Toggle Self-Locking Pin for Secure Fastening and Easy Release
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing self-locking pins for fastening components in conduit benders lack efficient mechanisms for secure attachment and easy disengagement, particularly in applications involving a saddle and bending shoe or yoke, leading to potential misalignment and operational inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A self-locking pin design featuring a cylindrical shaft with a slot and toggles, a compressible biasing member, and a mounting pin, allowing for secure engagement and easy disengagement by toggling between positions, ensuring reliable fastening and alignment of components like a saddle to a bending shoe or yoke in conduit benders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If existing self-locking pins are used for fastening components in conduit benders, then the components can be attached, but the mechanism lacks efficiency for secure attachment and easy disengagement, leading to potential misalignment and operational inefficiencies
Solution Approach 1:
The pin incorporates movable toggles that can dynamically transition between extended and retracted positions. The toggles are biased by springs to automatically extend for easy visual confirmation and disengagement, while allowing manual retraction for secure insertion. This dynamic mechanism enables both reliable attachment when inserted and easy disengagement when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The pin uses spring-biased toggles that automatically return to their extended position after insertion, providing self-confirmation of proper installation. The audible click mechanism automatically engages when the pin is properly inserted, eliminating the need for separate verification steps and ensuring reliable attachment without additional operational effort.
2Manufacturing precision
If existing self-locking pins are used for fastening components, then attachment is possible, but alignment precision is compromised due to lack of self-locking mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The pin incorporates audible click feedback mechanisms that provide immediate confirmation when the pin is properly inserted and locked. The toggles engage with detents or cam surfaces that produce distinct auditory signals, ensuring precise alignment and proper engagement without requiring complex measurement or verification procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces complex alignment and locking mechanisms with a simplified toggle-based system. The toggles use cam surfaces or detent mechanisms to automatically lock the pin in place, substituting for more complex mechanical alignment systems while maintaining high precision through the self-locking action.
3Reliability
If a self-locking pin with toggles and biasing member is used, then secure fastening with confirmation is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pin combines multiple functions into a single integrated component: the shaft provides structural support, the toggles provide both locking and visual/audible confirmation, and the springs provide automatic return and engagement force. This merging of functions into one compact device achieves reliable secure fastening with confirmation while minimizing the number of separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The toggle mechanism serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it provides the locking action, visual confirmation through extension, and audible confirmation through engagement clicks. The spring-biased system universally applies to both insertion and removal operations, providing consistent behavior regardless of the specific application context.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The self-locking pin provides secure fastening with an audible click confirmation and easy disengagement, minimizing misalignment and operational inefficiencies, while accommodating component gaps and varying sizes, ensuring reliable operation in conduit bending applications.
Implementation Method 1
a compressible biasing member mounted between the toggles... The biasing member is expanded when the toggles are in the first positions and is compressed when the toggles are in the second positions
Data Source
AI summary
In an embodiment, a self-locking pin includes a cylindrical shaft having a slot at a front end, an enlarged head at the rear end of the shaft, first and second toggles mounted within the slot, a compressible biasing member mounted between the toggles, and a mounting pin extending through the shaft and the toggles. The mounting pin is fixed in position on the shaft and the toggles are movable relative to the mounting pin. Each toggle is movable from a first position in which the respective toggle extending outwardly from an open end of the slot to a second position in which each toggle is pushed inwardly into the slot. The biasing member is compressed when the toggles are in the second positions. A single toggle can also be provided.