Blade pushing device of cutting knives

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6745474
  • Patent Number
    6,745,474
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, December 17, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, June 8, 2004
    20 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Goodman; Charles
    Agents
    • Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Abstract
A cutting knife includes a holder with a slot defined in a side thereof and a plurality of recesses defined in one of two sides of the slot. A base member is slidably engaged with the slot and a blade is connected to the base member. The base member has a wall in which a spring member is received. The spring member includes a protrusion which extends through an opening defined in the wall and is engaged with one of the recesses. A spring is biased between an inside of the wall and a reverse side of the protrusion of the spring member so as to provide a force to engage the protrusion in the recess. Two end portions of the spring member contact against the insides of the wall. An operation member is slidably mounted to the wall and includes a wedge-shaped notch which may push the protrusion downward to disengage from the recess.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a blade pushing device of a cutting knife wherein the spring member has two ends contacting against two insides of the body member so as to prevent the spring member from being fatigue fast.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




A conventional cutting knife


10


is shown in

FIGS. 1 and 2

and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,873. A slider


13


is slidably engaged with the slot


111


of the holder


11


. A blade


12


is connected to the base plate, of the slider


13


and a leaf spring


133


is received in a chamber


131


A of a body member


131


of the slider


13


. The leaf spring


133


includes a protrusion


133


A that retractably extends through a notch of the body member


131


so as to be engaged with one of the recesses


111


A defined in the inside of the slot


111


. An operation member


132


is movably mounted to the body member


131


and has a wedge-shaped notch


132


A which may push the protrusion


133


A of the leaf spring


133


downward to disengage the protrusion


133


A from the recess


111


A so that the blade


12


can be moved till the protrusion


133


A is engaged with another recess


111


A. The two ends of the leaf spring


133


have no stop means to limit their deformation and shifting so that the deformation of the leaf spring


133


is not under control and this makes the leaf spring


133


to reach its limitation of fatigue more quickly than expected.




The present invention intends to provide an improved blade pushing device for a cutting knife and the two ends of the spring member are stopped by two insides of the body such that the deformation of the spring member can be well controlled.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary object of the present invention is to provide a cutting knife that has a spring member received in a base member which is slidably engaged with the slot in the holder, a spring is biased between an inside of the wall and the reverse side of the protrusion of the spring member so as to provide a force to engage the protrusions with one of the recesses defined in one of two sides of the slot.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a cutting knife wherein the spring member has two end portions which contact against the insides of the wall so as to limit the deformation n of the spring member when the protrusion of the spring member is pushed to disengage from the opening of the wall of the base member.











The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.




BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a side view to show a conventional cutting knife;





FIG. 2

is a cross sectional view to show the conventional pushing device of the conventional cutting knife;





FIG. 3

is a perspective view to show the cutting knife of the present invention;





FIG. 4

is an exploded view to show the cutting knife of the present invention;





FIG. 5A

shows the protrusion of the spring member is engaged with a recess of the slot;





FIG. 5B

shows the operation member is pushed to push the protrusion off from the recess;





FIG. 5C

shows the protrusion is completely disengaged from the recess;





FIG. 5D

shows the protrusion is engaged with another recess;





FIG. 6A

shows the operation member has two rails slidably mounted to the grooves of the wall on the base member;





FIG. 6B

is an end cross sectional view to show the protrusion is engaged with a recess, and





FIG. 6C

shows the protrusion is pushed by moving the operation member.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIGS. 3

,


4


and


5


A, the cutting knife of the present invention comprises a holder


20


having a slot


21


defined in a side thereof and a plurality of recesses


211


are defined in one of two sides defining the slot


21


. An end piece


50


is engaged with an opening at one end of the holder


20


and a blade


30


is movably inserted in the holder


20


via the other opening at the other end of the holder


20


.




