Importance

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Abstract

A hand-held power tool includes a housing having spaced front and back walls, and an output shaft mounted in the housing for rotation in one direction or the other on an axis extending transversely with respect to the walls. The shaft has an outer end portion projecting out from the front wall for reception of an attachment for the tool. A ratchet wheel on the shaft in the space between the walls is adapted to be driven in one direction or the other for rotating the shaft in the one direction or the other. The ratchet wheel has a side face facing a fixed surface on one of the walls and a plurality of recesses extending inward from the side face spaced at intervals around the axis. Cylindrical pins are each engaged by a corresponding one of a plurality of coil compression springs for biasing the pin outward from the recess against said fixed surface for holding the ratchet wheel against rotation in a direction opposite the driven direction of rotation. The outer ends of the pins functionally engage the fixed surface.

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First Claim