Safety cutter with retracting guard
OwnerDale E. Jenningsinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A safety cutter with a retracting guard. The safety cutter has a blade permanently held to the blade handle. The blade has a point which extends beyond the handle and is surrounded by a retracting guard. When enabled, the guard retracts into the handle when the guard is pressed against an object to be cut, thereby exposing the point of the blade. The safety cutter is made so that it may be operated either by a right handed person or a left handed person. A button override is also provided on each side of the handle so that the guard can be retracted by pressing only one of the buttons. Preferably, a portion of the override can be removed so that the guard can only be released by pushing the push button.
Claims15
A safety cutter (10) with a retracting guard (18) comprising:
- a cutter body (9) having a handle (11) with a front edge (26), a hand-contacting outer surface (12), said cutter body (9) having a right-hand-thumb contacting side (13) and a left-hand-thumb contacting side (14);
- a blade (20) held to said cutter body (9) and having a point portion (19) extending outwardly with respect to said front edge (26);
- a guard (18) held by said cutter body (9), said guard (18) having an outer face (21), a wall (23) extending inwardly from said outer face (21), said guard (18) being movable between a safety extended position and a retracted cutting position and which wall (23) of said guard (18) surrounds said point portion (19) when in its safety, extended position and which guard (18) retracts to expose said point portion (19) when in its retracted cutting position and said guard (18) being biased outwardly to urge said guard (18) into its safety extended position;
- a right hand (16) and a left hand (31) button held by said cutter body (9), one operable on said right-hand-thumb contacting side (13) and the other operable on said left-hand-thumb contacting side (14), said right hand (16) and left hand (31) buttons having a normal position wherein the guard (18) can not be retracted and an operated position wherein the guard (18) can be retracted;
- and
- means for overriding at least one of said right hand (16) and said left hand (31) buttons so that the guard (18) can be retracted when the other of said right hand (16) and left hand (31) buttons is operated.
A safety cutter (10) with a retracting guard (18) comprising:
- a cutter body (9) having a hollow handle (11) with a front edge (26), a hand-contacting outer surface (12), said cutter body (9) having a right-hand-thumb contacting side (13) and a left-hand-thumb contacting side (14);
- a blade (20) permanently held to said cutter body (9) within said hollow handle (11) and said blade (20) having a point portion (19) extending outwardly with respect to said front edge (26);
- a guard (18) telescopically held by said cutter body (9), said guard (18) having an outer face (21), a wall (23) extending inwardly from said outer face (21), said guard (18) being movable between a safety extended position and a retracted cutting position and which wall (23) of said guard (18) surrounds said point portion (19) when in its safety, extended position and which guard (18) retracts to expose said point portion (19) when in its retracted cutting position and said guard (18) being biased outwardly to urge said guard (18) into its safety extended position and said guard (18) and said cutter body (9) having lock-out means to prevention the retraction of the guard (18);
- a right hand (16) and a left hand (31) push button held by said cutter body (9), one extending from said right-hand-thumb contacting side (13) and the other from said left-hand-thumb contacting side (14), said right hand (16) and left hand (31) push buttons having a normal position wherein the guard (18) can not be retracted and a depressed position wherein said lock-out means is disabled and the guard (18) can be retracted;
- and
- means for overriding at least one of said right hand (16) and said left hand (31) push buttons so that the guard (18) can be retracted when the other of said right hand (16) and left hand (31) push buttons is depressed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.