Artist's knife having an automatically retractable blade

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6418624
  • Patent Number
    6,418,624
  • Date Filed
    Friday, September 29, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 16, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Peterson; Kenneth E.
    • Flores-Sánchez; Omar
    Agents
    • Browdy and Neimark, P.L.L.C.
Abstract
An artist's knife is formed of a main body, an end retaining member, a guide member, and an elastic member. The main body is provided in one side with a long hole. The end retaining member is disposed at one end of the main body. The guide member is movably disposed in the main body and is provided in one end with a notch in which a blade is disposed. The one end of the guide member can be extracted out of the main body to expose the blade. The elastic member is disposed between the retaining member and the guide member for providing the guide member with a recovery spring force enabling the guide member to return to its initial position after each displacement.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates generally to an artist's knife, and more particularly to. an artist's knife which has an automatically retractable blade.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




When an artist is engaged in his or her work, he or she uses an art designing knife repeatedly. As a result, the knife is put aside from time to time in the course of his or her art work, with the knife blade being exposed. The exposed blade of an artist's knife is prone to inflict an injury on the artist at work or a bystander.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an artist's knife with a safety means enabling the blade of the artist's knife to be automatically retracted at the time when the artist's knife is not in use.




The artist's knife of the present invention comprises a main body, an end retaining member, and a guide member. The main body is provided in one side with a long hole. The end retaining member is disposed at one end of the main body. The guide member is disposed movably in the main body and is provided in one end with a notch in which a blade is disposed. The one end of the guide member can be jutted out of the main body to expose the blade. An elastic member is disposed between the retaining member and the guide member for keeping the guide member in the main body and providing the guide member with a recovery force enabling the guide member to move back to its original position.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIGS. 1

to


3


shows a front view and left view and back view of the present invention.





FIGS. 4

to


6


shows a front view and left view and back view of the end retaining member of present invention.





FIG. 7

shows a section view of


7





7


in the FIG.


4


.





FIGS. 8

to


11


shows a front view and left view and back view and right view of the guide member of the present invention.





FIG. 12

shows a front view of another guide member.





FIG. 13

shows a left view of another guide member.





FIG. 14

shows a section view of


14





14


in the FIG.


8


.





FIG. 15

shows a combination view of present invention before the guide member juts out the main body.





FIG. 16

shows a combination view of present invention when the guide member juts out the main body.





FIG. 17

shows the using condition of present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




As shown in all drawings provided herewith, an artist's knife of the present invention comprises the component parts which are described hereinafter.




A main body


10


as FIGS. shows in


1


to


3


, is of a rectangular construction and is provided in the interior with a receiving compartment


11


. The main body


10


is further provided in two longitudinal ends with a through port


12


(


13


) in communication with the receiving compartment


11


. The main body is provided in both sides with a long hole


14


and in one side with a through hole


15


. The main body is provided at one end of two narrow sides thereof with a retaining hole


16


.




An end retaining member


20


as FIGS. shows in


4


to


7


, has a body plate portion


21


which is provided at one end with an end cover portion


22


, and at other end with two long arm portions


23


extending outward. The body plate portion is provided in two sides with a side plate


24


, which is provided with a through hole


25


, thereby enabling two side plates to be pliable. Each side plate is provided with a retaining projection


26


. Each of the long arm portions is provided in a long side with a pillar


27


. The body plate portion


21


is provided with a recess


28


. The recess


28


is provided with a rear hooked portion


29


, which near the end cover portion


22


. The body plate portion


21


is inserted into the through port


12


such that the end cover portion is jutted out of the main body


10


, and that the two projections


26


of the two side plates


24


are retained in the retaining holes


16


of the two narrow sides of the main body.




A guide member


30


as FIGS. shows in


8


to


13


, is formed of a long plate body


310


and a blade cover


320


and is movably disposed in the main body such that the guide member is jutted out of the through port


13


. The guide member is provided in the projecting end with a slanted in-use notch


31


. In the one end of the long plate body is provided a blade mount portion and the notch


31


is provided in the one end of the blade mount portion. The blade mount portion also is provided two hooks


312


in one side and one hook


313


in the other side. The shape of the blade cover homologizes the blade mount portion. There are two hook


321


and a hook


322


provided in both sides of the blade cover and makes the blade cover can wedge at the blade mount portion. The blade cover


320


is provided with a push knob


323


corresponding in location to the long hole


14


of the main body. The long plate body


310


also is provided with a push knob


314


corresponding in location to the long hole


14


of the main body. The long plate body is provided at one end with a pliable arm plate


315


which is provided with a slanted protuberance


316


slanting toward the projecting direction of the guide member to be retained in the through hole


15


of the main body at the time when the guide member is not jutted out of the main body. The pliable arm plate is provided with a front hooked portion


317


located between the slanted protuberance and the push knob. The long plate body is provided in two long sides with a guide arm


318


to enable the pliable arm plate


315


to locate between the two guide arms which are provided with a long guide groove


319


. The two guide arm ends of the guide member are inserted into the main body such that the two pillars


27


of the long arm portions


23


are retained in the two long guide grooves


319


.




