1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to handheld emergency tools, and in particular to small emergency tools to enable a person to escape from a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, when the motor vehicle is in an emergency situation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many incidences where persons in a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, require assistance to escape from the motor vehicle quickly and safely. This could occur in the event the motor vehicle was involved in a collision with another motor vehicle or with some other object, became immersed in water, caught on fire and the like. In most motor vehicles, there are two obstacles for preventing easy escape from the vehicle; these are the windows of the vehicle and the seat belt which is used to hold an occupant in place. Furthermore, a person in distress from such a motor vehicle incident requires assistance in both finding a path to escape the vehicle and to emit a signal to possible rescuers. If an occupant is unable to open a window in the vehicle as a path of escape, it would be necessary to break the window in as short a period of time as possible while requiring limited strength and range of motion, particularly if the occupant is injured, fragile, weak, and in some instances having a little time or room to break the window. Also, there may be instances where an occupant is unable to open a locked seat belt apparatus, such as in the event the operating mechanism is inoperative possibly because of an accident, because the occupant is unable to reach the release mechanism for the seat belt, because obstacles impeding access to release the operating mechanism, because the operating mechanism is malfunctioning or for some other reason cannot release the seat belt.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,557,720, entitled “Personal Emergency Device,” is directed to a personal emergency device which can be kept on a keyring and is useful in various emergency functions, such as those directed to emergency situations involving automobiles. This device has been found very useful because it is small and provides a device for cutting an automobile vehicle's seat belt webbing in the event the driver or passengers are unable to unfasten their seat belts, it includes a device for breaking tempered, unlaminated automobile side window glass by means of a spring-actuated pin having a sharp point that is driven into the glass to break it and which can be easily reset for further use. The foregoing device also includes electronically operated items including a white-light flashlight function, a flashlight and an audible alarm. While the latter device, which is currently on the market and sold as a Swiss+Tech BodyGard 5-in-1 Automobile Emergency Tool, it does not fulfill a part of the market for this type of device. Part of the consuming public would prefer a smaller, more ergonomic device having a smaller depth which is easier to store and hold. Plus, part of the marketplace would prefer a less expensive type of auto emergency tool which would have a lower selling price that would be very effective in emergency situations.
There are other similar devices which have serious setbacks. U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,543, entitled “Emergency Tool,” is directed to a device which is large and bulky, and is for use by emergency personnel having a spring-loaded, trigger operated impact member for breaking glass in a vehicle. The device has an emergency glass-breaking tool, a pivotal knife blade, but no warning or alarm member. The device is fairly large, and would fill up a user's hand. Another known device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,916, entitled “Hammer Equipped Emergency Signal Device,” having an LED for emitting a warning light, an alarm buzzer and a pair of percussion imparting members which must be swung as a hammer to break the glass. This device is large, requires space to operate and expensive for one to buy. Another device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,628, which is allegedly small enough to be carried on a keychain, in a pocket or a purse and includes a spring-loaded glass breaker. It also includes a V-shaped razor blade for cutting a seat belt. This device does not have a light of any sort.
There are other devices known which are of general interest. Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,870, there is disclosed a handheld cleaning device having a cleaning section and an illuminating system for acting alternatively as a flashlight or as a beacon. An aiming post light is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,095. This light is used for artillery and mortar operations at night, and can be used to provide either steady light or a blinking light, and the blinking light could be red or green, which could be used to assist color blind operators to distinguish between the two colors. An emergency flashlight is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,033,042. This apparatus has a flashlight body with a battery storage unit and incorporates a hook member for supporting the flashlight on various objects, such as a belt or a handle ring of handbag. It also has a glass-cutting edge with a hammer piece which can be used to cut, strike and break glass and other debris during an emergency situation. None of the latter three devices are small enough to be easily held in a pocket, handbag or on a keyring.
An object of the present invention is to provide an emergency tool for use in motor vehicles, such as automobiles, which is extremely compact and provides the features of an easily accessible cutting tool for cutting seat belts, an easy-to-use glass breaker for breaking the tempered, unlaminated glass windows of motor vehicle in times of an emergency, and a light which can be used for enabling the user to detect things in dark places and as a signal device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved emergency tool which is small, ergonomic, and can easily be held in a person's pocket, such as on a keyring or on a handbag, or in an easily accessible place in a motor vehicle.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a miniature auto emergency tool which is less expensive than existing emergency tools and which provides the functions of being a seat belt cutter, a glass breaker and an illumination or signal device.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an auto emergency tool as discussed above having simple electronics without the necessity for a circuit board or batteries larger than disc batteries, and can be made and sold relatively inexpensively compared to other vehicle emergency escape tools.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an auto emergency tool having the features indicated above, which is durable, effective in use and able to withstand detrimental conditions, such as water immersion.
These and other objects of the present invention should occur to those skilled in the art from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the claims.
