Patent Application
20070056144
This invention is directed to hand tools for pounding, chopping or swinging, such as hammers and hatchets. The invention addresses the problem of how to maximize control of the tool and minimize fatigue to the user of the tool.
These features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims and accompanying figures where:
The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention and several variations of that embodiment. This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments. Practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well.
In yet another embedment of the invention, one or more of the worker's hand tools 12 are readily attachable and deattachable by a lanyard 14 which prevents the hand tool 12 from falling away from the worker.
The lanyard 14 comprises a short length of flexible cable 16 retained on a cable retainer spool 14. At the free end 20 of the cable 16 is a tool attachment connector 22 which allows the lanyard 14 to be readily attached to and deattached from a hand tool 12. The cable 16 is typically made from a thin metallic material. Other materials, such as nylon cord, chain, braided cable, woven elastic cord (“bungee cord”), plastic mono-filament line (“fishing line”), and even string can also be used. Typically, the cable 12 has a length of between about 2 feet and about 4 feet.
The cable 16 should be sufficiently strong so as to not break when a hand tool 12 used with the lanyard 14 is inadvertently dropped by the user. The cable 16 also should be sufficiently flexible to allow full use of the hand tool 12 when the hand tool 12 is attached to the lanyard 14.
The cable retainer spool 18 typically comprises a rotatable spool 24 disposed within a spool housing 26. Preferably, the rotatable spool 24 is spring mounted within the spool housing 26 so as to make the cable 16 retractable. Preferably, the spring mounted rotatable spool 24 only exerts sufficient force to draw the cable 16 back into the cable housing 26 when the tool 12 to which the lanyard 14 is attached is not in use.
The spool housing 26 can be conveniently housed within a pouch 28, such as a leather pouch, as illustrated in the drawings.
The lanyard 14 further comprises a retainer spool attachment device 30, such as clips, clamps or other mechanical attachment means which facilitate the rapid attachment and deattachment of the cable retainer spool 24 to the person of the user or to a solid object proximate to where the user is working.
The tool attachment connector 22 is preferably of the “snap-on” variety, wherein the tool attachment connector can be readily attached and de-attached from a corresponding lanyard receiving connector 36 located within a hand tool 12. In a preferred embodiment, the tool attachment connector 22 is a push-release, spring-loaded, ball bearing locking pin, as illustrated in
Other attachment devices can also be used as the tool attachment connector 22, such as clips, screws, snaps, clamps, hook and loop fasteners and the like.
As illustrated in the drawings, lanyard receiving connectors 36 can be disposed within a wide variety of hand tools 12, including tape measures, screwdrivers, hammers, axes, pliers, screw guns and cutting tools.
In one embodiment of the invention, the lanyard receiving connector 36 is disposed within a removable handle gripping pad 48 as illustrated in
The lanyard 14 can be used in a wide variety of activities where the dropping of tools 12 presents a significant problem, such as high construction, welding, electrical and telephone work. Also, the lanyard 14 is useful in scuba diving, sky diving, rock climbing, mineralogy, ice climbing, fire fighting and aerial rescue efforts.
In operation, a worker intending to use a particular hand tool 12 disposed within the worker's tool belt 32 first grips the tool attachment connector 22 and pulls a length of the cable 16 out from the cable retainer spool 18 sufficient to reach the hand tool 12 to be used. Next, the worker snaps the tool attachment connector 22 into the corresponding lanyard receiving connector 36 disposed within the tool 12. The worker then uses the hand tool 12 in the usual manner. The fact that the hand tool 12 is tethered to the lanyard 14 does not effect the use of the tool 12 because the retractive force of the spring within the cable retainer spool 18 is almost imperceptibly slight. If the worker should inadvertently drop the tool 12 during its use, the tool 12 only falls the distance of the cable 16. Since the cable 16 is typically only about 3 feet in length, the inadvertently dropping of the tool 12 causes no danger to the tool 12 itself or to other individuals working beneath the worker. When the worker is finished with the hand tool 12, the hand tool 12 is disposed back into the worker's tool belt 32 and the tool attachment connector 22 can be removed from the lanyard receiving connector 36. The lanyard 14 is then ready to be used with a different tool 12 to be selected by the worker from his or her tool belt 32.
