Garden tool expanding assembly
OwnerRoque P. Garciainventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tool expanding assembly serves to greatly increase the usefulness and versatility of preexisting long-handled tools by providing a specially configured interconnecting approach which allows rapid attachment of various tool head types to the unmodified basic tool. The resulting combined tool may be rapidly reconfigured as needed, and allows the use of a wide range of tool types in groups of two, including the basic tool type and any one other of a variety of alternate tool head types. A two section tool expanding assembly is disclosed via a number of preferred embodiments, and both round and square variants of the alternate tool head interconnecting sections are presented.
Claims19
A garden tool expanding assembly for providing a quick interconnect capability of the shaped shaft of an alternate tool head to the handle of a mother tool, comprising:
- (a) a first open-sided cylindrical quick-connect member for attaching to said mother tool handle;
- (b) a second uniformly cross-sectioned tubular quick-connect member for accepting said alternate tool head shaped shaft;
- (c) said first member having at least one fastening means for circumferentially retaining said open-sided cylindrical member around said handle, and said second member cooperating with said shaped shaft to provide at lest one spring loaded locking means for longitudinally retaining said shaped shaft within said tubular member;
- (d) said first and second members rigidly connected along a longitudinal axis with the open-sided portion of said first member circumferentially displaced from said axis;
- and
- (e) whereby said tool expanding assembly allows readily interchangeable use of the mother tool type and any one of a variety of alternate tool head types affixed to a suitably shaped shaft.
A method of rapidly expanding the utility of an existing garden tool by providing rapidly insertable alternate tool heads into a coupling device which is in turn rapidly affixed to the garden tool handle, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a two section coupling device for rapid attachment to a handle of the existing tool by a first section, and for rapidly accepting alternate tool head types by a second section;
- (b) providing an open sided cylindrical member for fitting around said handle as said first section, said open-sided cylindrical member having at least one fastening means for circumferentially restraining said handle/member pair under compression;
- (c) providing an elongated tubular member for accepting shaped shafts carrying alternate tool head types as said second section, said elongated tubular member cooperating with said shaped shaft to provide at least one spring loaded locking means for longitudinally retaining such shaped shaft within said tubular member;
- (d) permanently connecting said open sided cylindrical member and said elongated tubular member along a longitudinal axis;
- and
- (e) thereby permitting ready access to a plurality of tool types in groups of two, including the mother tool type and any other one of a variety of alternate tool head types.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.