Installation tool for installing swage type threaded fasteners

A tool for securing a plurality of workpieces with a multi-piece swage type fastener which includes a pin adapted to extend through aligned openings in the workpieces and a tubular collar adapted to be located on the pin and swaged into locking grooves on the pin with the pin having a pull portion with helical pull grooves, said tool comprising:

• a swage section and a rotary section operatively connected together,
• said rotary section including a rotary threaded member having a threaded surface engageable with the helical grooves on the pull portion for threadable engagement with the pull portion of the pin to exert an axial pulling force thereon and being rotatably supported from a substantially fixed axial position,
• said swage section further including an annular swage anvil having a swage cavity with an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the collar and being supported for axial movement relative to said rotary threaded member,
• said rotary threaded member located radially inwardly of said swage anvil and adapted to rotate relative to said swage anvil and with said swage anvil being supported to move axially relative to said rotary threaded member in said fixed axial position,
• said rotary section including rotary means operable for rotating said rotary threaded member for threaded engagement onto and disengagement from the pull portion of the pin,
• said swage section including annular fluid piston-cylinder means comprising a fluid cylinder having a central axis and a piston supported in said cylinder for axially reciprocating movement along said central axis in response to fluid pressure in said cylinder for applying a relative axial force between said swage anvil and said rotary threaded member and for applying such axial force of a first magnitude after said rotary threaded member has been threaded onto the pull portion of the pin to move said swage anvil axially outwardly relative to said rotary threaded member to radially overengage the collar to swage the collar into the locking grooves on the pin,
• control means operatively connected with said rotary means for halting rotary motion of said rotary threaded member when said threaded member is threaded to a predetermined position of threaded engagement with threads of the pull portion of the pin,
• said fluid piston-cylinder means including
• (a) an elongated annular housing including said fluid cylinder,
• (b) said piston including a piston head slidably supported in said fluid cylinder for relative axial reciprocal motion along said central axis and having a piston rod extending axially forwardly from the outer end of said piston head, said piston rod including an end section connected to said swage anvil,
• (c) port means in said annular housing for applying fluid pressure to said fluid cylinder to produce the relative reciprocal movement of said piston in said fluid cylinder, and
• (d) a drive shaft extending axially from said rotary threaded member through said piston rod and said piston head of said piston,
• said rotary means including a rotary motor connected with said annular housing, a drive gear driven by said rotary motor around an axis radially spaced from and extending parallely with said central axis,
• an output gear centered on said central axis and adapted to be drivingly engaged with said drive gear,
• said drive shaft connected with said output gear,
• connecting means on said drive shaft connecting said drive shaft with said output gear for transmitting a rotary drive force from said drive gear to said shaft and to said rotary threaded member with said rotary threaded member being held in said generally axially fixed position.

A compact tool for securing a plurality of workpieces with a multi-piece swage type fastener which includes a pin adapted to extend through aligned openings in the workpieces and a tubular collar adapted to be located on the pin and swaged into locking grooves on the pin with the pin having a pull portion with helical pull grooves and with the tool adapted to install such fasteners in limited clearance applications, said tool comprising:

