Geometrical instruments – Gauge – Collocating
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-30
2003-07-01
Gutierrez, Diego (Department: 2859)
Geometrical instruments
Gauge
Collocating
C033S468000, C033S469000, C033S471000, C083S435140, C083S477200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06584698
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an angle indicating apparatus, more particularly to an angle indicating apparatus for use with a table saw and capable of positioning at predetermined angles.
2. Description of the Related Art
When cutting a work piece using a table saw, an angle indicating apparatus is employed to indicate the cutting angle and to position the work piece on the table saw.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conventional angle indicating apparatus
10
is shown to include a rod member
12
, an indicia member
11
, an indicator
13
, and a locking unit
14
.
The rod member
12
is slidably received in a slide groove of a table saw (not shown) such that the angle indicating apparatus
10
can be positioned on and is slidable relative to the table saw.
The indicia member
11
is mounted pivotally on the rod member
12
about a pivot axis, and includes a base plate
112
and a stop block
111
extending uprightly from one end of the base plate
112
. The stop block
111
is used to abut against the work piece to be cut by the table saw. The base plate
112
is formed with a curved guide slot
113
having a curvature centered at the pivot axis. The base plate
112
further has a top side provided with angle indicia
114
that are disposed radially and outwardly of the guide slot
113
with respect to the pivot axis.
The indicator
13
is mounted on one end of the rod member
12
, and has a pointing end
131
pointing to the angle indicia
114
.
The locking unit
14
includes a handle body
141
and a threaded shank (not visible) extending from the handle body
141
and through the guide slot
113
so as to threadedly engage the rod member
12
and arrest undesired rotation of the indicia member
11
relative to the rod member
12
.
In the conventional angle indicating apparatus
10
, the indicia member
11
is allowed to rotate to any arbitrary angle due to the lack of a positioning mechanism. Therefore, when aligning the indicator
13
with a particular angle on the angle indicia
114
, a few more micro-tuning steps are needed for final angle positioning. As such, the angle positioning procedure in the conventional angle indicating apparatus
10
is slow and troublesome. In view of the fact that a work piece is generally required to be cut at some standard angle, such as 30, 45 and 60 degrees, there is evidently a need for a simple angle positioning procedure.
To overcome the aforesaid drawback, another conventional angle indicating apparatus
20
has been proposed heretofore, as shown in FIG.
2
. The conventional angle indicating apparatus
20
includes a rod member
22
and an indicia member
21
. The indicia member
21
has angle indicia
211
and a plurality of protruding blocks
23
that extend from a periphery of the indicia member
21
and that are angularly spaced apart at predetermined angles. Each protruding block
23
has a positioning screw
231
mounted thereon. An indicator
24
is mounted on one end of the rod member
22
, and has a pointing end pointing to the angle indicia
211
. A stop plate
25
is mounted pivotally on one side of the indicator
24
. The stop plate
25
is used to abut against one of the positioning screws
231
so as to quickly position the indicia member
21
at one of predetermined angles relative to the rod member
22
. To move the indicia member
21
to another one of the predetermined angles, the stop plate
25
is pivoted to allow the adjacent protruding block
23
to pass through the indicator
24
. After rotating the indicia member
21
to the desired one of the predetermined angles, the stop plate
25
is again pivoted to abut against the adjacent positioning screw
231
. At this time, the locking unit
26
can be operated so as to threadedly engage the rod member
22
and arrest undesired rotation of the indicia member
21
relative the rod member
22
.
Although the aforesaid angle indicating apparatus
20
provides the function of positioning the indicia member
21
at predetermined angles, the following drawbacks are encountered:
1) The pivoting operations of the stop plate
25
are awkward to conduct. Also, since the protruding blocks
23
with the positioning screws
231
mounted thereon take up a lot of space, the number of the protruding blocks
23
that can be installed is severely limited, thereby limiting the corresponding number of the predetermined angles.
2) The abutting force applied to the positioning screws
231
by the stop block
25
will result in angular misalignment in the long run. Therefore, the positioning screws
231
need to be periodically adjusted to ensure accuracy.
3) Because the indicator
24
and the protruding blocks
23
are disposed on the outer periphery of the indicia member
21
, not only will there be inconvenience during operation, the user will also be prone to injury due to the sharp edges of the aforesaid components.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an angle indicating apparatus that can overcome the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.
Accordingly, the angle indicating apparatus of the present invention includes a rod member, an indicia member, an indicator, a spring-loaded tumbler unit, and a locking unit.
The indicia member is mounted pivotally on the rod member about a pivot axis, and includes a base plate and a stop block extending uprightly from one end of the base plate. The base plate is formed with a generally semi-circular cutout having a straight edge that is proximate to said one end of the base plate, and a curved edge that is connected to the straight edge and that has a curvature centered at the pivot axis. The base plate has a top side provided with angle indicia that are disposed adjacent to the curved edge of the cutout. The base plate is further formed with a curved guide slot that is disposed radially and outwardly of the curved edge of the cutout with respect to the pivot axis. The base plate further has a bottom side disposed on top of the rod member and formed with a plurality of angularly spaced apart positioning grooves. The positioning grooves correspond respectively to the predetermined angles and are spaced apart at equal radial distances from the pivot axis.
The indicator is mounted on the rod member, is disposed in the cutout, and has a pointing end pointing to the angle indicia.
The spring-loaded tumbler unit is mounted on the rod member and engages removably a selected one of the positioning grooves in the bottom side of the base plate.
The locking unit passes through the guide slot and is operable so as to engage the rod member in order to arrest undesired rotation of the indicia member relative to the rod member.
REFERENCES:
patent: 817991 (1906-04-01), Ross
patent: 845009 (1907-02-01), Novak
patent: 1985614 (1934-12-01), Merrigan
patent: 2435529 (1948-02-01), Brockley
patent: 3903600 (1975-09-01), Dalton
patent: 4741387 (1988-05-01), Strong
patent: 5020233 (1991-06-01), Syken
patent: 5038486 (1991-08-01), Ducate, Sr.
patent: 5097601 (1992-03-01), Pollak et al.
patent: 5187877 (1993-02-01), Jory et al.
patent: D400452 (1998-11-01), Schoene et al.
patent: 5845410 (1998-12-01), Boker
patent: 5915806 (1999-06-01), Levee
patent: 6141882 (2000-11-01), Syken
patent: 6195905 (2001-03-01), Cole
patent: 2002/0104417 (2002-08-01), Chen
patent: 2003/0015078 (2003-01-01), Taylor
Gonzalez Madeline
Merchant & Gould P.C.
P & F Brother Industrial Corporation
LandOfFree
Angle indicating apparatus capable of positioning at... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Angle indicating apparatus capable of positioning at..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Angle indicating apparatus capable of positioning at... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3048135