Plier With Integrated Interchangeable Sockets
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plier and socket systems require users to carry multiple tools and frequently switch between them, leading to inconvenience, fatigue, and increased risk of injury due to repeated ladder use.
Innovation Solution
A pair of pliers with sockets of different diameters integrated into each handle portion, allowing for interchangeable use without needing separate tools, and featuring a design that balances weight and provides ergonomic comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users carry multiple separate tools (pliers and socket wrenches), then they can perform various tasks with appropriate tools, but it becomes cumbersome and increases the risk of injury due to frequent tool exchanges and ladder trips
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines pliers and socket wrenches into a single integrated tool. The plier handle incorporates a socket wrench mechanism with a movable jaw that can be positioned to engage sockets of various sizes. This merging eliminates the need to carry and exchange multiple separate tools, directly resolving the contradiction by maintaining task versatility while dramatically improving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated tool serves multiple functions: it can grip objects with its jaws, rotate fasteners using the socket mechanism, and accommodate different socket sizes through the movable jaw positioning system. This multi-functionality allows a single tool to replace multiple specialized tools, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and ease of operation.
2Ease of operation
If users use pliers to adjust nuts instead of a socket wrench, then they can complete the task without tool exchanges, but the tool may slip and cause injury to hands and knuckles
Solution Approach 1:
The socket mechanism provides a localized, precision-fit engagement with fasteners through properly sized sockets, while the plier jaws provide localized gripping capability. This local quality optimization ensures that each function (gripping or socket engagement) uses the most appropriate contact interface, maintaining both reliability and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable jaw can be dynamically positioned to either grip objects directly or engage with sockets. This dynamic adaptability allows the tool to switch between gripping mode and socket mode, ensuring secure engagement with fasteners when needed while maintaining easy accessibility, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If sockets of different diameters are integrated into the plier handle, then users can perform various tasks without tool exchanges, but the handle structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The socket selection mechanism is segmented into discrete, selectable positions corresponding to different socket sizes. The movable jaw can be positioned at multiple discrete locations, each engaging a different sized socket. This segmentation allows multiple socket sizes to be integrated without creating a monolithic complex structure,而是 providing modular, selectable functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple sockets of different sizes are nested within the plier handle structure. The movable jaw system allows selection between these nested sockets, enabling multiple socket sizes to be integrated in a compact arrangement that minimizes handle complexity while maximizing adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A plier with sockets is provided. The device includes a pair of plier members pivotally connected together, each plier member having a handle portion opposite a jaw portion. A first socket is affixed to a first handle portion and includes a first socket opening having a first diameter. A second socket is affixed to a second handle portion and includes a second socket opening having a second diameter. The first and second socket openings are oriented opposite the jaw portions of the pair of plier members. In some embodiments, the first and second socket are removably securable to the first and second handle portions, such that the user can readily interchange the first and second sockets with sockets of other sizes.