Wedge Lock for Pocket Knife Blade
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iuropaisches Patentamt D 336 905 iuropean Patent Office ® Publication number: A1 )ffice europeen des brevets ® EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION @ Application number: 89810256.1 @ Int. CI .4; B 26 B 1/04 @ Date of filing: 04.04.89 @ Priority: 04.04.88 US 148918 g) Applicant: WENGER S.A. CH-2800 Delemont (CH) @ Date of publication of application: 11.10.89 Bulletin 89/41 §) Inventor: Lemaire, Denis J. 534, rue De La Verendrye Boucherville Quebec J4B 2Y1 (CA) @ Designated Contracting States: AT BE CH DE ES FR GB GR IT LI LU NL SE @ Representative: Fischer, Franz Josef et al c/o Bovard AG Optingenstrasse 16 CH-3000Bern25 (CH) <§i) Wedge lock for pocket knife blade. (g) A wedge-shaped arrangement (50) for retracting a leaf rib. 4 spring (72) is positioned in abutment against the tang (76) of a cutting knife (10). The retraction of the leaf spring (72) is produced by a sliding rod (58) which engages the wedge (60) and pulls on the leaf spring (12) out of engagement with the tang. to o O) CO CO CO Q. LU Bundesdruckerei Berlin ■P 0 336 905 A1 Description WEDGE LOCK FOR I sOCKET KNIFE BLADE The present invention is directed to a lock for generally indicates a blade-knife having a wedge wring a pocket knife blade and more particularly to type lock 12 and comprising an elongated casing 13 a wedge arrangement for locking and unlocking the 5 formed by an upper face plate 14 and a lower face 3lade from its protracted position. plate 16 and a retractable blade 20. A search of the prior art has revealed U.S. patents The lower face 16 is provided with a groove 18 Mos 2,826,813 and 4,354,313. However, no wedge which serves as guiding means for the sliding arrangement has been found for locking and movement of blade 20 indicated in figure 3 by arrows jnlocking a pocket knife blade of the type herein- 10 24. after disclosed. This sliding movement of the blade 20 is produced According to the present invention, it is possible by pressure exerted on a button 26 by the user's to open and close the blade of a pocket knife with finger. The pressure is transmitted to blade 20 by one hand. There is also no need to touch the blade, means of a screw type component 28 which is ["he wedge arrangement proposed for locking the is threadedly inserted in aperture 30 in the tang 31 and Dlade allows the pocket knife to remain thin and slides inside groove 32 provided in the lower face ;ompact. Some governments make it illegal to have plate 16. i pocket knife wherein the blade opens automati- An elongated recess 34 in the face plate 16 is used ;aliy, by gravity or by inertia. Although the present to guide the sliding action of a stabilizing element 36 device is easy to operate, it is completely legal in this ; 20 slidingly mounted on screw 28. ■egard. The stabilizing element 36 is used to reduce the The lock for barring a cutting blade of a pocket stress concentration between the screw 28 and the <nife comprises a leaf spring which is adapted to extremities of the groove 32 when the blade is abut at one end with the tang of the blade to maintain pushed at both outermost positions as shown in the latter in this protracted position. The plane of the 25 figures 1 and 2. Element 36 also stabilizes the ieaf spring is retracted from the plane of the blade by upright position of the screw type component 28. a wedge arrangement which consequently allows The stress concentration reducing effect is imput- the blade to be retracted in its closed position. able to the larger radius of material of the element 36 Figure 1 is a plan view of a pocket knife on which the force is applied around the recess 34. according to the invention with the blade in its 30 The upper face plate 14 is provided with a groove protracted position, 38 adapted to guide the sliding action of a lifting Figure 2 is a plan view of the side opposite component 40. A leaf spring 42 is also inserted in the the one shown in figure 1 with the blade in its upper face plate 14 inside a groove 44. retracted position, Leaf spring 42 is used in conjunction with lifting Figure 3 is an exploded view of the knife 35 component 40 to provide releasable locking action shown in figure 2, on blade 20. Leaf spring 42 consists of a piece of Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the resilient material which has a