Lock-blade knife for cooking purposes

Abstract

A lock-blade knife for cooking purposes comprises a housing, a blade pivotally attached to the housing and a locking mechanism. The blade is rotatable relative to the housing between a closed position and a least one cutting position. The locking mechanism is configured to lock the blade in the at least one cutting position. The locking mechanism comprises a biasing member, an engagement structure, and a grasping member. The engagement structure is disposed on the blade, and the grasping member is displaceable from a locking position into a releasing position. The grasping member is biased into the releasing position. The grasping member is in engagement with the engagement structure in the locking position when cutting to lock the blade in position. The blade is rotatable between the cutting position and the closed position when the grasping member is manually displaced into the releasing position.

Claims

1. A lock-blade knife for cooking purposes, comprising: a housing; a blade pivotally attached to the housing, the blade being rotatable relative to the housing between a closed position and at least one cutting position; and a locking mechanism configured to lock the blade in the at least one cutting position, the locking mechanism comprising: a biasing member, wherein the biasing member comprises a bent sprint steel wire; an engagement structure disposed on the blade; and a grasping member being displaceable relative to the housing from a locking position into a releasing position, the grasping member being biased into the locking position by the biasing member, the grasping member being in engagement with the engagement structure in the locking position when the blade is in the at least one cutting position so that the blade is locked in the at least one cutting position, and wherein the blade is rotatable between the at least one cutting position and the closed position when the grasping member is manually displaced into the releasing position.

2. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the locking mechanism comprises a slope portion, the grasping member configured to slide along the slope portion during rotation of the blade from the closed position into the at least one cutting position while the grasping member is displaced from the locking position into the releasing position.

3. The lock-blade knife of claim 2, wherein the engagement structure is an engagement slot, the grasping member is at least partially disposed within the engagement slot in the locking position when the blade is in the at least one cutting position, and the biasing member exerts a biasing force on the blade via the grasping member.

4. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a first handle portion and a second handle portion, the first handle portion and the second handle portion defining a storage space therebetween, the blade being at least partially disposed within the storage space in the closed position.

5. The lock-blade knife of claim 4, wherein the first handle portion and the second handle portion are attached together by a first fastening member and a second fastening member, the first fastening member and the second fastening member disposed in a space separating the first handle portion from the second handle portion.

6. The lock-blade knife of claim 5, wherein the first fastening member supports the biasing member, and the second fastening member comprises a pivot shaft for the blade.

7. The lock-blade knife of claim 5, wherein the biasing member comprises a longitudinal member having a first end portion and a second end portion, the first end portion being engaged to the first fastening member, and wherein the grasping member is disposed on the second end portion.

8. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein a retaining pin is disposed in the housing, the biasing member being at least partially retained by the retaining pin in a position within the housing when the grasping member is displaced form the locking position into the releasing position.

9. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the blade further comprises a second engagement structure, the grasping member being in engagement with the second engagement structure in the locking position when the blade is in the closed position to lock the blade in the closed position.

10. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the blade comprises a guide slot engaging an abutment pin when the blade is rotated from the closed position into the at least one cutting position, the abutment pin abutting an end of the guide slot when the blade is in the at least one cutting position to limit further rotational movement of the blade relative to the housing.

11. The lock-blade knife of claim 10, wherein the guide slot comprises a portion of a can-opener feature, the can-opener feature being positioned outside of the housing when the blade is in the closed position.

12. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the blade further comprises a can-opener feature, the can-opener feature being positioned outside of the housing when the blade is in the closed position.

13. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the biasing member is integrally formed with the grasping member.

