Drill Chuck with Hardened Body

A body for a chuck for use with a powered driver having a rotatable drive shaft, the body comprising:

• a forward bore;
• a plurality of passageways intersecting into the forward bore to receive chuck jaws;
• and
• a posterior bore disposed in a posterior section of the body and the posterior bore being configured to receive the drive shaft to couple the drive shaft with the chuck
• wherein the body defines a posterior face that surrounds the posterior bore;
• wherein a hardened layer is disposed at a posterior face of the body that surrounds the posterior bore, the hardened layer having a hardened layer depth to a transitional interface with an internal region of the posterior section;
• wherein the hardened layer has a first hardness and the internal region has a second hardness;
• wherein the first hardness is greater than the second hardness.

A power driver comprising:

• a drive motor;
• a drive shaft coupled to the drive motor to be rotationally driven by the drive motor;
• and
• a chuck coupled to the drive shaft to be rotationally driven by the drive motor via the drive shaft, the chuck comprising a body;
• wherein the body comprises a posterior bore disposed in a posterior section of the body, the posterior bore being configured to receive the drive shaft to couple the drive shaft to the chuck;
• wherein a hardened layer is disposed at a posterior face of the body that surrounds the posterior bore, the hardened layer having a hardened layer depth to a transitional interface with an internal region of the posterior section;
• wherein the hardened layer has a first hardness and the internal region has a second hardness;
• wherein the first hardness is greater than the second hardness.