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AssigneeRazor Edge Systems, Inc.
InventorsMary T. Graves, Daniel D. Graves, Joseph C. Juranitch, Scott D. Taylor, Robert J. Mattila
Estimating the term…
A hand tool edge tester for evaluating the sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge of a blade for the hand tool like a knife is provided according to the invention. The knife blade is held stationary along a horizontal, longitudinal axis. A long piece of solid tape of the cuttable substrate material like Teflon moved within a reel-to-reel tape mechanism attached to a tape carriage travels simultaneously horizontally as the tape carriage moves along a longitudinal axis, and along an upwardly inclined, diagonal pathway defined by the reel-to-reel mechanism. The blade of the hand tool slices the upwardly, diagonally moving tape ribbon with the load cell measuring the cutting force exerted by the tape ribbon against the blade as it is moved along the distance of the cutting edge substantially between the hand tool handle and the blade tip. The diagonal axis for the path of the traveling cuttable substrate media tape allows the knife blade to cut the tape more easily without tearing, along with an approximate 90° angle between the blade tip and the cutting media pathway, thereby providing a more accurate measurement by the load cell of the tip portion of the blade as it slices the tape. The cutting force data produced by the load cell yields a cutting profile for the cutting edge along the hand tool blade to indicate the relative sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge.
A hand tool edge tester for evaluating the sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge of a blade for a hand tool, the hand tool having a handle at its first end and the blade extending from the handle with a tip at its other end, the hand tool edge tester comprising:
A hand tool edge tester for evaluating a sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge of a blade for a hand tool, the hand tool having a handle at its first end and the blade extending from the handle with a tip at its other end, the hand tool edge tester comprising:
A cuttable substrate tape used in a hand tool edge tester for evaluating the sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge of a blade for a hand tool, the hand tool having a handle at its first end and the blade extending from the handle with a tip at its other end, the cuttable substrate comprising a uniform material without any strands and openings therebetween, wherein with the hand tool is positioned with the cutting edge of the blade pointing downwardly in a stationary orientation along a horizontal longitudinal axis, the hand tool blade pierces the cuttable substrate with the cuttable substrate positioned near the handle of the hand tool, and a tape carriage moves the cuttable substrate along both the horizontal longitudinal axis and a second axis that is upwardly directed, so that as the tape carriage is moved along the longitudinal axis and the cuttable substrate moved upwardly along the second axis so that the blade slices the upwardly moving cuttable substrate with a load cell measuring the cutting force exerted by the cuttable substrate against the blade as it is moved along the distance of the cutting edge substantially between the handle and the blade tip, the cutting force data produces a cutting profile for the cutting edge along the hand tool blade to indicate the relative sharpness and smoothness of the cutting edge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.