Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02690029 2010-01-18
MAGNETIC BRACKET FOR HOLDING "A MULTI-BIT DUAL-MODE
SCREWDRIVER FOR EITHER MANUAL OR POWERED ACTUATION"
Background of the Invention
The present invention is a means for temporarily attaching a screwdriver to
the
plastic housing of a handheld drill. More specifically: the invention is a
bracket for
attaching my "Multi-Bit Dual-Mode Screwdriver For Either Manual Or Powered
Actuation" to a handheld electric drill such that it can be more effectively
used in both its
manual and its powered its operational modes..
The present invention is conceived to exploit the physical and magnetic
characteristics of my previous invention entitled "Multi-Bit Dual-Mode
Screwdriver For
Either Manual Or Powered Actuation". That invention is a pending PCT
application
(WO/2006/102737). This dual-mode screwdriver has been commercialized under the
trade
name "Scruzol" and for brevity is hereinafter referred to as a "Scruzol" when
describing
the present invention.
A Scruzol utilizes a reversible shape that enables it to be either handheld or
chucked in an electric drill. Users will therefore often wish to keep their
Scruzol and
electric drill in close proximity to each other so that both handheld and
power-driven usage
modes can be more easily applied to varying task requirements. When used in
its power-
driven mode, the Scruzol's shaft is held in the drill's chuck, thereby forming
a single tool.
However when the drill is being used for piercing holes, the Scruzol must be
removed and
replaced with a drill bit, thereby requiring that the Scruzol be temporarily
stored until it is
needed again for power-driving screwdriver bits. Ideally, the Scruzol would be
stored
integral to the drill for convenience and to prevent loss however, since
drills are not
designed to accommodate such storage, there is no obvious way to do so. It is
therefore a
goal of the present invention to provide a specialized bracket that
efficiently holds a
Scruzol onto the body of typical existing electric drills.
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When devising such a holding bracket it's important to consider certain
details and
characteristics of the preferred embodiment of a Scruzol (see Figure 3). That
preferred,
commercialized embodiment utilizes a strong internal ring-shaped magnet to
retain spare
screwdriver bits within six open-sided storage slots disposed around the
exterior its
cylindrical handle. The presence of this strong bit-storage magnet suggests
that an optimal
drill holding bracket should exploit the magnetic force of said magnet to
store the entire
Scruzol onto the drill housing. It is also important to consider the
disposition the 12 stored
'/4" hexagonal, steel screwdriver bits inside their six open-sided storage
slots. Their
disposition with respect to the large central ring magnet engenders a magnetic
circuit
through all the stored bits that will cause their storage handle to stick to a
metal object such
as a steel filing cabinet, thereby providing a magnetic means of conveniently
storing the
Scruzol in various work scenarios. For example; a mechanic working underneath
automobile can conveniently store their Scruzol onto its muffler while
dismantling nearby
components.
Another pertinent characteristic of a Scruzol's configuration is that, due to
the
protrusion of its cylindrical handle in between its six storage slots, only a
single vertex of
each stored screwdriver bit can come into contact with a flat external anchor
object such as
the side of a filing cabinet. The six plastic handle protrusions thereby
prevent the coplanar
facets of circumferentially adjacent stored bits from simultaneously
contacting the flat
external anchor surface which would provide a large magnetic contact surface
which would
stabilize the stored Scruzol from rolling along the flat anchor surface.
Another pertinent characteristic of a Scruzol is that small metal objects such
as steel
drill bits, screws, washers etc are magnetically attracted to its handle and
once they've
become stuck onto it will remain there until removed by the user.
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Furthermore, in addition to storing the Scruzol onto the electric drill with
which it
will be used, it would be desirable that the stored Scruzol serve some other
useful function
such as retaining screws and small parts that might otherwise be lost.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide a Scruzol storage bracket that
is
integral to the housing of newly manufactured drills.
Summary of the Invention
To achieve the desired functionality while exploiting the above mentioned
characteristics of my previous "Scruzol" invention, a metal bracket is affixed
to an electric
drill using an adhesive strip. Said bracket that is formed from a length of U-
shaped
channel having a channel depth sufficient to permit the protrusions of a
Scruzol's plastic
handle from preventing the bracket from making magnetic contact onto the full
length of
the magnetically energized screwdriver bits stored in its handle.
