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US 4,291,568 AGranted
Method of forming socket wrenches
AssigneeVeeder Industries Inc.
InventorVincent A. Stifano, Jr.
Life of this patent
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AssigneeVeeder Industries Inc.
InventorVincent A. Stifano, Jr.
Estimating the term…
The disclosed method features an automatic high production cold working process of forming socket wrenches from coiled alloy steel wire stock. The wire is cut to length, its ends are squared to form a workpiece blank which is then located in a die station and a recess of circular cross-section is cold formed at one end of the workpiece by impacting a round punch into the workpiece which thereafter is transferred to and inserted into a downstream die in a longitudinally reversed orientation whereupon a second punch forms a square socket on an end of the workpiece opposite the end wherein the circular recess is formed. Additional steps of the process include extruding an end of the workpiece surrounding the circular recess to reduce its outside diameter, broaching a hex socket into the necked-down end of the workpiece and piercing an axial through-hole between sockets at opposite ends of the workpiece.
A method of cold forming socket wrenches comprising the steps of providing a generally cylindrical solid metal workpiece, aligning the workpiece with an internal cavity of a die, driving the workpiece into the die cavity with a power operated punch and simultaneously forming a first recess in one end of the workpiece in aligned relation with its longitudinal axis by cold flowing its metal material between the punch and die, transferring the workpiece from the first die and longitudinally reversing the workpiece end to end into alignment with an internal cavity of a second die, driving the workpiece into the cavity of the second die with a second power operated punch and simultaneously forming a second recess in the opposite end of the workpiece in coaxial alignment with its first recess by cold flow of the workpiece metal material about the second punch and the second die, and reducing the outside diameter of one end of the workpiece by driving it into a tapered die cavity and extruding the metal material of the workpiece between a third punch, received within the recess in said one end of the workpiece, and internal walls of the tapered die which are located in spaced surrounding relation to the third punch received within the recess in said one end of the workpiece.
A method of cold forming socket wrenches comprising the steps of providing a generally cylindrical solid metal workpiece, aligning the workpiece with an internal cavity of a die, driving the workpiece into the die cavity with a power operated punch and simultaneously forming a first recess in one end of the workpiece in aligned relation with its longitudinal axis, transferring the workpiece from the die and aligning the workpiece with a tapered internal cavity of a subsequent die, driving the workpiece into the cavity of the subsequent die and simultaneously forming a second recess in the opposite end of the workpiece in coaxial alignment with its first recess, and reducing both the inside and outside diameters of said one end of the workpiece simultaneously with the second driving step.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.