Setting Tool with Axially Lockable Drive Shaft, Setting Procedure and Expansion Anchor For This

Abstract

A setting tool for an expansion anchor, which has an expansion sleeve and an expansion element disposed in the expansion sleeve, includes an internal drive shaft for axially driving forward the expansion element in the expansion sleeve and an external drive shaft surrounding the internal drive shaft for rotational driving and axially driving forward the expansion sleeve into a substrate. The internal drive shaft has an insertion end in a rear area for inserting into a hammer drill. The external drive shaft is disposed in a torque-free manner and is slidable axially on the internal drive shaft. The setting tool further includes a releasable locking device, where an axial sliding of the internal drive shaft relative to the external drive shaft is limitable by the releasable locking device in a forward direction for transferring forward directed axial forces from the internal drive shaft to the external drive shaft.

Claims

1.-15. (canceled)

16. A setting tool for an expansion anchor which has an expansion sleeve and an expansion element disposed in the expansion sleeve, comprising: an internal drive shaft for axially driving forward the expansion element in the expansion sleeve; an external drive shaft surrounding the internal drive shaft for rotational driving and axially driving forward the expansion sleeve into a substrate; wherein the internal drive shaft has an insertion end in a rear area for inserting into a hammer drill; wherein the external drive shaft is disposed in a torque-free manner and is slidable axially on the internal drive shaft; and a releasable locking device, wherein an axial sliding of the internal drive shaft relative to the external drive shaft is limitable by the releasable locking device in a forward direction for transferring forward directed axial forces from the internal drive shaft to the external drive shaft.

17. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein the internal drive shaft, at least in part, is a hollow shaft and wherein the setting tool has a rotational passage for directing away material from the internal drive shaft.

18. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein the releasable locking device has a radially moveable stop element which is placeable to limit the axial sliding of the internal drive shaft relative to the external drive shaft forward into a locking position, in which locking position the radially moveable stop element is located between the external drive shaft and the internal drive shaft.

19. The setting tool according to claim 18 further comprising a housing with a passage opening in which the external drive shaft and the internal drive shaft are disposed and are free to rotate, wherein the housing has a mount for receiving the radially moveable stop element in a release position.

20. The setting tool according to claim 19, wherein the radially moveable stop element is a ring segment-shaped spring which can independently enter into the mount.

21. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein a shoulder is disposed on the internal drive shaft to limit displacement of the internal drive shaft forward relative to the external drive shaft.

22. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein the internal drive shaft extends forward beyond the external drive shaft when the releasable locking device is in a locked position.

23. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein the external drive shaft is disposed in the torque-free manner by circumferential interlocking.

24. The setting tool according to claim 16, wherein the external drive shaft has a driver profile at a front end of the external drive shaft for rotary coupling with the expansion sleeve and wherein the driver profile has front teeth disposed at a front face end of the external drive shaft.

25. A method for setting an expansion anchor in a substrate, wherein the expansion anchor has an expansion sleeve and an expansion element disposed in the expansion sleeve, comprising the steps of: in a first phase, driving the expansion sleeve into the substrate while rotating the expansion sleeve; and in a second phase that is subsequent to the first phase, driving the expansion element forward in the expansion sleeve and consequently widening the expansion sleeve and simultaneously rotating the expansion sleeve.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein both the first phase and the second phase are performed using a setting tool as claimed in claim 16.

27. An expansion anchor, comprising: an expansion sleeve with an expansion channel that tapers toward a front; and an expansion element disposed in the expansion channel; wherein a front face end of the expansion sleeve has a first cutting edge and a circumferential surface of the expansion sleeve has a second cutting edge.

28. The expansion anchor according to claim 27, wherein the first cutting edge and the second cutting edge are formed on a cutting element.

