Adjustable socket

An adjustable socket having a plurality of selectable socket size openings, comprising:

• a. a housing, generally cylindrical in shape and having a generally circular cross-section aligned along a longitudinal axis, comprising:
• i. a top housing lip;
• and
• ii. a bottom housing lip;
• and
• iii. an interior housing wall;
• and
• iv. a series of locking grooves extending longitudinally along the interior housing wall;
• and
• b. a disc, generally circular in cross-section and having a circular perimeter, the disc comprising:
• i. a plurality of guide slots:
• 1. open to the perimeter;
• and
• 2. angled obliquely off-center;
• and
• ii. a plurality of locking tabs extending out radially from the perimeter, sized and shaped to couple with the locking grooves of the housing;
• and
• c. a plurality of jaw members, sized and shaped to move laterally within the disc guide slots, and wherein rotation, vertical motion, and tilting of the jaws, relative to a center longitudinal axis of the housing, remains fixed, each jaw member comprising:
• i. a flat shaped inward face, facing toward the longitudinal axis of the housing;
• and
• ii. two flat side faces, located perpendicular to both the top face and the bottom face, the side faces angled to allow adjacent jaw members to slide past one another during operation of the mechanism;
• and
• iii. a stem extending at a perpendicular angle downward from the flat bottom face;
• and
• iv. a cam extending downward below the stem;
• and
• d. a drive core, generally circular in cross-section and axially rotatable within the housing, comprising:
• i. a top cam surface at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the housing, with guide elements sized and shaped to accept the cams of each jaw member;
• and
• ii. wherein rotation of the drive core within the housing forces the jaw members to travel inwardly or outwardly along the disc guide slots as dictated by the cam surface;
• and
• iii. a series of teeth extending downward from the cam surface;
• and
• iv. a drive shaft extending downward from the teeth;
• and
• e. a locking mechanism that locks the drive core and jaws into different positions corresponding to various socket size openings;
• and
• f. a plug, sized and shaped to couple with the housing bottom, containing the drive mechanism within the housing, and allowing for the drive shaft to accept a drive element.