This invention relates to knives and other tools that incorporate folding implements, and more specifically to a blade or implement locking mechanism for use in such tools that facilitates secure locking of the implement in the open or extended position.
Folding knives have one or more blades that pivot on a shaft attached to the handle so that in a stowed position the blade is received with the cutting portion of the blade retained safely in the interior of the handle. In an extended position the blade is extended away from the handle, ready for use. To increase the safety of folding knives, many incorporate locking mechanisms of one type or another. When the knife blade pivots into the open position, its pivotal movement is stopped with a blocking mechanism such as a transverse blade stop pin housed in the handle. Often a locking mechanism is included that prevents the blade from unintentionally pivoting back from the open into the closed position.
There are many types of locking mechanisms. One common type is a “liner lock.” This kind of mechanism relies upon a resilient lever formed as part of a handle liner. When the blade is pivoted to the open or extended position, the resilient lever engages a cooperatively formed shoulder on the blade and thereby locks the blade in the open position.
Another typical locking mechanism is a cross-bolt mechanism such as that described in U.S. Patent No.5,822,866. As detailed in the 866patent, which describes an automatic opening knife, the cross-bolt mechanism includes a locking body that has a cylindrically tapered side wall portion. When the blade is extended to the open position, the tapered side wall portion of the locking body is urged by a compression spring into a locking position in which the locking body wedges between an engagement surface on the blade and a bore in the handle to lock the blade in the open position.
Yet another common type of locking mechanism is called a “lockback” mechanism. While there are variations in the structure for a lock back, in most lock back mechanisms a latch bar held between the handles at the upward side or spine thereof pivots on a pivot pin extending through the latch bar and having opposite ends connected to the handle halves. When the blade or other implement is in the extended position, a spring mounted in the rearward portion of the handle (between the handle halves) applies upwardly directed pressure on the latch bar rearward of the pivot, urging the forward end of the latch bar—that is, the end of the latch bar on the opposite side of the pivot pin from the spring—into a locking engagement with the blade. The forward end of the latch pin typically includes a tooth that engages a notch in the blade tang. The blade is unlocked by pushing downwardly on the rearward end of the latch pin at a notch in the handles—against the spring force, to cause the tooth on the forward end of the latch bar to pivot upwardly and disengage the blade tang.
So-called “lockback” mechanisms are used in many knives. However, the spring mechanisms may be subject to breaking or being damaged over time. For example, many lockback knives use coil springs to apply pressure to the lockback lever. These springs are subject to failure fairly regularly. As such there is a need therefore for improved locking mechanisms for folding hand tools, and in particular improved lock back mechanisms.
The present invention relates to a hand tool—typically embodied as a knife—that incorporates an improved lockback type locking mechanism for securely locking the implement such as a blade in the open position, and for releasing the lock to allow the implement to be folded back into the closed position.
The invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will be apparent by reference to the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the following drawings.
A preferred embodiment of a hand tool 10 incorporating a locking mechanism in accordance with the illustrated invention is shown in
With particular reference now to
Knife 10 is held together with screws spaced around the handle, and the components of the pivot shaft. Specifically, a rear screw 36 extends through aligned bores 38, 40, 42, 44, 46 in first handle half 14, first liner 30, spacer 34, second liner 32 and second handle half 14, respectively and threads into a nut 48. The pivot shaft 20 includes opposed screws 50 and 52 that extend through aligned bores in the handle halves (56 and 60), first and second liners (58 and 62) and thread into opposite ends of a threaded bushing 54 that is received in the pivot bore 64 of blade 18. Threaded bushing 54 is larger in diameter in the center portion where the bushing fits in pivot bore 64; the opposite ends of bushing 54 on either side of the larger diameter portion extend through the respective liners and into the respective handle halves.
Both handle halves 14 and 16, and first and second liners 30 and 32 have a thumb notch 68 formed in the upper edge. When the knife is assembled, the thumb notches on each part align as shown in
Blade 18 is defined by a working portion 66 and a tang portion 69. The working portion is generally the forward portion of the blade that is exposed when the blade is in the open position and includes the sharpened cutting edge 67. The tang portion 69 of the blade is the rearward portion that is retained between the handle halves. Relative directional terms used herein are based upon the “rearward” or butt end 26 of handle 12, and the opposite or forward end. “Upper” or “top” refers to the direction toward the top of handle 12 that includes the thumb notch 68, and “lower” or “bottom” refers to the direction toward opposite side of handle 12.
