Earth working – Guided by walking attendant; supported – propelled – or held... – Hand tool
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-08
2001-11-06
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Earth working
Guided by walking attendant; supported, propelled, or held...
Hand tool
C172S371000, C172S375000, C030S353000, C030S355000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311783
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed toward an improved gardening tool. The invention is more particularly directed toward an improved gardening tool of the cultivating or hoe type.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under CFR §§1.97-1.99
Gardening tools of the hoe type are known. The simplest known hoe type tool has a generally rectangular blade with means for attaching a handle at the middle of the blade adjacent the top edge. The bottom edge of the blade is usually tapered to provide a cutting edge. It is known to provide variations of this known hoe construction. In one known variation, one short side of the rectangular blade could be pointed transforming the rectangular blade into a five sided blade. In another known variation, the rectangular hoe blade could be long and narrow in shape. One side of the blade, usually the long side, in any variation, could have triangular shaped teeth along its length. A short side of the blade could have one or more deep tapered slots forming weed root cutting teeth.
The known hoe type tools have a disadvantage however. All the known tools are made from relatively thin stock material, usually steel sheet about one-sixteenth of an inch thick. This thin sheet material prevents a wide taper from being put on the blade adjacent the cutting edge of the blade. If a wide taper were put on the thin blade, the cutting edge portion would be so thin as to be liable to bend during use which would ruin the hoe. A narrow taper however means that the cutting edge becomes dull quickly and thus makes the tool inefficient. The narrow taper also makes it more difficult for the blade to enter the earth. This makes it more difficult to use the hoe. When the blade does enter the earth, the narrow taper causes it to immediately split a clump of earth off the remainder of the earth. This action minimizes any self sharpening of the blade obtained by the blade passing through earth.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a hoe type gardening tool having a blade made from stock material at least one-eighth inch thick. The thicker blade allows a wider taper to be put on the section of the blade adjacent the cutting edge of the blade without making the cutting edge itself too thin which could weaken the blade adjacent the cutting edge. The wide taper is preferably at least one inch wide and is on the front side of the blade. The wide taper also allows the blade, when entering the earth, to relatively slowly cam a clump of earth away from the remainder of the earth, making operation of the hoe easier and more efficient. Since the blade also relatively slowly cams the clump of earth away from the remainder of the earth, the tapered section of the blade remains in contact with the earth for a longer period of time after entering the earth. This longer sliding contact with the earth results in the earth continuously honing the tapered surface to self-sharpen the blade to maintain a relatively sharp cutting edge.
In one embodiment of the invention, it may be desirable to have the blade, with the wide, tapered, camming section, formed with a sharp cutting edge. The sharp cutting edge may be needed to cut the roots of weeds. In this embodiment, the wide, tapered, camming section of the blade can have a second tapered section formed therein, the second tapered section extending from the cutting edge, for a distance substantially less than the width of the tapered camming section, to substantially narrow the cutting edge. The second tapered section can be formed with an angled surface on the front or back face of the hoe adjacent the cutting edge. The second, tapered cutting section, being relatively short compared to the width of the first, tapered, camming section, does not unduly weaken the blade adjacent the cutting edge while providing a more efficient cutting action with the narrower cutting edge.
The invention is particularly directed toward a cultivating tool of the hoe type having a blade made from steel sheet at least one-eighth of an inch thick. The blade has a front surface and a parallel back surface and at least one cutting edge between the surfaces. The blade is tapered from the cutting edge to the front surface to form a relatively wide, tapered, camming section and a relatively narrow cutting edge. Preferably the tapered surface on the camming section is at least one inch wide.
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