Universal socket structure

{
  "publication_number": "US11346402B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "Universal socket structure",
  "abstract": "A universal socket structure includes a female seat, a joint member, at least one engaging member, and an elastic member. A coupling end the female seat is recessed to form an accommodating trough. Two opposite sides of the accommodating trough are formed with grooves extending along an axial direction of the female seat. The female seat has at least one coupling portion. The joint member has one end formed with a spherical head. Two opposite sides of the spherical head has protrusions protruding from an outer periphery of the spherical head. The spherical head is accommodated in the accommodating trough. The protrusions are accommodated in the grooves. The engaging member is disposed in the coupling portion and movable from the coupling portion toward the accommodating trough. The elastic member is disposed in the accommodating trough for pushing and supporting the spherical head to engage with the engaging member.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A universal socket structure, comprising: a hollow female seat, one end of the female seat being a coupling end and another opposing end of the female seat being a receiving end, the coupling end being recessed to form an accommodating trough at a corresponding inner wall surface of the female seat, a section of an outer wall surface of the female seat adjacent to the coupling end is formed with an annular buckle recess, two opposite sides of the accommodating trough along the inner wall surface of the female seat being formed with a pair of grooves extending along an axial direction of the female seat, each groove of the pair of grooves including two sidewalls extending radially from a proximal open end of the corresponding groove to a distal closed end of the corresponding groove, and the female seat being formed with at least one coupling portion at a portion of the inner and outer wall surfaces corresponding to the annular buckle recess; a joint member having one end formed with a spherical head, two opposite sides of the spherical head being provided with a pair of protrusions, wherein the pair of protrusions are integrally formed in one-piece formation with the spherical head, the spherical head of the joint member being accommodated in the accommodating trough of the female seat, the pair of protrusions being accommodated in the pair of grooves, respectively; at least one engaging member disposed in the at least one coupling portion of the female seat, the at least one engaging member being movable from an open end of the at least one coupling portion towards the accommodating trough for engaging the spherical head; and an annular buckle is fit to the annular buckle recess to be fastenerlessly retained thereat.",
    "2. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein an elastic member is disposed in the accommodating trough of the female seat for pushing and supporting the spherical head to engage with the at least one engaging member.",
    "3. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one coupling portion is a through hole penetrating through a portion of the inner and outer wall surfaces of the female seat corresponding in position to the annular buckle recess, wherein when the annular buckle is fitted to the annular buckle recess, the annular buckle pushes the at least one engaging member to move laterally toward the accommodating trough, thereby the at least one engaging member partially extends to the accommodating trough for holding the spherical head.",
    "4. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 3, wherein a portion of the outer wall surface of the female seat corresponding in position to the annular buckle recess is formed with a limit shoulder, and when the annular buckle is fitted to the annular buckle recess, the annular buckle abuts against the limit shoulder.",
    "5. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 4, wherein a diameter of the annular buckle is less than a diameter of a portion of the outer wall surface of the female seat between the limit shoulder and the receiving end.",
    "6. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the pair of grooves is a U-shaped groove and also includes a bottom surface, and the two sidewalls of each groove of the pair of grooves are connected to the corresponding bottom surface, and an angle between each of the two sidewalls and the bottom surface is greater than 90 degrees.",
    "7. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the pair of grooves is a U-shaped groove and also includes a bottom surface, and the two sidewalls of each groove of the pair of grooves are connected to the corresponding bottom surface, and an angle between each of the two sidewalls and the bottom surface is less than 90 degrees.",
    "8. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pair of protrusions are cylindrical posts integrally formed in one-piece formation with the spherical head.",
    "9. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pair of protrusions are polygonal posts integrally formed in one-piece formation with the spherical head.",
    "10. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one coupling portion is a through hole penetrating through a portion of the inner and outer wall surfaces of the female seat corresponding in position to the annular buckle recess, and the at least one engaging member is a ball.",
    "11. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 10, wherein an outer diameter of the ball is greater than a thickness of a wall section of the through hole.",
    "12. The universal socket structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein a width of the proximal open end of a corresponding groove of the pair of grooves is different from a width of the distal closed end of the corresponding groove thereby increasing a rotation angle of the joint member relative to the female seat."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a drive socket, and more particularly to a universal socket structure for connecting a hand tool or a pneumatic/electric tool.\n\nUniversal sockets are attached to hand tools or pneumatic/electric tools for locking or unlocking bolts. As shown in FIG. 6, a universal socket structure disclosed in Taiwan Patent No. 1397456 includes a joint member 91. One end of the joint member 91 is formed with a spherical head 92. A pin 93 is inserted through a perforation 921 of the spherical head 92, and two ends of the pin 93 extend out of the outer circumference of the spherical head 92. When the spherical head 92 of the joint member 91 is accommodated in an accommodating trough 95 of a female seat 94, the two ends of the pin 93 are engaged in two longitudinal grooves 951 of the accommodating trough 95. The joint member 91 can be obliquely rotated relative to the female seat 94 to change its connection angle.\n\nIn the above patent, the joint member 91 consisting of the pin 93 passing through the perforation 921 of the spherical head 92 is widely used in existing universal socket structures. However, the conventional universal socket structures have the following problems:\n\n1. For the joint member 91 consisting of the pin 93 passing through the perforation 921 of the spherical head 92, because the pin 93 and the spherical head 92 are two independent components, they must be manufactured separately, and their mating precision is controlled separately. In the assembly, the assembly step of inserting the pin 93 in the perforation 921 of the spherical head 92 must be performed first.",
  "cpc": [
    "F16D 3/2052",
    "B25B 13/06",
    "B25B 23/0014",
    "F16C 11/0623"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B25B 23/00",
    "F16C 11/06",
    "F16D 3/205"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Jhih Sheng Tsai"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2019-05-24",
  "publication_date": "2022-05-31",
  "grant_date": "2022-05-31",
  "priority_date": "2019-02-01",
  "application_number": "US-201916422132-A",
  "family_id": "68944108",
  "cited_by_count": 5,
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  ]
}