14. The lock-blade knife of claim 1, wherein the engagement structure is an engagement slot, the grasping member is at least partially disposed within the engagement slot in the locking position when the blade is in the at least one cutting position, and the biasing member exerts a biasing force on the blade via the grasping member.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Specific embodiments of the disclosure will now be described below, by way of example, with reference to accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a side view of a lock-blade knife according to the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 2A is a detailed view of detail A of FIG. 1 without hidden lines and FIG. 2B is a detail view of detail A of FIG. 1 with hidden lines drawn as dashed lines;

(4) FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line B-B of FIG. 1;

(5) FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1;

(6) FIG. 5 is perspective view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(7) FIG. 6 is a side view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the closed position;

(8) FIG. 7 is a side view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(9) FIG. 8 is front view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(10) FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(11) FIG. 10 is a top view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(12) FIG. 11 is a back view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the cutting position;

(13) FIG. 12 is a side view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the closed position; and

(14) FIG. 13 is a top view of the lock-blade knife of FIG. 1 in the closed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(15) As shown in the figures, the lock-blade knife 1 comprises a housing 2, a blade 3 and a locking mechanism 4. The blade 3 is pivotally attached to the housing 2 so that it can be rotated between a closed position P1 and a cutting position P2. In FIG. 6, the blade 3 is shown in the closed position P1, whereas FIGS. 1 and 5 show the blade in the cutting position P2. As can be seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the knife further comprises a locking mechanism 4 that is configured to lock the blade 3 in the cutting position P2. The housing 2 comprises a first handle portion 9 and a second handle portion 10, which are attached to each other by a first fastening means 11 and a second fastening means 12. When attached to each other, a storage space S is formed in the housing 2. When the blade 3 is in the closed position, the blade 3 is partially disposed within the storage space S. In particular, the cutting edge of the blade 3 is disposed within the storage space S. Furthermore, as can be seen in FIG. 3, the first handle portion 9 and the second handle portion 10 are spaced from each other so that the storage space S is open to two sides.

(16) As can be seen in FIG. 5, the first fastening means 11 is provided on the rear end of the housing 2 and comprises a first bushing member 20 and a first screw member 21 (see FIG. 4). For saving weight, the first screw member 21 is a hollow member with an outer threading engaging an inner threading provided on the first bushing member 20. Similarly, the second fastening means 12 is provided on the front end of the housing 2, i.e., the end the blade 3 is rotationally attached to housing 2 as will be described later. The second fastening means 12 comprises a second bushing member 22 and a second screw member 23 (see FIG. 4). The second fastening means 12 also constitutes the pivot shaft for the blade 3 in that the second bushing member 22 is supporting the blade 3.

(17) With continued reference to FIG. 4, two shim members 25, 26 are provided on each side of the blade 3 abutting against the respective handle portions 9 and 10, as can be seen in FIG. 4. The shim members 25, 26 set the correct distance of the blade 3 relative to the first handle portion 9 and the second handle portion 10 and further reduce the friction when the blade 3 is rotated.

(18) To limit the rotational movement of the blade 3 relative to the housing 2, the blade comprises a guide slot 17 that extends in a slight curvature along the longitudinal axis of the blade 3 in the area of the rotational axis. An abutment pin 18 is provided between the first handle portion 9 and the second handle portion 10, which abuts against an end of the guide slot 17 when the blade 3 is rotated into the cutting position P2. In particular, when rotating the blade 3 from the closed position P1 into the cutting position P2, the guide slot 17 is rotated together with the blade 3 and encloses the abutment pin 18 during rotation. Rotation is terminated when the abutment pin 18 abuts against the end of the guide slot 17 as shown in FIG. 2B. Thus, the cutting position P2 is then reached and defined.

(19) Next, the locking mechanism 4 will be described. The locking mechanism 4 comprises a biasing means 5 integrally formed with a grasping means 7. Further, the locking mechanism 4 comprises an engagement structure 6 in the form of an engagement slot being disposed on the blade 3. In addition, a sloped portion 8 is provided on the blade 3 disposed directly adjacent to the engagement slot 6, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The biasing means 5 is a bent spring steel wire having a first end portion 13 and a second end portion 14, wherein the first end portion 13 is formed in a hook-like manner, as can be seen in FIG. 4. The first end portion 13 is supported on the first fastening member 11 by a shim member 24, as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the first fastening member 11 constitutes a supporting means for the biasing means 5, in particular, for the hook-like formed first end portion 13. In addition, a retaining pin 15 is provided between the first handle portion 9 and the second handle portion 10. The retaining pin 15 retains the biasing means 5 partially within the housing 2, so that a rotation of the biasing means 5 about the supporting means (i.e., the first fastening means 11) is inhibited.

