Handles of gardening shears

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6260277
  • Patent Number
    6,260,277
  • Date Filed
    Monday, March 6, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 17, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Watts; Douglas D.
    Agents
    • Harrison & Egbert
Abstract
One of two handles of a gardening shears is fastened pivotally at one end thereof with a shaft rod in conjunction with a confining bolt. The shaft rod is provided with a retaining groove in which one end of the confining bolt is retained. The handle is provided in a fastening end thereof with a receiving cell and a rotary spring disposed in the receiving cell to enable the handle to swivel automatically. The handle is provided with an arcuate portion which is separated from the handle by a space dimensioned to accommodate fingers of a user of the gardening shears. The arcuate portion serves as a shield to provided the fingers with a protection against the injury of the fingers by a twig being pruned.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates generally to a gardening shears, and more particularly to handles of the gardening shears.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




As shown in

FIGS. 1 and 2

, a gardening shears


10


of the prior art comprises a fastening rod


11


for fastening pivotally a handle


12


in conjunction with a position confining bolt


13


which is retained at one end thereof in a retaining groove


14


of the free end of the fastening rod


11


, as shown in FIG.


4


. The handle


12


is provided at one end thereof with a protruded block


16


, whereas the fastening rod


11


is provided with a stop edge


15


opposite to the protruded block


16


of the handle


12


for enabling the handle


12


to be swiveled at an angle. The handle


12


is so designed as to facilitate the holding of the handle


12


by hand for a prolonged period of time without the muscle pain or discomfort of the hand.




Such a prior art gardening shears


10


as described above is defective in design in that the handle


12


must be constantly readjusted in its position while the gardening shears


10


is in use, and that the user of the gardening shears


10


is conceivably annoyed at such an inconvenience, and further that the hand


2


holding the handle


12


is susceptible to bruise by a twig


1


, as illustrated in

FIG. 6

, and still further that the gardening shears


10


can not be securely held in the hand


2


in light of the way by which the handle


12


is designed to be held by the hand


2


, as illustrated in FIG.


7


.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a gardening shears with handles which are free from the deficiencies of the prior art gardening shears described above.




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











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

shows an exploded view of a gardening shears of the prior art.





FIG. 2

shows a sectional view of the gardening shears of the prior art in combination.





FIG. 3

shows a schematic view of the prior art gardening shears at work.





FIG. 4

shows a cross-sectional view of the handle of the prior art gardening shears.





FIG. 5

shows a schematic view of the handle of the prior art gardening shears at work.





FIG. 6

shows a schematic view of the prior art gardening shears in operation.





FIG. 7

shows another schematic view of the prior art gardening shears in operation.





FIG. 8

shows an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment





FIG. 8

shows an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 9

shows a cross-sectional view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 10

shows a schematic view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention in action.





FIG. 11

shows another cross-sectional view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 12

shows another schematic view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention in action.





FIG. 13

shows another exploded view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 14

shows another cross-sectional view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention.




FIG.


15


. shows another schematic view of the handle of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention in action.





FIG. 16

shows a perspective view of a gardening shears of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.





FIG. 17

shows a cross-sectional view of the handle of the gardening shears of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.




FIG.


18


. shows a schematic perspective view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention in operation.





FIG. 19

shows a schematic view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention provided with a means to prevent the gardening shears from slipping away from the hand.





FIG. 20

shows an exploded view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




As shown in

FIGS. 8

, a gardening shears


20


embodied in the present invention comprises a shaft rod


21


for fastening pivotally a rotatable handle


22


which is provided with a confining bolt


23


. The shaft rod


21


is provided at the free end thereof with a retaining groove


24


in which one end of the confining bolt


23


is retained, so as to prevent the handle


22


from becoming detached from the shaft rod


21


, as illustrated in

FIGS. 8

,


9


, and


10


.




