US2977807A - Household mixer attachment - Google Patents

Description

April 1961 c. G. CONOVER HOUSEHOLD MIXER ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 F led June 10, 1960 INVENTOR. (GA/OVER CLARENCE A ril 4, 1961 c. G. CONOVER HOUSEHOLD MIXER ATTACHMENT Filed June 10, 1960 INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n ed States Pat-mt 2,977,807 HOUSEHOLD MIXER ATTACHMENT Clarence G, Conover, Rte. 1 Box 109, Hightstown, Filed June 10, 1960, Ser. No. 35,304 I 7 Claims. (Cl. 74-16) This invention relates to power tools in general, .and

in particular to an adaptor which converts an ordinary household food mixer into one or-more power tools.

It is therefore a principal object of the invention to extend the range of usefulness of food mixers, whether or not retired from;culinary service, by rendering them arts,.for instance in hobbycraft or household maintenance chores. Other and rclated'objects are to provide a conversion unit which is simple in structure and easy of application, combined with reliability 'of performance.

These objects have been attained by the device of the present invention, which may be briefly described as a bearing housing adapted for attachment to a mixer by a simple snap spring clamp, and carrying a pair of shafts which slip into coupling engagement with the drive shafts in the mixer in the same manner as do the heaters employed in normal use of the mixer.

For a more detailed description of the invention reference is made to the following specification, as illustrated in the drawings, in which:

Figureulis a perspective view of the adaptor with tool elements shown in exploded relationship,

Figure 2 is a perspective view, on reduced scale, of

an assembl'yshowing use as a drill,

Figure 3 is another perspective view showing an alternative use in the form of a' tool powered through a there is shown, in Figure 4, a portion of the motor hous'- .ing 1 of a food mixer having the usual, slotted output shafts 2, 3 which normally accommodate the respective shafts of a pair of beaters, the latter being inserted through bushings 4 and 5, fixed in openings in the underside of the housing. In'the use as a power tool, two

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of 20, usable as a power source for tools in the mechanical Patented Apr. 4, 1961 pair of fixed rings 16 located above and below the bushing 15 in bottom-11 to hold the shaft against axial movement with respect to housing 10. In the case of shaft 7 these rings, 17, are located respectively below the upperbushing and above the lower bushing.

Keyed to shaft 6 by a set screw 18 is a pulley 19,

and a similar pulley 20 is keyed to shaft 7 by a set screw 21. .7 Through pulleys 19 and 20 the output shafts 6 and'7 are coupled'by means of a belt 22, and since the shafts rotate in opposite directions, the belt is necessarily crossed. By this connection, the full benefit of all the gearing in the motor housing is retained when only one tool is in operation, which will usually be the case. In order to keep foreign material out of the motor housing, a pair of fibrous washers 23, 24 are provided between housings 1 and 10, and in surrounding relation to the shafts 6 and 7. e

Shaft 6 is threaded on its lower end to receive a tool such as the Jacobs chuck 25. The lower end of shaft 7has a square opening to receive a mating head 26 on ,a flexible shaft 27 contained in a flexible jacket or sheath 28 of helical form. The jacket terminates at itsupper-end in a fixed flange 29 by which it is anchored in a coupling ring 30 interiorly threaded for at} tachment to a threaded nipple 31 welded -to the under side of housing 10 co-axially with the bottom bushing 15. For attachment of a tool having a nipple such as 3-1 output end of flexible shaft '27 has a square head 32 and this end of the sheath also has an anchoring, thread ed ring 33 similar to ring 30.

As seen in Figure 3, the flexible shaft is attached to a bearing housing 34 journalling a shaft 35 to which is attached a tool of disc form, 36,, which may be grinder or a buffer or any of a number of conditioning tool elements. In the use" of the flexible' shaft it will usually be found most convenient'to employ the mixer housing mounted on its regular stand 37, as in Figure 3, whereas the rigid shaft 6 will usually be employed to best advantage with the housing I removed from its stand, as in Figure 2. 5

Another important advantage of the invention may be realized by eliminating the coupling of one of the shafts at the power unit, lug 9 ofshaft 7, for instance, and using a pair of pulleys of-dilferen't diameter to provide aspeed differential in the shafts to the extent desired.