In one embodiment of the invention, the base end 12 of a hand tool handle 14 is provided with a “basket” 16 as illustrated in
The basket 16 provides the user with additional gripping surfaces 30, making it less arduous to securely hold the handle 14 of the tool 32 during use. This makes it less likely that the user will lose control of the tool 32. It also results in markedly decreased fatigue to the hand muscles of the user, especially after prolonged use of the tool 32. The knuckle guard 18 also protects the fingers of the user from injury due to inadvertent contact of the user's fingers with hard and/or sharp surfaces existing within the work area.
In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the knuckle guard 18 includes a forward facing opening 34 which allows a hand tool 34 using the basket 16 to be readily inserted and removed from my safety scabbard invention 33 disclosed in my pending U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,411, entitled “Hand Tool Handle Modification System,” the entirety of which is incorporated herein by this reference. The forward facing opening 34 is adapted to surround the guide rail 35 of the safety scabbard 33 as illustrated in
In another embodiment, the invention is a “grip guard” 36 illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the grip guard 36 is attached to the base end 12 of the tool handle 14 using a single snap-on male connection pin 42 and one locator pin 44. Both pins 42 and 44 are adapted to be received within corresponding holes 46 disposed within the base end 12 of the hand tool handle 14. The hole 46 in the handle 14 which receives the male connection pin 42 comprises a corresponding female connector 48 adapted to rigidly retain the male connection pin 42 during use. The male connection pin 42 and the female connection pin 48 can be of the same types illustrated in
Additional snap-on connection pins 42 can also be used in the securing of the grip guard 36 to the handle 14 of the hand tool 32.
In a preferred embodiment, the grip guard further comprises a lanyard receiving connection 53 suitable for attaching the grip guard to my lanyard invention fully described in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,756, entitled “Hand Tool Lanyard System,” which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
Like the basket 16, the grip guard 36 minimizes the chances that the user will inadvertently lose control of the tool 32. Also like the basket 16, the grip guard 36 markedly reduces fatigue to the hand muscles of the user by providing the user with additional gripping surfaces 54.
As illustrated in
In another embodiment, the invention is a thumb spur 56 as illustrated in
The body 58 of the thumb spur 56 is typically between about ¾ inches and about 1¼ inches in length and has a diameter of between about ½ inches and about ¾ inches. Preferably, the male connection pin 60 is freely rotatable within the female connector 62 to minimize blistering of the user's abutting thumb or fingers during use.
The thumb spur 56 can be effectively used when attached to the side 64 of the hand tool handle 14 as illustrated in
The thumb spur 56 has been found to provide additional gripping ability and control for a wide variety of elongate items. For example, the thumb spur can be used to increase gripping ability and support to baseball bats, tennis rackets, golf clubs, javelins, hockey sticks, pole vault poles, cricket bats, ski poles, hand gun stocks, rifle and shot gun stocks, archery bows, etc. Also, the thumb spur can be advantageously used on a variety of handled tools, such as rakes, picks, mattocks, hoes, long-reach trimmers, brooms, weed whackers, wheel barrows, chain saws, machetes, large knives, cleavers, tenderizers, pot and pan handles, etc. In fact, the thumb spur can be advantageously used with virtually any tool or other object having a handle. The handles of all such tools and objects are preferably manufactured with one or more female receptors 62 so that a thumb spur 56 can be conveniently used with the tool or objects whenever it would be advantageous to do so.
In another embodiment, the invention is a chrysalis 68. The chrysalis 68 comprises a sheet of flexible material 70 adapted to be wrapped around the base end 12 of the hand tool handle 14. Preferably, the flexible material is padded to provide comfort to the hand of the user during use. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the chrysalis 68 is secured to the handle 14 using hook and loop fasteners 72.
Preferably, the chrysalis 68 further comprises a control strap 74 adapted to conform to the back side of the user's hand. Most preferably, the control strap 74 is made from two opposed strap members 76 which are attachable and readily adjustable by hook and loop fasteners 78.
In the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, the chrysalis 68 is further secured to the handle of the hand tool 32 using a thumb spur 56 disposed within a reenforced thumb spur opening 80.
The use of the chrysalis 68, especially in combination with a thumb spur 56, has been found to markedly increase control and comfort in the use of heavy pounding and chopping tools 32, such as hammers and hatchets.
Having thus described the invention, it should be apparent that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope and fair meaning of the instant invention as set forth hereinabove and as described hereinbelow by the claims.
This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/773,992 which was a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,411.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10773992 | Feb 2004 | US |
| Child | 11345182 | Jan 2006 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09864519 | May 2001 | US |
| Child | 10773992 | Feb 2004 | US |