centrally punched wedge action as shown in figure 4 with the longitudinal tongue 46 surrounded by a contour tongue of a leaf spring in a released position, plate 48. The tongue is bent relative to the contour Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the 40 plate 48 at an angle which allows the tip 74 of the wedge action with the tongue in a retracted tongue 46 to exceed outside the plate of the plate position, 48. A wedge shaped component 50 is rigidly secured Figure 6 is a plan view of the pocket knife to the top of the tongue 46. according to another embodiment of the inven- Lifting component 40 comprises a base plate 52 to tion with the blade in its protracted position, 45 which is rigidly attached a knob 54 which extends Figure 7 is a bottom view of the knife shown through aperture 55 provided in the upper face plate in figure 6 and, 14. Base plate 52 is U-shaped in order to provide a Figures 8 and 9 are detailed views of the lock spacing 56 adapted to receive the wedge-shaped mechanism according to the embodiment component 50. A small rod 58 extends transversally shown in figure 6, 50 from the longitudinal sides of spacing 56. Figure 10 is a perspective view of another Rod 58 is used in conjonction with the wedge- embodiment of a wedge action lock, shaped component 50 to lift the tongue 46 so as to Figure 11 is a plan view of a further make tongue 46 coplanar with the contour plate 48 embodiment of a pocket knife according to the as illustrated in figure 5. When the sliding of the invention, 55 lifting component 40 is produced by a pressure of Figure 12 is a bottom view of the knife the user's thumb on knob 54, rod 58 which is rigidly inclined surface according to figure 1 1 , attached to base 52 slides against Figure 13 is a plan view of the last shown 60 of wedge-shaped component 50, therefore lifting embodiment of a pocket knife according to the tongue 46 as illustrated in figures 4 and 5. The invention, and 60 inclined surface 60 defines an acute angular space Figure 14 is a bottom view of the knife between the tongue 46 and the wedge-shaped according to figure 13. component 50. Referring to figures 1 to 5, reference character 10 The top surface of the knob 54 is preferably 2 lightly inclined and provided with grooves wnicn nally puncnea. I lunyue so (ji ujc^io mioj h um tn<- leaf 94 lake the surface rugose in order to facilitate plane of the main sprip 100 of spring by an 108 of the ansformation of the pressure applied by the thumb angle sufficient to displace the tip surface main f the user into sliding motion of lifting component tongue 98 below and adjacent the plane of the 94. 0 in groove 38. 5 strip 100 of the spring An helicoidal spring 62 or another suitable device In use, when blade 102 is protracted by a pivoting 108 of the ! positioned inside an extension 64 of the groove 38. action around a hinge 104, rip surface of )ne extremity of spring 62 rests against surface 66 tongue 98 abuts against the end surface 1 10 tang f the extension 64 while the other end rests against 112 and accordingly the pivoting of the blade 102 is urface 68 of the component 40 so that the spring is 0 barred. 102 inside ompressed when rod 58 slides along surface 60 To allow the pivotal retraction of blade the nd bounces back when pressure by the user's the casing 90, the user must apply pressure on numb is released from the knob 54. The upper face knob 1 14 of lifting component 84 in order to induce a late 14 and lower face plate 16 forming the outer sliding movement which will cause rod 82 to slide longated casing 13 are held together by screw-type 5 against inner surface 116 of wedge-shaped compo- omponents 70. nent 118. The wedge-shaped component 118 being The blade 20 is protracted out of casing 13 by rigidly attached to the tongue 98, the latter is pulled reaches the pplying pressure on knob 26 which slides the blade by the rod 82 so that it same plane as main 100 in 8. Once the 1 groove 18. the one of the strip as figure Once the cutting edge portion 61 of the blade is 0 tongue 98 is coplanar with strip 100, end surfaces and the blade jlly protracted out, no more pressure is applied, by 108 and 110 are no longer in contact 104. ne blade 20, on back surface 72 of the tongue 46 102 is free to rotate around the hinge /hich automatically assumes its released position When pressure is released from the knob 114, a lustrated in figure 4.