Depth of cut locking mechanism for a plunge-type router
AssigneeRyobi North America, Inc.
InventorsJ. Timothy Stolzer, Ronald C. McCurry, Charles D. Winchester
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A depth of cut lock mechanism for a plunge-type router having a drive motor enclosed within a motor housing. The motor housing is attached to a base plate by a pair of spatially separated guides. Each guide has a guide sleeve attached to the motor housing and a guide tube attached to the base plate and slidably received in the guide sleeve. The lock mechanism has a lock disc rotatable between a lock position and a release position by a manually activated lever displaces the lock disc toward the unlocked position. The lever is pivotable about an axis parallel a guide tube and is located adjacent to a handle of the router so that the lever can be activated by the user while grasping the router handle.
Claims16
A depth of cut locking mechanism for a plunge-type router which locks the position of a router relative to a base plate, the router having a motor housing provided with a pair of spaced apart handles to be grasped by a user, said housing being connected to the base plate by a pair of spatially separated telescoping guides, each of the telescoping guides having a guide sleeve fixedly disposed in the motor housing and a guide tube attached to the base plate, the guide tube is slidably received in the guide sleeve, said locking mechanism comprising:
- a lever pivotably connected to the motor housing, said lever having a free and positioned adjacent one of the handles, said free end being displaceable by the user between a lock position and a release position while grasping said adjacent handle;
- a mounting bracket securing said guide sleeve and having a threaded aperture extending therethrough;
- a lock member having a threaded boss threadably received in said threaded aperture, said lock member rotatable about an axis concentric with said threaded boss between a lock position and a release position, said lock member being axially displaced toward said guide tube when rotated from said release position toward said lock position and axially displaced away from said guide tube when said lock member is rotated from said lock position toward said release position;
- an actuator rod pivotably connecting said lock member to said release lever to rotate said lock member between said locked position and said release position;
- a friction member cooperating with the lock member to lock said motor housing to said guide sleeve in response to lock member being rotated to said locked position;
- and
- wherein said actuator rod has one end pivotably connected to said lever and an opposite end pivotably connected to said lock member at a location offset from said lock member axis.
A plunge-type router comprising:
- a motor housing enclosing a drive motor, said drive motor having a shaft extending external to said motor housing and adapted to have a cutting tool secured, said motor housing provided with a pair of spaced apart handles to be grasped by a user, said housing being;
- a base plate;
- a pair of spatially separated telescoping guides, each of said telescoping guides of said pair of telescoping guides having a guide sleeve fixedly disposed in said motor housing and a guide tube attached to said base plate, each of said guide tubes being slidably received in its associated guide sleeve;
- a lever pivotably connected to the motor housing, said lever having a free and positioned adjacent one of the handles, said free end being displaceable by the user between a lock position and a release position while grasping said adjacent handle;
- a mounting bracket securing said guide sleeve and having a threaded aperture extending therethrough;
- a lock member having a threaded boss threadably received in said threaded aperture, said lock member rotatable about an axis concentric with said threaded boss between a lock position and a release position, said lock member being axially displaced toward said guide tube when rotated from said release position toward said lock position and axially displaced away from said guide tube when said lock member is rotated from said lock position toward said release position;
- an actuator rod pivotably connecting said lock member to said release lever to rotate said lock member between said locked position and said release position;
- a friction member cooperating with the lock member to lock said motor housing to said guide sleeve in response to lock member being rotated to said locked position;
- a detent mechanism for maintaining said lever and associated lock member in one of said lock or release positions;
- and
- a spring for urging said lever and associated lock member to the other of said lock and unlock positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.