Cutlery – Cutting tools – Plural cooperating blades
Patent
1995-06-06
1997-05-06
Payer, Hwei-Siu
Cutlery
Cutting tools
Plural cooperating blades
30254, B26B 1300
Patent
active
056259522
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements to cutting tools and is applicable to such cutting tools of the configurations known as bypass and anvil. More particularly, this invention involves in one embodiment a locking mechanism which is adapted to secure the cutting blade(s) of a cutting tool in a closed, and therefore safe position.
It is well known that cutting tools of the type to which the present invention relates have at least one sharp cutting blade and therefore should be provided with some form of restraining device to keep the cutting edge so positioned as to prevent accidental injury when the Cutting tool is not in use. Locking mechanisms are known which require manipulation of a lever, pawl or sliding device, which engages and disengages a pawl, pin or bolt which is so positioned as to prevent the sharp cutting edge from becoming exposed when the cutting tool is not in use.
Such devices may be moved to disengage the locking mechanism inadvertently due to the operating device being so positioned as to require the placement of the hand and or finger of the operator in a similar position for both locking and unlocking the sharp cutting blade.
However, there exists a need to provide a novel locking mechanism adapted to operate the locking mechanism from one conveniently accessible location on the cutting tool and to unlock the mechanism from a conveniently accessible location which is remote from the location of the locking action location and thereby requiring a different hand and or finger movement to reverse the locking action.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide, in one embodiment, a novel locking mechanism for a cutting tool capable of or at least partially capable of fulfilling the aforementioned needs.
The present invention accordingly provides in one embodiment a locking mechanism for a cutting tool, said mechanism being operable to resist exposure of a cutting edge of said tool and including a locking block transversely located through or on a handle of a first blade of the cutting tool, said locking block movable between a locked position and an unlocked position in a direction transverse to the plane of rotation of the blade and incorporating a shaped spring adapted to restrain the locking block in either the locked or unlocked position.
The locking block is preferably recessed to receive the spring. The locking block may be movable relative to the spring between the locked and unlocked positions.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a cutting tool having a pair of handles operable in scissor fashion to move at least one cutting blade relative to a second cutting blade or anvil and including a locking mechanism according to the present invention. The locking mechanism may extend transversely through one of the handles and may be operable to resist the opening of the handles and hence exposure of a cutting edge of the tool when locked in a closed position.
The term "cutting tool" is used herein in a broad sense to refer to any form of cutting hand-tool operable by one hand via a pair of handles movable in a scissor action. The term accordingly includes, but is not limited to, secateurs, pruners of the by-pass (shearing) type, pruners of the anvil type, garden clippers, tin snips, scissors and domestic shears.
In one embodiment of the invention, the locking block is provided with an aperture such as an interruption or gap which permits a portion or part of a second cutting blade of the tool to pass through the aperture when the locking block is moved to the unlocked position. The locking block may likewise restrain the second cutting blade from moving to a position which exposes a cutting edge of the tool when the tool is closed and the locking block moved to the locked position. This may be achieved by a portion of the locking block engaging into a register notch provided within the configuration of the second cutting blade.
The locking block is preferably located in or on the lower ha
REFERENCES:
patent: 2504766 (1950-04-01), Vosbikian
patent: 2563590 (1951-08-01), Dolansky
patent: 4947553 (1990-08-01), Bendickson et al.
patent: 4980975 (1991-01-01), Hodson
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