(20) As can be seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the grasping means 7 is in engagement with engagement slot 6 when the blade 3 is in the cutting position P2. Thus, the grasping means 7 is in the locking position. In addition, the blade 3 comprises a second engagement structure 16 (FIGS. 4 and 5) being disposed on the opposite side of the blade 3 relative to the engagement slot 6. The second engagement means 16 is a nose-like member protruding from the blade 3.

(21) Furthermore, to allow for accessibility of the grasping means 7, the first handle portion 9 and the second handle portion 10 each have a recessed portion 27, 28. As can be seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the grasping means 7 is disposed within the recessed portions 27, 28 so that the grasping means 7 can easily be manually displaced as will be described below.

(22) Now, the locking and unlocking function will be described. First, the blade 3 is in the closed position P1 as shown in FIG. 6. The grasping means 7 is in the locking position and engages behind the second engagement structure 16 so that the blade 3 cannot be rotated. The user now manually displaces the grasping means 7 from the locking position into the releasing position relative to the housing 2. In other words, the grasping means 7 is moved away from the housing 2 against the biasing force of the biasing means 5. Thus, the engagement between the grasping means 7 and the second engagement structure 16 is released. The blade 3 can now be rotated out of the closed position P1.

(23) The blade 3 is manually rotated into the cutting position P2. During rotation, the grasping means 7 abuts against the sloped portion 8. By rotating the blade 3 further, the grasping means 7 slides along the sloped portion 8 and is thus displaced from the locking position against the biasing force of the biasing means 5. The rotation of the blade 3 is limited when the abutment pin 18 abuts the end of the guide slot 17. Upon reaching the cutting position P2, the grasping means 7 snaps into the engagement slot 6 due to the biasing force of the biasing means 5. The grasping means 7 is in the locking position and locks the blade 3 from rotating out of the cutting position P2, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Further, a tension caused by the biasing means 5 acts on the grasping means 7, so that a secure locking is achieved.

(24) To move the blade 3 from the cutting position P2 into the closed position P1, the use manually displaces the grasping means 7 against the biasing forces of the biasing means 5 from the locking position into the releasing position. In doing so, the engagement between the grasping means 7 and the engagement slot 6 is released and the blade 3 can be rotated out of the cutting position P2 into the closed position P1. When the blade is in the closed position P1, the user releases the grasping means 7 and the grasping means 7 returns to the locking position due to the biasing force of the biasing means 5. Therewith, the grasping means 7 engages with the second engagement structure 16 to lock the blade 3 in the closed position.

(25) Furthermore, the blade 3 comprises a can-opener portion 19. In this embodiment, the can-opener portion is formed by the guide slot 17 and the portion carrying the engagement slot 6 and the sloped portion 8 (FIG. 4). As can be seen in FIG. 6, the can-opener portion 19 is disposed outside the housing 2 when the blade 3 is in the closed position P1. Thus, the user can utilize the can-opener portion 19 to open tins.

(26) A second embodiment without the second engagement means engaging the grasping means is shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(27) 1 lock-blade knife 2 housing 3 blade 4 locking mechanism 5 biasing means 6 engagement structure 7 grasping means 8 sloped portion 9 first handle portion 10 second handle portion 11 first fastening means/supporting means 12 second fastening means/pivot shaft 13 first end portion 14 second end portion 15 retaining pin 16 second engagement structure 17 guide slot 18 abutment pin 19 can-opener portion 20 bushing member of first fastening means 21 screw member of first fastening means 22 bushing member of second fastening means 23 screw member of second fastening means 24 shim member 25 shim member 26 shim member 27 recessed portion 28 recessed portion P1 closed position P2 cutting position S storage space