Utility knife
OwnerGreg J. Owocinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The utility knife of the present invention has a cutting blade that is extended to any desired length from the knife handle by providing a blade assembly and a blade deployment device supported in an internal cavity within a knife handle. In particular, the blade can be extended any desired distance from the front face of the handle between the full deployed position and the fully retracted position. No additional structure or locking devices are generally required to retain and hold the blade in a predetermined position from a handle opening when it has been deployed by the blade deployment device. Optional aspects of the invention include a blade position arm and indices, a locking collar and an elongated handle that may be made to articulate.
Claims20
A hand held utility knife comprising;
- a knife handle having first and second handle halves, an internal cavity and a blade opening, wherein said handle halves are held together by a connector;
- a blade assembly having a blade retainer and a cutting blade wherein said blade retainer is slidably mounted within said internal cavity of said knife handle to support said cutting blade to extend from said blade opening;
- a blade deployment device mounted in said cavity of said handle, and accessible from the exterior of said handle, for moving said blade retainer to extend said cutting blade from said blade opening any desired distance from a fully extended position to fully retracted, wherein said cutting blade is held and safely used at any desired intermediate position between fully extended to fully retracted.
A utility knife system for use with hand held utility knifes, said utility knife system comprising:
- a) a knife system handle having an internal cavity with first and second support ribs and a blade opening at a front end;
- b) a cutting blade carried by a blade retainer within said internal cavity, said blade retainer slidably supported and guided by said first support ribs;
- c) a deployment rod appropriately attached to said blade retainer for displacing said blade retainer so that said cutting blade extends from said blade opening;
- and
- d) a deployment wheel associated with said deployment rod which is rotated to displace said deployment rod, wherein said rod and wheel are supported by said second support ribs and wherein said cutting blade is extended and held relative to said blade opening at any desired distance from fully extended to fully retracted.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.