U.S. patent application number 10/744712 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-09 for holster for hand tool.
This patent application is currently assigned to MARTOR-ARGENTAX E.H. Beermann KG. Invention is credited to Berns, Harald.
Application Number | 20040173650 10/744712 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32115608 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040173650 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Berns, Harald |
September 9, 2004 |
Holster for hand tool
Abstract
A holster for a hand tool has an annular upper collar defining
an upwardly open mouth, a clip for securing the collar to an
article of clothing of a user and a floor spaced below the collar.
A front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side walls extend
vertically between and are connected to the collar and the floor
and define therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving spaced closed
downwardly by the floor. One of the walls is elastically deformable
and has an inwardly projecting bump engageable with a tool in the
space.
Inventors: |
Berns, Harald; (Wuppertal,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE FIRM OF KARL F ROSS
5676 RIVERDALE AVENUE
PO BOX 900
RIVERDALE (BRONX)
NY
10471-0900
US
|
Assignee: |
MARTOR-ARGENTAX E.H. Beermann
KG
|
Family ID: |
32115608 |
Appl. No.: |
10/744712 |
Filed: |
December 23, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
224/269 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B26B 29/025 20130101;
A45F 2200/0575 20130101; A45F 5/021 20130101; A45F 5/00 20130101;
B25H 3/006 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
224/269 |
International
Class: |
A45F 005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 13, 2003 |
DE |
10306191.6 |
Claims
I claim:
1. A holster for a hand tool, the holster comprising: an annular
upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth; a clip for securing
the collar to an article of clothing of a user; a floor spaced
below the collar; a front wall, a back wall, and a pair of side
walls extending vertically between and connected to the collar and
the floor and defining therewith an upwardly open tool-receiving
spaced closed downwardly by the floor, one of the walls being
elastically deformable and having an inwardly projecting bump
engageable with a tool in the space.
2. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the walls define and
are separated by throughgoing slots extending vertically from the
floor to the collar.
3. The tool holster defined in claim 2 wherein the one wall is the
front wall, whereby the bump presses the tool against the back
wall.
4. The tool holster defined in claim 3 wherein the side walls are
also each formed with an inwardly directed bump and are elastically
deflectable to grip a tool in the space between their bumps.
5. The tool holster defined in claim 4 wherein all the walls are
unitarily formed with the collar and floor.
6. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the rear wall is
somewhat stiffer than the front and side walls.
7. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the collar is
provided with an outwardly projecting annular stiffening rim.
8. The tool holster defined in claim 1 wherein the floor is
generally rectangular.
9. A holster for a hand tool, the holster comprising: a generally
rectangular annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth; a
clip for securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user; a
generally rectangular floor spaced below the collar; a front wall,
a back wall, and a pair of side walls extending generally parallel
to each other and vertically between and connected to the collar
and the floor and defining therewith an upwardly open
tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor, the walls
being unitarily formed with the collar and floor, one of the walls
being elastically deformable and having an inwardly projecting bump
engageable with a tool in the space, the walls defining a plurality
of vertically extending corner slots extending from the floor to a
lower edge of the collar.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a holster for a hand tool.
More particularly this invention concerns such a holster
particularly adapted to hold a razor-type utility knife.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A standard holster or sheath for a knife as described in
U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,825 has a pair of leaf springs that are
fastened to the front and back walls of the sheath and that are
convex toward each other so as to grip the blade of a knife
inserted into the sheath. Thus the knife will be gripped by the
sheath and will not fall readily out of the sheath.
[0003] In U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,776 another sheath is shown which is
particularly adapted to fit with a knife. It has a U-shaped leaf
spring with one leg that fits with a recess on the knife and
another leg that serves as a clip for attaching the sheath to a
boot or the like. This sheath is designed to fit with a
particularly designed knife.
[0004] While both of these systems are effective for their intended
purposes, neither is adaptable for use with different tools. In
particular it is impossible to use either of them with a standard
razor-type utility knife such as described in my U.S. Pat. Nos.
6,233,832 or 6,148,520. Although standard sheaths are provided for
such utility knives, they invariably are not able to hold the knife
securely enough to prevent it from falling out if, for instance,
the sheath is inverted. Furthermore the known sheaths are typically
either designed for a single knife and cannot readily accommodate
another, or are made big enough for any knife, in which case the
looseness problem is even worse.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0005] It is therefore an object of the present invention to
provide an improved sheath or holster for a tool.
