U.S. patent application number 15/488461 was filed with the patent office on 2018-10-18 for nail clipper.
The applicant listed for this patent is Shiping Zhang. Invention is credited to Shiping Zhang.
Application Number | 20180295966 15/488461 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 63791199 |
Filed Date | 2018-10-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180295966 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Zhang; Shiping |
October 18, 2018 |
Nail Clipper
Abstract
A nail clipper includes a cutting jaw with a tongue as a
mechanism to prevent nail clippings from flying away and a cutting
board with a safety guide as a safety mechanism to prevent
accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh. The tooth edge of the
cutting tooth and the cutting board may either be both vertically
curved with a matching curvature to better fit the curvature of the
naturally curved nails or be both straight (as opposed to curved).
A variation of the nail clipper has the cutting board being
replaced with another identical cutting jaw with a tongue to just
make use of the tongues for grabbing nail clippings.
Inventors: |
Zhang; Shiping; (Hockessin,
DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Zhang; Shiping |
Hockessin |
DE |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
63791199 |
Appl. No.: |
15/488461 |
Filed: |
April 15, 2017 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45D 2029/026 20130101;
A45D 29/023 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A45D 29/02 20060101
A45D029/02 |
Claims
1. A nail clipper comprising: having a cutting jaw 1 with a tongue
3 that prevents nail clippings from flying away; having a cutting
board 5 with a safety guide 6 and optional safety guides 9 that
shields finger/toe fresh from the cutting jaw 1 and prevents said
clipper from accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh.
2. A cutting jaw 1 according to claim 1, wherein said jaw 1 has a
tongue 3 attached that will grab nail clippings by holding them
against a cutting board 5 or a tongue 3 of the opposite cutting jaw
1.
3. A tongue 3 according to claims 1 and 2, wherein said tongue 3 is
attached to the cutting jaw 1 and will prevent nail clippings from
flying away by holding them against the cutting board 5 or another
tongue 3 of the opposite cutting jaw 1.
4. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein said cutting
board 5 has a safety guide 6 at front and optional safety guides 8
on sides, and when inserted into the groove between the nail and
fresh of a finger or toe during nail cutting, said cutting board 5
shields the finger/toe fresh from the cutting jaw 1 and prevents
said clipper from accidental cuts into the finger/toe flesh.
5. A safety guide 6 according to claim 4, wherein said safety guide
6 is an extension from the cutting line (7, 13, 14, 15) where the
cutting tooth 2 touches the cutting board 5 when clamped and can
prevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh. The extension 6 can
be made in various lengths to meet various needs for nail
length.
6. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein there is a
groove 13 at the line where the tooth 2 touches the cutting board
5.
7. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein there is a
groove with a tiny tooth 14 at the line where the edge 4 of the
cutting tooth 2 touches the cutting board 5.
8. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein there is a tiny
tooth 15 at the line where the edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2
touches the cutting board 5.
9. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein the cutting
board 5 is vertically curved downward, with a matching curved tooth
edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2, (FIG. 6A), to more or less fit the
curvature of a cross section of a nail.
10. A cutting board according to claim 1, wherein the top surface
of the cutting board 5 is flat with a matching straight tooth edge
4 of the cutting tooth 2 (FIG. 6B).
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] A nail clipper of the current type with opposing cutting
teeth lacks a safety mechanism to prevent accidental cuts into
finger/toe flesh and it also lacks a mechanism to prevent nail
clippings (the part of a nail that gets clipped off) from flying
away. Because of lack of a safety mechanism, one has to be
extremely careful and watch out closely when one is cutting
finger/toe nails with a nail clipper of the current type,
especially when parents are cutting finger/toe nails of their young
kids. It can also be a challenge for people who can not bend
easily, for example, senior people, to cut their toe nails with a
nail clipper of the current type. A nail clipper of the present
invention will solve such issues.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A nail clipper of the present invention has both a safety
mechanism to prevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh and a
mechanism to prevent nail clippings from flying away. The said
clipper includes a cutting jaw with a tongue and a cutting board
with a safety guide, in addition to other parts (either essential
or optional) present in a nail clipper of the current type, for
example, a nail file. The tooth edge and the cutting board of the
said clipper may be flat (as opposed to curved) or may be
vertically curved with a matching curvature to better fit the
curvature of naturally curved nails. The said clipper will make it
not just safe, but also easier and convenient for people to cut
nails. A variation of the said clipper has the cutting board
replaced with an identical cutting jaw with a tongue to make use of
the tongues for grabbing nail clippings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper
of the present invention with a jaw, a tongue and a cutting
board;
[0004] FIG. 2 shows a top-down view of a cutting board of a nail
clipper of the present invention;
[0005] FIG. 3 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a nail clipper of the present invention with a nail clipping
being held at the cutting board by a tongue;
[0006] FIG. 4A shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a variation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present
invention with a groove at the cutting site;
[0007] FIG. 4B shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a variation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present
invention with a groove at the cutting site that contains a tiny
tooth;
[0008] FIG. 4C shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a variation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present
invention with a tiny tooth at the cutting site;
[0009] FIG. 5 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a nail clipper of the present invention showing the edge of the
cutting tooth sinking into a groove of a cutting board without
touching the groove's bottom;
[0010] FIG. 6A shows a front prospective view of a variation of a
nail clipper of the present invention showing a vertically curved
tooth edge and a vertically curved cutting board;
[0011] FIG. 6B shows a front prospective view of one variation of a
nail clipper of the present invention showing a conventional
(vertically un-curved) tooth edge and a flat cutting board; and
[0012] FIG. 7 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper
comprising two jaws with tongues of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Various features of the present invention are illustrated in
the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It is
to be understood that, if not explicitly specified, the term nail
refers to both a finger nail and a toe nail. Also parts irrelevant
to the present invention, or of prior arts, may be shown in dashed
lines or omitted all together in the drawings if they can be
readily inferred from common sense or experiences by people with
adequate manufacturing or crafting skills.
