Cutlery – Static pencil sharpener – With debris receiver
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-06
2001-10-16
Watts, Douglas D. (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Static pencil sharpener
With debris receiver
C030S455000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301791
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the right of priority of German patent application No. 199 15 384.1, filed Apr. 6, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a sharpener for soft-core pencils. An example of such a sharpener is disclosed in German laid-open patent application No. 44 40 271. The term “soft-core pencils” refers to pencils having a carrier material that can be peeled off, such as wood or plastic, as well as those having bare soft cores, which are conventionally used as makeup or cosmetic pencils.
In a known sharpener of the above-mentioned type, the core shaper is a shaping blade that can be adjusted on a transverse slide between a shaping position and a retracted position, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the sharpener channel. The transverse slide is positioned in the free space that receives the pencil cone during sharpening. The sharpener or guide channel provided in the housing for the pencil is located in front of the free space. Depending on the position of the transverse slide, the pencil tip can selectively be given a relatively sharp, pointed or rounded shape, while the sharpening blade assumes the task of shaping the pencil cone and, simultaneously peeling off the pencil jacket (if present) as the pencil, guided in the guide channel, is rotated for sharpening.
In a modification of such a sharpener, two shaping blades are disposed side-by-side on the transverse slide for selectively sharpening the tip to varying degrees of roundness. Because of the narrow spatial conditions in the region of the side of the free space facing away from the sharpening channel, the transverse slide is complicated to produce. Furthermore, the slide hinders the periodically necessary removal of the built-up core mass which tends to smear easily and jam the transverse slide guide in the housing in the region of the core shaper.
In a similar sharpener for soft-core pencils that is known from European published patent application 0 872 356, the core shaper is a scraping tongue that is formed onto the cleaning end of an accompanying cleaning implement. When the sharpener is in the operative state, the cleaning implement is snapped to the sharpener housing with a holder such that the free end of the scraping tongue that is integral with the implement tip projects out of the space, beyond a side wall of the free space in front thereof, and into the free space in the direction of the sharpening blade, transversely to the longitudinal axis of the guide channel. In the process, the tip of the scraping tongue extends slightly below the sharpening blade, thus assuring shaping of the entire core tip up to the longitudinal axis of the core. This solution facilitates sharpener cleaning, the primary problem being the hygienic removal of the built-up soft-core mass.
The scraping tongue projecting laterally from the cleaning implement is inconvenient during the cleaning process involving the cleaning implement if the tongue hinders the implement tip from accessing angled corners of the sharpener housing or the free space provided in the housing for receiving the pencil cone to be sharpened. Moreover, some dexterity is required for securing the cleaning implement to the sharpener housing, with the scraping tongue being repositioned in its default position slightly around the sharpening blade following the cleaning process, in order to prevent damage to the sharp scraping tongue. The cleaning implement, and thus the integral scraping tongue are of a relatively soft plastic to prevent dulling of the sharp cutting edge of the sharpening blade during the cleaning process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved sharpener of the above-described type to facilitate the hygienic cleaning and removal of the sticky soft-core mass, and reliably prevent damage to the core shaper caused by the cleaning process. This object and others to become apparent as the application progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, a sharpener for sharpening an end of a pencil having a soft core includes a housing body defining a free space and a guide channel for receiving and centering the end of the pencil. The guide channel is tapered towards its front end and has a side opening. The sharpener also includes a sharpening blade disposed along the side opening for sharpening the pencil end into a conical shape and an exchangeable insert secured in the free space of the housing body in front of the front end of the guide channel. The insert has a shaping edge for shaping the pencil core that faces the guide channel and is spaced from the sharpening blade.
The core shaper is no longer an integrated, integral component of a standard, accompanying cleaning implement whose cleaning end can be so shaped as to perform solely its intended cleaning task. The invention also contributes beneficially to the trend toward a diversification of pencil shapes that in cosmetic pencils which are available in a wide variety of diameters. The soft-core diameter often varies in pencils of the same diameter. Adapting the entire sharpener to the wide array of dimensions is very complicated in terms of the manufacturing tools required, particularly if the sharpener housing is a plastic, one-piece injected part, which is predominantly the case. This problem is compounded by the increasingly complex chemical formulas used in soft pencil cores, which the sharpener must also accommodate by way of the embodiment of its core shaper. The invention also makes available a sharpener whose modular design can be adapted flexibly and inexpensively to this developmental trend, and—whenever not necessary—can be used without a core-shaping insert. In accordance with the invention, the core shaper can also be adapted simply to more stringent technical requirements, such as antibacterial plastic quality, coating and the like.
According to another aspect of the invention, the core shaper can be compact, and therefore less susceptible to damage. The user can detach and reattach it simply in accordance with a snap connection or a frictional clamping. It is easily possible to detach and re-insert the insert without the sharpening blade presenting a problem. Accordingly, detachable securing elements can be provided with fittings or retaining elements, which assure a secure position in the joined state, and require a constant, predeterminable exertion of force to be detached.
The invention can also facilitate the exertion of the detaching force on the insert without a separate detaching tool.
The invention also permits variable options for inserting a core shaper. The same core shaper can produce different shapes or degrees of roundness of the core tip.
The invention further provides that the insert can be simply positioned, and reliably maintain its position, beneath the sharpening blade in the sharpener body. Securing elements attached to the two opposite side walls hold the insert in an intermediate position against the walls.
According to the invention, the same insert may be provided with a plurality of shaping edges that can be respectively brought into the operative position through a corresponding rotation inside the housing body.
An alternative for securing the insert to the housing body takes into account the fact that the housing body, which is typically produced from injected plastic, is closed nearly all the way around and is provided with comparatively thin-walled long and short sides whose lower ends are formed as wall edges. The wall edges of all sides of the housing body lie in a common plane, and surround a body floor between themselves that is cleaved due to the functional embodiment. The body floor is therefore shielded, and not visible, in the typical resting position of the sharpener on a table surface or the like, namely with the blade facing up. This regular construction of the housing body from a plastic housing body injected in one piece
Kelemen Gabor J.
KUM Limited
Venable
Watts Douglas D.
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