BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the front and right side of the router plane of this invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the router plane shown in FIG. 1, together with alternative blades and a blade holder for blade sharpening.
FIG. 3 is a right side view, in section, taken through the middle of the router plane of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a partial top view of the router plane of FIG. 1, with the Iuiobs omitted and in horizontal section through the middle of the locking collar, post and blade shaft.
FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the router plane of FIG. 1 with a portion of the plane body broken away to improve visibility of the blade depth adjusting and locking mechanisms.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but with the blade removed.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the left side and front of the router plane of FIG. 1 with the locking collar and blade rotated to the outboard blade position.
FIG. 8 is an enlarged perspective view of the top and inboard side of the body post of the plane shown in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the figures, a router plane 10 exemplary of this invention has a plane body 12 manipulated with knobs 14 to cause a blade 16 to engage a work piece (not shown) as desired. Blade 16 has a foot 18 attached to a shank or shaft 20. Shaft 20 is secured to plane body 12 with a collar 22 that encircles the shaft 20 and clamps it against a body post 24 by rotating a thumb screw 26. The projection of blade 16 beyond the sole 28 of body 12 can be adjusted in small increments by rotating blade adjustment knob or thumb nut assembly 30 which is threaded onto a threaded adjustment post 32.
Blade adjustment assembly 30 may be fabricated in one piece or it may be, as illustrated in FIG. 2, two pieces: a knurled knob 34 (which can be brass) and an internally threaded disk 36 (that can be steel) that has a washer-shaped flange 38 that engages a neck 40 near the top of shaft 20 to drive shaft 20, 20′, or 20″ up or down by rotating knurled knob 34.
As can be appreciated by reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, collar 22 encircles body post 24 and is trapped on that post when post 24 is secured to the body 12 because its lip or rim 42 prevents collar 22 from moving upward on post 24. Body post 24 is secured to the body 12 with a threaded post 32 that passes through post 24 and, with a smaller diameter threaded portion 44, is screwed into body 12.
As may be appreciated by reference to FIG. 2, the narrow blade 16 shown in FIG. 1 can, when desired, be replaced by a wider blade 16′ having a wider foot 18′ on a corresponding shaft 20′ or a spear point blade 16″ having a spear point cutter 18″ on a shaft 20″.
Collar 22 is tightened against shank 20, 20′, 20″ by rotating thumb screw or locking knob 26 to press locking pin 48 against body post 24, thereby drawing shank 20, 20′, 20″ tightly against body post 24. As may be appreciated by reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, locking pin 48 telescopes into the shank 46 of thumb screw 26 and is spring loaded by spring 49 so that pin 48 continues to exert some force on body post 24 even when thumb screw 26 has been loosened by a small amount. This keeps collar 22 relatively snugly in contact with shank 20, 20′, 20″ during adjustment of the position of blade 16, greatly facilitating easy adjustment by preventing blade 16 from falling out of position as soon as thumb screw 26 is loosened. Pin 48 is retained in thumb screw 26 by a machine screw 50 inserted through the head 52 of thumb screw 26 and into the head 54 of pin 48. When knob 26 is rotated to tighten collar 22, pin 48 slides into shank 46 until the head 54 of pin 48 contacts the end 56 of shank 46, thereby firmly fixing collar 22 and blade 16 in position on body post 24. (As is best seen in FIG. 4, pin 48 always contacts body post 24 at a flat surface—either surface 74 when the blade 16 is positioned inboard as it is in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5, or surface 75 when blade 16 is positioned outboard as illustrated in FIG. 7. This flat surface to flat surface contact facilitates secure locking of collar 22 and effective function of the spring-loaded pin 48 feature.) With collar 22 slightly loosened, the height of blade 16 may be adjusted by rotating thumb nut assembly 30. Downward travel of thumb nut assembly 30 (and therefore depth of cut of blade 16) may be limited at a predetermined position by locking stop nuts 58 in a position on threaded post 32 that stops travel of thumb nut 30 with blade 16 at a desired position. Stop nuts 58 can be locked in a position by tightening them against each other. Alternatively, a set screw (not shown) threaded into one of the stop nuts 58 can be used to lock that stop nut to the post 32.
The blade 16 may be formed in one piece having a shank 20 and a foot 18 or with separate shank 20′ or 20″ and a removable foot 18′ or 18″ secured to the shank with a screw 60. A series of grooves 62 in foot 18′ or 18″ inter-fits with a corresponding series of grooves 64 on shank 20′ or 20″ (illustrated in FIG. 3) to facilitate correct positioning and retention of the foot on the shank when the two are attached with a screw 60.
Detachable feet 18′ or 18″ can be more easily sharpened by attaching them to a sharpening blade holder 66 with a screw 68 (both illustrated in FIG. 2).
Although shanks 20, 20′ and 20″ could be round or have other cross-sectional shapes, if they are generally square they can seat very firmly and be effectively retained by protrusions 23 on the inside of collar 22 without rotating in one of the two V-shaped grooves 70 and 72 in body post 24 as can be seen in FIG. 4. Compare, for instance FIGS. 1 and 7 to see positioning in the two V-shaped grooves 70 (FIG. 1) and 72 (FIG. 7). Moreover, the generally square cross sectional shape enables shanks 20, 20′ and 20″ to be positioned in the bullnose or outboard position shown in FIG. 7 in alternative rotational positions rotated by 90 degrees from each other. As is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 8, the V-shaped groove 70 in body post 24 is aligned with a V-shaped groove 76 in body 12. This lower V-shaped groove 76 provides support for shank 20, 20′, 20″ low on the shank and near foot 18, 18′, 18″ when the blade 16 is positioned inboard as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5 to reduce shank flexing and blade chatter. It is not possible to provide identical support against body 12 when blade 16 is positioned outboard as illustrated in FIG. 7 because such support would prevent rotating blade 16 to a left or right lateral position when it is outboard. However, body post 24 carries a lower V-shaped groove 77 on the outboard side of post 24 to provide additional shank support in the outboard position.
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art numerous modifications and variations of the router plane 10 described above and illustrated in the figures can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention or the following claims. For instance, a variety of materials could be used for the plane components, including, but not limited to, ductile iron for the plane body 12, ductile iron or stainless steel for body post 24, wood, metal or plastic for the knobs 14, steel or brass for the threaded components and a variety of other appropriate materials. Additionally, alternative structures could be used in order to exert sufficient pressure to hold the collar 22 and blade 16 in position during the adjustment process even when the collar locking mechanism is disengaged. For instance, other spring and pin arrangements could be used, or a spring arrangement holding the components in position could be made separate from the position locking mechanism provided by thumbscrew 26 in the embodiment described in detail above. These and other such modification are within the scope of the present invention.
Patent Application
20080085164