The gardening shears


20


of the present invention is characterized by the handle


22


which is provided in the fastening end thereof with a receiving cell


25


and a rotary spring


26


disposed in the receiving cell


25


. The rotary spring


26


has two retaining ends


27


, which are inserted into the root portion of the shaft rod


21


and a retaining hole


28


in the receiving cell


25


of the fastening end of the handle


22


. The retaining groove


24


of the shaft rod


21


has a predetermined length, as shown in

FIGS. 11 and 12

, thereby allowing the handle


22


to be swiveled in a predetermined range. In addition, the retaining hole


28


of the root portion of the shaft rod


21


or the handle


22


may be one or more in number so that the retaining ends


27


of the rotary spring


26


may be retained in different positions to provide the handle


22


with the swiveling forces different in magnitude.




As shown in

FIGS. 13

,


14


, and


15


, the handle


22


is provided in the fastening end thereof with an arcuate recess


31


in place of the receiving cell


25


, and a tension element


32


in place of the rotary spring


26


. The shaft rod


21


is provided in the root portion thereof with a support hole


33


and a bar


34


disposed in the support hole


33


such that one end of the bar


34


arrests one end of the tension element


32


, thereby enabling the handle


22


to swivel automatically.




As shown in

FIGS. 16 and 17

, the handle


22


of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided with an arcuate portion


201


which is separated from the handle


22


by a space


202


dimensioned to allow fingers to put therethrough. In operation, the arcuate portion


201


serves to protect fingers from being bruised by a twig


1


of the garden plant, as illustrated in FIG.


18


. In addition, the arcuate portion


201


serves to prevent the gardening shears


20


of the present invention from slipping away from the hand, as illustrated in FIG.


19


. It must be noted here that the handle


22


and the arcuate portion


201


are made integrally. As shown in

FIG. 20

, the handle


22


of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention is provided with an arcuate portion


201


which is detachable attached to the handle


22


. The handle


22


is provided at two opposite ends thereof with a tenon


203


, whereas the arcuate portion


201


is provided at two opposite ends thereof with a mortise


204


corresponding in location to and engageable with the tenon


203


. In the event that the arcuate portion


201


is damaged, it can be readily replaced with a new one.




The preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are to be regarded in all respects as being merely illustrative and not restrictive. 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 scopes of the following appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A gardening shears comprising two handles, with one of said two handles being rotatable and pivoted at one end thereof with a shaft rod in conjunction with a confining bolt, said shaft rod provided at a free end thereof with a retaining groove in which one end of said confining bolt is retained, so as to prevent said one handle from being detached from said shaft rod; wherein said one handle is provided in a fastening end thereof with a receiving cell and a rotary spring disposed in said receiving cell, said rotary spring having two retaining ends which are inserted into a root portion of said shaft rod and a retaining hole in said receiving cell of said fastening end of said one handle, said retaining groove of said shaft rod having a predetermined length, thereby allowing said one handle to be swiveled in a predetermined rangle.
  • 2. The gardening shears as defined in claim 1, wherein said root portion of said shaft rod or said one handle is provided with a plurality of said retaining holes endbling said retaining ends of said rotary spring to be retained in different positions to provide said one handle with the swiveling forces different in magnitude.
  • 3. The gardening shears as defined in claim 1, wherein said one handle is provided with an arcuate portion which is made integrally with said one handle and is separated from said one handle by a space dimensioned to accommodate fingers whereby said arcuate portion serves to protect the fingers from being bruised by a twig being pruned.
  • 4. The gardening shears as defined in claim 1, wherein said one handle is provided with an arcuate portion which is detachable fastened with said one handle such that said arcuate portion is separated from said one handle by a space dimensioned to accommodate fingers.
  • 5. The gardening shears as defined in claim 4, wherein said one handle is provided at both ends thereof with a tenon; wherein said arcuate portion is provided at both ends thereof with a mortise; and wherein said arcuate portion is detachable fastened with said one handle such that said mortise is engaged with said tenon.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
5121624 Haughian Jun 1992
5279034 Smith et al. Jan 1994
5469624 Brenton et al. Nov 1995
5659959 Parlowski Aug 1997
5781999 Chang Jul 1998