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  Adjustable abrading toolRelated Patent Categories: Abrading, Carrier For Relatively Movable Simultaneously Usable Tools, For Radially Movable Tools, Including Conoid Or Wedge Tool Moving MemberThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060148389. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional application claiming the benefit of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/385,789, filed on Mar. 11, 2003, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/252,077, filed on Sep. 20, 2002, now abandond. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to the field of rotating tools and, in particular, to a tool and kit for abrading holes, bores, chamfers and the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] It is common practice in the machine tool industry to use abrading tools to finish the walls (e.g., removing about 0.001 to 0.005 inches of material) of a previously provided hole or similar interior surface of a workpiece. Abrading operations generally correct inaccuracies in straightness and roundness in bore holes, can provide a uniform hole surfaces, or can remove burrs or finish surfaces. [0004] A number of abrading devices have been developed to abrade, finish, polish or grind workpiece holes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,814 issued Nov. 28, 2000 describes an expandable abrasive sleeve for use on an inflatable tool to abrade or condition a surface of a workpiece. The expandable abrasive sleeve comprises an elastomeric backing, for example, made of a rubber material, and a plurality of separate abrasive strips adhered to the elastomeric backing in an overlapping relationship such that the strips overlap when the sleeve is expanded. The expandable abrasive sleeve is disposed around an inflatable bladder and inserted with a bore to be abraded. The sleeve is then inflated, causing it to expand until it bears against the inner walls of the bore, and rotated to abrade the inner wall. [0005] Although this inflatable sleeve successfully abrades the inner walls of the bore, this system has a number of serious drawbacks. First, the diameter of the bore to be abraded is both uncontrollable and non-uniform. Because of the sleeve is necessarily made of a relatively pliable elastomeric material, the sleeve it does not maintain a uniform diameter and tends both to flare out the exposed ends of the bore and under-abrade areas within the bore. Second, an inflated sleeve cannot be inserted into the bore and, therefore, the tool is not readily adapted for abrading chamfers or anything less than an entire bore. Finally, the sleeve and tool system are relatively expensive. The tool requires a source of compressed air proximate to the workpiece to be abraded, requiring a significant upfront investment. Further, the inflatable sleeve requires laborious fabrication due to the process of attaching the abrading material. Each piece of abrading material must be adhered onto the tool one at a time. This burdensome process guarantees a high price for a tool that must be discarded after use. [0006] U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,096 issued Sep. 30, 1997 describes an inflatable tool for abrading or finishing a surface of a workpiece. The inflatable tool includes an inflatable bladder clamped at first and second ends of a core having an elastomeric outer core portion. The inflatable bladder is inflated by a pressurized medium and forms a pocket or chamber around the elastomeric outer core portion. An abrasive sleeve is disposed around and secured by the inflatable bladder when inflated. [0007] While this invention allows a tool to be inflated to various sizes and to chamfer, its lack of uniformity creates a serious drawback. The diameter is uncontrollable. This lack of diameter variance only allows a craftsman to abrade holes at a preset diameter controlled by the manufacturer. Furthermore, this tool hardly stands alone; it requires an air mandrel to expand the sleeve in order to abrade. This could be a significant upfront investment. [0008] U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,011 issued Feb. 1, 1966 describes a pneumatically actuated expanding tool for grinding, polishing, and lapping tubing inside diameters or cylindrical bores. The tool employs abrasive cloth or paper which may be inserted into a tube or the like, and expanded to provide a controlled radial force or pressure on the inner surface of the tube while the tool is linearly advanced and retracted and/or rotated or oscillated back and forth about its longitudinal axis. Means are also provided for blowing air through the tool to cool it and to exhaust particles of abrasive dust from a tube in which the tool is employed. [0009] Although this tool expands to grind and polish a hole, any expansion is unmeasurable. This tool could not effectively be used in conjunction with a portable drill. This prevents a machinist from abrading surfaces of deep holes, or abrading delicate or thin materials. Aside from this, any expansion requires another instrument to pneumatically pressurize the tool. [0010] U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,594 issued Aug. 5, 1952 describes a pneumatically inflatable abrasive cylinder disposed at an opposite end from a hand pump. Squeezing the pump forces air into the cylinder causing it to expand. Sandpaper is wrapped around the cylinder. To abrade, the machinist inserts the cylinder into a hole, inflates, and radially rotates the cylinder by hand. [0011] Although this tool is certainly cost-effective, using sandpaper and no external tools, it potency is highly suspect. First, to be productively relevant, an abrading machine requires a means for fastening itself to drill or similar machine. Wrist power might be acceptable when dealing with wood, but time and work efficiency demands more power When dealing with metal. Second, as a cylinder this tool is incapable of chamfering. Third, any expansion is immeasurable. [0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,252 issued Sep. 1, 1998 describes an abrading device extending from a tool mandrel connected in a cantilevered arrangement to a machine for rotating machining operations. A rigid honing member is secured to the tool mandrel, and configured such that the effective diameter of the substantially rigid abrasive outer surface of the honing member can be uniformly and precisely varied in a radial direction relative to the longitudinal axis of the tool in response to pressure on the interior surface of the honing member. A fluid distribution system formed in the tool mandrel in a predetermined arrangement is in fluid communication with the source of pressurized fluid, and includes a pressure chamber that is configured to apply fluid pressure to the interior surface of the honing member. At least one passage