Hand tool for inserting and withdrawing a pin grid into and from a socket

Claim 1

A hand tool for selectively inserting the pins of electronic elements into engagement with and withdrawing the pins from pin engaging sockets secured to a substrate comprising: a top mounting block having opposite sides, a pair of outer side plates secured at their upper end to the opposite sides of the mounting block and extending downwardly therefrom to define jaws for selectively engaging the elements and sockets, a pair of inner side plates slidably positioned at the lower end of the respective outer side plates and defining jaws at their lower end for selectively engaging the elements and sockets, means for actuating the jaws to engage the elements and sockets, and means for raising the inner side plates and their jaws relative to the outer side plates and their jaws, thereby withdrawing the element pins from pin engaging sockets, said raising means including a link mounting block slidably positioned between the side plates, a first pair of articulated link sets pivotably linking the top mounting block with the link mounting block and a plunger slidably positioned in the top mounting block to slidingly engage and and spread the link sets in a first plane, thereby pulling the link and top mounting blocks toward each other to raise the inner side plates.