Nut Grabber

The NUT GRABBER is an open, box end, or combination wrench which incorporates the use of spring loaded plungers to retain the nut in the wrench upon removal. The design facilitates adjustable pressure by which the user can adjust the amount of spring tension on the plunger which retains the nut.

FIG. 1 of the patent drawing depicts the relative size and location of the plunger assemblys in the standard wrench. The protrusion of the plunger into the throat of either the open or box end need only be approximately 1/32 of an inch. The location of the assemblys can be on either side of the open or box end.

FIG. 2 of the patent drawing shows a detail of the plunger assembly itself. It can easily be seen that the amount of pressure on the plunger can be adjusted by the amount that the setscrew is screwed into the drilled and threaded hole.

A standard open or box end wrench can be readily modified to become a NUT GRABBER by first spotfacing the desired location on either the box or open end of the wrench so that a hole approximately 1/3 of the wrench width placed perpendicularily will be located on to a flat area on the nut to be removed. The hole produced with a drill bit that has a 60 degree included point angle, protrudes into the throat of the open or box end of the wrench until the opening is approximately 1/32 of an inch in diameter. The hole is then counterbored approximately 1/3 of the total depth with the tap drill size of the next larger standard size thread to accommodate a set screw (item 1 of FIG. 2), and then threaded to that size.

A plunger made of hardened tool steel (item 3 of FIG. 2) with a major diameter approximately 0.010" smaller than the inside diameter of the hole having a 60 degree included angle on the 1/64" radius point and a shoulder on the top approximately 0.010" smaller in diameter than the inside diameter of a suitable spring with the compressive strength similar to that of a ball point pen, (item 2 of FIG. 2), is placed into the hole.

The spring mentioned above is then placed into the hole and both pieces 2 and 3 are put under pressure by the set screw. The user than can set the tension of the spring to provide the desired holding power on the nut to be removed.