[0014] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper
of the present invention. The said clipper includes a cutting jaw
1, a tongue 3 and a cutting board 5. The cutting jaw 1 has a
cutting tooth 2. The tongue 3 is attached (via whatever means
deemed appropriate) under the cutting jaw 1 and the tip edge of the
tongue 3 is flushed with (and contoured along if the tooth edge 4
is curved) the inside of the cutting tooth 2 and aligned behind the
tooth edge 4 at the same vertical level or slightly lower. The
tongue 3 is elastic with a proper spring constant and, upon an
upward push at the tip, will bend upward with a downward resistance
force at the tip. The downward resistance force will produce a
downward pressing force (see 10 in FIG. 3) at the tip of the tongue
3. The downward pressing force at the tip of the tongue 3 will
cause the tip to hold a nail clipping (see 12 in FIG. 3) at the
cutting board 5 (will be described in more details hereinafter).
The clamping mechanism 0 and how the cutting jaw 1 and the cutting
board 5 of a clipper join or are assembled (in dashed lines) are
shown only as an example and can be implemented with any means
currently in use. In fact the cutting jaw 1 and the cutting boarder
5 may be made of a continuous piece with a V or U or Y shaped fold
at the rear. When being clamped down (as during the action of nail
clipping), the tooth edge 4 will trace the path 8 and come to
contact with the cutting board 5 at the site 7. While the cutting
board 5, when inserted into the groove under a nail, will separate
the nail from the fresh (as shown in FIG. 3) and shield the fresh
from the tooth edge 4 to prevent the tooth edge 4 from cutting into
the fresh, the part 6 (termed as a safety guide hereinafter)
between the site 7 and the tip of the cutting board 5 will act as a
safety guide and provide extra safety. The safety guide 6 will also
provide a mechanism to achieve consistency of clipping results.
While the materials of a nail clipper of the present invention can
be all metal, as in the case of a nail clipper of the current type
(except for something non-functional or non-essential, such as a
plastic cover on the clamping lever for decoration purpose), other
materials, such as special plastics, if deemed appropriate, may be
used for some parts of a nail clipper of the present invention, for
example, the tongue 3 and/or the cutting board 5 as long as the
materials possess desired properties such as strength, durability
and/or flexibility. Also if desired, a nail file, as in some nail
clippers of current type, may be included (not shown).
[0015] FIG. 2 shows a top-down view of the cutting board 5 of a
nail clipper of the present invention and illustrates
possible/optional safety guides 9 at the sides of the front region
of the cutting board 5. The cutting site 7 is where the tooth edge
4 of a curved cutting tooth 2 come into contact with the cutting
board 5 when clamped down and hence is shown as a curved line.
Needless to say that the front edge of the cutting board 5 and the
line of the cutting site 7 will be straight for a straight cutting
tooth 2 (not shown). If present, the safety guides 9 may give some
extra protection against accidental cuts of finger/toe flesh. Again
the part in dashed line is only to show a possible example of the
overall shape of the cutting board 5. Many variant embodiments are
possible and can be easily achieved.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view
of a nail clipper of the present invention with a nail being
clipped. When the jaw 1 clamps down onto the cutting board 5 during
the action of nail clipping, a nail clipping 12 will push the tip
of the tongue 3 upward, which will produce a downward pressing
force 10 at the tip of the tongue 3 and cause the tip of the tongue
3 to press the nail clipping 12 against the cutting board 5 and
hold the nail clipping 12 there. The bottom surface of the tip of
the tongue 3 may be made rough (e.g. with a grid of tiny
engravings) to increase the friction between the tip of the tongue
3 and the nail clipping 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the cutting board 5
with the safety guide 6 will create a physical barrier between the
cutting tooth 2 and the fresh of a finger 11 or of a toe (not
shown) that shields the finger or toe fresh from being cut, thus
making a nail clipper of the present invention both safe and
convenient for cutting nails: one just needs to insert the cutting
board 5 under a nail to be cut till the edge of the safety guide 6
reaches the end of the groove between the nail and fresh of a
finger or a toe and makes the cut without having to watch out very
closely where the nail clipper is positioned. Also with the safety
guide 6, a nail clipper of the present invention will have a user a
consistency of clipping results in term of nail lengths. Nail
clippers of the present invention can be made to have the safety
guide 6 in different lengths to meet different needs of different
users with respect to desired nail lengths. For example, some users
may like to cut nails short and they can choose a nail clipper of
the present invention with a short safety guide 6 while others who
like to have longer nails can choose a nail clipper of the present
invention with a longer safety guide 6.
[0017] FIG. 4 shows front portions of longitudinal section views of
the cutting board 5 of the present invention and illustrates some
variations at the cutting site 7. While our daily life experiences
tell us that a flat or level surface at the cutting site 7 on the
cutting board 5 will be effective for cutting nails (for example,
in the kitchen, we usually chop things with a knife against a flat
cutting board), some variations may also be effective or have some
advantages. FIG. 4A shows a groove 13 on the top surface of the
cutting board 5 into which the edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 will
sink when the jaw 1 is clamped down onto the cutting board 5. The
groove 13 needs not be V shaped and can be in any other shapes,
such as U shaped. FIG. 4B shows a groove with a tiny tooth 14 on
the top surface of the cutting board 5. The groove with a tiny
tooth 14 can be taken as being made of two touching grooves and,
depending on the distance between and/or the shapes of the two
grooves, the edge of the tiny tooth of the groove with a tiny tooth
14 may be either at the same level of or below the top surface of
the cutting board 5. FIG. 4C shows a tiny tooth 15 that sticks out
the top surface of the cutting board 5. Needless to say that to
make the variations useful, any embodiments will have to make sure
that the tooth edge 4 is aligned in such a way that the tooth edge
4 will sink into the groove 13 or abut the edge of the tiny tooth
of the groove with a tiny tooth 14 or the edge of the tiny tooth 15
when the cutting jaw 1 is clamped down to the cutting board 5. For
variation 15, the tip of the tongue 3 may be adjusted to be
slightly below the tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 to take in
the consideration of the height of the tiny tooth 15 so there will
still be enough downward pressing force at the tip of the tongue 3
to hold nail clippings against the cutting board 5 when the tooth
edge 4 and the edge of the tiny tooth 15 abut each other.
[0018] While a cutting board 5 without variations like those shown
in FIG. 4 may be easier and less costly to manufacture, some
variations may have advantages in some other aspects. For example,
as shown in FIG. 5, the groove 13 can be made in such a way that
when the cutting tooth 2 sinks into it, the tooth edge 4 will not
touch the bottom of the groove 13. This will reduce the wear of the
tooth edge 4 and preserve its sharpness longer.
[0019] FIG. 6 shows front views of two variations of a nail clipper
of the present invention. FIG. 6A illustrates a variation whereas
the tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 and the cutting board 5 are
vertically curved to better fit the curvature of curved nails. The
curved tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 and the curved cutting
board 5 have an identical curvature and fit each other when in
contact. FIG. 6B illustrates a conventional, flat cutting board 5
and its matching cutting tooth 2 with a fitting tooth edge 4. The
cutting site 7 where the tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 meets
the cutting board 5 during nail clipping may be replaced with
variations 13, 14, or 15 shown in FIG. 4.
[0020] FIG. 7 shows a variation of a nail clipper of the present
invention. Like a nail clipper of the current type (prior art),
this variation has two cutting jaws 1, but each jaw 1 has a tongue
3. Having a tongue 3 under each cutting jaw 1 gives a nail clipper
of this variation of the present invention an advantage over a nail
clipper of the current type in that the pair of tongues 3 will grab
nail clippings during the action of nail clipping. The clamping
mechanism is omitted from the drawing and can be any thing
currently in use.
[0021] While the present invention has been described in detail,
the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples,
but can be modified and carried out in various aspects. The scope
of the present invention encompasses numerous alternatives,
modifications and equivalent and it is to be understood that the
exact shape/dimension or form/style of a nail clipper of the
present invention may vary. For example, a manufacturer may make
nail clippers of the present invention in one size for finger nails
and in another size for toe nails. Also a manufacturer may make
clippers of the present invention with various lengths of the
safety guide 6 and sell them either individually or in a set. Some
embodiments detail may be omitted where it is obvious to and/or can
be readily derived from common sense by an ordinary person with
normal intelligence. For example, with a clamping mechanism 0 used
by the current nail clippers with opposing teeth that has a pin
passing through a hole in each of the two jaws, a hole is implied
(and can be readily inferred) to be present in the jaw 1, in the
tongue 3, and in the board 5 of a nail clipper of the present
invention to accommodate the pin.
* * * * *