Scraper hand tool
OwnerDonald Gringerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved scraper hand tool includes upper and lower housing members defining a hollow casing and an operating member axially movable therein to carry a blade between a first interior storage position, a second cutting edge protracted position, and a third blade removal and insertion position. The operating member presents a full beam suspension design wherein a central thumb operating portion projects through a slot in the casing for operative manipulation by a user. Locking detents in the housing interior cooperate with laterally-extending arms on the movable operating member to assure positive positional locking of the blade in each of its respective positions.
Claims14
An improved scraper hand tool for use with a blade having a cutting edge, comprising:
- an elongated hollow casing having an elongated slot axially defined in one wall thereof and an open mouth at the forward end of the casing;
- an integral operating member of resilient material disposed for axial movement within said casing and comprising an axially elongated body clamp means on the forward end of said body for releasably receiving a blade, a thumb-controlled actuating portion disposed substantially centrally along said body, and a pair of arms extending laterally outward from and beyond the elongated body at said actuating portion;
- the axially forward and rearward ends of said body, and said actuating portion and lateral arms, being biased in respectively opposite directions toward opposite interior walls of the hollow casing in a full beam suspension arrangement in which both of said ends of said body are supported, and said lateral arms are urged into positive engagement with said opposite interior walls and said actuating portion is urged into projecting relation through said casing slot for manipulative access by a user's thumb in effecting selective axial movement of said operating member;
- said operating member being axially movable in a channel in one of said interior walls between a first position in which a blade carried by said clamp means is protectively disposed fully within said hollow casing, and a second position in which the blade is maintained in operative position with its cutting edge projecting from said casing;
- and
- lateral lock means for each of said lateral arms for releasably securing said full beam suspension operating member in said second position, each of said lateral lock means comprising detent means cooperative with an opening for releasably locking said lateral arms to said interior casing wall in a positive engagement, said opening and detent means being automatically engaged as said full beam suspension operating member is moved to said second position and being disengagable through inwardly directed thumb-applied force on said actuating portion to thereby urge said lateral arms out of said positive engagement with said interior casing wall and enable axial movement of said full beam suspension operating member from said second position while enabling said full beam suspension arrangement to be maintained;
- whereby substantial rigidity may be maintained throughout said axial movement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.