Cutlery – Sheathed – Sliding blade
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-30
2001-05-01
Payer, H. (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Sheathed
Sliding blade
C030S335000, C030S337000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223439
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a hand tool and more specifically to a hand tool such as a utility knife having a handle/body which can be quickly separated and re-connected via the use of a quick acting connector element so as to permit an instrument such as a blade, which is operatively mounted thereon, to be either stored in the handle or changed with a different/sharper one.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
In utility knives, by way of example, in order to permit the storage of a blade or allow the interchange with another which is stored within the hollow of the knife handle, it is necessary to provide some form of simple connection arrangement which permits a user to disconnect and separate the two halves of the handle or housing and then reconnect the same, both quickly and easily. In order to achieve this end, a simple screw connection or connections have been used. An example of such an arrangement is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,342 issued on Dec. 5, 1989, in the name of McNamara et al. In other similar arrangements, these screws have, in order to facilitate disconnection even when a screwdriver is not available, been provided with suitably size slots into which a coin can be inserted and used in lieu thereof.
However, with this type of arrangement, the screw can be easily dropped and lost. To overcome this shortcoming, it has been proposed to avoid the use of simple screws and to use more specialized arrangements which feature screws having large diameter easy to grasp knobs or members of the nature disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,906 issued on Oct. 8, 1996 in the name of Desmarais, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,375 issued on Jan. 17, 1978 in the name of Ratherburn et al.
However, these arrangements, while representing an improvement over the use of screws which require either a screwdriver or small coin to loosen/tighten, still suffer from the drawback that they can require a plurality of turns to loosen/tighten the halves of the housing. Further these connectors can usually separate from the housings which they operatively interconnect, and accordingly also run the risk of becoming accidentally dropped and lost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In light of the drawbacks of the nature alluded to above, it is sought, in accordance with the present invention to provide a utility knife or the like type of hand tool, which has a hollow two part housing, with a simple, quick acting, easy to use connection arrangement which requires only a quarter turn (i.e. rotation through about 90°) to lock/release the two halves of the tool.
A further feature the present invention seeks to provide is a connector which can be set in position in one of the two halves of the tool and retain itself in this half while remaining freely rotatable, thus obviating the problem of detaching from the tool housing and becoming lost.
In order to further simplify the disconnection/reconnection of the two halves, the present invention further seeks to enable a single connector of the above type, to provide the sole source of force which holds the two halves together and to arrange the two halves of the tool to appropriately align themselves with one another when the connector is rotated to induce interconnection.
In brief, the above aims of the present invention are met by an arrangement wherein, in order to permit two halves of a hand tool to be quickly separated and then reconnected following an operation such as the storage, accessing or replacement of a cutting blade, a connector is arranged to require rotation through an angle not more than 90° (i.e. a quarter turn) to achieve disconnection/connection. The connector according to the present invention, has a connection feature which can pass through an elongated/shaped opening on one of the two halves, and then be prevented from passing back therethrough when the rotational angle of the connector is changed with respect to the opening.
More specifically, a first aspect of the invention resides in a hand tool comprising: a handle having first and second halves; a rotatable connector for fastening the two halves together, the connector comprising: a head which is adapted to seat against an external surface portion of the first half; a shaft which is rigid with the head and which extends from the head via a first opening formed in the first housing, through the interior of the first and second halves; and an engagement member at the end of the shaft which is adapted to engage an outer surface portion of the second half when the engagement member assumes a first angular position with respect to the second half and to be aligned with a second opening formed in the second half when the engagement member assumes a second angular position with respect to the second half.
This aspect further features the provision of a retention feature which is formed on the head end of the shaft and which engages a wall portion of the first half in a manner which permits the head and shaft to rotate about an axis of the shaft but which restrains the rotatable connector against axial movement with respect to the first half.
The above aspect is such that the retaining feature comprises a radially extending flange which extends radially outward with respect to the shaft and which engages an inboard surface of a wall portion which surrounds an opening in the first half and through which the shaft of the bolt passes. This engagement feature comprises a portion which extends radially outward with respect to the shaft and is such that the radially extending portion of the engagement feature, exhibits a predetermined amount of flexibility and is adapted to seat in a recess which is formed in the outer surface portion of the second half after having being deflected by a raised portion formed beside the recess.
In one variation of this arrangement the radially extending flange portion which forms part of the retaining feature, is formed on a flexible prong member which extends along the side of the shaft. In addition the radially extending flange portion which forms part of the retaining feature has a barbed configuration to facilitate the passage thereof through the first opening and to resist the removal of the shaft from the first opening.
In addition to the above structure the first and second halves are arranged to have wall portions which engage one another in a manner that the first and second housings are aligned in a predetermined relationship when pressed together to form the handle. This facilitates the arrangement wherein the rotatable connector produces the sole force which holds the first and second halves together. A characteristic of the invention is that one quarter turn of the head and shaft moves the engagement/locking feature from the first angular position to the second angular position.
The first and second halves include a mounting arrangement which enable a blade to be removably mounted at one end of the handle and storage space wherein a blade can be stored. In addition the second opening, which is formed in the second half, is elongated to permit the passage of the engagement feature therethrough when in the first angular position.
A second aspect of the invention resides in a quarter turn fastener for a hand tool having first and second handle portions, comprising: a head adapted for manual manipulation and for ready manual rotation; a shaft rigid with the head which is arranged to pass through a first opening in the first handle portion and to extend out through a second elongate opening formed in the second handle; and an engagement/locking feature formed at the end of the shaft, the engagement feature being so dimensioned and shaped as to pass through the second opening when the shaft is in a first angular position and to engage the outer surface of the second handle portion when the shaft is rotated from the first angular position through a predetermined angle to a second angular position.
This aspect of the invention also includes a retaining feature formed on the head end of the shaft, the
American Safety Razor
McDermott & Will & Emery
Payer H.
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