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US 5,533,768 AGranted
Ergonomic shovel
OwnerDavid Mitchellinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A shovelling tool has a flexible portion at the base of the handle that helps prevent the risk of injury when shovelling by absorbing the initial shock when digging or by adjusting gradually to a different load when shovelling. This tool, which is preferably telescopic, is particularly useful for removing snow and ice.
Claims7
A shovel comprising:
- a blade having a front edge and a rear portion;
- a handle having a front surface, a back surface and two opposite ends, one of said ends being fastened to the rear portion of said blade, said handle having a portion adjacent to said one end which is made flexible so as to permit flexion of said handle to a given extent exclusively in a plane perpendicular to said front edge of said blade;
- wherein said portion of the handle that is flexible consists of a hollow piece of plastic material of given resiliency, having two opposite ends and two opposite sides, each of said sides having a fin extending longitudinally along said portion so as to permit flexion exclusively a plane perpendicular to said front edge of said blade, one of said ends of said hollow piece being fastened to said handle, the other one of said ends of said hollow piece being fastened to said rear portion of said blade;
- whereby, in use, when a user lifts a load with a given force and said load is greater than anticipated, said flexible portion will permit the user to adjust the force required to lift said load, thereby permitting said user to adjust smoothly to a new load and help prevent the risk of injury when lifting a load of unknown weight.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.