US 7,743,509 B2Granted

Ratcheting hand tool with easily replaceable cutting blade

AssigneeEmerson Electric Co.

InventorsSteven M. Macsay, Brian M. Adkins

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Abstract

A hand-held and hand-operated cutting tool particularly well suited for cleanly and quickly cutting plastic pipe or tubing, rubber hose, or the like is provided. The tool has a blade which is easily manually removed from and replaced into the cutting tool without the use of additional tools. The blade is slid into the tool and then rotated slightly into an initial operating or loaded position whereat a blade pivot pin may be inserted into the tool and through a hole provided in the blade. During use, the blade is rotatable in increments or steps from a retracted position in which it is substantially enclosed within the tool housing to a cut off position in which it cooperates with a stationary cradle anvil so as to sever the article to be cut. A ratchet drive interconnects a movable handle and the blade so as to incrementally drive the blade towards its cut off position upon manipulation of the handle. Upon severing of the article, the blade is readily returned to its retracted position by, for example, spreading apart the tool handles.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A ratchet cutting tool comprising:

a first handle member defining a first hand grip portion on a first end and a workpiece cradle portion on the second opposite end;
a pin member selectively carried on the first handle member;
a second handle member defining a second hand grip portion on a first end and being pivotably connected on a second end thereof with the first handle member;
a blade sleeve member carried on the first handle member and biased to a first position relative to the first handle member;
a drive pawl carried on the second handle member;
and,
a cutter blade including:
a flat main body member defining an outer edge;
a cutting edge defined by a cutting portion of the outer edge;
a plurality of spaced apart teeth defined by a toothed portion of the outer edge, the plurality of teeth being configured to selectively engage the drive pawl of the cutting tool;
a slot defined by a slot portion of the outer edge, the slot portion being configured to selectively receive the blade sleeve member when the cutter blade is installed into the first handle member;
an attachment portion on the main body member, the attachment portion being configured to selectively couple with the pin member for supporting relative rotational motion between the cutter blade and the cutting tool;
the ratchet cutting tool further comprising a locating pin member on the first handle member and wherein said cutter blade further includes:
a notch defined by a notch portion of the outer edge, the notch being configured to engage said locating pin member on the first handle member for rotating the cutter blade about the locating pin member in a first arc during a loading of the cutter blade into the ratchet cutting tool.

11 more elements

A cutter blade detachably mountable to an associated cutting tool including a first handle member defining a first hand grip portion on a first end and a workpiece cradle portion on the second opposite end, a pin member selectively carried on the first handle member, a second handle member by the pin member defining a second hand grip portion on a first end and being pivotably connected on a second end thereof with the first handle member, a blade sleeve member carried on the first handle member and biased to a first position relative to the first handle member, the blade sleeve member being rotatable about the pin and having a center of rotation coincident with the axis of rotation of the blade, and a drive pawl carried on the second handle member, the cutter blade comprising:

a flat main body member defining an outer edge;
a cutting edge defined by a cutting portion of the outer edge;
a plurality of spaced apart teeth defined by a toothed portion of the outer edge, the plurality of teeth being configured to selectively engage the drive pawl of the cutting tool;
a slot defined by a slot portion of the outer edge, the slot portion being configured to selectively receive the blade sleeve member when the cutter blade is installed into the first handle member;
and,
an attachment portion on the main body member, the attachment portion being configured to selectively couple with the pin member for supporting relative rotational motion between the cutter blade and the cutting tool;
the cutter blade further including:
a notch defined by a notch portion of the outer edge, the notch being configured to engage a locating pin member on the associated first handle member for rotating the cutter blade about the locating pin member in a first arc during a loading of the cutter blade into the associated cutting tool.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.