.
Presently the tools and attachments. used in the manual assembly process of
virtually all
products are not build to very close tolerances. This is due to the fact that
these items are mass
produced by various manufacturers and must be easily assembled in a variety of
fashions to
accommodate the specific application they are being used for. Because of this
lack of close tolerance
the fits between these pieces when joined I:ogether are very sloppy. As the
tools are powered up and
rotate at high speeds this sloppiness is transformed into vibration that is
felt through the entire tool.
This vibration which is transferred to the hand of the continually exposed
production worker, can
result in physical injuries to them. The vibration also results in the
breakdown of internal bearings in
the tools which greatly reduces tool life. Quality issues due to the poor
control of the vibrating
attachments and fasteners which are being installed with these tools is also a
production problem.
Through experimentation, I have found that a snugly fitted collar type adaptor
with locking
mechanisms (made from either nylon or aluminum to keep the weight down) can be
slid over the tool
housing and extension shaft and then locked in place at each end. This "Anti-
Runout Collar"
eliminates the runout and resulting vibration that normally occurs at these
connections. At the same
time this collar will allow assembly and disassembly of tool and extension
connections as required.
The dramatic reduction of vibration will result in less vibration transferred
to the operators, the tools
and the fasteners being installed, hence minimizing all three of the
previously mentioned problems.