Brief Description of the drawings.
Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example
with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;
Figure 1 illustrates my previous "Scruzol" invention (WO/2006/102737) showing
it
chucked in an existing electric drill for use in its powered, drill-driven
mode of operation;
Figure 2 illustrates the drill of Figure 1 when configured for drilling holes
with a
twist drill; the Scruzol being removed for manual operation and also subject
to loss;
Figure 3 is a large-scale view of a Scruzol;
Figure 4 is an axial view onto the Scruzol of Figure 3 illustrating the
inherent
magnetic weakness of magnetically attaching to a flat surface and the
advantage of
bridging between adjacent bits using a U-shaped channel;
Figure 5 illustrates a Scruzol magnetically affixed to an existing drill using
the
present invention;
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Figure 6 is a large-scale view of the bracket in Figure 5 and illustrating two
optional
means of affixing it to better suit different deployment scenarios;
Figure 7 illustrates a drill which has had the bracket of Figure 5 moulded
into its
plastic housing during its manufacture;
Figure 8 illustrates a Scruzol stored onto a drill according to the present
invention
and also serving as a magnetic parts holder for spare twist drills, screws,
screwdriver bits or
other small parts.
Detailed Description.
Figure 1 illustrates usage of a "Scruzol" in its power-driven mode. The shaft
of Scruzol 1
is gripped in the chuck of typical battery-powered electric drill 2, thereby
permitting the
user to power-drive a screwdriver bit. Handle 6 stores a plurality of
interchangeable spare
bits configured to drive different screw head shapes.
Figure 2 illustrates the drill of Figure 1 when configured for drilling holes
with a twist drill
3. The Scruzol 1 has been removed from the drill and replaced with drill 3 and
is therefore
available for use in its handheld mode of operation. While not in use, the
Scruzol must be
stored separately from drill 2, thereby posing an inconvenience to the user.
Figure 3 is a large-scale view showing details of a Scruzol. Plastic handle 6
is formed
over shaft 5 for gripping while the Scruzol is being used in its manually
driven mode. The
exposed portion of shaft 5 is for affixing into the chuck of a drill while the
Scruzol is being
used in its power-driven mode. Shaft 5 has a first bit socket 9 formed in its
handle end for
use in power-driven mode and a second bit-socket formed in its exposed end for
use in
manual-driven mode. Handle 6 includes six open-sided hexagonal screwdriver bit
storage
slots 10, each slot being bisected by axially polarized ring magnet 4 to
magnetically retain
the set of 12 variously-tipped screwdriver bits 7. When magnetically retained
from sliding
out of their storage slots, the 12 bits form a magnetic circuit which will
attract nearby
magnetically attractable objects. Since ring magnet 4 typically has a high-
performance
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neodymium composition, the Scruzol handle 6 is attracted strongly enough that
it can
remain stuck onto vertical surfaces such as a fridge door. The present
invention exploits
this unique characteristic of a Scruzol to provide a storage bracket.
Figure 4 is an axial view onto the Scruzol of Fig. 3 illustrating how the
magnetic
and non-magnetic portions of its handle interact to limit the strength of the
magnetic
storage effect described above. Rectangle 12 represents a metal, magnetically
attractable
planar object such as a steel fridge door onto which a user might wish to
conveniently store
their Scruzol. It's evident that the stored screwdriver bit 7a exerts a strong
magnetic
attraction to planar object 12 however it's also evident that the curved
protrusion of the
plastic handle 6 that is required to retain the bits in their respective
storage slots will be
tangent to object 12 and thereby prevent adjacent bit 7b from coming into
contact with
object 12. Handle 6 thereby limits the combined magnetic attraction of bits 7a
and 7b and
weakens the Scruzols desired magnetic storage effect. Furthermore, since the
contact
points of handle 6 and bit 7a onto object 12 are very close together, any
rotational force
that is applied to the Scruzol will easily pry bit 7a away from object 12 and
thereby cause
the storage effect to rapidly fail. In order to prevent gravity from causing
this failure
mode, the Scruzol must be magnetically stored into a flat surface with its
axis vertical and
while that is easy to do in a static application, it prevents securely
attaching the Scruzol to a
dynamic object such as a handheld electric drill.
