Fastening structure of a handle and working part of a tool

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6557212
  • Patent Number
    6,557,212
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, October 9, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, May 6, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Mah; Chuck Y.
    Agents
    • Harrison & Egbert
Abstract
A structure is designed to fasten detachably the handle and the working part of a hand tool. The structure includes a fastening base located at one end of the handle, a fastening end located at one end of the working part, and a fastening device. The fastening end is detachably fastened to the fastening base in conjunction with the fastening device. As the fastening device is turned such that two planar surfaces of the fastening device are aligned with two side walls of an open end of the retaining hole of the fastening end of the working part, the fastening device can be moved out of the retaining hole so as to enable the handle and the working part to separate from each other.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates generally to a hand tool, and more particularly to a structure for fastening detachably the handle and the working part of the hand tool.




2. Description of Related Art




The conventional hand tools, such as rake, spade, hoe, etc., comprise a handle, and a working part which is fastened undetachably with the handle. As a result, when the handle or working part of the hand tool is damaged, the hand tool is discarded in its entirety, thereby resulting in a waste of material resource as well as an increase in garbage. In addition, the conventional hand tools take up a relatively large storage space.




BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a structure for fastening detachably the handle and the working part of a hand tool.




It is another objective of, the present invention to provide a hand tool with a handle which can be interchangeably fastened with various working parts.




The foregoing objectives of the present invention are achieved by a structure comprising a handle, a fastening device, and a working part. The handle and the working part are provided at one end thereof with a fastening means by which the handle and the working part are fastened detachably in conjunction with the fastening device.




The foregoing objectives, features and functions of the present invention will be more readily understood upon a thoughtful deliberation of the following detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

shows a perspective view of a hand tool of the present invention.





FIG. 2

shows an exploded view of the hand tool of the present invention as show in FIG.


1


.





FIG. 3

shows a sectional view of a fastening structure present invention.





FIG. 4

shows a schematic view of a mechanism by which the handle and the working part of the present invention are detachably fastened together.





FIGS. 5-7

are schematic views to show that the handle of the present invention is interchangeably fastened to the working parts of different kinds.





FIG. 8

shows a schematic view of the way by which the handle and various working parts of the present invention are independently held by a rack.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




As shown in

FIGS. 1-4

, a hand tool embodied in the present invention comprises a handle


10


and a working part


30


, which are detachably fastened together end to end by a fastening structure.




The present invention is characterized by the fastening structure, which comprises a fastening base


11


of the handle


10


, a fastening end


32


of the working part


30


, and a fastening device


20


.




The fastening base


11


of the handle


10


is provided with a receiving slot


12


, a pivoting hole


13


, and a through hole


14


opposite in location to and smaller in diameter than the pivoting hole


13


.




The fastening end


32


of the working part


30


is fitted into the receiving slot


12


of the fastening base


11


of the handle


10


and is provided with a retaining hole


33


corresponding in location to the pivoting hole


13


of the fastening base


11


of the handle


10


. The retaining hole


33


is provided with an open end


331


and an inner portion


332


greater in hole diameter than the open end


331


. The working part


30


has a functional portion


31


.




The fastening device


20


comprises a rotary bolt


21


and a screw


25


. The rotary bolt


21


has a locating shank


22


which is provided at one end with a threaded hole (not shown in the drawing) engageable with the screw


25


. The shank


22


is further provided with two planar surfaces


23


and


24


, which are opposite in location to each other and are extended along the longitudinal direction of the shank


22


. The two planar surfaces


23


and


24


of the locating shank


22


are separated from each other by a distance “A” which is slightly smaller than the horizontal width “B” of the locating shank


22


, as shown in

FIGS. 3 and 4

.