29. The expansion anchor according to claim 27, wherein the front face end of the expansion sleeve forms a point.

30. A setting tool according to claim 16 in combination with an expansion anchor according to claim 27.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0047] FIG. 1: the side view of a design example of a setting tool;

[0048] FIG. 2: the setting tool for FIG. 1 in longitudinal view A-A according to the setting tool of FIG. 1;

[0049] FIG. 3: the setting tool for FIGS. 1 and 2 in cross-section view C-C according to the setting tool of FIG. 2:

[0050] FIG. 4: the setting tool for FIGS. 1 to 3 in longitudinal section view at the start of the invented setting procedure;

[0051] FIG. 5: the setting tool for FIGS. 1 to 3 in a longitudinal section detail view analogous to FIG. 4 at the transition between the first phase and the second phase of the invented setting procedure;

[0052] FIG. 6: the setting tool for FIGS. 1 to 3 in a longitudinal section view analogous to FIGS. 4 and 5 at the end of the second phase of the invented setting procedure; and

[0053] FIG. 7: an enlarged view of the expansion anchor that can be set with the setting tool in the invented procedure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] The FIGS. 1 to 6 show an initial design example of the invented setting tool, together with an expansion anchor, whereby for the sake of clarity, a series of details are marked with reference symbols in the front area of the setting tool simply in the detail views of FIGS. 4 to 6.

[0055] The setting device 1 exhibits a housing 40, which forms a handle, and which has a passage opening 41. In this passage opening 41, an internal drive shaft 20 and an external drive shaft 30 are arranged, whereby the external drive shaft 30 surrounds the internal drive shaft 20 in a front area of the internal drive shaft 20. Whereas the external drive shaft 30 ends on the back side in housing 40, the internal drive shaft 20 extends from the housing 40 and exhibits an insertion end 29 in a rear area for a connection with the drill chuck of a hammer drill that is not depicted. The internal drive shaft 20, the external drive shaft 30 and the passage opening 41 are coaxially arranged with a longitudinal axis 99.

[0056] The external drive shaft 30 is axial within certain limits, which means parallel to the longitudinal axis 99 in one direction, and can be slid on the internal drive shaft 20. A circumferential interlocking 32 is formed between the internal drive shaft 20 and the external drive shaft 30, and this interlocking transfer is a rotational movement from the internal drive shaft 20 to the external drive shaft 30, without interfering with the axial slideability of the external drive shaft on the internal drive shaft 20.

[0057] As FIGS. 4 to 6 show in particular, the internal drive shaft 20 is formed of several parts and consists of two axially separate parts, namely of a relatively long rear part which reaches from the insertion end 29 into the housing 40, and a front part.

[0058] The setting tool 1 also exhibits a releasable locking device, which in turn exhibits a stop element 51. This stop element 51 can be placed in a locking position, in which it lies, seen in the axial direction, between the internal drive shaft 20 and the external drive shaft 30 and in which it radially overlaps both the internal drive shaft 20 and the external drive shaft 30. In particular, the stop element 51 is located in the locking position in front of the internal drive shaft 20 and behind the external drive shaft 30, preferably in front of a shoulder 28 formed on the internal drive shaft 20 and behind the reverse front end of the external drive shaft 30. When the internal drive shaft 20 is slid forward in the external drive shaft 30, while the stop element 51 is in the locking position, then a point is reached at which the internal drive shaft 20, in particular with its shoulder 28, stops at the stop element 51 and the stop element 51 in turn stops with its front side on the back side of the external drive shaft 30. Due to the dual stop, the stop element 51 blocks a further axial sliding of the internal drive shaft 20 forward, which means that an axial sliding of the internal drive shaft 20 in the external drive shaft 30 in the forward direction is limited by the stop element 51, and a transfer of axial forces directed forward from the internal drive shaft 20 to the external drive shaft 30 is possible by way of the stop element 51. FIG. 4 shows the stop element 51 in the locking position with a shoulder 28 stopping at the stop element 51 and the external drive shaft 30 stopping at the stop element 51. The internal drive shaft 20 extends in this state a bit forward over the external drive shaft 30.

[0059] In housing 40, there is a mount 45 for receiving the stop element 51, which abuts to the passage opening 41 radially on the outer side. When the stop element 51 comes axially in front of this mount 45, the stop element 51 can enter into the mount 45 into a release position in a movement directed radially outward. In the release position, the stop element 51 is radially displaced in relation to the two drive shafts 20 and 30, so that the drive shafts 20 and 30 in the release position can no longer stop at the stop element 51 and the stop element 51 thereby no longer limits the axial relative movement of the two drive shafts 20 and 30 to one another. In particular, in the release position, no transfer of axial forces directed forward from the internal drive shaft 20 to the external drive shaft 30 is possible by way of the stop element 51. FIG. 5 shows the setting tool 1 in a state that occurs after the stop element 51 has just entered into the release position in the mount 45.