The foregoing objects are achieved according to the preferred embodiment of the invention which includes a housing having a main portion and a projecting portion extending from the main portion at a joining portion. The main portion and the projecting portion are spaced apart to define a recess or notch. A knife blade extends between the main portion and the projecting portion adjacent to the joining portion, the blade having a razor sharp edge. The projecting portion is curved so that when the device is slid across a seat belt that a person is unable to open, the device follows a curved path relative to the seat belt to provide a better cutting angle to facilitate the cutting of the seat belt. A blade cover can be slid in the notch and a detent in the projecting portion follows a longitudinally extending path in the blade cover to guide the blade cover into the notch. A slit in the blade cover admits the knife blade as the blade cover enters the notch, and an indent in the blade cover receives the detent to hold the blade cover in place with a frictional engagement. The blade cover can easily be pulled from the notch by means of a keyring extending through a hole in the key cover. At one end of the auto emergency tool is a translucent dome, cup or lens covering an LED light, and at the other end is a glass breaking mechanism including a guide piece for a spring-loaded impact pin which is released when the guide piece is firmly pressed against the vehicle window to break the glass and enable an escape from the vehicle. The glass breaking mechanism includes components for automatically resetting the mechanism. The auto emergency tool has an LED with an actuating switch on the top of the main body adjacent the LED for turning the light on and off. The auto emergency tool is ergonomic and can easily be held and operated, as well as being stored while taking up little room and causing no discomfort. The batteries for the LED are small disc batteries, and the battery compartment in the main portion extends longitudinally in the tool. The battery cover can easily be opened by means of a captive screw, which is not removable. The auto emergency tool is small in size, effective in operation and less expensive than other similar tools presently available.
Referring to
Housing 3 has a main portion 23 and a projecting portion 25. Main portion 23 and projecting portion 25 form a single unit to define therebetween, forwardly from a joining portion 27 which joins portions 23 and 25, notch 15. Blade cover 13, when present in notch 15, is held in place by a friction fit between a detent 29 (
Blade cover 13 is part of a seat-belt cutting assembly 37 of auto emergency tool 1, which is shown in exploded form in
Main body-facing side 31 of projecting portion 25 is basically smooth, other than detent 29, and has a gentle, concave curvature compared to a flat, projecting portion-facing side of main portion 23. The length and curvature of projecting portion 25 facilitates the function of knife blade 39 to cut a seat belt, since auto emergency tool 1 is slid over a seat belt once blade cover 13 has been removed, and surface 31 guides device 1 in a curved motion relative to a seat belt, generating a slicing motion of the seat belt relative to blade 39. This causes cutting edge 41 to approach the belt at an angle to facilitate the cutting of the seat belt by cutting edge 41. The relevant details are discussed below.
Auto emergency tool 1 also includes a glass-breaking mechanism 49. Glass-breaking mechanism 49 can be viewed most clearly through
Referring particularly to
In its set condition, contact pin 53 and impact spring 61 are aligned in their orientation along imaginary line X′. Guide piece 19 has a generally tubular shape with an open lower section 73 (
Resetting of contact pin 53 and impact spring 61 is simple pursuant to the perception of the user. Once the user releases hand pressure from guide piece 19, pressure on reset spring 71 is relaxed, and reset spring 71 relaxes as well. Reset spring 71 moves guide piece 19 to its extended position as shown in FIGS. 11 and 13-15. An end 83 of reset spring 71 (
Emergency device 1 includes a light emitter assembly 88, and assembly 88 is composed of an LED 89 which is in turn part of a dome assembly 91, the latter also including translucent dome member 9. Translucent dome member 9 has a circuit support plate 93 which holds a pair of legs 95 extending from LED 89 (
Circuitry is provided for actuating LED 89. A metal contact 109 extends from a conductive metal sheet 111 (
There are a number of features of auto emergency tool 1 which offer important advantages. Auto emergency tool 1 is ergonomic. Tool 1 can easily be held in one hand, and if the flashlight incorporating LED 89 is to be used, the user simply grips the lower portion of projecting portion in the person's fingers where it can be held firmly in place with the thumb positioned over finger button 119. The stronger portion of a user's hand is over the flashlight being operated. The user simply presses down on button 119 to actuate LED 89. A release of finger pressure on button 119 would turn off LED 89 due to the memory of a resilient plastic of which button assembly 121 is made. In the event the user wants to break the glass of the side window of a motor vehicle, the user simply directs tool 1 towards the front of the user, reverses the position of tool 1 (so guide piece 19 is directly forwardly) in the user's hand with the fingers wrapped around the outer portion of tool 1 with the thumb wrapped around the other side of tool 1. The user can easily press guide piece 119 against the window to actuate glass-breaking mechanism 49, with contact pin 53 being driven in the direction of the glass to break the glass. Since the user's thumb is wrapped around the rearward portion of tool 1 adjacent guide piece 19, a firm grip is made for holding tool 1 against the glass window for withstanding the impact against tool 1 as contact pin 53 strikes the glass, and a firmer grip occurs than would exist if the thumb and fingers were more widely separated. The device, in its preferred form, is small enough for ease of manual use while enabling easy storage of tool 1 on a keyring, if necessary, which can disposed in the user's pocket, in a handbag or on a rearview mirror or other appropriate place in the motor vehicle.
