Hydraulic-operated lockbolt fastener setting tool

Claim 2

An air-controlled hydraulic tool for setting a lockbolt fastener comprising a lockbolt and a swageable collar adapted for permanent clamping onto the lockbolt, a pintail on an end of the lockbolt severably removable after swaging of the collar on the lockbolt, said tool comprising: a gun portion comprising means to grip a pintail on said lockbolt, means to swage a locking collar onto the lockbolt forwardly of the pintail, and two separate hydraulically movable piston means to successively operate the gripping and swaging means; a trigger-provided hand grip extending downwardly from the gun portion and a passage for hydraulic fluid leading to each above-mentioned piston; and a power component extending downwardly from the hand grip and comprising hydraulic means to supply hydraulic fluid under pressure through said passages to the mentioned pistons, and pneumatic means to operate the hydraulic means and controlled by the trigger on the hand grip.

Claim 3

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 1 in which the means to grip the pintail comprises: spring jaws biased to an open, non-gripping position, a stem connecting one of said pistons with the gripping means, and the other piston having a sleeve partly coextensive with said stem and provided with an end portion that closes said spring jaws upon relative endwise movement of said pistons.

Claim 4

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 2 in which the means to swage the locking collar comprises: a diametrally reduced endmost portion of the end of the sleeve, and an anvil slidingly carried by the forward end of the gun portion and having an inturned annular flange around said reduced endmost portion of the sleeve for swaging engagement with an annular enlargement of the collar to lock the collar to the lockbolt.

Claim 5

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 3 in which: the two separate pistons operate in differently sized cylinders in the gun portion, the piston connected to the pintail-engaging jaws and its cylinder are smaller than the piston connected to the mentioned jaw-closing sleeve and the cylinder thereof, and the mentioned hydraulic passages are connected to the respective cylinders, the port to the larger cylinder conducting high-pressure fluid to the rearward side of the piston therein to project the jaw-closing end of the gripping means, and the port to the smaller cylinder conducting fluid at a lower pressure to the forward side of the smaller piston to propel the jaws, when closed over a pintail, rearwardly to sever same from the lock bolt.

Claim 6

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 3 in which: the anvil comprises a tubular member on the forward end of which the mentioned annular flange is provided, and a hole is provided in the wall of said tubular member adjacent to said flange for freely passing a collar into the anvil between said flange and the forward end of the pintail-gripping jaws.

Claim 7

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 1 in which the hydraulic means of the power component comprises: an hydraulic reservoir fitted with a sliding piston, the hand grip having a lower end that extends axially through the reservoir and through the axial center of the piston, one of the mentioned passages in the hand grip extending into communication with the reservoir below the piston, and the other of said passages having a downward and a lateral opening; an hydraulic build-up chamber in communication with said downward opening of said other passage; a check valve in said passage biased to close flow from said other passage to the build-up chamber; an hydraulic safety valve being connected on its inlet side to the mentioned lateral opening in the passage that leads to the piston connected to the jaw-closing means, said safety valve being connected on its outlet side to the hydraulic reservoir and therethrough to the other of said passages; and a high-power hydraulic piston operative in the build-up chamber and controlled by the pneumatic means.

Claim 8

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 6 provided with an air intensifier that includes the mentioned hydraulic piston, a pneumatic piston attached to and larger than the hydraulic piston, a chamber in which the pneumatic piston is operably movable, and pneumatic means controlled by the mentioned trigger to control flow of operating air to one side of said chamber while venting the opposite side, thereby to operatively move the hydraulic piston.

Claim 9

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 7 in which the pneumatic means comprises: an air-flow-controlling trigger-operated valve, a timing valve connected to the trigger-operated valve to receive air therefrom and to vent therethrough according to the operated position of said air-flow-controlling valve, and an air-pressure-reversing valve connected to said timing valve and, in turn, connected to the opposite side of the chamber for the pneumatic piston.

Claim 10

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 8 provided with an hydraulic drain valve connected between the mentioned lateral opening in one of the passages in the hand grip and the side of the hydraulic build-up chamber into which the other of said passages opens, and a piston to control said drain valve, operated to closed position by air in a line from the air-flow-controlling valve, and biased to open position when said line is vented through the latter valve.

Claim 11

An air-controlled hydraulic tool as defined in claim 9 provided with an hydraulic safety valve connected across the mentioned lateral opening in one passage and the mentioned side of the hydraulic chamber, said safety valve being connected across the hydraulic drain valve.

Claim 12

An air-controlled hydraulic tool according to claim 8 in which the air-flow-controlling trigger-operated valve comprises: a cylinder with an air inlet port at one end and longitudinally spaced lateral ports, one of whicH is an exhaust port, a poppet operable in said cylinder and having an end adapted to be depressed to shift the poppet from a position closing off air flow from the inlet port to a position connecting said inlet port to the other of said lateral ports, and a line extending from the latter port to conduct air to the hydraulic reservoir, timing valve, reversing valve, hydraulic drain valve, and the chamber of the air intensifier above the pneumatic piston therein when the poppet is depressed, and to vent the above devices when the poppet is raised by incoming air to a position effecting communication between the two longitudinally spaced ports in the cylinder.