An elastic member


40


as shows in

FIG. 15

is a spring, which is disposed in the main body


10


and is retained at one end by the rear hooked portion


28


of the end retaining member, with other end of the spring being retained by the front hooked portion


317


of the guide member


30


. The spring provides the guide member with a recovery force enabling the guide member to return to its original position after each displacement.




A blade


50


as shows in

FIG. 15

is mounted in the blade mount portion of the long plate body and the blade


50


is sandwiched between the long plate body


310


and blade cover


320


such that one end angle portion is jutted out of the notch


31


. The blade is concealed in the main body when the guide member is not extended out. When the guide member is extended out, the blade is jutted out of the main body


10


for work. When the knife of the present invention is use, we only use one corner of the blade. When the used corner is deadened, we can commute another corner to use. That means a blade can commute four times. By the way, we can avoid the danger from breaking the blade.




When the knife of the present invention is not in use as shows in

FIG. 15

, the guide member


30


is retracted into the main body


10


by the pull force of the spring


40


. In the meantime, the slanted protuberance


316


is retained in the through hole


15


of the main body.




As shows in

FIGS. 16 and 17

, before the knife is used, the push knob


323


is pushed with finger in the direction toward the interior of the main body along the long hole


14


of the main body, thereby actuating the guide member to move to jut out of the main body. In the meantime, the spring


40


is stretched to store a recovery spring force. In light of the push knob being under pressure, the pressure causes the pliable arm plate


315


to cave in slightly, so as to enable the slanted block to slide smoothly into the main body at the time when the guide member is in motion. The guide member is jutted out of the main body to expose the blade


50


for use in the art work. As the push knob


323


is let go, the guide member is forced by the recovery spring force of the spring to retract into the main body such that the slanted protuberance


316


is once again retained in the through hole


15


.



Claims
  • 1. An artist's knife comprising:a main body of a rectangular construction and provided in an interior thereof with a receiving compartment and in two longitudinal ends thereof with a through port in communication with said receiving compartment, said main body provided in one side with a long hole extending along the longitudinal direction of said main body; an end retaining member disposed at said through port of one end of said main body; a guide member movably disposed in said main body such that said guide member moves along the longitudinal direction of said main body to jut out of said through port of other end of said main body, said guide member provided in one end with a notch and a push knob corresponding in location to said long hole of said main body; a blade is disposed in said notch and one end angle portion is jutted out of the notch, said blade is concealed in said main body at the time when said guide member is not jutted out of said main body, and that said blade is jutted out of said main body at the time when said guide member is jutted out of said main body; an elastic member disposed in said main body such that one end of said elastic member is retained by said end retaining member, and that other end of said elastic member is retained by said guide member, the spring provides the guide member with a recovery force enabling the guide member to return to its original position after each displacement; wherein said main body is provided in said one side thereof with a through hole; wherein said guide member is provided at one end with a pliable arm plate which is provided with a slanted protuberance whereby said slanted protuberance is retained in said through hole of said main body at the time when said guide member is not extracted out of said main body; wherein said guide member is provided in two longitudinal sides thereof with a guide arm extending along the longitudinal direction of said guide member, said pliable arm plate is located between said two guide arms whereby said two guide arms are inserted into said main body; wherein said two guide arms of said guide member are provided with a long guide groove; and wherein said end retaining member has two long arm portions each is provided with a pillar extending along the short axial direction of said retaining member; wherein said end retaining member is disposed in said main body such that said two pillars are located in said long guide grooves of said two guide arms.
  • 2. The artist's knife as defined in claim 1, wherein said end retaining member has a body plate portion which is provided at one longitudinal end thereof with an end cover portion, and at other longitudinal end thereof with said two long arm portions extending outward whereby said long arm portions are inserted into said through port of said one end of said main body such that said end cover portion is jutted out of said main body.
  • 3. The artist's knife as defined in claim 2, wherein said body plate portion of said end retaining member is provided in two longitudinal sides with a retaining projection; wherein said main body is provided with two retaining holes corresponding in location to said retaining projection whereby said end retaining member is disposed in said main body such that said two retaining projections are retained in said two retaining holes.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Number Name Date Kind
1936016 Hay Nov 1933 A
2413082 Skaer Dec 1946 A
2743523 Honey May 1956 A
3453729 Larson Jul 1969 A
4389776 Okada Jun 1983 A
4899443 Beermann Feb 1990 A
5433004 Thompson Jul 1995 A
5475925 Newmann et al. Dec 1995 A
5813121 Gringer Sep 1998 A
6161290 Takamasa Dec 2000 A