Ferrule assembly for a push broom or the like

Claim 1

The combination with a push broom having a wooden body of generally rectangular outline, said body being formed with a relatively deep threaded bore opening onto the upper side thereof and with bristle tufts depending from the underneath side thereof, and an elongated wooden handle having a reduced lower end section provided with male contour threads designed for normal reception in said bore, of a ferrule assembly by means of which the handle is operatively and removably attached to said body, said ferrule assembly including a cup-shaped metal body having an upper cylindrical section provided with a relatively deep axial socket defining a cylindrical side wall, a circular bottom wall and an open annular flat upper radially extending rim surface, the longitudinal extent of said socket being appreciably greater than the longitudinal extent of said reduced lower end section of the handle and the diameter of the socket being substantially equal to the diameter of the handle, the lower end region of the handle being disposed within said socket with the lower end of the threaded portion being seated on said bottom wall and with said side wall encompassing said reduced lower end section and a portion of the handle above such section, said metal body being formed with a downwardly extending reduced solid section having male contour threads formed in the lower region thereof and conformable in pitch direction and threaded depth to the male contour threads on the wooden handle, said solid section constituting an attachment stem which, in combination with said metal body, establishes an annular downwardly facing radIally stepped shoulder at the juncture region therebetween, said male threads on the solid section being received in said socket in the wooden broom body with a portion of said downwardly facing stepped shoulder being seated on the upper side of said wooden body in the rim region of the bore, thus rigidly securing the ferrule body to the broom body, the upper portion of the cylindrical side wall of the ferrule body being provided with external machine cut screw threads which extend downwardly from said open annular rim of the socket, a resilient elastomeric Oring seated on said annular flat radial rim surface and surrounding the wooden handle, and a jam nut of cap-like configuration threadedly received on said external machine cut screw threads and having an inturned radially extending rim flange which bears downwardly against said O-ring and clamps the same against said flat annular rim surface of the socket, thus flattening the O-ring axially and causing the same to spread radially in both directions and bind inwardly in centripetal fashion against the broom handle and outwardly against said jam nut, thus securing the handle in said socket against axial shifting therein.