In combination, the fastening end


32


of the working part


30


is fastened detachably with the fastening base


11


of the handle


10


by the fastening device


20


such that the locating shank


22


of the rotary bolt


21


of the fastening device


20


is received in the retaining hole


33


via the pivoting hole


13


of the fastening base


11


, and that the screw


25


is engaged with the threaded hole of the locating shank


22


via the through hole


14


of the fastening base


11


of the handle


10


. As shown in

FIG. 4

, when the two planar surfaces


23


and


24


of the locating shank


22


are aligned with the two opposite side walls of the open end


331


of the retaining hole


33


, the locating shank


22


can be put into the inner portion


332


of the retaining hole


33


. As the rotary bolt


21


is turned such that the two planar surfaces


23


and


24


of the locating shank


22


of the rotary bolt


21


are no longer aligned with the side walls of the open end


331


of the retaining hole


33


, the fastening end


32


of the working part


30


is securely retained by the locating shank


22


of the rotary bolt


21


, as shown in FIG.


3


. The handle


10


and the working part


30


are thus fastened together end to end by the fastening device


20


. The handle


10


and the working part


30


are unfastened by turning the rotary bolt


21


such that the two planar surfaces


23


and


24


of the locating shank


22


of the rotary bolt


21


are aligned with the two sidewalls of the open end


331


of the retaining hole


33


, so as to enable the locating shank


22


of the rotary bolt


21


to be pulled out of the retaining hole


33


via the open end


331


.




The handle


10


is provided at a tail end with a hanging hole


16


to facilitate the hanging of the handle


10


by a tool rack, as illustrated in FIG.


8


. Similarly, the fastening end


32


of the working part


30


is provided with one or more hanging holes


34


by means of which the working part


30


is held on to the tool rack, as illustrated in FIG.


8


.




The present invention described above is to be regarded in all respects as being merely illustrative and nonrestrictive. Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without deviating from the spirit thereof. The present invention is therefore to be limited only by the scope of the following claims.



Claims
  • 1. An apparatus comprising:a handle; a hand tool having a working part; a fastening base positioned at one end of said handle, said fastening base having a receiving slot opening at said one end, said fastening base having a pivoting hole and a through hole opposite in location to said pivoting hole, said through hole being smaller in diameter than said pivoting hole; a fastening end positioned at one end of said hand tool, said fastening end having a retaining hole aligned with said pivoting hole of said fastening base, said retaining hole being of keyhole shape and having an extending portion opening to an end of said fastening end and an inner portion communicating with said extending portion and positioned away from said end of said fastening end of said hand tool, said inner portion having a diameter dimension greater than a width dimension of said extending portion; and a fastening device comprising a rotary bolt and a screw, said rotary bolt having a threaded hole at one end thereof, said threaded hole engaged with said screw, said rotary bolt having a locating shank with two planar surfaces opposite in location to each other, said two planar surfaces being in spaced parallel planar relationship to each other, said shank having a diameter dimension across said planar surfaces smaller than a diameter dimension of said shank away from said planar surfaces, said fastening end of said hand tool being detachably fastened to said fastening base of said handle such that said fastening end is fitted into said receiving slot, said locating shank being received in said inner portion of said retaining hole, said locating shank extending through said pivoting hole, said rotary bolt being rotatable between a first position in which said two planar surfaces are not aligned with two side walls of said extending portion of said retaining hole such that said fastening end is fixedly retained in said receiving slot and a second position in which said two planar surfaces are aligned with said two side walls of said extending portion of said retaining hole such that said fastening end can be slidably separated from said receiving slot.
  • 2. The apparatus of claim 1, said handle having a hole formed at an end opposite said fastening base.
  • 3. The apparatus of claim 1, said fastening end of said hand tool having at least one hanging hole formed therein.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Number Name Date Kind
939019 Hartwell Nov 1909 A
1483435 Hammer Feb 1924 A
2610354 Howell Sep 1952 A
3182770 Shemet May 1965 A
3438082 Jones et al. Apr 1969 A
3881334 Wilson May 1975 A
5123767 Ishikura et al. Jun 1992 A
5803646 Weihrauch Sep 1998 A
6393647 Libman May 2002 B1
6439421 Lin Aug 2002 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number Date Country
430749 Jun 1991 EP
2765094 Dec 1998 FR
1432938 Apr 1976 GB