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US 9,435,370 B2Granted
Locking fastener
AssigneeMacLean-Fogg Company
InventorsMark W. Hughes, Nicholas P. Tobias
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A locking fastener is provided that may be automatically unlocked and locked by sliding a wrench onto the nut and removing the wrench. The fastener includes a biased arm extending outward from a wrench bearing surface that presses against a pawl. The pawl includes ratchet teeth that engage ratchet teeth of a retainer to lock the fastener. The fastener is unlocked by compressing the arm with a wrench.
Claims22
A locking fastener, comprising:
- a nut comprising inner threads engageable with external threads on a shaft, a plurality of wrench bearing surfaces engageable with a tool to rotate said nut, and a first torque bearing surface;
- a retaining ring comprising a rotational retaining member engageable with said shaft thereby preventing relative rotation between said retaining ring and said shaft, a second torque bearing surface engaged with said first torque bearing surface thereby translating longitudinal force from said nut to said retaining ring, a pressure surface adapted to apply said longitudinal force to an apparatus, and a plurality of ratchet teeth extending around said retaining ring;
- a pawl comprising a ratchet tooth engaged with said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring;
- and
- a spring disposed between one of said wrench bearing surfaces of said nut and said pawl, said spring comprising a first arm extending radially outward as said first arm extends downward along said wrench bearing surface, said first arm being biased away from said wrench bearing surface and being compressible toward said wrench bearing surface by said tool, a portion of said first arm biasing said pawl outward against said retaining ring and compression of said first arm by said tool thereby releasing engagement between said ratchet tooth of said pawl from said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring.
2 more elements
A locking fastener, comprising:
- a nut comprising inner threads engageable with external threads on a shaft, a plurality of wrench bearing surfaces engageable with a tool to rotate said nut, and a first torque bearing surface;
- a retaining ring comprising a rotational retaining member engageable with said shaft thereby preventing relative rotation between said retaining ring and said shaft, a second torque bearing surface engaged with said first torque bearing surface thereby translating longitudinal force from said nut to said retaining ring, a pressure surface adapted to apply said longitudinal force to an apparatus, and a plurality of ratchet teeth extending around said retaining ring;
- a pawl comprising a ratchet tooth engaged with said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring;
- and
- a spring disposed between one of said wrench bearing surfaces of said nut and said pawl, said spring comprising a first arm extending radially outward as said first arm extends downward along said wrench bearing surface, said first arm being biased away from said wrench bearing surface and being compressible toward said wrench bearing surface by said tool, a portion of said first arm biasing said pawl outward against said retaining ring and compression of said first arm by said tool thereby releasing engagement between said ratchet tooth of said pawl from said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring;
- wherein said portion of said first arm biasing said pawl outward against said retaining ring comprises an end of said first arm contacting an inner surface of said pawl.
3 more elements
A locking fastener, comprising:
- a nut comprising inner threads engageable with external threads on a shaft, a plurality of wrench bearing surfaces engageable with a tool to rotate said nut, and a first torque bearing surface;
- a retaining ring comprising a rotational retaining member engageable with said shaft thereby preventing relative rotation between said retaining ring and said shaft, a second torque bearing surface engaged with said first torque bearing surface thereby translating longitudinal force from said nut to said retaining ring, a pressure surface adapted to apply said longitudinal force to an apparatus, and a plurality of ratchet teeth extending around said retaining ring;
- a pawl comprising a ratchet tooth engaged with said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring;
- and
- a spring disposed between one of said wrench bearing surfaces of said nut and said pawl, said spring comprising a first arm extending radially outward as said first arm extends downward along said wrench bearing surface, said first arm being biased away from said wrench bearing surface and being compressible toward said wrench bearing surface by said tool, a portion of said first arm biasing said pawl outward against said retaining ring and compression of said first arm by said tool thereby releasing engagement between said ratchet tooth of said pawl from said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring;
- wherein said spring further comprises a second arm extending downward along said nut, said first and second arms being biased apart from each other by a torsional section between said first and second arms, said second arm of said spring is disposed within a slot extending through said nut, said spring thereby being rotationally fixed to said nut, said pawl is disposed within a slot extending through said nut, side surfaces of said pawl contacting side surfaces of said nut such that said pawl rotates with said nut, said pawl is disposed longitudinally between a bottom surface of said nut and a top surface of said retaining ring, a spacing between said bottom surface and said top surface being larger than a thickness of said pawl, and said ratchet tooth of said pawl and said ratchet teeth of said retaining ring are shaped to allow said ratchet tooth to ride over said ratchet teeth with sufficient torque when said tool does not compress said first arm.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.