Utility knife having improved blade carrier structure and method of manufacture thereof

Abstract

A utility knife and various manufacturing methods for the utility knife. In one embodiment, the utility knife includes: (1) a body having a cutting face and (2) a blade-holding slide mounted for linear movement within the body and having a knife-holding head extendable through an opening in the cutting face. The opening has aparallel opposing sides that diverge toward a cutting direction of the utility knife. The knife-holding head has corresponding aparallel opposing sides that cooperate with the sides of the opening to cause a cutting force exerted on the knife-holding head to wedge the blade-holding slide within the opening and thereby stiffen the knife-holding head with respect to the body during operation of the utility knife. In one embodiment of the present invention, the blade-holding slide resiliently urges the knife-holding head to unwedge when the cutting force is removed therefrom.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.