• a swage section, a rotary drive section and a sensor section operatively connected together,
• said swage section including a rotary nut member threadable onto the pull portion of the pin and being rotatably supported from a substantially fixed axial position,
• said swage section further including an annular swage anvil having a swage cavity with an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the collar,
• said rotary nut member located radially inwardly of said swage cavity and adapted to rotate relative to said swage anvil and with said swage anvil being supported for axial movement relative to said nut member in said fixed axial position,
• said rotary drive section including rotary means operable for rotating said nut member for threaded engagement onto and disengagement from the pull portion of the pin,
• said swage section including annular fluid piston-cylinder means comprising a fluid cylinder having a central axis and a piston supported in said cylinder for axially reciprocating movement along said central axis in response to fluid pressure in said cylinder for applying a relative axial force between said swage anvil and said nut member and for applying such axial force of a first magnitude after said nut member has been threaded to a first predetermined position onto the pull portion of the pin whereby said swage anvil is moved axially forwardly and outwardly relative to said nut member to radially overengage the collar to swage the collar into the locking grooves on the pin,
• said sensor section including sensor means operatively connected with said nut member for detecting the amount of threaded engagement of said nut member with the pull portion of the pin,
• control means operatively connected with said rotary means and responsive to a signal from said sensor means indicating the location of said nut member at said first predetermined position on the pull portion of the pin for halting rotary motion of said nut member by said rotary means and actuating the application of fluid swage pressure to said piston for applying the axial force of said first magnitude for swaging,
• said piston including a piston head slidably supported in said cylinder and a piston rod extending axially forwardly from the outer end of said piston head and having an end section connected to said swage anvil for axially reciprocating movement of said swage anvil and responsive to the magnitude of fluid pressure for applying relative axial forces between said swage anvil and said nut member for moving said swage anvil axially outwardly to radially overengage the collar for swaging and axially inwardly for ejecting the swaged collar from said swage anvil with such axial movement being relative to said nut member with said nut member held in said fixed axial position,
• fluid pressure means connected to said cylinder and responsive to said control means for applying the swage pressure into said cylinder on the inner end of said piston head and the ejection pressure applied to said cylinder on the outer end of said piston head with said piston rod with said piston head thereby providing a larger effective pressure responsive area to achieve the magnitude of relative axial force required for swage which is substantially greater than the relative axial force required for ejection after swage by fluid pressure applied to said cylinder at the outer or piston rod end of said piston head whereby the diameter of said piston head and hence effective diameter of said cylinder can be minimized for use of the tool in limited clearance applications,
• said rotary means comprising a rotary motor operatively connected to said rotary nut member for rotating said nut member independently of said swage anvil, housing means operatively securing said rotary means, said piston-cylinder means and said swage anvil together, said housing means supporting said rotary motor at a position axially spaced and radially offset from said piston-cylinder means with said rotary motor having a motor axis of rotation being generally parallel to said central axis of said cylinder whereby the opposite axial end of said piston-cylinder means opposite from said swage anvil is clear from said rotary motor for use of the tool in limited clearance applications,
• a drive shaft connected to said nut member extending axially from said nut member through said fluid piston-cylinder means including said piston rod and piston head of said piston,
• said rotary means further comprising gear drive means located generally at said opposite axial end of said piston-cylinder means and extending radially between said rotary motor and said drive shaft for rotation of said drive shaft and hence of said nut member by said rotary motor,
• said gear drive means including a drive gear connected to said rotary motor for rotation about said motor axis, an output gear connected to said drive shaft for rotation of said nut member about said cylinder axis, an idler gear rotatably supported on an axis parallel to and intermediate with said motor axis and said central axis and in driving engagement between said drive gear and said output gear whereby said rotary motor is radially and transversely spaced from said swage section a preselected distance to facilitate use of the tool in limited clearance applications,
• said sensing means including a sensing rod extending axially through said nut member, said piston and said cylinder and having a forward end adapted to engage an end surface of the pin of the fastener and a rearward end extending axially rearwardly and outwardly from said cylinder, said sensing rod being axially movable relative to said nut member whereby the extent of axial movement of said rearward end relative to said nut member will provide an indication of the extent of threaded engagement of said nut member with the threaded pull grooves of the pin,
• said sensing means including first and second electric switches operatively connected to said sensing rod for actuation in response to axial movement of said sensing rod by the pin,
• said first and second switches supported at a position radially offset from said central axis of said cylinder,
• said sensing means including pivot means for providing a radially extending connection between said rearward end of said sensing rod and said first and second electric switches for transmitting the amount of axial movement of said sensing rod to said first and second switches,
• said pivot means comprising an actuating lever being pivotally supported on a pivot rod having an axis radially offset from and extending transversely to said central axis, said actuating lever extending radially from said pivot rod and to a position in engagement with said end surface of said sensing rod, first and second actuating arms pivotally supported on said pivot rod and operatively connected with said actuating lever for operative engagement with said first and second electric switches respectively,
• said actuating lever being operable in response to axial movement of said sensing rod indicating threaded engagement of said nut member onto the pull portion of the pin to said first predetermined position to actuate said first actuating arm to actuate said first electric switch to provide a first signal to said control means for actuating the application of fluid swage pressure to said piston,
• said actuating lever being alternatively operable in response to axial movement of said sensing rod indicating threaded engagement of said nut member onto the pull portion of the pin only to a second predetermined position less than said first predetermined position to actuate said second actuating arm to actuate said second electric switch to provide a second signal to said control means for actuating the application for fluid pressure less than swage pressure to pull the workpieces together,
• said control means actuable after the application of fluid pressure less than swage pressure to initiate actuation of said rotary means for a second attempt at threading said nut member onto the pull portion of the pin to said first predetermined position for actuation of swaging action,
• said pivot means, including said actuating lever and said first and second lever arms, being constructed with said actuating lever and said first and second lever arms being of a radially elongated and axially narrow construction and supported in a housing portion at said opposite axial end of said swage section to extend radially from said cylinder axis with said housing portion thereby being of a minimal axial length to facilitate use of the tool in limited clearance applications.

A compact tool for securing a plurality of workpieces with a multi-piece swage type fastener which includes a pin adapted to extend through aligned openings in the workpieces and a tubular collar adapted to be located on the pin and swaged into locking grooves on the pin with the pin having a pull portion with helical pull grooves, said tool comprising:

• a swage section and a rotary drive section operatively connected together,
• said swage section including a rotary threaded member threadable onto the pull portion of the pin and being rotatably supported from a substantially fixed axial position,
• said swage section further including an annular swage anvil having a swage cavity with an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the collar,
• said rotary threaded member located radially inwardly of said swage cavity and adapted to rotate relative to said swage anvil and with said swage anvil being supported for axial movement relative to said threaded member in said fixed axial position,
• said rotary drive section including rotary means operable for rotating said threaded member for threaded engagement onto and disengagement from the pull portion of the pin,
• said swage section including annular fluid piston-cylinder means comprising a fluid cylinder having a central axis and a piston supported in said cylinder for axially reciprocating movement along said central axis in response to fluid pressure in said cylinder for applying a relative axial force between said swage anvil and said threaded member to move said swage anvil axially forwardly and outwardly relative to said threaded member to radially overengage the collar to swage the collar into the locking grooves on the pin,
• said piston including a piston head slidably supported in said cylinder and a piston rod extending axially forwardly from the outer end of said piston head and having an end section connected to said swage anvil for axially reciprocating movement of said swage anvil forwardly for swage and rearwardly for ejection whereby the overall axial length of said cylinder and hence overall effective length of said swage section an be minimized for use of the tool in limited clearance applications,
• fluid pressure means connected to said cylinder and responsive to said control means for applying the swage pressure into said cylinder on the inner end of said piston head and the ejection pressure to said cylinder on the outer end of said piston head with said piston rod with said piston head thereby providing a larger effective pressure responsive area to achieve the magnitude of relative axial force required for swage which is substantially greater than the relative axial force required for ejection after swage by fluid pressure applied to said cylinder at the outer or piston rod end of said piston head whereby the diameter of said piston head and hence effective diameter of said cylinder can be minimized for use of the tool in limited clearance applications.