The present invention relates generally to the field of removal and replacement of vehicle wheels, and more specifically to a device for removing and replacing all of the lug nuts on a vehicle""s wheel simultaneously.
Time is money. Anything that lets you accomplish a task in less amount of time, gives you the ability to complete more of the tasks in a fixed amount of time. If a person is paid for each tack completed then completing the tasks in a shorter amount of time allows the person to make more money each day. In the tire industry, for instance, a mechanic must remove multiple lug nuts, usually five, before he can take the tire and wheel off of the car. The tire and wheel combination must be take off of the car before a new tire can be installed on the wheel, or rim. Since the amount of money a tire business makes is directly proportional to the number of new tires that the business sells, the faster the business can take wheels off of cars and trucks the more tires they can sell in one day, thereby increasing their profits.
Traditionally, lug nuts are taken off of a vehicle one at a time through the use of an air-powered drill. The drill is fitted with a socket that fits over the lug nut and compressed air is used to turn the drill socket and remove the lug nut from a screw that secures the wheel to the vehicle. Alternatively, a specialized hand tool with a lug nut socket and long shaft for leverage is used to remove lug nuts. This method also requires that each nut be removed individually. A tool that allows all of the lug nuts on a wheel to be removed at the same time would greatly reduce the amount of time required for wheel removal. The present invention provides such a tool, by taking advantage of different sized gears.
A gear can be described as a toothed wheel or cylinder that is used to transmit rotary or reciprocating motion from one part of a machine to another. Two or more gears, transmitting motion from one shaft to another, constitute a gear train. At one time various mechanisms were collectively called gearing. Now, however, the word gearing is used only to describe systems of wheels or cylinders with meshing teeth. Gearing is chiefly used to transmit rotating motion, but can, with suitably designed gears and flat-toothed sectors, be employed to transform reciprocating motion into rotating motion, and vice versa.
The simplest gear is the spur gear, a wheel with teeth cut across its edge parallel to the axis. Spur gears transmit rotating motion between two shafts or other parts with parallel axes. In simple spur gearing, the driven shaft revolves in the opposite direction to the driving shaft. If rotation in the same direction is desired, an idler gear is placed between the driving gear and the driven gear. The idler revolves in the opposite direction to the driving gear and therefore turns the driven gear in the same direction as the driving gear. In any form of gearing the speed of the driven shaft depends on the number of teeth in each gear. A gear with 10 teeth driving a gear with 20 teeth will revolve twice as fast as the gear it is driving, and a 20-tooth gear driving a 10-tooth gear will revolve at half the speed. By using a train of several gears, the ratio of driving to driven speed may be varied within wide limits.
Internal, or annular, gears are variations of the spur gear in which the teeth are cut on the inside of a ring or flanged wheel rather than on the outside. Internal gears usually drive or are driven by a pinion, a small gear with few teeth. A rack, a flat, toothed bar that moves in a straight line, operates like a gear wheel with an infinite radius and can be used to transform the rotation of a pinion to reciprocating motion, or vice versa. Bevel gears are employed to transmit rotation between shafts that do not have parallel axes. These gears have cone-shaped bodies and straight teeth. When the angle between the rotating shafts is 90xc2x0, the bevel gears used are called miter gears.
Helical gears have teeth that are not parallel to the axis of the shaft but are spiraled around the shaft in the form of a helix. Such gears are suitable for heavy loads because the gear teeth come together at an acute angle rather than at 90xc2x0 as in spur gearing. Simple helical gearing has the disadvantage of producing a thrust that tends to move the gears along their respective shafts. This thrust can be avoided by using double helical, or herringbone, gears, which have V-shaped teeth composed of half a right-handed helical tooth and half a left-handed helical tooth. Hypoid gears are helical bevel gears employed when the axes of the two shafts are perpendicular but do not intersect. One of the most common uses of hypoid gearing is to connect the drive shaft and the rear axle in automobiles. Another variation of helical gearing is provided by the worm gear, also called the screw gear. A worm gear is a long, thin cylinder that has one or more continuous helical teeth that mesh with a helical gear. Worm gears differ from helical gears in that the teeth of the worm slide across the teeth of the driven gear instead of exerting a direct rolling pressure. Worm gears are used chiefly to transmit rotation, with a large reduction in speed, from one shaft to another at a 90xc2x0 angle.
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A large gear that drives multiple smaller gears around its periphery would allow multiple sockets to be turned with a single ratchet. There is a need in the industry for such a tool that would reduce the amount of time required to remove and replace tires on cars and trucks.
A device for simultaneously removing or replacing all lug nuts from a vehicle""s wheel wherein a driving force provided at one location causes multiple lug nut sockets to rotate thereby simultaneously screwing or unscrewing all of the lug nuts attached to the wheel. The device comprises a lug nut interface plate that rotatively holds the multiple lug nut sockets around a perimeter of the lug nut interface plate. The sockets are positioned so that there is a one to one correspondence between the sockets and the lug nuts to be removed or replaced. The device also comprises a turning force interface plate which has a central gear that when rotated transfers a rotational force to each lug nut socket of the lug nut interface plate. The central socket comprises a gear with a hole or slot in the center for receiving a turning tool, which can be a hand tool or a power tool. The turning tool provides the rotational force and teeth on the circumference of the central gear mesh with teeth of smaller lug gears that subsequently turn the lug nuts of the lug nut interface plate. Plate connectors provide a releasable connection between the lug nut interface plate and the turning force plate.
The lug nut sockets of the lug nut interface plate can be removed and replaced with different sized sockets when required. Alternatively, different lug nut plates each plate having different sized sockets can be provided. The device can also be mounted on a wheeled jack thereby providing ease of movement for the device around a garage, for instance. The jack is used for raising and lowering the device to desired heights and may optionally include a turning force that provides the rotational force to the central gear.
In an alternative embodiment the two plates are contained in one housing and the release pin is used to temporarily disengages the lug sockets from the lug gears so that they may be freely rotated to seat the sockets over the lug nuts to be removed.
In another alternative embodiment the gears and sockets are again contained inside one housing. However in this embodiment the lug gears are rotatively held by a lug gear plate that surrounds the bases of the lug gears. When the release pin is pushed, the lug gear plate moves downward disengaging the lug gears from the central gear. The lug sockets may then be freely rotated to seat the sockets over the lug nuts to be removed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a time saving device to mechanics and others that routinely remove and replace vehicle wheels.