Folding knife with safety locking feature

A foldable knife comprising:

• a handle having a longitudinal recess and an opening perpendicular to said recess and communicating therewith;
• a blade having a cutting edge at the front end and a tang at the rear end, said tang having first and second camming surfaces, and said blade including a pair of keyways defined therein;
• means for securing said blade to said handle for pivotal movement between a closed position wherein the cutting edge is received in the recess and an open position wherein the cutting edge is exposed;
• a resilient elongated spring member secured at one end within said handle and carrying a transverse finger at its opposite end for receipt in one of said keyways to lock the blade in said closed position and for receipt in the other of said keyways to lock the blade in said open position;
• a bar spring secured at one end to the handle in the recess, the free end of the bar spring being adjacent the first camming surface in the open position and the second camming surface in the closed position, said bar spring having a hole therein generally aligned with said opening in said handle;
• and
• a mechanism secured in said opening and extending through said hole, said mechanism comprising a slidable means disposed in abutment with said spring member, means for moving said mechanism between a blade locking position wherein said finger is disposed in one of said keyways for preventing pivotal movement of said blade between its closed and open positions, and a release position wherein said spring member is resiliently deformed to carry said finger to a position sufficiently remote from said blade keyways to permit pivotal movement of the blade between its closed and open positions;
• said spring member including a shoulder substantially intermediate its opposite ends for abutment with said slidable means.

A foldable knife comprising:

• a handle having a longitudinal recess and an opening perpendicular to said recess and communicating therewith;
• a blade having a cutting edge at the front end and a tang at the rear end, said tang having first and second camming surfaces, and said blade including a pair of keyways defined therein;
• means for securing said blade to said handle for pivotal movement between a closed position wherein the cutting edge is received in the recess and an open position wherein the cutting edge is exposed;
• a resilient elongated spring member secured at one end within said handle and carrying a transverse finger at its opposite end for receipt in one of said keyways to lock the blade in said closed position and for receipt in the other of said keyways to lock the blade in said open position;
• a bar spring secured at one end to the handle in the recess, the free end of the bar spring being adjacent the first camming surface in the open position and the second camming surface in the closed position, said bar spring having a hole therein generally aligned with said opening in said handle;
• and
• a mechanism secured in said opening and extending through said hole, said mechanism comprising a slidable means disposed in abutment with said spring member, means for moving said mechanism between a blade locking position wherein said finger is disposed in one of said keyways for preventing pivotal movement of said blade between its closed and open positions, and a release position wherein said spring member is resiliently deformed to carry said finger to a position sufficiently remote from said blade keyways to permit pivotal movement of the blade between its closed and open positions;
• said slidable means having an enlarged portion and a reduced portion, said reduced portion being disposed in said bar spring hole and having a diameter sufficiently smaller than the diameter of said hole for accommodating limited movement of said bar spring under the urgency of said blade tang in moving said blade between its closed and open positions.