Hand tool comprising a handle and removable blade

Abstract

A home decorator's tool set designed specifically for the average amateur handyman and not for the professional, comprises a single plastic handle and a variety of alternative blades. Each blade can be inserted into a channel at one end of the handle, until a cantilever-mounted spigot member snaps into an aperture in the blade stem. The spigot and cantilever lie in a through-aperture in the handle and wholly within an imaginary envelope defined by the exterior of the handle. The blade is held firmly, not loosely, and yet can be readily removed for replacement by a finger release projection on the end of the cantilever member to depress the spigot out of the blade aperture and then pulling the blade out.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 373,496, filed June 25, 1973, now abandoned.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a hand tool comprising a handle and a removable blade. A particular application of the invention is to such a hand tool where the blade is one of a plurality of blades which are inter-changeable, to form a multi-purpose hand tool for use by the amateur "handyman" for home decoration.

Whilst the professional home decorator will almost invariably require each of his tools to be complete in itself, the amateur who is concerned only with decorating his home once in a while might prefer a multi-purpose hand tool on account of a saving in cost and a saving in storage space. However, he would wish the tool to be robust and would not be prepared to over-compromise on suitability for the various jobs involved in decorating the home, merely for the sake of the above-mentioned savings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a hand tool comprising a handle and a blade, the handle being in one piece of moulded material and having firstly a channel to receive the blade and secondly a part which is adapted to interlock positively with the blade so as to retain the blade and which is at least partly resilient so that it can be forced out of interlock with the blade for removal of the blade.

Preferably the said part of the handle comprises a spigot and a resilient cantilever from which the spigot extends, the blade having an aperture or cut-out therein through which the spigot extends. Preferably, the cantilever engages one side of the blade so as to bias an opposite side of the blade against one or more channel-defining portions of the handle.

Preferably the handle is elongate and the channel extends part-way along the handle from one end thereof.

Preferably the handle comprises a body having opposite side surfaces between which there extends a through-cavity in which said at least partly resilient part is wholly confined without projecting beyond either of the opposite side surfaces.

Preferably the blade is one of a plurality of blades which are inter-changeable and are of different shapes for performing respective functions and which are each attachable to the handle in a substantially identical manner.

The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a handle of a hand tool forming a preferred embodiment of the invention from one side of the handle;

FIG. 2 is an underneath plan view of the handle of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3--3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 4--4 in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are plan views of three different blades for fitting to the handle of FIGS. 1 to 4;

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 are respectively a plan view, a side elevation and an end elevation of a fourth blade for fitting to the handle of FIGS. 1 to 4; and

FIG. 11 is an enlarged side elevation of a guard, shown in phantom in FIGS. 8 and 9, for the blade of FIGS. 8, 9 and 10.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, the handle 20 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 is in one piece of moulded plastics material. The handle 20 has a channel 21 to receive any one of the blades 22 to 25 illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 10. The handle 20 also has a spigot 26 and a resilient cantilever 27 from which the spigot 26 extends as shown, to interlock positively with the blade by extension of the spigot 26 through an aperture or cut-out 28 in the blade. Due to the resilience of the cantilever 27, the spigot 26 can be forced out of the aperture or cut-out 28, and hence out of interlock with the blade, by depressing the finger release projection 29 on the end of cantilever 27 for removal of the blade. When the blade is inserted, it initially engages the canted surface of spigot 26 to deflect the spigot until the blade has been inserted sufficiently far along the channel 21 for the aperture or cut-out 28 to come into register with the spigot 26, whereupon the cantilever 27 snaps the spigot 26 into the aperture or cut-out 28. To hold the blade firmly in position, the cantilever 27 engages one side of the blade so as to bias an opposite side of the blade against two inwardly projecting handle parts 30 which partly define the channel 21.

The handle 20 is elongate, as shown, the channel 21 extending part-way along the handle from one end 31 of the handle to an end face 32.

The handle 20 comprises a body 33 having opposite side surfaces 34 and 35, between which there extends a through-cavity 36 in which the spigot 26 and cantilever 27 are wholly confined without projecting beyond either of the side surfaces 34 and 35, as shown in FIG. 3.

Each of the blades 22 to 25 is formed of sheet metal and has an identical stem 37 in which the aperture or cut-out 28 is formed and which is dimensioned to fit the channel 21. In other respects, each of the blades 22 to 25 is of generally conventional form. FIGS. 8, 9 and 11 illustrate a guard 38 which can be fitted over the teeth 39 of the blade 25.

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modifications, adaptations, and variations of the foregoing specific disclosure can be made without departing from the teachings of the present invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. A hand tool comprising a handle and a removable blade, the handle being in one piece of moulded material and having firstly a channel extending part-way along the handle from one end thereof to receive the blade and secondly a part which is adapted to interlock positively with the blade so as to retain the blade and which is at least partly resilient so that it can be forced out of interlock with the blade for removal of the blade, the said part of the handle comprising a spigot and a resilient cantilever from which the spigot extends, the blade having a cut-out therein through which the spigot extends, the cantilever extending part-way along the handle from near said one end thereof, where the cantilever is joined to the body of the handle, toward the other end of the handle.

2. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the cantilever engages one side of the blade so as to bias an opposite side of the blade against one or more channel-defining portions of the handle.

3. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the cantilever is provided with a finger release projection at its free end.

4. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the handle comprises a body having opposite side surfaces between which there extends a through-cavity in which said at least partly resilient part is wholly confined without projecting beyond either of the opposite side surfaces.

5. A hand tool as defined in claim 1 wherein the hand tool is a multi-purpose hand tool and the blade is one of a plurality of blades which have identical stem portions so as to be inter-changeably attachable to the handle and have functional portions of different shapes for performing different functions.