Thread reforming tool with lockable rotary jaw structure

In apparatus for re-forming a helical screw thread on a body, said apparatus including

• (a) carrier means,
• (b) opposed jaws shaped for reception in the thread defined groove at opposite sides of the body, one of the jaws carried by the carrier means,
• (c) a shaft carrying the other jaw and defining an axis about which said other jaw and shaft are rotatable, the improvement comprising:
• (d) brake means on the carrier means and adjustable to selectively prevent rotation of said shaft and other jaw about said axis after said other jaw has been received in the thread defined groove, whereby the rotary position of said other jaw relative to the one jaw may be positively fixed during re-forming of the thread as the jaws are rotated relatively about said body,
• (e) said brake means including a braking element in a bore formed in the carrier means, and a manually adjustable member located to exert force acting to push said element against said shaft, said element being cylindrical and having a conically tapered tip with a slant height surface portion engageable with said shaft, and said member having threaded interfit with the carrier means, said conically tapered tip having an axis extending acutely relative to the axis of the shaft so that said slant height surface portion has substantial surface engagement with the shaft,
• (f) there being a second shaft carrying the one jaw, both of said shafts extending in parallel relation and carried by the carrier means, said member being in the path of an endwise extension of said second shaft,
• (g) the member including a manually rotatable knob protectively located closely adjacent a relieved wall defined by the carrier.