Expanding outer sleeve for a mandrel or chuck

A circumferential sleeve assembly which is mounted in and on an expanding mandrel, spool shaft and the like and which provides a core support for said mandrel, and in which the expansion means for the sleeve assembly is at least one resilient tube carried by a body member and in which there is provided means for selectively feeding and releasing air, fluid and the like from said resilient tube, said mandrel and sleeve assembly including:

• (a) a body member;
• (b) at least one resilient tube carried in and by said body member;
• (c) end member means carried by said body member, said end member means providing confining limits for the tubing and also establishing the overall length of the body member;
• (d) a circumferential sleeve assembly carried by the body member and between the limits established by the confining end members, this sleeve assembly further including;
• (d1) a multiplicity of serially connected leaf members, each leaf member having one longitudinal edge formed as a tongue whose outer portion is enlarged to provide a greater thickness than the portion connecting the tongue to the leaf member, and with the other longitudinal edge of the leaf member formed with a retaining groove whose outer entryway is narrower than the enlarged outer portion of the tongue, said entryway freely passing said connecting portion of the tongue, the resulting assembly of a tongue of one leaf member into a retaining groove of an adjacent leaf member providing a retention of the tongue in the groove with the capturing of the enlarged portion preventing dislodgement while providing a determined amount of play, this assembled tongue in a groove permitting limited movement of adjacent leaf members toward and away from each other;
• each leaf member also having at least one undergroove formed therein and extending with the longitudinal extent of the leaf member, said undergroove disposed to extend inwardly from the undersurface of the leaf member when the leaf member is in an assembled condition, and (d2) a multiplicity of elastic tension member strips, each having a base portion and from this base portion there is integrally attached extending tab portions which are shaped and sized for retentive mounting in the undergrooves of the leaf members, said elastic strips in a mounted condition extending from one leaf member to an adjacent member with one of the tabs in the undergroove of one leaf member and the other tab in an undergroove of an adjacent leaf member, said elastic tension member when in mounted condition being slightly stretched so as to draw toward each other the leaf members to which they are secured, the connected leaf members of a sleeve assembly being positioned over the resilient tube so that when said tube is expanded the leaf members are urged outwardly by the expansion of the tube and with an outward diametrical limit being established by the play of the tongue in the groove, and when the pressure in the tube is decreased the stretched elastic tension members draw the leaf members toward and to the body member.