BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a left side elevation of my imitation stone cutter, with an imitation stone positioned on support means between upper and lower blades, with the actuator means and upper blade mount assembly shown in solid outline in a first, elevated position and in phantom outline in a second, lowered, cutting position.
FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof, with the actuator means and upper blade assembly shown in elevated position, and with the phantom outline of the cutting position omitted for the sake of clarity.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged, vertical cross-sectional view of the upper and lower blades of my cutter, aligned on a common cutting plane C-C and isolated from the remainder of the cutter for clarity.
FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the actuator mounting assembly and of the standard, taken along line 4 of FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the upper blade mount assembly and of the standard, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.
FIG. 6 is an exploded, left side view of my cutter.
FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the actuator mount assembly taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 1.
Like numerals designate similar components and aspects of the invention throughout the several figures. Numerals that designate components depicted in an elevated position in FIG. 1 are designated by corresponding primed numerals where they are depicted in a lowered, cutting position; for example, whereas the handle elevated is designated by 88, the handle lowered is designated by 88′. The terms “left” and “right” refer, respectively, to the right and left portions of the cutter as depicted in FIG. 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to FIGS. 1-2, an imitation stone cutter 10 according to the present invention is depicted in left side elevation and rear elevation, respectively. A base 12 extends from a rear portion of the cutter forwardly and terminates in free front end 14. The base 12 comprises a flat bottom panel 16 and laterally spaced-apart, upstanding rails 18, 20 attached to an upper surface of the bottom panel 16. Attached to a rear portion of the base 12 is a vertically-elongated standard 22 that terminates in an upper, free end 24. The standard 22 is substantially uniform in its front-to-rear and lateral dimensions up to a beveled shoulder 26, but has above the shoulder reduced front-to-rear and lateral dimensions, which facilitate assembly of the cutter. A stationary, lower blade 30 is mounted between the walls 18, 20 of the base 12 by a pair of mounting screws 34 such that the blade 30 extends from the free end 30 of the base 12 rearward to the standard 22, as depicted in FIG. 6. The lower blade 30 has a top, cutting edge 36 that extends substantially the length of the blade. An upper blade 40 is similarly mounted parallel to the lower blade 30 by mounting screws 42 to an upper blade mount assembly 50 that is slidably mounted to the standard 22 above the base 12. The upper blade mount assembly 50 extends forwardly from a tubular, hollow rear end portion 54 thereof (FIG. 5) that is journalled onto the standard 22 and has an opposite, free, front end portion that has a convex top surface 56. The standard 22 has vertically spaced-apart, openings 108B for securing the actuator mount assembly 70 to the standard with a transverse pin 108 that inserts through oppositely-disposed apertures 108A in a tubular, rear end portion 72 of the actuator mount assembly, which pin 108 is itself secured by a cotter pin 110. The height of the actuator mount assembly 70 above the base 12 is thereby adjustable so as to adapt the cutter 10 to the size of stone 120 that is to be cut. The upper blade 40 has a bottom, cutting edge 42 that extends substantially the entire length of the blade and is mounted by mounting screws 62 within a laterally spaced-apart pair of apertured walls 58 of the upper blade mount assembly 50 that are joined by a top wall 60. A grease fitting 139 inserted through the rear portion 54 of the upper blade assembly 50 facilitates its easy movement up and down the standard 22. As may best be seen in FIGS. 1 and 6, an apertured roller 132 is rotatably mounted on a transverse pin 130 inserted through the apertured walls 58 of the upper blade mount assembly 50.
The actuator mount assembly 70 further comprises a top wall 74 from which depend a laterally spaced-apart pair of side walls 76 and extends forwardly from the tubular rear end portion 72 journalled on the standard 22 to terminate at a front end portion thereof in a clevis 80, which clevis is depicted in transverse, vertical cross-section in FIG. 7. The clevis 80 includes front end portions of the top wall 74 and side walls 76, which together define a hollow space 82 into which is inserted a transversely apertured cam plate 84 that is pivotally attached to the side walls 76 by a clevis pin 86 for rotation in a vertical plane. Mounted on the clevis pin 86 are washers 102, 104 and a hex nut 106 threaded onto a free end thereof to secure the pin to the cam plate 84 and to the upper blade assembly 50. Extending forwardly from the cam plate 84 is a handle 88. The cam plate 84 has a convex bottom cam surface 90. A front portion of the bottom cam surface 90 extends farther away from the clevis pin 86 than a rear portion 92 thereof. A coil spring 100 having a lower end attached to a lug on the tubular rear portion 54 of the upper blade mount assembly 50 and an upper end attached to a lug on the tubular rear portion 72 of the actuator mount assembly 70 urges the upper blade mount assembly upward toward the actuator mount assembly and into a first, elevated position.
Referring now to FIG. 3, the lower blade 30 and the upper blade 40 are aligned on a common, vertical cutting place C-C. The lower blade cutting edge 36 and the upper blade cutting edge 42 are asymmetrical with respect to the common, cutting plane C-C and are instead symmetrical with respect to a horizontal plane D-D disposed intermediate the lower and upper blade edges 36, 42; that is, the blade cutting edges are mirror images of each other with respect to the plane D-D. Moreover, each of the lower and upper blade edges 36, 42 is asymmetrical in transverse, vertical cross-section. That is, unlike the V-shaped blade cutting edges commonly used in the past in stone cutters, one side only of each of the blade cutting edges 36, 42 of the present invention is beveled, and the blade side opposite side thereto is flat.
In use, with the handle 88 in a first, elevated position as depicted in solid outline in FIG. 1, a piece of imitation stone 120 is placed onto a front portion of the base 12 between the upper blade 40 and the lower blade 30. The handle 88 is then moved downward to a second, cutting position as depicted in FIG. 1 in phantom outline and denoted as 88.′ Consequently, the cam plate 84 is thereby rotated such that its bottom surface 90 comes into contact with and depresses the convex top surface 56 of the front end portion of the upper blade mount assembly 50, and an upper margin of the roller 132 makes rolling contact with cam plate bottom surface 90, which forces the entire upper blade mount assembly downward and drives the upper, cutting blade 40 towards the lower blade 30, thereby cutting the stone 120. The coil springs 100 thereafter return the handle 88 and the upper blade mount assembly 50 to their initial, elevated positions, ready for the next cut.
From the foregoing description, it will be clear that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Thus, the presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims, and not limited to the foregoing description.
Patent Application
20080006257
