Snap-on Inc.

Snap-on Tools Corporation

Snap-on Technologies, Inc.

Snap-on Tools Company

Charles H Heiligenthal

George R Slivon

Jack A Parise

Larry D Pacetti

Christopher D Thompson

Kenneth C Happ

David A Doerflinger

Richard L Hopper

Michael Foster

Jimmy T Doan

William A Nurmi

Alois Kadlecek

Ronald J Kirsch

Kenneth E Kessler

Jason C Chan

A cabinet locking system having a drawer having a side panel disposed between a front panel and a back panel and a first corner formed by the intersection of the side and back panels. A lock bar is mounted within the cabinet adjacent a first corner when the drawer is in a closed position and the lock bar includes an aperture. A slide is provided having an integrally formed lock tab and the slide is mounted to the side panel of the drawer so that the lock tab protrudes beyond the back panel. In the closed position, the lock tab is received by the aperture so that the drawer may be locked within the cabinet.

Cabinet locking system

A method and apparatus for coupling an attachable tool to a handle comprising a coupler device fixedly attached to the handle and having a locking structure moveable between locking and release conditions and being carried by a coupler body having an inner wall defining a cavity that is accessible via a cavity dimensioned and shaped to receive the attachable tool and having a first locking member for cooperative abutting engagement with the attachable tool to temporarily move the locking structure to its release condition when the attachment shaft is inserted into the cavity and a second locking member for cooperative engagement with the locking structure when the attachment shaft is inserted substantially into the cavity and the locking structure is moved to the locking position to inhibit removal of the attachment shaft from the cavity.

Method and apparatus for attaching and detaching an attachable device

A reversible ratchet wrench has a ratchet body with a cavity receiving the ratchet assembly. A pawl-engaging reversing lever is insertable through an opening in the ratchet body from the cavity and has a flange dimensioned to be trapped between the body and the pawl. A seal between the reversing lever and the ratchet body is provided by an O-ring seated in a groove in the outer surface of the reversing lever hub. A cover plate closes the cavity and cooperates with the pawl and the flange to retain the reversing lever in place.

Ratchet wrench with sealed reversing lever

A drawer partition includes a molded, one-piece, plastic tray with a base wall and upstanding side walls. The side walls have laterally aligned and longitudinally spaced-apart dovetail-shaped grooves in the inner surfaces thereof slidably mateable with dovetail-shaped tongues at the ends of divider panels for dividing the tray into compartments. Pairs of ribs define slots on the side walls to receive end edges of the divider panels. Pairs of flexible legs on the bottom edge of the divider panel are snap-fitted into apertures in the base wall to lock the divider panels in place. The bottom outside edges of the side walls have longitudinal grooves mateable respectively with the upper edges of the side walls of another partition to facilitate guided longitudinal relative sliding movement of stacked partitions. Each tray has front and rear end portions which respectively have recessed outer and inner surfaces to permit overlapping nesting of the ends of longitudinally aligned partitions.

Stackable divided drawer partition

A tool box has an upstanding side wall structure which may have a front opening to receive one or more drawers, the side wall structure being closed at the upper end by a top panel and at the lower end by a unitary, one-piece bottom panel. The bottom panel has three parallel depending ribs deformed from the plane of a base wall, with one rib disposed along a front edge of the base wall and being unitary with an upstanding front flange with a rearwardly extending lip. Side flanges, spaced apart by the ribs, depend from each side edge of the base wall. In one embodiment a rear flange depends from the rear edge of the base wall and in a second embodiment a channel-shaped upstanding rear wall is provided. The flanges and rear wall of the bottom panel provide means for attachment thereof to the side panel structure and slots are provided in the bottom panel for attachment of casters.

Tool box and one-piece bottom panel therefor

A hanger assembly includes a one-piece sheet metal bracket with a channel-shaped flange for hooking over the upper edge of the side wall of an associated cabinet. The bracket has a forwardly projecting, elongated channel formed therein and extending the length thereof with a plurality of holes therethrough for receiving the threaded ends of hook-like hanger members, which are fastened by nuts. The distal ends of the hooks have apertures therethrough. The hooks may be received through complementary openings in associated equipment, such as a creeper. Hanging articles are retained in place by a retaining rod having one end receivable through an aperture in one hook and having an eyelet at the other end for receiving the distal end of another hook. A padlock shackle may be received through the aperture in the other hook to look the retaining rod in place. Various numbers of hooks may be mounted on the bracket in a variety of spacings and arrangements.

Lockable equipment hanger assembly

The latch mechanism includes a drawer pull at the front of the drawer. Under the top flange of the drawer pull is a channel in which a latch bar is slidably movable from side to side. One end of the latch bar carries a hook which is spring loaded to its latched position. When it is desired to open the drawer, the user places his fingertips beneath the pull and against the latch bar and moves the slide bar to its unlatched position.

Sliding latch mechanism for a cabinet drawer

Drawer

Cabinet housing for receiving drawers

A wheeled carriage has a chassis with a plurality of swivel casters, and a locking assembly actuated by a foot pedal located along the front of the carriage. Pushing down on the foot pedal rotates a cam that engages a cam follower on a 'T' bar frame supporting two locking rings which respectively overlie two of the caster wheels to move the rings into a locking position in engagement with the wheels to lock the wheels and the casters in any position. The cam follower surface includes a ramp portion engageable by the cam for driving the rings to their locking position and a horizontal latch portion engageable by the cam in its 'overcenter' position for holding the rings in their locking position. A lifter bar is engageable by the user's foot to rotate the cam back off the follower and permit the rings to resiliently return to their release position. The cam and follower surfaces are so arranged that a limited rotation of the cam through less than about 25 degrees is sufficient to move the assembly between its release and locking configurations so that the locking assembly can be used where only a few inches of clearance beneath the chassis is available.

Growing community of inventors

Kenosha, WI, United States of America

Charles H Heiligenthal