extends through the honing member from the pressure chamber and has an opening on the exterior surface of the honing member for delivering fluid to dissipate heat energy and remove debris. [0013] While this invention may effectively solve some problems associated with debris removal and precise pressurization, it still requires a tool mandrel to pressurize internal fluid in order to expand. Despite any increase in precision associated with this invention, there is no method on the tool itself to measure the bore diameter. This tool could not effectively be used in conjunction with a portable drill. This prevents a machinist from abrading surfaces of deep holes, or abrading delicate or thin materials. As this invention expands after entry into a previously bore hole, it is incapable of chamfering. [0014] U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,086 issued Jul. 4, 2000 describes an expanding device for grinding sleeves. The device has a cylindrical member with an outer surface, an interior chamber, an expanding chamber, and a locking mechanism. The outer surface receives the grinding sleeve, the interior chamber receives a rotatable shaft, and the expanding chamber comprises an expanding material, illustratively water, rubber, polyethylene and other known expandable polymers water-based solutions and oil-based solutions, that expands and contracts based upon pressure applied by use of a locking mechanism. [0015] The grinding sleeve can be sandpaper, diamond, emery cloth or any conventional material that grinds metal, wood, or plastic materials. [0016] Although this grinding device allows cost-effective and simple replacements due to the use of conventional sand paper, the ability to control the diameter to an easily measurable degree is still absent. The invention works by using numerous expanding surfaces and diameters, in conjunction with liquid solutions. Using liquids in this manner of pressurizing is an improvement over previous air-pressure and liquid-pressure tools. This tool requires no external apparatus for pressurization. While this tool expands without use of a hand tool or mandrel, all the elaborate intricacies involved in the expansion ensure a hefty tool price. Also, this tool could not effectively be used in conjunction with a portable drill. This prevents a machinist from abrading surfaces of deep holes, or abrading delicate or thin materials. [0017] U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,410 issued Mar. 10, 2001 describes a reamer with adjustable expansion/contraction and a bore finishing section comprising the reamer. The grinding section is cylindrically shaped, and has a plurality of axially-extending slits in its peripheral wall and a tapered inner surface. The rotation shaft is connected via threaded sections to a sliding shaft, which is in turn connected to a diameter expansion member consisting of a tapered cone fitted into the tapered inner surface of the grinding section. When the rotation shaft is operated to rotate, the rotational motion is converted into linear motion of the slide shaft due to a guide pin and a guide hole. The linear motion moves the diameter expansion member back and forth inside the grinding section, thereby contracting/expanding the outer diameter of the grinding section mechanically and precisely. [0018] Although this tool's diameter expands or contracts by rotating a member located on its top, instead of using a pressurized medium, this expanded/contracted diameter is not measurable by the tool. The abrading material mentioned, diamond grindstone, is electrically deposited onto the tool. This expensive material combined with the fact that it is permanently attached to the tool, makes the tool's reusability impractical. This tool could not effectively be used in conjunction with a portable drill. This prevents a machinist from abrading surfaces of 10 deep holes, or abrading delicate or thin materials. Furthermore, this cylindrical tool is incapable of chamfering. [0019] Although this grinding device allows cost-effective and simple replacements due to the use of conventional sand paper, the ability to control the diameter to an easily measurable degree is still absent. The invention works by using numerous expanding surfaces and 1 5 diameters, in conjunction with liquid solutions. While this tool expands without use of a hand tool, the elaborate expansion devices ensure a hefty tool price. This tool could not effectively be used in conjunction with a portable drill. This prevents a machinist from abrading surfaces of deep holes, or abrading delicate or thin materials. [0020] U.S. Patent 5,390,448 issued February 21, 1995 describes a modular expandable 20 honing tool or mandrel, which is adjustable within limits during a honing operation. The modular tubular honing assembly includes a drive member for attaching to a typical honing machine, a cage member adaptable for slidably receiving the abrasive sleeve member, and a retainer member for holding the abrasive sleeve member in operative position within the cage member. The abrasive sleeve member has inner and outer surfaces, the inner surface being conically tapered over its entire length while its outer surface includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinal projections positioned adjacent longitudinal channels, each projection including a honing surface having abrasive particles located thereon. The abrasive sleeve member also includes an elongated slot extending along its entire length on one side thereof which enables such member to uniformly radially expand and contract when the expander member is axially moved therethrough, the expander member having at least a portion of its outer surface which extends through the abrasive sleeve member likewise tapered at the same conical taper rate as the taper associated with the inner surface of the abrasive sleeve member for making surface-to-surface contact with the tapered inner surface of the abrasive sleeve member. Axial movement of the expander member within the abrasive sleeve member changes the diameter of the sleeve member uniformly along its entire length during a honing operation. [0021] While this invention allows for expansion of the tool's circumference, this expansion must occur during the abrading process. The honing surfaces require must be coated or plated with an abrasive material, instead of using a simple sleeve or sandpaper. There is no gauge to indicate precise measurement. As a primarily honing tool, this tool could not abrade delicate surfaces or non-uniform holes. Furthermore, due to its cylindrical shape, this tool is incapable of chamfering. Continue reading... Full patent description for Adjustable abrading tool Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Adjustable abrading tool patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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