Magnetic keeper accessory for wrench sockets

Abstract

An accessory (10) for a wrench socket (12) is disclosed including a generally cylindrical magnet (32) secured to a generally cylindrical, nonmagnetic, compressible disk (26) which snugly fits within the well (14) and magnetically insulates the magnet (32) from the socket (12). Specifically, the magnet (32) is received in a frustoconical recess (46) formed in the disk (26) while its temperature is elevated allowing the disk material to flex and stretch during the insertion of the magnet (32) into the recess (46). The magnet (32) is nickel-plated (43) and its corners are beveled (41) for ease of insertion of the magnet (32) into the recess (46). Air is received within a pocket (51) extending from the recess (46) and/or vented to the atmosphere through a vent hole (53) as the magnet (32) is forced into the recess (46). The accessory (10) is removably insertable into the socket (12) of any design and model and without need for modification of the socket (12) and captures a fastener (16) slideably received in the well (14) of the socket (12) to magnetically hold the fastener (16) captive in the well (14) as the socket (12) is moved to the fastening location while not magnetizing the socket (12) or the fastener (16) sufficiently to be detrimentally magnetically attracted to metal adjacent to the fastening location. In the most preferred form, a set of multiple accessories (10) are interconnected together by strips (62) integrally extending between the disks (26) for ease of fabrication and packaging but which can be manually broken to allow separation.