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US 2009/0211666 A1Published application
Pencil Sharpener
OwnerCharles Sued, Aron Abramsoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pencil sharpener that facilitates the sharpening of pencils by any one or more of the following: preventing injury; automatically sharpening pencils without manual manipulation; providing status indicators during sharpening; and/or allowing varying degrees of sharpness to be selected.
Claims20
An automatic pencil sharpener, comprising:
- a housing defining a bore configured to receive a pencil therein;
- a selectable control configured to allow selection of a degree of sharpness to which the pencil will be sharpened;
- a cutting mechanism disposed in the housing and adapted to sharpen the pencil in the bore, the cutting mechanism being configured to sharpen the pencil to any one of a plurality of degrees of sharpness depending on the selectable control, wherein the cutting mechanism is configured to secure the pencil inserted in the bore, automatically advance the pencil during the sharpening thereof, and then to at least partially eject the pencil after sharpening;
- whereby the automatic pencil sharpener is adapted for a pencil placed in the bore to be automatically sharpened and at least partially ejected without further manual manipulation of the pencil during sharpening and at least partial ejection.
1 more element
An automatic pencil sharpener, comprising:
- a housing defining a bore configured to receive a pencil therein;
- a cutting mechanism disposed in the housing and adapted to sharpen the pencil in the bore, wherein the cutting mechanism is configured to secure the pencil inserted in the bore, automatically advance the pencil during the sharpening thereof, and then to at least partially eject the pencil after sharpening;
- a sensor positioned proximate the bore to detect a portion of a person's body;
- a controller in communication with the sensor and the cutting mechanism, wherein when the sensor determines a portion of a person's body is touching a portion of the housing proximate to the bore, the controller stops the cutting mechanism to prevent injury;
- whereby the automatic pencil sharpener is adapted for a pencil placed in the bore to be automatically sharpened and at least partially ejected without further manual manipulation thereof.
2 more elements
A method of automatically sharpening a pencil, comprising:
- providing a housing defining a bore adapted to receive the pencil for automatic sharpening;
- selecting a degree of sharpness to which to sharpen the pencil;
- inserting the pencil into the bore;
- automatically advancing the pencil without requiring manual manipulation to sharpen the pencil;
- automatically sharpening the pencil to one of a plurality of degrees of sharpness;
- automatically at least partially ejecting the pencil after the completion of the sharpening operation.
3 more elements
A method of automatically sharpening a pencil, comprising:
- providing a housing defining a bore adapted to receive the pencil for automatic sharpening;
- and
- automatically monitoring the housing proximate the bore to detect a portion of a person's body and stopping the sharpening operation to prevent injury if the portion of the person's body is detected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.