With specific reference to
The lockback mechanism 90 is defined by a lockback lever 92 that is pivotally mounted between liners 30 and 32 with a pivot pin 94 that extends through a pivot bore 96 in the lever and has its opposite ends received in bores 84 and 86 in liners 30 and 32, respectively. A spring pin 98 has its opposite ends received in bores 80 and 82 and spans between the two liners. The upper edge 98 of lockback lever 92 is knurled. The lower edge of lever 92 includes a generally downwardly extending tooth 100 at the forward end of the lever, a notch 102 immediately rearward of tooth 100, and a saddle 104 rearward of pivot pin 94. The forward face of tooth 100 is identified with reference number 101, and the lowermost face is identified with 103 (see e.g.,
Spring arms 74 and 76 are compressed during assembly of the knife when spring pin 98 is inserted into the associated bores 78 in spring arms 74 and 76. Spring pin 98 rides in saddle 104 such that in the assembled knife the pin rests against the lower side of the lever in the saddle. Because spring pin 98 is located to the rear of pivot pin 96, and because the spring arms are compressed when assembled, the spring pin 98 constantly exerts biasing force on the lever 92.
Thus, when the knife is assembled the spring arms are preloaded with spring force by virtue of the spring pin 98. The result is that the spring arms normally apply upwardly directed pressure against lever 92, rearward of pivot pin 94, through spring pin 98. Because spring pin 98 is located rearward of pivot pin 94, the front end of the lever is normally urged downwardly.
The tang portion 69 of blade 18 includes a notch 110 that is defined by a generally upright forward wall portion 112 and a generally upright rearward wall portion 114. Notch 110 is cooperatively shaped to receive tooth 100. Notch 110 is located generally above pivot bore 64. Rearward of wall portion 114 on tang 69 is a shoulder 116 and a generally accurate rear surface 118 which terminates at a shoulder 120. Forward of shoulder 120 is a flattened surface 122 that serves as a blade retaining surface.
Turning now to
In
Release of the locked position is shown in
Blade 18 is rotated from the closed position to the open position by grasping the exposed portion of the blade and rotating it. As the blade rotates, tooth 100 of lever 92 rides over tang 69 and the lever is thus deflected against the biasing force applied by spring arms 74 and 76 against the lever through spring pin 98. When the blade 18 is rotated to the fully open position, tooth 100 is urged into notch 110, again under the force applied to the lever 92 by the spring arms. When tooth 100 is received into notch 110, the blade 18 is locked in the open position and may not be rotated in either direction.
It will be appreciated that it is possible to incorporate a lockback mechanism according to the present invention in a knife that omits the liners 30 and 32, by forming the spring arms into the handles of the knife. An alternative showing this embodiment is shown in
The handles halves of the knife shown in
Lockback mechanism 180 is identical to mechanism 90 described above, and includes a lockback lever 182 pivotally connected between handle halves 152 and 154 with a pivot pin 184 that extends through a bore 186 in the lever and has opposite ends received in bores 188 and 190 in handle halves 152 and 154 respectively. A spring pin 192 has its opposite ends received in bores 178 and rides in saddle 194 in the lower portion of lever 182. Lever 182 is constructed in the same manner as lever 92, and thus includes a locking tooth 196. The other structural features of tooth 196 are labeled with the same reference numbers as noted above. Tang 198 of blade 158 is also constructed identically to tang 69 of blade 18 in
It will be appreciated that the lockback mechanism 180 of
Various design modifications may be made without departing from the nature and scope of the invention described herein. As a first example, the manner in which spring pin 98 applies force against the lower side of lever 92 (in saddle 104) may be modified by forming a bore in the lever through which the spring pin extends. The size of the bore in this case would need to be slightly greater than the diameter of the spring pin in order to give the lever some “float” or room for movement relative to the spring pin 98 as the lever pivots about pin 96. This allows the lever to pivot fully about pin 96 and operate the locking mechanism.
As a second example of a variation in structure, the linear distance separating spring pin 98 and pivot pin 96 may be varied to vary the force applied to pivot lever 92. By increasing the distance between the axis through pins 96 and 98, the amount of force required to pivot lever 92 increases. Conversely, by moving the pins closer together, the force necessary to activate the lever decreases. The amount of spring force applied by spring arms 74 and 76 may likewise be varied by varying the physical characteristics of the materials used to fabricate the spring arms. For example, the relative “strength” of the spring arms may be changed by using different metals, or by changing the thickness of the material.
Finally, it will be appreciated that structure of the spring arms may be varied from the form described herein and shown in the drawing figures. As one example, the liners may be cut longitudinally from the forward end toward the rearward end to define spring arms—the rearward end of the cut is open and the forward end of the cut is closed to define the spring arms.
While the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that the spirit and scope of the invention is not limited to those embodiments, but extend to the various modifications and equivalents as defined in the appended claims.