Combination Knockout Tool

Abstract

A combined tool for removing knockouts and mounting rings therefor from electrical fittings or outlet boxes to provide suitable apertures therein to receive the wires and to enable suitable conduits for the electrical wiring to be connected thereto. The tool has a knockout engaging tip having a slot therein for engaging a deflected and partially released knockout to assist in removing the same to provide a conduit receiving aperture. If the aperture produced by the knockout is too small, it can be enlarged by removing the knockout mounting ring secured to the wall by frangible connections. To do this the tool is provided with wings adjacent said tip which are provided with side opening slots adapted to be positioned over the ring, after the knockout has been removed, and the tool manipulated with a rocking motion to remove the ring. The tool thus provides a means for easily and quickly producing conduit receiving apertures.

Description

Heretofore, knockouts, which are usually round, are secured in the wall of an electrical fitting or outlet box by a single frangible connector. These are usually removed by means of a punch or the like which is applied thereto and struck with an implement. The first blow usually partially deflects the knockout out of the plane of the wall. It subsequently requires additional blows or additional equipment to completely release the knockout to provide the required opening. Should it be desired to enlarge the aperture, it is necessary to apply blows to the mounting ring to break the two frangible connections to the wall to remove said ring. These operations are time consuming and sometimes very difficult.

The present invention provides a single combination tool for simply and quickly removing knockouts or mounting rings therefor to provide the required apertures in the electrical fitting or outlet box by which conduits are connected thereto.

This is accomplished by the combined tool of the present invention which has an elongate shank provided with a handle at one end and a tool head at the other end. The tool head of the present invention has a knockout engaging tip capable of delivering a blow to a knockout to partially deflect the same. The tip has a slot in the end thereof adapted to be inserted over the deflected knockout to, upon manipulation of the tool, cause the removal thereof. Also, the combined tool has lateral wings adjacent the tip, said wings having aligned side opening slots for receiving the mounting ring when the tip is inserted in the hole made by the removal of the knockout and by manipulation of the tool to quickly release the mounting ring from the electrical fitting to enlarge the opening therein.

The present tool can be easily manufactured and is simple to operate to provide the required conduit connecting openings in the electrical fitting or outlet box.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and claims when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the combined tool.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1 (partially broken away).

FIG. 3 is an end view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the wall of an electrical fitting or outlet box.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a knockout being partially deflected.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the tool being manipulated to remove the partially deflected knockout.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the tool being inserted to remove the mounting ring.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the tool in ring-engaging position.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing the manipulation of the tool to remove the ring.

As shown in the drawings, the combined tool is for removing knockouts from the wall 10 of electrical fittings or outlet boxes, such as shown in FIG. 4. As illustrated, the knockout 11 is circular and is connected by a single frangible connection 12 to the knockout supporting or mounting ring 13 which in turn is connected to the wall by the two frangible connections 14.

The tool of the present invention comprises an elongate shank 20 having a handle 21 at one end and a knockout removing tool head 22 at the other end. The tool head, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, comprises a tip or punch 23 at the end thereof. While this tip can have various shapes as required, it is herein illustrated as being formed by the tapered surfaces 24 to provide an end surface 25 to deliver the desired force to the knockout 11 when applied thereto and the handle 21 struck a predetermined blow in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 5. This causes the knockout to be partially deflected as shown in FIG. 5. To readily remove the knockout, the tip is provided with a slot 26 extending inwardly thereof. The slot 26 is inserted over the edge of the partially deflected knockout, as shown in FIG. 6, and the tool manipulated in the direction of the arrow B which quickly breaks the frangible connection 12 and releases the knockout to provide the aperture by which the usual conduits or BX (not shown) can be attached to the fitting or outlet box.

Should it be desired to enlarge the conduit-receiving aperture, the tool of the present invention can be readily employed to remove the mounting ring 13. To accomplish this the tool head 22 has laterally extending wings 30, 31 adjacent the tip as shown in FIG. 1. The wings have aligned slots 32, 33 extending inwardly from the side edges. As shown, slot 33 is longer than slot 32. The longer slot permits the tool head to be inserted through the knockout aperture and moved in the direction of the arrow C until the edge of the wing 30 can pass into the opening. The tool head is thereafter moved to the position of FIG. 8 wherein the slot 32 engages the ring and locates the tool head in interlocked relation only with the ring as illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. The tool is rocked in the direction of the arrow D of FIG. 10 and readily breaks the frangible connections 14, thus releasing the ring 13 from the fitting or outlet box and provides an opening to which a larger size conduit can be connected.

Thus it will be seen that the combined tool for removing knockouts from electrical fittings or outlet boxes can readily produce the desired opening therein such as for connecting conduits thereto.

The combined tool of the present invention, which is of a simple construction, can be easily and inexpensively manufactured and can be employed to quickly and readily remove knockouts as required.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Claims

I claim:

1. A combined tool for removing knockouts from electrical fittings and outlet boxes comprising a shank having a handle at one end and a knockout engaging tip at the other end adapted to engage and deflect a knockout and partially release the knockout in response to a blow applied to said tool, said knockout engaging tip having a slot extending inwardly from the end thereof adapted to receive and manipulate said partially released knockout to remove the same, side wings on the shank adjacent said knockout engaging tip provided on opposite edges with aligned slots to receive a knockout supporting ring releasably connected to said outlet box when said tip is inserted through the opening formed by the removed knockout.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said slots is a long slot to enable the tool to be moved into engagement with said ring.

3. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said slots is short and of a predetermined length so that said tool when in position engages only said ring whereby manipulation of said tool removes said ring from the outlet box.