. Another importantlaspect is that the rotationof the respective shafts may be reversed by rotating the housing shafts (Sand 7, fixedly carried by the adaptor unit, pres- ,ently to be described,,function in thesame manner as in shafts 2 and 3 to provide the driving connection.

The adaptor unitco'mprises ahollow, rectangular housing 10 comprising a box-like element witha bottom 11 and an attached cover 12, the latter having upwardly extending flanges 13 and ,14 at each end, of-generally 8- through '180 degrees, thus interchanging the connections.

While a certain preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, the invention should 1 not be deemed as limited thereby, since various modifications and substitutions of equivalents will be'apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, and I desire, therefore, to' be limited only as shall appear from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. What is claimed is:

1. An adaptor for power tools comprising a'housing with a bottom and side walls, a top plate on said housing having laterally and upwardly extending end portion havshape. The latter, which are adapted to clamp the I adaptor onto the mixerhousing will be fabricated from spring material, such as spring steel or bronze.

To accommodate the shafts 6 and7 the housing 10 is'provided with two pairs of aligned bores equipped with anti-friction bushings, all of whichj are indicated by-the s amenu meralpfli Shaft '6 is provided with a ing an undulatory curvature in vertical section and of springy material toprovide a clamping function to secure the housingto a power unit, said housing having two pairs of axially aligned bores with each pair located respectively in the top plate and bottom, a bushing secured in each bore, a shaft rotatably carried in .each pair of bores, means on'each shaft cooperating with the housingto hold the shaft against axial movement, a pulley fixed to each shaft interiorly of the housing arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end of each jshaft adapted to cooperatewith a pair of drive shafts 'in the-power unit, and coupling meansi on the .lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools there- 2. An adaptor for power'tools comprising a housing with a bottom and side walls, a top plate on said housing having laterally and upwardly extending end portions having an undulatory curvature in vertical section and comprising springy material to provide-a clamping function to secure the housing to a power unit, said housing having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively, in the. top plate and bottom, a bushing secured in each bore, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bushings, means on each shaft cooperating with the housing to hold the shaft against axial movement, a pulley fixed to each shaft interiorly of the housing, said pulleys arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pair of drive shafts in the power unit, coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto, and a threaded nipple secured to said bottom in surrounding relation to one of said shafts for attachment of a flexible cable sheath.

3. An adaptor for power tools comprising a housing with a bottom, top and side walls, spring clamp means carried by said housing for securing said housing to a power unit, said housing having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively, in the top andbottom of the housing, a bushing secured in each bore, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bushings, means on each shaft cooperating with the housing to hold the shaft against axial movement, a pulley fixed to each shaft interiorly of the housing, said pulleys arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pair of drive shafts in the power unit, and coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto.

4. An adaptor for power tools comprising a mounting frame with spaced top and bottom plates, spring clamp means carried by said frame for securing said frame to a power unit, said frame having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively, in the top and bottom plates, a bushing secured in each bore, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bushings, means on each shaft cooperating with the frame to hold the shaft against axial movement, a pulley fixed to, each shaft between said plates, said pulleys arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end'of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pairof 4 drive shafts in the power unit, and coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto. 1

5. An adaptor for power tools comprising a mounting frame with spaced top and bottom plates, spring clamp means carried by said frame for securing said frame to a power unit, said frame having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively, in the top and bottom plates, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bores, means on each shaft cooperating with the frame to hold the shaft against axial movement, a pulley fixed to each shaft between said plates, said pulleys arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pair of drive shafts in the power unit, and coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto.

6. An adaptor for power tools comprising a mounting frame with spaced top and bottom plates, spring clamp means carried by said frame for securing said frame to a power unit, said frame having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively. in the top and bottom plates, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bores, a pulley fixed to each shaft between said plates, said pulleys arranged to receive a common belt, coupling means on the upper end of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pair of drive shafts in the power unit, and coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto.

7. An adaptor for power tools comprising a mounting frame with spaced top and bottom plates, means on said frame for attaching said frame to a power unit, said frame having two pairs of axially aligned bores, with each pair located, respectively, in the top and bottom plates, a shaft rotatably mounted in each aligned pair of bores, coupling means on the upper end of each shaft adapted to cooperate with a pair of drive shafts in the power unit, and coupling means on the lower end of each shaft for attachment of power tools thereto.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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