The present invention relates to a shears.
Shears typically include blades that are pivotally coupled. The blades are pivoted by handles and the shears are used to cut work-pieces, such as paper, cardboard, foil, cloth, rope, sheet metal, etc. The blades are pivotally coupled at a pivot joint. The pivot joint may be formed by a bolt and a nut. The nut and the bolt extend from sides of the blades and can snag or catch on a user's pocket, tool belt, tool pouch, or the like when the user puts the shears into their pocket, belt, or pouch.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a shears that includes a first cutting blade including a first aperture, and a second cutting blade including a second aperture, the second cutting blade pivotally coupled to the first cutting blade at a pivot joint. The shears further includes a first handle operable to pivot the first cutting blade about the pivot joint and a second handle operable to pivot the second cutting blade about the pivot joint. The pivot joint includes a bolt that extends through the first aperture and the second aperture. The bolt includes a head, a shank that extends from the head, and a longitudinal axis that extends centrally through the head and the shank along a length of the shank. The head includes a concave outer surface that extends around the longitudinal axis of the bolt.
Other aspects of the invention will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings.
Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways.
The snips 10 includes a first cutting blade 12 and a second cutting blade 14. The first blade 12 includes a first extension portion 16. The second blade 14 includes a second extension portion 18. The first extension portion 16 is pivotally coupled to a first handle 20 about a first handle pivot joint 22. The second extension portion 18 is pivotally coupled to a second handle 24 about a second handle pivot joint 26. The first handle 20 and the second handle 24 are pivotally coupled to each other about a central pivot joint 28. In the illustrated construction, the pivot joints 22, 26, 28 include rivets.
Referring to
Referring to
The bolt 42 includes a head 48, a shank 50 that extends from the head 48, and a longitudinal axis 52 that extends centrally through the head 48 and the shank 50 along a length of the shank 50. The shank 50 includes a threaded portion 54. The nut 40 engages the threaded portion 54 to couple the nut 40 and the bolt 42 to the cutting blades 12, 14. In one embodiment, the nut 40 is a locknut, which inhibits the nut 40 from loosening or rotating relative to the bolt 42 during use of the snips 10. The nut 40 has the thread formed with up sets on the threads to help them bind onto the threaded portion 54 of the bolt 42.
The head 48 includes a flat portion 56 that is perpendicular to the axis 52. A recess 58 is located in the flat portion 56. The recess 58 receives a driver, such as a screwdriver, that can be used to tighten the bolt 42 and the nut 40 so that the blades 12, 14 open and close with a desired resistance. The first washer 44 is located in the first countersunk portion 34 between the head 48 and the cutting blade 12. The second washer 46 is located in the second countersunk portion 36 between the nut 40 and the cutting blade 14. In one embodiment, the washers 44, 46 are spring washers. The washers 44, 46 maintain pressure on the nut 40 and the bolt 42 so that the nut 40 and bolt 42 generally do not rotate relative to each other when the blades 12, 14 open and close. Therefore, the washers 44, 46 maintain the desired opening and closing resistance of the blades 12, 14 after repeated use (i.e., opening and closing of the blades 12, 14) of the snip 10.
The head 48 further includes an outermost periphery 60 that surrounds the axis 52. The periphery 60 is sized so that the head 48 is received in the countersunk portion 34 of the aperture 30. The head 48 further includes a concave outer surface 62 that extends around the axis 52 of the bolt 42. The concave outer surface 62 extends around the periphery of the flat portion 56 and extends from the outer periphery 60 of the head 48 to the flat portion 56. The concave outer surface 62 is generally located outside the countersunk portion 34 of the aperture 30. In other embodiments, a portion of the concave outer surface 62 can be located within the countersunk portion 34.
The blade pivot joint 31 has a relatively low profile relative to the blades 12, 14 so that the snips 10 can be easily inserted into a user's tool carrying device (e.g., pocket, tool belt, tool pouch, etc.) with very minimal risk of snagging or catching on the user's tool carrying device. The concave outer surface 62 provides a smooth transition region 64 between the blade 12 and the bolt 42 that inhibits the bolt 42 from snagging or catching on a user's tool carrying device when the snips 10 is inserted into a user's tool carrying device. In addition, as illustrated by axis 66 in
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Various features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/298,223, filed Jun. 6, 2014, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/832,042, filed Jun. 6, 2013, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61832042 | Jun 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 14298223 | Jun 2014 | US |
Child | 15991302 | US |