[0060] As shown in FIG. 3, among other things, in the depicted embodiment, the stop element 51 is formed as in a ring shape as a ring shoulder 28 in the mount 45. But other designs are also possible. In particular, in the depicted embodiment, the stop element 51 is formed as a spring, which makes possible an independent entry of the stop element 51 into the mount 45 into the release position by means of spring force, which is stored in the stop element itself 51. But as a rule, arrangements with inelastic stop elements 51 and additional springs are conceivable.

[0061] At the front face end of the external drive shaft 30, a driver profile 33 with teeth is formed, which can engage for torque-free coupling between the external drive shaft 30 and an expansion sleeve 11 of the expansion anchor 10 to be set into a corresponding profile on the expansion sleeve 11 of the expansion anchor 10.

[0062] FIGS. 4 to 6 show the setting tool 1 in various sequential stages of the invented setting procedure. In particular, FIG. 4 shows the state of the setting tool 1 at that start of the first phase of the setting procedure. In this state, the locking position is located with its stop element 51 in the locking position, the external drive shaft 30 and stop element 51 is adjacent to the shoulder 28 of the internal drive shaft 20, and the internal drive shaft 20 protrudes on the front side a bit outward from the external drive shaft 30, forming a pin. The expansion sleeve 11 of the expansion anchor 10 is slid onto this pin, whereby the pin enters into the inside of the expansion sleeve 11 in the expansion channel 12 of the expansion sleeve, and does so to the extent that the rear face end of the expansion sleeve 11 is adjacent to the external drive shaft 30 and engages with the driver profile 33 of the external drive shaft 30. Preferably, the arrangement is dimensioned such that in this state the pin formed through the internal drive shaft 20 is adjacent to an expansion element 15 of the expansion anchor 10 in the expansion channel 12 of the expansion anchor, or at least is not far removed from the latter.

[0063] Now the setting tool 1 is set on the front side of its housing 40 onto a substrate 6 and the internal drive shaft 20 is offset using a hammer drill in a rotary percussive movement. The rotational movement of the internal drive shaft 20 is transferred to the external drive shaft 30 by way of the circumferential interlocking 32 and passed on from this in turn by way of the driver profile 33 to the expansion sleeve 11 of the expansion anchor 10. The percussive movement of the internal drive shaft 20 forward is passed on by way of the stop element 51 of the locking device to the external drive shaft 30 and from the latter in turn to the expansion sleeve 11 by way of its front face end. Subsequently, the expansion sleeve 11 is moved by the setting tool 1 in a rotary percussive manner in the first phase of the setting procedure and hereby drilled into the substrate 6.

[0064] When drilling the expansion sleeve 11 into the substrate 6, the internal drive shaft 20, the external drive shaft 30 and the stop element that lies axially between these two drive shafts 20 and 30 in radial overlapping with the drive shafts 20 and 30, move forward relative to the housing. This movement of the drive shafts 20 and 30 and the stop element 51 occurs up to the point that the stop element 51 is situated in axial overlapping with the mount 45 in the housing 40. Due to the spring force, the stop element 51 now jumps radially outward into the mount 45 into a release position of the stop element 51. In this position, the radial overlapping of the stop element 51 with at least one of the two drive shafts, preferably with both drive shafts 20 and 30, is eliminated. Here, the axial transfer of force from the internal drive shaft 20 to the external drive shaft 30 and the expansion sleeve 11 of expansion anchor 10 is eliminated. The first phase of the setting procedure is hereby automatically completed and the second phase begins. The resulting stage is depicted in FIG. 5.

