Patent Application
20230381878
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The disclosure relates to chemical cutting devices and more particularly pertains to a new chemical cutting device for portably dispensing and igniting a thermally reactive substance to cut a workpiece.
The prior art relates to devices which use a mixture of a metal oxide and a reducing agent, also called thermite, for metal cutting and welding operations in various forms. For example, some devices in the prior art pertain to a torch directing the high temperatures produced by an ignited oxidation-reduction reaction of the thermite onto a focused area sufficient for a skilled craftsperson to precisely cut or weld a workpiece. These devices function with the user cutting during an ongoing oxidation-reduction reaction for a period of time. Another device in the prior art uses a solidified thermite mixture molded in the shape of the joint cavity to be welded. However, the prior art does not disclose a device designed to deposit the thermite mixture in a desired placement on top of a workpiece to be cut, wherein the user ignites the thermite after depositing it.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a hollow tube containing a reactive substance comprising a mixture of a metallic oxide powder and a reducing agent such that a user can dispense the reactive substance. An electrical power module with an anode and a cathode is coupled to the tube, wherein the anode and the cathode are simultaneously positionable such that the anode is proximate the cathode and both the anode and the cathode abut the dispensed reactive substance, thereby igniting the reactive substance for cutting a workpiece.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A power module compartment 26 is coupled to the tube 12 opposite the nozzle 20 and defining an interior space 28. An electrical power module 30 comprising a 9-volt battery is partially positioned within the interior space 28 and is coupled to the power module compartment 26. The power module 30 has an anode 32 and a cathode 34, both of which protrude from the power module compartment 26 opposite the nozzle 20. the anode 32 and the cathode 34 are simultaneously positionable such that the anode 32 is proximate to the cathode 34 and both the anode 32 and the cathode 34 abut the dispensed reactive substance 14.
In use, a user 22 removes the cap 24 from the tube 12 and squeezes the reactive substance 14 in a desired placement on a piece of sheet metal 36 or other workpiece meant to be cut. The user 22 replaces the cap 24 onto the tube 12. Then the user 22 abuts the anode 32 and the cathode 34 of the power module 30 to the reactive substance 14 with the anode 32 proximate to the cathode 34. In this position, an electrical current flows between the anode 32 and the cathode 34 with nearly no resistance, which ignites an exothermic reaction in the reactive substance 14 which cuts through the sheet metal 36 or other workpiece along the desired placement of the reactive substance 14.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
