Patent Application
20160288343
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting tool, and more particularly to a box cutter structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Usually, a box cutter is light, sharp and convenient to cut objects, and the box cutter is widely used. The conventional box cutter generally includes a long blade carrier, a blade disposed on the blade carrier and a controller which can be pushed and pulled by a user's finger. Through the user's finger pushing or pulling the controller, the controller controls the blade to move forward or backward inside the blade carrier; that is, the blade can be moved forward to project an edge out of the blade carrier, or the blade can be moved backward to retreat back to the blade carrier. The above-mentioned structure is disclosed in TWM 487191 and TWM 435984.
However, in this conventional structure, the user has to push and pull the controller by finger when using the box cutter. In addition, during a cutting process, a position-restricting structure (for example, a toothed slot) of the blade carrier needs to be stuck with the controller to restrict each other, and after use of the box cutter, the user needs to move the controller and release the controller and the position-restricting structure so as to retreat the blade. Moreover, the controller is an integrally formed member, and the blade is assembled on the controller; therefore, once the controller and the position-restricting structure are not stuck with each other, the blade is movable, and the user may be cut accidentally.
In addition, in this conventional structure, the blade does not retreat automatically after use. It is dangerous that the blade does not retreat into the blade carrier immediately.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.
The major object of the present invention is to provide a box cutter structure which projects a blade after a limitation of a pushing assembly is disarmed and retreats the blade automatically to prevent a user from danger.
To achieve the above and other objects, a box cutter structure of the present invention is provided, including: a shell, having a blade-projecting end and a restriction portion; a blade carrier, slidably disposed in the shell and provided for carrying a blade, having a pushed portion; a pushing assembly, disposed in the shell, being operable from outside the shell to move between a locking position and a releasing position, having an pushing portion and a blocking portion; wherein when the pushing assembly is in the locking position, the restriction portion blocks a path along which the blocking portion moves toward the blade-projecting end, the pushing portion is restrictedly unpushable toward the blade-projecting end to push the pushed portion so that the blade is unallowable to project out of the blade-projecting end; when the pushing assembly is in the releasing position, the restriction portion is located out of the path along which the blocking portion moves toward the blade-projecting, the pushing portion is movable toward the blade-projecting end to abut against the pushed portion to drive the blade projecting out of the blade-projecting end.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention.
The present invention will be clearer from the following description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
Please refer to
The shell 10 has a blade-projecting end 11 and a restriction portion 12. Specifically, the shell 10 is protrudingly formed with the restriction portion 12 on an inner face thereof and penetratingly formed with at least one guiding slot 13.
The blade carrier 20 is slidably disposed in the shell 10 and provided for carrying a blade 40. The blade carrier 20 further has a pushed portion 21. Specifically, each of two sides of the blade carrier 20 in a width direction is formed with a channel 22, and a wall of the channel 22 forms the pushed portion 21. However, the pushed portion 21 can be a convex structure, a concave structure or other abuttable structures, or the pushed portion 21 can be disposed on any protruding structures of the blade carrier 20.
The pushing assembly 30 is disposed on the shell 10 and operable from outside the shell 10 to move between a locking position and a releasing position. The pushing assembly 30 further has a pushing portion 31 and a blocking portion 32. In this embodiment, the pushing assembly 30 includes a carrying body 33 which is slidably disposed on the shell 10 and a pressing member 34 which is elastically and repositionably disposed through the carrying body 33. The carrying body 33 has the pushing portion 31, and the pressing member 34 has the blocking portion 32. Preferably, an elastic member 333 is further connected with the carrying body 33 and the shell 10. The elastic member 333 has the tendency to make the pushing assembly 30 move in a direction opposite to the blade-projecting end 11 so as to ensure that the pushing assembly 30 stays in the locking position normally. Specifically, the carrying body 33 is recessed with a receiving slot 331, and an elastic recovery mechanism 332 is disposed in the receiving slot 331. The restriction portion 12 includes at least one blocking face 121 which is disposed on a lateral side of the guiding slot 13 in a longitudinal direction; for example, each corresponding lateral side of the guiding slot 13 in the longitudinal direction is formed with a protruding rib, and an distal end of each protruding rib forms the blocking face 121. The pressing member 34 includes a pressing board 341 which is received in the receiving slot 331 and disposed above the elastic recovery mechanism 332 and a pillar portion 342 which is provided on a side of the pressing board 341 and disposed through the guiding slot 13. An end of the pillar portion 342 opposite to the pressing board 341 is formed with the blocking portion 32, and the blocking portion 32 is detachably disposed on the pillar portion 342. The elastic recovery mechanism 332 includes, for example, a plurality of elastic arms to provide even and appropriate recovery elasticity to the pressing member 34. The at least one blocking face 121 is blockable on a path along which the blocking portion 32 moves toward the blade-projecting end 11. The shell 10 is formed with at least one sliding hole 101. The carrying body 33 further has at least one lug 334 which penetrates through and protrudes outside the at least one sliding hole 101, and the lug 334 has the pushing portion 31. In this embodiment, the carrying body 33 has a plurality of sliding holes 101 and the lugs 334, and the two lugs 334 near the blade-projecting end 11 are formed with the pushing portion 31.
When the pushing assembly 30 is in the locking position, the restriction portion 12 blocks the path along which the blocking portion 32 moves toward the blade-projecting end 11 (please refer to
Preferably, an elastic member 50 is further connected with the shell 10 and the blade carrier 20, and the elastic member 50 has a tendency to make the blade carrier 20 move in the direction opposite to the blade-projecting end 11. Therefore, after the blade 40 is projected and the pushing assembly 30 is released, the elastic member 50 pulls the blade carrier 20 back and retracts the blade 40 automatically to prevent the user from being cut accidentally. The elastic member 50 may be an annular spring, an extension spring or a compression spring according to various requirements.
Please further refer to
In another embodiment as shown in
Given the above, with an engagement of the blocking portion disposed on the pushing assembly and the restriction portion disposed in the shell, the restriction portion needs to be located out of the path along which the blocking portion moves toward the blade-projecting end first so that the blade can project out of the blade-projecting end.
In addition, with the elastic members, the blade can be retreated automatically.
Furthermore, the two-way structure is preferably formed with the locking member to prevent the pushing assembly disposed on the secondary body from being pushed and prevent the blade from projecting out.
While we have shown and described various embodiments 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.
