A ratchet wrench comprising, in combination:
- a body including a driving portion and a handle interconnected to the driving portion, with the driving portion including first and second sides spaced in a thickness direction, with the driving portion further including a first compartment extending in the thickness direction, with the driving portion further including a second compartment in communication with the first compartment and intermediate the first and second sides, with the driving portion further including a recessed portion formed on the first side, with the recessed portion having a surface intermediate and spaced from the first and second sides along the thickness direction and intermediate the first compartment and the handle, with the recessed portion including a slot located intermediate the surface of the recessed portion and the first side, with the slot being in communication with the second compartment;
- a drive member rotatably received in the first compartment, with the drive member including a plurality of teeth in an outer periphery thereof;
- first and second pawls slideably received in the second compartment, with each of the first and second pawls including an inner face facing the plurality of teeth of the drive member, with the inner face of each of the first and second pawls including a plurality of teeth releasably engaged with the plurality of teeth of the drive member, with an elastic element being mounted between the first and second pawls to bias the first and second pawls away from each other to engage the plurality of teeth of the first and second pawls with the plurality of teeth of the drive member, with each of the first and second pawls further including a top face transverse to the inner face, with the first pawl including a first coupling portion on the top face thereof, with the second pawl including a second coupling portion on the top face thereof;
- and
- a control member slideably mounted on the surface of the recessed portion between first, second, and third operative positions, with the second operative position intermediate the first and third operative positions, with the control member positioned over the surface of the recessed portion and including a control section slideably extending through the slot into the second compartment,
- wherein when the control member is in the first operative position, the plurality of teeth of the second pawl are engaged with the plurality of teeth of the drive member, the control section of the control member is engaged with the first coupling portion of the first pawl to disengage the plurality of teeth of the first pawl from the plurality of teeth of the drive member, allowing the handle and the drive member to rotate in a first direction driving a fastener in the first direction, and allowing the handle to rotate freely relative to the drive member in a second direction reverse to the first direction without driving the fastener,
- wherein when the control member is in the third operative position, the plurality of teeth of the first pawl are engaged with the plurality of teeth of the drive member, the control section of the control member is engaged with the second coupling section of the second pawl to disengage the plurality of teeth of the second pawl from the plurality of teeth of the drive member, allowing the handle and the drive member to rotate in the second direction driving the fastener in the second direction, and allowing the handle to rotate freely relative to the drive member in the first direction without driving the fastener, and
- wherein when the control member is in the second operative position, the plurality of teeth of each of the first and second pawls are engaged with the plurality of teeth of the drive member, allowing the handle and the drive member to rotate in either of the first and second directions driving the fastener, and not allowing free rotation of the handle relative to the drive member in either of the first and second directions without driving the fastener, with the control member including first and second faces spaced in the thickness direction, with the control member further including a positioning slot extending from the first face through the second face, with the positioning slot including a wall having first, second, and third positioning grooves, with the ratchet wrench further comprising, in combination:
- a positioning member received in the positioning slot and fixed relative to the surface of the recessed portion, with the positioning member being not moved when the control member is moved between the first, second, and third operative positions, and with the positioning member selectively engaged with one of the first, second, and third positioning grooves to retain the control member in one of the first, second, and third operative positions.