VIBRATION REDUCING SPRING DAMPER HAMMER

Abstract

Disclosed is a hammer that employs a Vibration Reducing Spring Damper (VRSD) assembly mechanism that dampens the vibration impact using a mass-spring-damper system connected in series while the release and catch mechanics of expert hammer users at the moment of impact with an object is maintained. The invention improves on the conventional hammer strike and recoil mechanics, while still maintaining the kinematic and kinetic performance of the hammer.

Claims

1. A hammer, comprising: a hammer body defined by a head portion, a neck portion and a grip portion; a vibration reducing spring damper (VRSD) mechanism housed within a cavity of said hammer body head portion, said VRSD mechanism assembly comprising: an impact head protruding through said head portion, said impact head having an aperture with a shaft extending therethrough; a compression spring positioned inside said cavity, said compression spring coupled to a first wall of said cavity on one side and a front washer on a second wall of said cavity; a front damper secured between said front washer and said first wall of said cavity; a rear damper secured between a through hole wall and a rear washer; a retaining ring secured along a distal end of said VRSD mechanism coupling said VRSD mechanism to said head portion; a large friction reducing sleeve housed within said cavity; and a small friction reducing sleeve housed through said aperture; wherein when said hammer impact head is retracted inside said cavity forcing said compression spring and said front damper into a compressed state creating a spring-damper system which reduces the amount of vibration when striking an object.

2. The hammer according to claim 1, wherein said compression spring is pre-tensioned in its resting state.

3. The hammer according to claim 1, wherein said front damper and said rear damper are made of a viscoelastic material.

4. The hammer according to claim 1, wherein said large friction reducing sleeve is made of low friction plastic.

5. The hammer according to claim 1, wherein said small friction reducing sleeve is made of low friction plastic.

6. The hammer according to claim 1, wherein a sleeve groove disposed on the inner surface of said large friction reducing sleeve and said small friction reducing sleeve reduces the amount of surface contact between said hammer impact head, said shaft, and said large friction reducing sleeve and said small friction reducing sleeve.

7. The hammer according to claim 6, wherein said sleeve groove is constructed and arranged to prevent pressure build up inside said cavity upon hammer impact head compression by allowing air to pass through its gaps.

8. The hammer, according to claim 1, wherein said rear damper mitigates vibrational shock related to said compression spring in its compressed state.

9. A hammer, comprising: a hammer body having a head portion, a neck portion and a grip portion, said head portion having a plurality of grooves disposed on the top surface of said head portion constructed and arranged to receive framing nails; a vibration reducing spring damper (VRSD) mechanism housed within a cavity of said hammer body head portion, said VRSD mechanism assembly comprising: an impact head protruding through said head portion, said impact head having an aperture with a shaft extending therethrough; a compression spring positioned inside said cavity, said compression spring coupled to a first wall of said cavity on one side and a front washer on a second wall of said cavity; a front damper secured between said front washer and said first wall of said cavity; a rear damper secured between a through hole wall and a rear washer wherein said rear damper is constructed and arranged to mitigate vibrational shock; a retaining ring secured along a distal end of said VRSD mechanism coupling said VRSD mechanism to said head portion; a large friction reducing sleeve housed within said cavity; and a small friction reducing sleeve housed through said aperture; a plurality of magnets disposed within said plurality of grooves, wherein said plurality of magnets provide magnetic securement of framing nails; wherein when said hammer impact head is retracted inside said cavity forcing said compression spring and said front damper into a compressed state creating a spring-damper system which reduces the amount of vibration when striking an object.

10. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein said plurality of grooves have different lengths, allowing for placement of two framing nails in sequential order starting with a shorter groove followed by a longer groove.

11. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein said compression spring is pre-tensioned in its resting state.

12. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein said front damper and said rear damper are made of a viscoelastic material.

13. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein said large friction reducing sleeve is made of low friction plastic such as polyoxymethylene.

14. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein said small friction reducing sleeve is made of low friction plastic such as polyoxymethylene.

15. The hammer according to claim 9, wherein a sleeve groove disposed on the inner surface of said large friction reducing sleeve and said small friction reducing sleeve reduces the amount of surface contact between said hammer impact head, said shaft, and said large friction reducing sleeve and said small friction reducing sleeve.

16. The hammer according to claim 15, wherein said sleeve groove is constructed and arranged to prevent pressure build up inside said cavity upon hammer impact head compression by allowing air to pass through its gaps.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is a upper perspective view of the instant invention;

[0018] FIG. 2 is a lower perspective view thereof;

[0019] FIG. 3 is a left side view thereof;

[0020] FIG. 4 is a front view thereof;

[0021] FIG. 5 is a rear view of thereof;

[0022] FIG. 6A is a upper perspective view thereof;

[0023] FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view depicting the mechanism assembly;

[0024] FIG. 6C is a perspective view of the mechanism assembly;

[0025] FIG. 7 is an exploded view of all major components of the hammer;

[0026] FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the mechanism assembly;

[0027] FIG. 9 is an upper perspective exploded view of the entire hammer;

[0028] FIG. 10A is a top perspective sectional view of the mechanism assembly with friction reducing sleeves;

[0029] FIG. 10B is a top perspective sectional view of the mechanism assembly without friction reducing sleeves;

[0030] FIG. 11 is a cross sectional side view of the hammer head cavity and through hole;

[0031] FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of components of the hammer head;

[0032] FIG. 13A is a side view of mechanism assembly in the resting state;

[0033] FIG. 13B is a side view of the mechanism assembly in the compressed state;

[0034] FIG. 14A is a perspective view of both friction reducing sleeves;

[0035] FIG. 14B is an end view of both friction reducing sleeves;

[0036] FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the hammer with framing nails;

[0037] FIG. 16A is a top view of the hammer head with framing nails;

[0038] FIG. 16B is a top view of the hammer head with framing nails at an offset;

[0039] FIG. 17A is a performance chart of the hammer; and

[0040] FIG. 17B is a pictorial of sensor placement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0041] Detailed embodiments of the instant invention are disclosed herein, however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific functional and structural details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representation basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure.