Figure 4 also illustrates the present invention and how it works. Bracket 11
is a U-shaped
channel of magnetically attractable metal having a channel deep enough that
the curved
portion of handle 6 cannot interfere with the bracket's contact onto adjacent
screwdriver
bits 7c and 7d. Thus the magnetic attraction onto both bits is fully realized
and its anti-
rotational geometry is more spaced apart and thus far more stable than that
provided by flat
anchoring surface 12.
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Figure 5 is an oblique view of a Scruzol 1 magnetically affixed to an existing
electric drill
2 using the bracket 11 shown in Figure 4. Bracket 11 is long and wide enough
to have
significant magnetic contact onto screwdriver bits 7c, 7d and 7e and thus
provides a strong
and stable magnetic bond between Scruzol 1 and bracket 11. The illustrated
bracket's
overall dimensions are 2" x 0.5" x.125". Since drill 2 typically has a
somewhat curved
outer casing made of moulded plastic, adhesive strip 13 is provided for
bonding bracket 11
onto any convenient location on drill 2, thereby permitting the user to store
the Scruzol
conveniently onto the drill while it's being used for piercing holes as, as
shown in Figure 2.
Bonding bracket 11 securely to drill requires a suitably strong double-sided
tape such as
to "3M Very High Bond Double-Sided Foam Tape #4955". This type of tape
provides a
strong adhesive action and it also has a compliant foam core that conforms to
the gentle
curvature typically found on electric drill housings.
Figure 6 is a large-scale view of the metal bracket shown in Fig. 5. It is U-
shaped channel
having a base portion 16, a left side portion 14 and a right side portion 15,
said side
portions having a height that is sufficient to provide adequate clearance for
the curved
cylindrical handle of a Scruzol as illustrated in Figure 4. In the case of the
illustrated
Scruzol, the height of sides 14 and 15 above base portion 16 is approximately
1/16th of an
inch and the interior width of the channel is approximately 3/8ths of an inch.
The
illustrated thickness of the foam dual-sided adhesive strip 13 is
approximately 3/32".
If affixed to a fairly flat drill housing using a suitable adhesive strip, the
simple channel
bracket shown in Figure 5 will perform adequately however in some instances an
existing
drill housing drill housing will be sufficiently curved that the foam core of
adhesive strip
13 isn't deep and compliant enough to provide a strong bond. To accommodate
such
scenarios, base 16 may optionally include weakening groove 18 that permits the
user to
bend bracket 11 longitudinally to better match their drill housing. Weakening
groove also
provides a slight convexity that permits adhesive strip 13 to better mate to
typical drill
housings. To enable a user to mount bracket I 1 onto particularly difficult to
bond drill
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housing materials or to enable the bracket to be screwed onto a desirable, non-
drill object
such as a wooden workbench, one or more countersunk mounting holes 17 may
optionally
be provided.
Figure 7 illustrates a custom manufactured drill 19 that has been optimized
for use with a
Scruzol by moulding the left and right side portions of the bracket 11 shown
in Figure 6
directly into the drill's plastic housing. The resulting left and right
magnetically attractive
ridges 21 a and 21 b protrude from the drill in the optimal configuration for
attaching said
Scruzol as required. The integrated bracket comprised of ridges 21a and 21b
may also be
positioned on the sides of drill 19 or onto its battery base. Multiple
instances of the
integrated Scruzol bracket may also be provided to permit the user to store it
in a variety of
convenient locations.
Figure 8 illustrates the use of a Scruzol 1 stored onto a custom manufactured
drill 19
according to the present invention. The stored Scruzol 1 also serves as a
convenient
magnetic holder for loose parts such as spare twist drill 3, spare screwdriver
bit 7, screw 22
or other sundry small parts; thereby expanding the utility of both the Scruzol
and the drill
to which it is attached.
It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for
clarity,
described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in
combination in
a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention that are,
for brevity,
described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided
separately or in any
suitable subcombination.
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