Patent Application
20080168665
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a swab cutter, and more particularly to an orthopedic swab cutter that is convenient for users to hold, is easy for users to replace a blade assembly and will not wear down with repeatedly blade assembly replacements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Swab including a bandage is wrapped around a wound to protect the wound from infecting bacteria. Scissors are used to cut the swab when the swab needs to be removed or old swab needs to be replaced. However, orthopedic swab is made of a special fabric, so general-purpose scissors cannot cut the orthopedic swab smoothly. Moreover, when old swab is cut, general-purpose scissors may puncture skin around the swab. Thus, general-purpose scissors are not convenient and are not safe for users when removing orthopedic swab.
With reference to
The body (50) has an upper surface, a rear section, a front section, a front end, two sides, a hand hole (51), a cutting slot (52), a blade slot (53), a latch recess (54) and two detents (55). The hand hole (51) is defined transversely through the rear section to allow a person's fingers to extend through and hold the body (50). However, the hand hole (51) may not be large enough for some people to use and makes using the swab cutter inconvenient to use. The cutting slot (52) is formed longitudinally in the front section and has an open front end. The blade slot (53) is formed vertically in the front section of the body (50) from the upper surface through the cutting slot (52) and has a rear edge (56) and two inside surfaces. The rear edge (56) is slightly V-shaped. The latch recess (54) is defined transversely in the upper surface and communicates with the blade slot (53). The detents (55) are formed respectively in the inside surfaces of the blade slot (53) near the latch recess (54) and may be formed by a transverse hole passing through the body (50) and the blade slot (53).
The blade assembly (60) corresponds to and is mounted detachably in the blade slot (53) and has an inner edge (65), two sides, a latch tab (61), two bosses (62), a cutting slot (63) and a blade (64).
The inner edge (65) corresponds to the rear edge (56) of the blade slot (53) and engages the rear edge (56) of the blade slot (53) when the blade assembly (60) is mounted in the blade slot (53).
The latch tab (61) corresponds to the latch recess (54), engages the latch recess (54) when the blade assembly (60) is mounted in the blade slot (53) to prevent the blade assembly (60) from moving forward or backward and is used to pull the blade assembly (60) out of the blade slot (53) or press the blade assembly (60) into the blade slot (53).
The bosses (62) are formed on and protrude respectively from the sides of the blade assembly (60) and correspond respectively to and engage the detents (55) in the inside surfaces of the blade slot (53) to hold the blade assembly (60) in the blade slot (53). However, repeated removal and replacement of the blade assembly (60) causes the bosses (62) to wear grooves respectively in the inside surfaces of the blade slot (53) between the latch recess (54) and the detents (55). When the grooves wear deeply enough, the detents (55) no longer hold the bosses (62) and the blade assembly (60) easily and unintentionally detaches from the body (50).
The cutting slot (63) corresponds to the cutting slot (52) in the body (50) and has a lower edge. The blade (64) is mounted in the lower edge and protrudes into the cutting slot (52) of the body (50) to cut the swab.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a swab cutter to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a swab cutter that is convenient for users to hold, is easy for users to replace a blade assembly and can be used repeatedly without wearing the swab cutter down.
To achieve the objective, the orthopedic swab cutter in accordance with the present invention has a body and a blade assembly. The body has an upper surface, a rear section, a front section, two sides, a handle, a cutting slot, a blade assembly slot and at least one detent. The rear section is a handle. The cutting slot is formed in the front section. The blade assembly slot is formed vertically in the front section from the upper surface through the cutting slot and has two inside surfaces. The detent is formed in one of the inside surface of the blade assembly slot. The blade assembly corresponds to and is mounted detachably in the blade assembly slot and has two sides, at least one resilient finger, a cutting slot and a blade. The resilient finger is formed on the sides of the blade assembly, and each of the at least one finger has a boss corresponding to and selectively engaging a corresponding detent. The cutting slot corresponds to the cutting slot in the body. The blade is mounted in the cutting slot in the blade assembly. Replacing the blade assembly is convenient for users, and the boss will not wear down.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With further reference to
With further reference to
When installing or replacing a blade assembly (20), the blade assembly (20) is aligned with and pressed into the blade slot (12) by pressing the latch tab (21). The boss (25) presses against a corresponding side of the blade assembly (20) and presses the resilient finger (24) and boss (25) flush with the side until the boss (25) engage the detent (16) and the latch tab (21) seats in the latch recess (13) to the blade assembly (20) in place.
The blade assembly (20) is removed by pressing the boss (25) toward the sides of the blade assembly (20) and pulling up on the latch tab (21) until the boss (25) disengages from the detent (16). Thus, replacing the blade assembly (20) is convenient, and the boss (25) will not be worn down or wear the at least one detent (16) in the inside surfaces of the blade assembly slot (12).
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