In its preferred form, auto emergency tool 1 has a height h1 as shown in
There are other important features of auto emergency tool 1, the gentle curve of surface 31 can have a uniform radius of curvature, but has been found particularly effective for both facilitating the cutting of seat belts and rendering tool 1 both compact and ergonomic by having increasing radii of curvature for different portions of the gentle curve extending from joining portion 27 to the forward end of notch 15. In a preferred embodiment, the gentle curve of surface 31, running forwardly from joining portion 27, includes a first portion has a radius of curvature of about 1 inch, a second portion immediately forward of the first portion having a radius of curvature in the range of 3.5 to 4.0 inches, a third portion immediately forward of the second portion having a radius of curvature in the range of 7.0 to 7.5 inches and a fourth portion extending immediately forward of the third portion having a radius of curvature in the range of 9.3 to 9.7 inches.
Likewise, the gentle curve has been found to be particularly effective by dividing the gentle curve into the foregoing portions having a high angle commencing at said joining portion 27 to a second portion including part of cutting edge of knife blade 41 at a lesser angle, to a third portion having a still shorter angle and finally to a slightly larger angle which terminates at detent 29.
Bottom curved surface 32 of projecting portion 25 preferably has a constantly curved surface. Since the rearward end where guide piece 19 is located is narrower than the front end since that notch 15 is the narrowest, this curved surface enables a firm grip to withstand the impact of the glass-breaking mechanism 49 when it is in the act of breaking glass. The foregoing radius of curvature should be less than at least the portion of surface 32 which is on the opposite side of more than the forward half of body-facing side 31 of projecting portion 25—and more specifically on the opposite side of portions 143 and 144 (
As shown in
As shown in
Referring to
Still referring to
Blade cover 13 has a first portion 157 having a radius of curvature R5 of 0.75 inches (but which could range between 0.5 and 1.0 inches) and has an angle δ of about 8.6° (measured at 8.63° , and could range between 7° and 10°). Blade cover 13 also has a second section 159 with a radius of curvature R6 of 2.00 inches (which could be in the range of 1.875 to 2.125 inches) and at an angle ε of about 7.45° (which could be in the range of 7° to 8.30°). A third portion 161 of blade cover 13 has a radius of curvature of R7 of 5.00 inches (which could range between 4.5 and 5.5 inches) and extends through an angle η of 6.22° (which could run between 5.7° and 7°). A fourth portion 163 of blade cover 13 has a radius of curvature R8 of 9.34 inches (which could be in the range of 8.75 to 10.00 inches) and extends through an angle κ of 8.29° (but which could be between 8.00° and 9.00°).
Pull tab 21 is provided for isolating battery set 107 from the circuit to prevent any depletion of the batteries prior to use by a consumer.
Auto emergency tool 1 has been designed for easy assembly. Three threaded screw sockets 165 extend through housing side part 7, screw holes 167 corresponding thereto extend through housing side part 5 for receiving screw 169. Housing part 7 is injection molded, with knife blade 39, stop wall 81 and conductive metal sheet with contact 109 being insert molded at the time of molding. Pin guide 51 is preassembled as contact pin 53. Contact pin 53 is preassembled with compression spring arrangement 59. The latter items are then assembled with guide piece 19. The foregoing preassembled pieces, along with a set of batteries 107, are placed in housing part 7, housing part 5 put in place on housing part 7, and screws 161 are inserted through holes 17 into screw sockets 165. Auto emergency tool 1 is thus fully assembled.
As explained above, the invention in its preferred form is ergonomic, effective in use and extremely efficient in operation. Auto emergency tool 1 can easily be held and used by children or adults. Its length in its preferred form is only about 2½ inches, and it can easily fit in a person's hand. Its curved outer portion, having a generally lower periphery in the shape of a truncated egg, renders it easy to hold firm in its window-breaking mode. Its top is basically flat. It is generally half as high as the length of an adult's fingers, its length is less than the width of an adult's four fingers, and its width is no greater than the lower joint of a person's hand. The height of auto emergency tool at its glass-breaking end is no greater than the length of an adult's longer finger joint. The general ratio of the height of the glass-breaking end of auto emergency tool 1 to its greatest height is 0.7, showing that a firm grip can be employed as tool 1 is in the process of breaking glass. This ratio could be in the range of 0.875:2.000, with the component sizes being adjusted accordingly. The same is true as a user uses tool 1 to cut a seat belt, either moving tool 1 towards the user or away from the user for a belt extending across the user's lap, or across the user when tool 1 is being used to cut open an across-the-shoulder seat belt.
The invention has been described in detail, with particular emphasis on the preferred embodiment thereof, but variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from the foregoing discussion and the appended claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/US2012/025639 | 2/17/2012 | WO | 00 | 8/18/2014 |