FOLDING KNIFE WITH CONTROLLABLE FOLDING AND UNFOLDING MECHANISM

Abstract

A folding knife may include a blade, a handle and a bearing located within the handle. In one embodiment, the bearing may include a first donut-shaped ring unit disposed adjacent to a blade through hole on one side of the blade and a second ring unit disposed adjacent to the blade through hole on the other side of the blade. A plurality of protruding units facing the blade are disposed on an outer surface of the first ring unit and second ring unit. The blade has a plurality of positioning protrusions surrounding the blade through hole on both sides of the blade corresponding to the protruding units, and the movement and position of the blade can be determined by relative positions between the positioning protrusions and the protruding units. Thus, the movement of the blade can be easily controlled and managed by the force exerted by the user.

Claims

1. A folding knife comprising a blade, a handle and a bearing located at a front end inside the handle, and the blade is pivotally connected with the handle and the bearing, wherein the bearing includes a first ring unit disposed adjacent to a blade through hole on one side of the blade and a second ring unit disposed adjacent to the blade through hole on the other side of the blade, and a plurality of protruding units facing the blade are disposed on an outer surface of the first ring unit and second ring unit, wherein the blade has a plurality of positioning protrusions surrounding the blade through hole on both sides of the blade corresponding to the protruding units, and the positioning protrusions and the protruding units are movably engaged to determined movement and position of the blade by relative position between the positioning protrusions on the blade and the protruding units on the first and second ring units.

2. The folding knife of claim 1, wherein the handle includes a first side portion, a first inner piece, a second side portion and a second inner piece, and a receiving space is created between the first inner piece and the second inner piece to receive the blade when the knife is folded.

3. The folding knife of claim 1, wherein a first protecting ring and a second protecting ring are disposed on a surface opposite to the protruding units of the first and second ring units respectively.

4. The folding knife of claim 1, wherein each of the positioning protrusions and protruding units is a hemisphere.

5. The folding knife of claim 3, wherein each of the first inner piece and the second inner piece has an inner through hole to receive corresponding protecting rings.

6. The folding knife of claim 1, wherein when the knife is folded, a force of a user is exerted to a protruding portion of the blade to drive the blade to rotate in a clockwise manner around the screws until the blade is fully extended.

7. The folding knife of claim 6, wherein the movement of the blade is controllable by the force of the user because of the movable engagement between the positioning protrusions on the blade and the protruding units on the first and second ring units.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of the folding knife in the present invention when the folding knife is fully extended.

[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the folding knife in the present invention.

[0017] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic view of the folding knife in the present invention when the blade is restored in the receiving space.

[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic view of the folding knife in the present invention when the blade is fully extended.

[0019] FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the folding knife in the present invention when the blade is restored in the receiving space.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently exemplary device provided in accordance with aspects of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be prepared or utilized. It is to be understood, rather, that the same or equivalent functions and components may be accomplished by different embodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0021] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices and materials similar or equivalent to those described can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are now described.

[0022] All publications mentioned are incorporated by reference for the purpose of describing and disclosing, for example, the designs and methodologies that are described in the publications that might be used in connection with the presently described invention. The publications listed or discussed above, below and throughout the text are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.

[0023] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes reference to the plural unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the terms “comprise or comprising”, “include or including”, “have or having”, “contain or containing” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0024] It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0025] It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present.

[0026] In order to further understand the goal, characteristics and effect of the present invention, a number of embodiments along with the drawings are illustrated as following:

[0027] In one aspect, referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, a folding knife 100 may include a blade 110, a handle 120 and a bearing 150 located at a front end of the handle 120, and the blade 110 is pivotally connected with the handle 120 and the bearing 150. In one embodiment, the handle 120 may include a first side portion 121, a first inner piece 123, a second side portion 121′ and a second inner piece 123′. A receiving space 125 may be created between the first inner piece 123 and the second inner piece 123′ to receive the blade 110 when the knife 100 is folded.

[0028] The handle 120 may include through holes 130 and 130′, each of which is located on a front end of the first side portion 121 and second side portion 121′ respectively. As shown in FIG. 2, the bearing 150 may include a first donut-shaped ring unit 151 disposed adjacent to a blade through hole 112 on one side of the blade 110 and a second ring unit 151′ disposed adjacent to the blade through hole 112 on the other side of the blade 110. A plurality of protruding units 152 facing the blade 110 are disposed on an outer surface of the first ring unit 151 and second ring unit 151′. In one embodiment, each protruding unit 152 is a hemisphere. A first protecting ring 1232 and a second protecting ring 1232′ are disposed on a surface opposite to the protruding units 152 of the first and second ring units respectively. The size of the protecting rings 1232 and 1232′ is slighting larger than the first and second ring units 151 and 151′, and the ring units 151 and 151′ are configured to guide the movement of the blade 110 without the spring-assisted mechanism.

[0029] More specifically, the blade 110 has a plurality of positioning protrusions 114 surrounding the blade through hole 112 on both sides of the blade 110 corresponding to the protruding units 152, and the positioning protrusions 114 and the protruding units 152 can be movably engaged with each other, so the movement and position of the blade 110 can be determined by relative positions between the positioning protrusions 114 on the blade 110 and the protruding units 152 on the ring units 151 and 151′. Thus, the movement of the blade 110 can be easily controlled and managed by the force exerted by the user. In one embodiment, each positioning protrusion 114 may be a hemisphere like the protruding units 152.

[0030] Still referring to FIG. 2, each of the first inner piece 123 and the second inner piece 123′ has an inner through hole 1231 and 1231′ respectively to receive corresponding protecting rings 1232 and 1232′. A pair of screws 140 and 140′ are configured to insert into handle through holes 130 and 130′, the inner through holes 1231 and 1231′, the protecting rings 1232 and 1232′, the ring units 151 and 151′, and the blade through hole 111 to pivotally secured the blade 110 on the front portion of the handle 120. It is noted that a plurality of auxiliary screws 141 are configured to further secure the first side portion 121, the first inner piece 123, the second side portion 121′ and the second inner piece 123′.

[0031] When in use, the knife in a closed position as shown in FIG. 3 is grasped with the rear end of the handle 120 towards the user's wrist and bottom of the handle 120 resting in the palm resulting in placement of a protruding portion 116 of the blade 110 in close proximity to the user's index finger. Force can then be applied to the protruding portion 116, so the blade can be rotated in a clockwise manner around the screws 140 and 140′ until the blade 110 is fully extended, which is about 180 degrees change from its closed position. It is noted that the extent of the clockwise movement of the blade 110 can be controlled by the force applied by the user. More specifically, as stated above, the movement of the blade 110 in the present invention can be guided by the positioning protrusions 114 on the blade 110 and the protruding units 152 on the ring units 151 and 151′, so the user can adjust the force exerted on the protruding portion 116 of the blade 110 to further control the movement of the blade 110.

[0032] Having described the invention by the description and illustrations above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description, but includes any equivalents.