Power skinning knife with removable drive mechanism and high efficiency pneumatic motor

A power skinning knife comprising:

• a pair of cutting disks;
• a drive mechanism for driving the cutting disks in opposed cutting oscillations including;
• an eccentric,
• a main drive gear connected to the eccentric, and
• a pair of pushrods, one for each cutting disk, each pushrod being connected between the eccentric and its respective cutting disk;
• a pneumatic motor for driving the main drive gear having:
• a pressure manifold,
• a casing having a drive chamber, at least one drive vent for directing pressurized air into the inner drive chamber and at least one exhaust vent for directing pressurized air out of the drive chamber,
• a rotor located within the drive chamber and having a plurality of drive vanes, and
• a pressure passageway formed within the casing and connected at one end of the drive vent and at the other end to the pressure manifold to form a pneumatic air feed system which isolates the air from the rotor until it enters the drive chamber;
• and
• a housing having the drive mechanism and motor mounted therein including:
• a main body comprising a handle and first blade cover,
• a second blade cover, and
• a drive mechanism cover mounted on the main body which may be removed to provide access to the drive mechanism, the drive mechanism being mounted within the housing so as to permit removal therefrom by removing the drive mechanism cover without removing the motor,

A power skinning knife comprising:

• a pair of cutting disks;
• a drive mechanism for driving the cutting disks in opposed cutting oscillations including;
• an eccentric,
• a main drive gear connected to the eccentric, and
• a pair of pushrods, one for each cutting disk, each pushrod being connected between the eccentric and its respective cutting disk;
• a pneumatic motor for driving the main drive gear comprising:
• a pressure manifold,
• a casing having a drive chamber, at least one drive vent for direction pressurized air into the drive chamber and at least one exhaust vent for directing pressurized air out of the drive chamber,
• a rotor located within the drive chamber and having a rotor shaft mounted in a rotor bearing and a plurality of drive vanes,
• the rotor shaft being slidingly fitted within an inner race of the rotor bearing to permit hand removal therefrom for disassembly, and
• a means for preventing slippage mounted on the rotor shaft in contact with the rotor bearing and the rotor shaft to prevent slippage therebetween;
• and
• a housing having the drive mechanism and motor mounted therein including:
• a main body comprising a handle and first blade cover,
• a second blade cover, and
• a drive mechanism cover mounted on the main body which may be removed to provide access to the drive mechanism, the drive mechanism being mounted within the housing so as to permit removal therefrom by removing the drive mechanism cover without removing the motor,

A pneumatic motor adapted for mounting in the handle of a hand held cutting tool comprising:

• a pressure manifold;
• a casing having a drive chamber, at least one drive vent for directing pressurized air into the inner drive chamber and at least one exhaust vent for directing pressurized air out of the drive chamber;
• a rotor located within the drive chamber and having a plurality of drive vanes;
• and
• a pressure passageway formed within the casing and connected at one end to the drive vent and at the other end to the pressure manifold to form a pneumatic air feed system which isolates the air from the rotor until its enters the drive chamber.