Claims
- 1. In a device having a head with a longitudinal cutting surface formed on one edge of said head so as to lie on the longitudinal plane of symmetry of the head, the combination of:
- a longitudinal pivot aperture formed in said head and disposed so as to lie in the longitudinal plane of symmetry;
- lever aperture means formed in the body between the pivot aperture and the cutting surface so as to extend transversely across the head and intersect the pivot aperture;
- a first lever disposed in the lever aperture means and pivotally mounted to the head by means of the pivot aperture so as to extend towards the cutting surface;
- first lever stop means formed in the lever aperture means and operable to engage the first lever to prevent the pivotal movement of the first lever through the lever aperture means, whereby the first lever is laterally offset at its end adjacent the cutting surface to a first side of the head;
- a second lever disposed in the lever aperture means and pivotally mounted to the head by means of the pivot aperture so as to extend toward the cutting surface;
- second lever stop means formed in the lever aperture means and operable to engage the second lever to prevent the pivotal movement of the second lever through the lever aperture means, whereby the second lever is laterally offset at its end adjacent the cutting surface to a second side of the head opposite said first side;
- spring means for normally holding said first and second lever remote ends against the first and second lever stop means.
- 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, and including recesses formed in the head above the levers said recesses being adapted to receive the respective lever when said lever pivots against the spring means, whereby said lever may pivot upwardly into said recess to a position in which said lever is substantially flush with the adjacent head portion.
- 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, and in which the lever aperture is comprised of a first aperture and a second aperture, said apertures being disposed in a side by side relationship with one of said levers extending through each thereof.
- 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, and in which the levers are bifurcated and each includes a splitting arm on one side thereof and a lever rotation arm opposite the splitting arm, said rotation arm being separated from the splitting arm by a recess adapted to receive the upper surface of the object being split and, when so received, to rotate the lever against the biasing of the spring means in response to relative movement between the head and the object.
- 5. Apparatus according to claim 4 and in which the splitting arm has a camming surface formed thereon so as to be remote from the lever rotation arm and normally extend out of the lever aperture means so as to initiate contact of the lever with object being split.
- 6. Apparatus according to claim 4, and in which the levers are bifurcated with a splitting arm and a lever rotating arm, and in which the splitting arm has a splitting face formed of one end thereof facing the rotation arm, and in which the ratio (R cos alpha)/R.sub.1 is approximately constant over a substantial portion of lever rotation, where
- R is the length of the rotation arm from the pivot to the point of contact with an object being split;
- R.sub.1 is the length of the splitting arm from the pivot to the point on the splitting face in contact with the object being split; and
- alpha is the angle of attack of the splitting face.
- 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, and in which the splitting arm has a camming surface formed thereon so as to be remote from the splitting face and normally extend out of the lever aperture means so as to initiate contact of the lever with the object being split.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 176,530, filed Aug. 8, 1980, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
443758 |
Mar 1975 |
SUX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
176530 |
Aug 1980 |
|