A pushing assembly


40


includes a base member


41


which is slidably received in the slot


21


by engaging two side flanges


411


with the slot


21


. A plate


410


extends from a front end of the base member


41


and a boss extends from a side of the plate


410


so as to be engaged with a hole defined through the blade


30


. A wall


412


extends from a side of the base member


40


and an opening


412


C is defined through the wall


412


. A rod


412


B extends from an inside of the wall


412


and a first end of a spring


42


is mounted to the rod


412


B. Two stops


412


E extend from an edge of the wall


412


and located at two ends of the wall


412


.




A spring member


43


is received in a space


412


A enclosed by the wall


412


and has a protrusion


431


engaged with the opening


412


C in the wall


412


. A second end of the spring


42


contacts a reverse, side


433


of the protrusion


421


of the spring member


43


. The protrusion


431


of the spring member


43


is pushed by the spring


42


and engaged with one of the recesses


211


of the slot


21


of the holder


20


. Two end portions


432


extend from two ends of a main portion of the spring member


43


and contact against two insides of the wall


412


.




Further referring to

FIG. 6A

, an operation member


44


has two side walls and each of the side walls has a rail


443


which is slidably engaged with grooves


412


D defined in the outside of the wall


412


so that the operation member


44


is movably mounted to the outside of the wall


412


by pushing a rough surface


441


on the top surface of the operation member


44


. A convex portion


442


extends from an inside of the operation member


44


and two ends of the convex portion


442


are movable between the two stops


412


E on the wall


412


. A wedge-shaped notch


444


is defined in a side of the operation member


44


and the protrusion


431


of the spring member


43


is engaged with the wedge-shaped notch


444


.




Referring to

FIGS. 5B

to


5


D,


6


B and


6


C, when pushing the operation member


44


toward the blade


30


, the protrusion


431


is pushed downward by the side of the wedge-shaped notch


444


so that the spring member


43


is deformed and the protrusion


431


is disengaged from the recess


211


. The operation member


44


can then be pushed with the blade


30


while holding the position of the operation member


44


relative to the protrusion


431


of the spring member


43


, till a desired position, the protrusion


431


is biased to engage with another recess


211


.




The two end portions


432


are supported by the insides of the wall


412


so that the spring member


43


will not be deformed too much and this may prevent the spring member


43


from reaching its point of fatigue too fast. Besides, the spring


42


provides a firm engagement of the protrusion


431


and the recess


211


such that the blade


30


can be fixed relative to the holder


20


when using the blade


30


to cut a stiff object.




While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.



Claims
  • 1. A cutting knife comprising:a holder having a slot defined in a side thereof and a plurality of recesses defined in one of two sides defining the slot; a base member slidably received in the slot and having a plate extending from a front end thereof, a boss extending from a side of the plate and a blade received in the slot and engaged with the boss, a wall extending from a side of the base member and an opening defined through the wall, a rod extending from an inside of the wall and a first end of a spring mounted to the rod, two stops extending from an edge of the wall; a spring member having a protrusion engaged with the opening in the wall and a second end of the spring contacting a reverse side of the protrusion of the spring member, the protrusion of the spring member engaged with one of the recesses of the slot of the holder, two end portions extending from a main portion of the spring member and contacting against two insides of the wall, and an operation member movably mounted to an outside of the wall and a convex portion extending from an inside of the operation member, two ends of the convex portion being movable between the two stops on the wall, a wedge-shaped notch defined in a side of the opt ration member and the protrusion of the spring member engaged with the wedge-shaped notch.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Number Name Date Kind
2722914 Aversa Nov 1955 A
3863339 Reaney et al. Feb 1975 A
4103421 Quenot Aug 1978 A
4170062 Machida Oct 1979 A
4322885 Osada Apr 1982 A
4558517 Gringer Dec 1985 A
5269063 Okada Dec 1993 A
5502896 Chen Apr 1996 A
5531754 Shackelford et al. Jul 1996 A
5774994 Stein et al. Jul 1998 A
6006433 Baltazar Dec 1999 A
6226873 Okumura May 2001 B1
6254621 Shackelford et al. Jul 2001 B1