[0042] Referring to the FIGS. in general, the Vibration Reducing Spring Damper (VRSD) hammer 10 consists of the hammer body 12 having a head portion 14, a neck portion 16, and a grip portion 18. The hammer 10 also includes a VRSD mechanism assembly 20, a large 22 and small 24 friction reducing sleeves, and two magnets 26. The VRSD mechanism assembly 20 is housed within a cavity 28 the hammer body 12 head portion 14. The large 22 and small 24 friction reducing sleeves are housed inside the head portion 14 of the hammer body 12.

[0043] The VRSD mechanism assembly 20 consists of an impact hammer head 30, a compression spring 32, a front washer 34, a front damper 36, a rear damper 38, a rear washer 40, and a retaining ring 42.

[0044] A shaft 44 of the impact hammer head 30 extends through the entire hammer head portion 14 of the hammer body 12. The impact hammer head 30 is mainly housed inside the hammer head chamber 46 with the shaft 44 extending therethrough the hammer head portion 14 through an aperture 48. The compression spring 32 is positioned inside of the impact hammer head 30 cavity 50 and rests against a first wall 52 of the cavity 50 on one side and against the front washer 34 on a second wall 54 of the cavity 50. In this configuration, the compression spring 32 is in its resting state and slightly pre-tensioned. Pre-tension of the compression spring 32 ensures there are no loosely moving parts in the VRSD hammer 10 resting state. The front damper 36 is sandwiched and secured between the front washer 34 and the first wall 52 of the cavity 50. The rear damper 38 is sandwiched and secured between the through hole wall 56 and the rear washer 40. The VRSD mechanism assembly 20 is held together by a retaining ring 42 secured along a distal end 58 of the VRSD mechanism assembly 20 to the head portion 14. In a preferred embodiment, both front 36 and rear 38 dampers are made of a viscoelastic material such as Sorbothane.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 13B, upon contact with the striking object, the impact hammer head 30 is forced to retract inside the hammer head chamber 46 thus forcing the compression spring 32 and the front damper 36 into their compressed states 33 and 37, respectively. In the same FIG. 13B, this is compared to the resting scenario in FIG. 13A to illustrate the differences. The combination of the compression spring 32 and the front damper 36 creates a spring-damper system which reduces the amount of vibration that propagates into user's hand when using non-VRSD (standard) framing hammer design. After striking depicted in FIG. 13B, the compression spring 32 returns from its compressed state 33 to its resting state 32, this inevitably initiates a vibration shock related to the spring in its compressed state 33 returning to the resting state 32. The rear damper 38 is present to mitigate this action.

[0046] Referring to FIG. 14, the large friction reducing sleeve 22 is housed inside of the hammer head chamber 46 and the small friction reducing sleeve 24 lines the hammer head through hole 48. In a preferred embodiment, the large 22 and small 24 friction reducing sleeves are made of low friction plastic such as Delrin (polyoxymethylene). Sleeve grooves 60 disposed on the inner surface of the large 22 and small 24 friction reducing sleeves reduce the amount of surface contact between the impact hammer head 30 and the shaft 44 and the two sleeves 22 and 24. Importantly, the sleeve grooves 60 prevent pressure build up inside the hammer head cavity 46 upon impact hammer head 30 compression by allowing the air to pass through its gaps.

[0047] Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, the framing nails 62 are held in grooves 64 and 66 by magnets 26 placed within said grooves 54, 66 by providing magnetic securement. The grooves 64 and 66 are disposed on the top surface of the hammer head portion 14. The framing nails 62 can be tacked into a material using said grooves 64, 66 before applying the final blows. The difference in length between the grooves 64 and 66 allows for placing of two framing nails 62 in sequential order starting with the shorter groove 64 followed by longer groove 66 instead of traditional one framing nail 62 at the time.

[0048] Referring to FIGS. 17A and 17B, a typical performance of VRSD hammer showing up to 65% reduction in peak acceleration in time domain graph as compared to a leading Vibration Reducing (VR) hammer 68 FIG. 17A and shock accelerometer placement during an experiment using a functional prototype VRSD hammer design and a commercially-available leading VR hammer FIG. 17B.

[0049] The term coupled is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The use of the word a or an when used in conjunction with the term comprising in the claims and/or the specification may mean one, but it is also consistent with the meaning of one or more or at least one. The use of the term or in the claims is used to mean and/or unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternative are mutually exclusive, although the disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternatives and and/or.

[0050] The terms comprise (and any form of comprise, such as comprises and comprising), have (and any form of have, such as has and having), include (and any form of include, such as includes and including) and contain (and any form of contain, such as contains and containing) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method or device that comprises, has, includes or contains one or more steps or elements, possesses those one or more steps or elements, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Likewise, a step of a method or an element of a device that comprises, has, includes or contains one or more features, possesses those one or more features, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more features. Furthermore, a device or structure that is configured in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.

[0051] All patents and publications mentioned in this specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and any drawings/figures included herein.

[0052] One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as those inherent therein. The embodiments, methods, procedures and techniques described herein are presently representative of the preferred embodiments, are intended to be exemplary, and are not intended as limitations on the scope. Changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by the scope of the appended claims. Although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments. Indeed, various modifications of the described modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims.