Abrading Device For Attachment To Electric Knife Drive

Abstract

A portable power-driven abrading or scouring device has two arms adapted to be connected at one end to power means for reciprocating at least one of the arms with respect to the other, the arms having at their outer ends a pair of spaced pivot means, preferably in the form of balls. The pivot means are spaced laterally and are connected to an abrasive holder. When the pivot means are balls, the abrasive holder preferably is a block with sockets in which the balls are seated, to provide, within limits, two degrees of freedom.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention has particular though not exclusive application to portable devices, corded and cordless, of the character of electric carving knives in which two blades, held parallel with one another, are reciprocated with respect to one another by an electric motor.

Scouring pots and pans, sinks, ovens, and other cooking appliances and appurtenances is a time-consuming and onerous task. In industrial practice, buffing wheels, sanders, and the like are commonly used to clean surfaces, but for the housewife, there has been little choice but to scour utensils and appliances and to buff silver manually with abrasives ranging from steel wool, through sand paper, to rouge, all of which are abrasives of sorts, and are embraced within the term "abrading elements" as used in this application.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a portable, easily used and efficient abrading device, particularly, but not exclusively, for homemakers.

Another object is to provide such a device which is inexpensive, and may be made in a form readily adapted to use with existing power sources.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective, with a power source shown fragmentarily in broken lines, of one illustrative embodiment of device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view in side elevation of the device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of one arm of the device shown in FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the arm shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of an abrasive holding block part of the device shown in FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the abrasive holding block shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view in side elevation of the abrasive holding block shown in FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 9--9 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a view in side elevation of an abrasive mounting pin;

FIG. 11 is a view in end elevation along the line 11--11 of the pin shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a view in side elevation of a mounting clip;

FIG. 13 is a view in edge elevation taken along the line 13--13 of the clip shown in FIG. 12; and

FIG. 14 is a view in end elevation taken along the line 14-- 14 of the clip shown in FIG. 13.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawing for one illustrative embodiment of abrading device of this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates a power source which, in the embodiment shown, represents the power head of a conventional electric portable slicer in which knife blades are selectively mountable and demountable with a reciprocating driver. Typical such power heads are produced by General Electric Company and Hamilton Beach Company. The power head and driver as such form no part of this invention. However, for convenience and to some extent safety, a cordless type, such as the Hamilton Beach Model 285 cordless, for example, is preferred.

Arms 2 and 3 are, at one end 4, formed in exactly the same way as the knife blades, and are mounted to the power head 1 in exactly the same way. Each of the arms 2 and 3 has a middle section 5 which is rectangular in cross section and of somewhat greater thickness than the conventional knife blade. At an outer end 6, each of the arms 2 and 3 is bent divergently outwardly, to space the arms a greater distance than they are spaced through the middle section 5, and are twisted, so as to establish the broad surface of the arm at right angles to the same surface in the middle section 5 of the arms.

As shown particularly in FIGS. 4 and 5, and as indicated in FIG. 2, a ball 10 is brazed or welded or otherwise secured to the underside of the end 6 of each of the arms 2 and 3.

In the embodiment shown, an abrasive holding block 15 is circular in plan, of substantial thickness, and provided with sockets 20 in which the balls 10 are mounted. The balls 10 are free within the sockets 20, but are caged within them, so that they cannot be withdrawn. The block 15 can be made of plastic, with the sockets cast in it, or the sockets can be defined by inserts. While the preferred embodiment is described as having the balls caged permanently within the sockets 20, it can be seen that, by using conventional split ring or spring detent type sockets, the balls can be removed.

In the preferred embodiment, the block 15 has a plane top surface 16, through which the sockets 20 open, and midway between the sockets 20, a shallow channel 17, into which a passage 18 opens. The passage 18 opens at its other end through a concave surface 19 bounded around its perimeter by a rim 25. A multiplicity of prongs 26 project from the concave surface 19. The prongs 26 serve to hold a round scouring pad 40, which, in this embodiment constitutes the abrading element, from moving relative to the block 15. The scouring pad 40 in the illustrative embodiment is a circular, soap-filled steel wool disc about 21/2 inches in diameter and three-fourths of an inch thick, sold commercially under the trademark S.O.S. by Miles Laboratories, Inc.

The scouring pad 40 is held against the prongs 26 and the concave surface 19 by a retaining pin 50. The retaining pin 50 has a head 51, and a shank 52, with a series of annular serrations 53 on it, as shown particularly in FIG. 10.

The shank 52 extends through the passage 18, and is held in position by a spring clip 60. The spring clip 60 has a pair of arms 61 terminating in tabs 62, each of which has in it a hole 63, the holes being normally offset from one another, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 14. The pin 50 is pushed through the scouring pad 40 until the head 51 is in solid engagment with the pad, the arms 61 are squeezed toward one another until the holes 63 are aligned, and the clip is pushed down into the channel 17 as far as it will go, the legs released, and the tabs 62 allowed to spring apart, permitting a part of the hole-defining edge of each of the holes 63 to engage one of the serrations 53 of the pin.

In operation, the arms 2 and 3 are mounted in the power head in the usual way. When the power head is turned on, the arms reciprocate with respect to one another, causing the block 15 and the pad 40 to oscillate. In those power heads in which one arm remains stationary and the other arm reciprocates, the movement of the block 40 will be about an axis eccentric with respect to the block and pad. If both arms reciprocate, the motion of the block 15 and pad 40 will be substantially about an axis coincident with the pin 50. It can be seen, that if it is desired in either type, the axis of rotation of the block 15 can be made at any desired place by moving the relative positions of the sockets.

It can be seen that various other abrading elements can be used in lieu of the scouring pad 40. A chamois pad, for example, can be used for polishing silver platters and the like, while a grit covered pad can be used where harsher abrasion is desired.

While, in the preferred embodiment shown, the abrading element has been shown and described as being separable from the block 15, the abrading element may be made a permanent part of the block 15, and the block 15 made detachable from the pivot means on the arms 2 and 3. Under such circumstances, the bottom surface of the block 15 may be made flat or convex, and be either made of an abrasive material, or have an abrading element permanently secured to it. The abrasive holder can be made disposable, eliminating the need for separate abrading element mounting means.

While in the preferred embodiment, the pivot means are balls, which give, within limits, two degrees of freedom, so that the pad 40 tends to rest flat upon the surface to be abraded with minor changes in the angularity between the arms 2 and 3 and the block 15, other pivot means, including cylindrical ones, can be used. The arms may be provided with sockets, and the abrasive holder with balls or studs, or one arm can be provided with a male element, and the other a female element, with complementary elements on the block. Both male and female pivot means may be carried by either the arms or the abrasive holder, with means for connection to the other member, as by a square-shaft and socket arrangement similar to that of a common detachable head socket wrench.

The size and configuration of the arms 2 and 3 can be varied, as can the nature of the retaining means for the abrading element. Thus, other types of clips, pins, and the like, can be used.

Numerous other variations in the construction of the abrading device of this invention, within the scope of the appended claims, will occur to those skilled in the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure.

Claims

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A power driven abrading or scouring device comprising two arms adapted to be connected at one end to power means for reciprocating at least one of said arms with respect to the other, said arms being laterally spaced apart at another end and each having, at said other end, pivot means in the form of a ball, said balls being laterally spaced from one another; an abrasive holder in the form of a block having sockets complementary to said balls and in which said balls are seated whereby said block is pivotally connected to said arms, and means for mounting abrasive on said abrasive holder.

2. A power driven abrading device comprising two arms adapted to be connected at one end to power means for reciprocating at least one of said arms with respect to the other, said arms being laterally spaced apart at another end and each having, at said other end, pivot means, said pivot means being spaced laterally from one another, and an abrasive holder pivotally connected to both said pivot means, said arms pivot means being balls secured to said arms, and said abrasive holder comprising a block having sockets in which said balls are seated.

3. A power driven abrading device comprising two arms adapted to be connected at one end to power means for reciprocating at least one of said arms with respect to the other, said arms being laterally spaced apart at another end and each having, at said other end, pivot means, said pivot means being spaced laterally from one another, and an abrasive holder having means complementary to said arms pivot means whereby said abrasive holder is pivotally connected to said arms, each of said pivot means comprising one element of a ball and socket and each of said complementary pivot means comprising the other element of ball and socket.

4. An abrading or scouring device for selective mounting on and demounting from a portable power head of the type used to drive reciprocating carving blades, comprising two arms adapted to be connected at one end to said power head for reciprocating at least one of said arms in respect to the other, said arms at said end being closely spaced and parallel to one another, said arms being laterally spaced apart at a second end remote from said first end, each of said arms having at said second end pivot means laterally spaced from one another; abrasive holder means having means complementary to said arms pivot means for pivotally mounting said abrasive holder means on said arms, and abrasive mounted on said abrasive holder.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the abrasive holder is selectively mountable on and demountable from said arms.