US 12,304,037 B2
Torque driver
Michael Cottrell, Ashland, MO (US); Michael Lindsay, Columbia, MO (US); Paul Coryell, Columbia, MO (US); James Tayon, Moberly, MO (US); and Justin Burke, Columbia, MO (US)
Assigned to AOB Products Company, Columbia, MO (US)
Filed by AOB Products Company, Columbia, MO (US)
Filed on Nov. 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/052,294.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/263,454, filed on Nov. 3, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0140601 A1, May 4, 2023
Int. Cl. B25B 23/14 (2006.01)
CPC B25B 23/141 (2013.01) 30 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A torque driver for rotating a component, the torque driver comprising:
a housing having opposite proximal and distal ends and a longitudinal axis extending between the proximal and distal ends, the housing defining an interior, the housing including a first set of ratchet teeth in the interior, the housing including internal threading;
a drive connector configured to be engaged by a drive device, the drive connector coupled to the housing such that the drive connector and the housing rotate together when the drive connector is rotated by the drive device, the drive connector being adjacent the proximal end of the housing;
an output drive adjacent the distal end of the housing, the output drive including a second set of ratchet teeth engaged with the first set of ratchet teeth of the housing, the first and second sets of ratchet teeth sized and shaped to rotate relative to one another when torque imparted on the drive connector by the drive device exceeds a predetermined torque, the output drive including a component driver in a fixed relation relative to the second set of ratchet teeth such that the component driver and the second set of ratchet teeth rotate together, the output drive being configured to be operatively connected to the component to rotate the component;
a biasing member disposed in the interior, the biasing member applying a biasing force that correlates to the predetermined torque against the output drive to bias the second set of ratchet teeth toward the first set of ratchet teeth; and
a torque adjuster disposed in the interior of the housing, the biasing member having a proximal end engaged with the torque adjuster and a distal end engaged with the output drive, the torque adjuster selectively movable along the longitudinal axis relative to the output drive to selectively change an amount of the biasing force to change the predetermined torque, the torque adjuster having external threading threaded with the internal threading of the housing.