Hand-held ratchet action tool

摘要

A hand-held, ratchet action tool closes together a pair of jaws. A first jaw is fixed in position. A second jaw includes a plurality of ratchet teeth and is mounted to pivot with respect to the first jaw. The ratchet tool further includes a linkage of four links operatively coupled together and with a motorized drive mechanism. A first pawl is supported on one of the links so as to be engageable with the teeth of the second jaw. The linkage is configured to convert drive motion from the drive mechanism into oscillatory motion of the pawl along the teeth. The first pawl is arranged to drive the working face of the second jaw towards that of the first jaw during the oscillatory motion. A second pawl engages with the teeth to permit the first pawl to be ratcheted back and forth, closing the second jaw on the first jaw. A selector lever is provided to manually disengage the pawls and to permit reopening of the jaws. An inhibitor or stop is located on the second jaw in a position to rotate the selector lever to disengage the second pawl at the end of travel of the second jaw to prevent damage to the mechanism. The inhibitor can be shaped into a handle to support the tool and manually rotate the jaw. The tool can include a drive mechanism or the tool can be configured to be releasably and drivingly connected to a separate drive mechanism such as a conventional electric hand drill.