[0006] Another object is the provision of such an improved sheath
or holster for a tool which overcomes the above-given
disadvantages, that is which can firmly hold all types of utility
knives.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] A holster for a hand tool has according to the invention an
annular upper collar defining an upwardly open mouth, a clip for
securing the collar to an article of clothing of a user and a floor
spaced below the collar. A front wall, a back wall, and a pair of
side walls extend vertically between and are connected to the
collar and the floor and define therewith an upwardly open
tool-receiving spaced closed downwardly by the floor. One of the
walls is elastically deformable and has an inwardly projecting bump
engageable with a tool in the space.
[0008] The holster according to the invention is of extremely
simple construction yet can hold tools of different dimensions. The
fact that at least one entire wall is formed as a leaf spring gives
the holster the ability to hold tools of a wide range of
thicknesses. Thus the holster can, for example, be set up for use
with virtually any utility knife so that a user does not need to
buy a new holster when changing utility knives.
[0009] In accordance with the invention the walls define and are
separated by throughgoing slots extending vertically from the floor
to the collar. In addition the one wall is the front wall so that
the bump presses the tool against the back wall. More particularly
according to the invention the side walls are also each formed with
an inwardly directed bump and are elastically deflectable to grip a
tool in the space between their bumps. The back wall may also be
shaped with a bump so that it also has gripping action, although
for stability purposes the back wall is normally made stiffer than
the front and side walls. With several deflectable walls, the range
of sizes that the holster can accommodate is increased
substantially.
[0010] All the walls are unitarily formed with the collar and floor
of a durable but flexible synthetic resin, e.g. polypropylene and
are all of substantially the same wall thickness. The collar is
provided with an outwardly projecting annular stiffening rim and
the floor is generally rectangular.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0011] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will
become more readily apparent from the following description,
reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:
[0012] FIGS. 1 and 2 are front and back perspective views of the
holster according to the invention;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a side view of the holster;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a section taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;
and
[0015] FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing use of the
holster in accordance with the invention.
SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION
[0016] As seen in FIGS. 1-4 a holster 10 according to the invention
is of generally parallepipedal shape and has a normally vertical
back wall 13 having a lower part 12, an upper part 16, and an inner
face 14 defining a rear surface of a tool-holding space 15. A clip
17 as described in German patent document 196 49 040 filed 27 Nov.
1996 by H. Berns has upper and lower parts 18 on the upper part 16
of the back wall 13 and a separate slide part 19 that fits with
them to secure the holster 10 to a belt.
[0017] At its upper end the holster has an outwardly projecting
annular and generally planar stiffening rim 22 defining a mouth 23
and therebelow an annular collar 24. Projecting downward from the
collar 24 toward a floor 25 are two identical side walls 26 and 28
and a front wall 27, all three formed with an inwardly projecting
convex bump 29. The walls 26, 27 and 28 have upper ends 34
connected to the collar 24 and lower ends 33 that connect to the
floor 25. The rear wall 13 is also formed with an inwardly
projecting V-shaped bump 29 also. All parts except the clip 19 of
the holster 10 are formed unitarily of a durable synthetic resin,
e.g. polypropylene, that has some elasticity as will be described
below. The walls 13, 26, 27, and 28 form corner slots 35 that
extend all the way from an upper surface 31 of the floor 25 to a
lower edge of th collar 24.
[0018] According to the invention as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 a razor
knife M having a lower end 30 and a laterally open recess 32 can be
pushed down in direction x through the mouth 23 into the space 15.
About when its end 30 engages the upper face 31 of the floor 25,
the recess 32 will be level with the bump 29 of one of the side
walls 26 and 28. Thus the knife M will be gripped from side to side
between the bumps 29 of the side walls 26 and 28, one of which will
also fit in the recess 32 to prevent it from falling out. At the
same time the bump 29 of the front wall 27 will press the knife
against the front face 14 of the rear wall 13. The knife M will be
firmly held, yet can still be pulled out of the sheath 10 easily in
direction y.
* * * * *