[0065] In the second phase, the internal drive shaft 20 impacted by the hammer drill still executes a rotary percussive movement. But since the locking device is now in the release position, only the rotational movement of the internal drive shaft 20 is passed on to the expansion sleeve 11, namely still by way of the circumferential interlocking 32 to the external drive shaft 30 and from the latter to the expansion sleeve 11 by way of the driver profile 33. But the percussive movement of the internal drive shaft 20 is no longer transferred to the expansion sleeve 11, since the internal drive shaft 20 and the external drive shaft 30 are no longer adjacent to one another. The expansion sleeve 11 thus essentially only still executes a rotational movement in the second phase. But since the internal drive shaft 20 can move axially forward relative to the external drive shaft 30 due to the released state of the locking device, the internal drive shaft 20 impacts the expansion element 15 of the expansion anchor 10 percussively in the second phase and drives the expansion element 15 in the expansion channel 12 of the rotating expansion sleeve 11 forward. Here, the expansion element 15 arrives in a front, narrowing area of the expansion channel 12, where the expansion element 15 radially widens the expansion sleeve 11. This widening, in combination with the rotational movement of the expansion sleeve 11, creates an undercut in the substrate 6 at the level of the front area of the expansion sleeve 11 in which the expansion sleeve 11 is shaped. The second phase is preferably ended when the shoulder 28 of the internal drive shaft 20, which is indirectly adjacent in the first phase, namely by way of the stop element 51, to the external drive shaft 30, now directly stops on the external drive shaft 30 and/or when another shoulder 27 arranged offset to the back on the internal drive shaft 20 relative to the housing 40 stops backwards on the housing 40. The resulting state is shown in FIG. 6.

[0066] Through the invented setting tool 1, a drill hole can be created with a continuous setting procedure, the expansion anchor 10 set and an undercut created. Here the setting depth and the expansion are ensured by the setting device 1, so that an especially high degree of user-friendliness is ensured. Through the principle of the undercut, higher loads can regularly be transferred at the same fixing-in depth.

[0067] The expansion element 15 exhibits preferably a self-limiting angle, such that the setting device 1 can be removed after the expansion sleeve 11 has been successfully widened, without the expansion sleeve 11 moving back into its initial position. On an internal thread arranged on the expansion sleeve 11 pointing into the expansion channel 12, threaded bolts, for example can be inserted after conclusion of the setting procedure.

[0068] In order to bring the setting tool 1 back into the initial state for another setting after completion of the second phase of the setting procedure, one or several return elements 48 can be designed in the mount 45 for the stop element 51 with which the stop element 51 can be slid radially inward. In the present design example, two fork-shaped return elements 48 are provided for which each exhibit a return button that protrudes outward on the housing 40.

[0069] As especially FIGS. 1 and 2 show, the internal drive shaft 20 is designed in a front area as a hollow shaft that is open toward the front. By way of this hollow shaft, bore dust can be directed away during the setting procedure. Behind the housing 40, a rotational passage 49 is provided for on the internal drive shaft 20 with which the material can be directed away from the hollow shaft.

[0070] FIG. 7 shows a detailed view of the expansion anchor 10. As can be seen in FIG. 7, the front face end of the expansion sleeve 11 forms a point, which means that it exhibits an opening angle that is less than 180, preferably of approximately 120. The expansion sleeve 11 of the expansion anchor 10 exhibits both face end cutting edges 17 on its exterior, which support the drilling process of the expansion sleeve 11, and a circumferential cutting edge 18, which supports the widening of the expansion sleeve 11. It is especially preferred that the expansion sleeve 11 is equipped with cutting elements 19, preferably made of hard metal, whereby it is preferable that both a face end cutting edge 17 and a circumferential cutting edge 18 are formed on the cutting elements 19. In the depicted design example, the expansion sleeve 11 and the cutting elements 19 form separate parts. But the cutting elements can also be specifically hardened areas of the expansion sleeve 11. On the rear, which means the face end across from the point, the expansion sleeve 11 exhibits a counter profile for the driver profile 33 of the setting device 1.

[0071] In order to be able to create a cone-like undercut when rotating and widening the expansion sleeve 11 through the expansion element 15, the circumferential cutting edges 18 extend along the longitudinal axis 100 of the expansion anchor 10, especially preferably as depicted, parallel to this longitudinal axis 100. The circumferential cutting edges 18 overlap one another, seen in the direction of the longitudinal axis 100, in part with the expansion channel 12. In particular, the circumferential cutting edges 18, seen along the longitudinal axis 100, are arranged at the level of the front-end area of the expansion channel 12, in which the cross-section of the expansion channel 12 becomes smaller toward the front end of the expansion channel 12.