Abstract
A folding knife, including a handle, with at least two parts connected to form a cavity therebetween, and a blade having a sharpened edge and a tang. The blade is rotatable between an open position and a closed position. The blade defines a first plane inside the cavity. The tang includes a step protrusion and a rounded protrusion. A stop pin restricts movement of the blade in an opening direction. The folding knife also includes a locking member rotatable from a first position, allowing the blade to rotate, to a second position blocking rotation of the blade by engaging one of the tang's protrusions. The engagement of the locking member with the step protrusion of the tang locks the blade in its open position, and the engagement of the locking member with the rounded protrusion of the tang locks the blade in its closed position.
Claims
1. A folding knife, comprising: a handle having at least two parts connected to each other to form a cavity therebetween; a blade having at least one sharpened edge and a tang with an axial hole, said blade being rotatable around said axial hole between an open position, in which said sharpened edge of said blade extends outside said cavity and said tang is located inside said cavity, and a closed position, in which said sharpened edge of said blade and said tang are both located inside said cavity, said blade defining a first plane inside said cavity, said tang further including a step protrusion, a rounded protrusion and a radial perimeter extending between said step protrusion and said rounded protrusion; an axial pin inserted into said axial hole of said tang and rotatably securing said blade to a first end of said handle; a stop pin attached to at least one of said two parts of said handle at the first end of said handle within said cavity, said stop pin being configured to restrict movement of said blade in an opening direction; and a locking member having a front part, a rear part with an aperture and a step protrusion formed therebetween, the front part of the locking member further comprising a curved recess rotatably fitted onto said stop pin such that said curved recess only partially surrounds said stop pin without preventing a contact between said blade and said stop pin, said locking member being located inside said cavity in the same first plane defined by said blade and above an axis of the folding knife, said locking member being rotatable from a first position allowing said blade to rotate around said axial hole to a second position blocking rotation of said blade by engaging one of said protrusions of said tang, wherein engagement of said locking member with said step protrusion of said tang locks said blade in said open position and wherein engagement of said locking member with said rounded protrusion of said tang locks said blade in said closed position.
2. The folding knife according to claim 1, further comprising at least one spring secured inside said cavity of said handle and exerting a resilient force onto the rear part of the locking member in a direction of rotation of said locking member into a position locking said blade in said open position.
3. The folding knife according to claim 2, wherein said spring comprises a resilient plate.
4. The folding knife according to claim 2, wherein said spring comprises a resilient wire rod.
5. The folding knife according to claim 1, further comprising at least one link rotatably connected to said aperture of the rear part of said locking member, said link being positioned within a slot formed within said handle, said slot being distanced from a plane in which said blade rotates, said link being configured to follow movements of said locking member as said locking member rotates around said stop pin.
6. The folding knife according to claim 5, further comprising at least one slider connected to said link and protruding outside said handle through said slot, said slider being configured to follow movements of said link and said locking member as said locking member rotates around said stop pin, said slider being further configured to allow a user to rotate said locking member thereby unlocking said blade by pressing against said slider.
7. A folding instrument, comprising: a handle having at least two parts connected to each other to form a cavity therebetween; a tool having a working part and a tang with an axial hole, said tool being rotatable around said axial hole between an open position, in which said working part of said tool extends outside said cavity and said tang is located inside said cavity, and a closed position, in which said working part of said tool and said tang are both located inside said cavity, said tool defining a first plane inside said cavity, said tang further including a step protrusion, a rounded protrusion and a radial perimeter extending between said step protrusion and said rounded protrusion; an axial pin inserted into said axial hole of said tang and rotatably securing said tool to a first end of said handle; a stop pin attached to at least one of said two parts of said handle at the first end of said handle within said cavity, said stop pin being configured to restrict movement of said tool in an opening direction; and a locking member having a front part, a rear part with an aperture and a step protrusion formed therebetween, the front part of the locking member further comprising a curved recess rotatably fitted onto said stop pin such that said curved recess only partially surrounds said stop pin without preventing a contact between said blade and said stop pin, and said locking member being located inside said cavity in the same first plane defined by said tool and above an axis of the folding instrument, said locking member being rotatable from a first position allowing said tool to rotate around said axial hole to a second position blocking rotation of said tool by engaging one of said protrusions of said tang, wherein engagement of said locking member with said step protrusion of said tang locks said tool in said open position and wherein engagement of said locking member with said rounded protrusion of said tang locks said tool in said closed position.
8. The folding instrument according to claim 7, further comprising at least one spring secured inside said cavity of said handle and exerting a resilient force onto the rear part of the locking member in a direction of rotation of said locking member into a position locking said tool in said open position.
9. The folding instrument according to claim 8, wherein said spring comprises a resilient plate.
10. The folding instrument according to claim 8, wherein said spring comprises a resilient wire rod.
11. The folding instrument according to claim 7, further comprising at least one link rotatably connected to said aperture of the rear part of said locking member, said link being positioned within a slot formed within said handle, said slot being distanced from a plane in which said tool rotates, said link being configured to follow movements of said locking member as said locking member rotates around said stop pin.
12. The folding instrument according to claim 11, further comprising at least one slider connected to said link and protruding outside said handle through said slot, said slider being configured to follow movements of said link and said locking member as said locking member rotates around said stop pin, said slider being further configured to allow a user to rotate said locking member thereby unlocking said tool by pressing against said slider.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) The invention is illustrated by way of examples which are not a limitation, and the figures of the accompanying drawings in which references denote corresponding parts, and in which:
(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a folding knife having a lock mechanism in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The blade of the knife is in the open position.
(3) FIG. 2 shows a side view of the knife shown in FIG. 1 with the blade of the knife being in an open position. Contours of the blade hidden inside the handle are shown by the dotted line.
(4) FIG. 3 shows the side view of the knife shown in FIG. 1 with the blade of the knife being in a semi-open/semi-folded position. Contours of the blade hidden inside the handle are shown by the dotted line.
(5) FIG. 4 shows the side view of the knife shown in FIG. 1 with the blade of the knife being in a folded/closed position. Contours of the blade hidden inside the handle are shown by the dotted line.
(6) FIG. 5 shows a spatially exploded diagram of the blade shown in FIG. 1.
(7) FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a folding knife having a lock mechanism in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The blade of the knife is in the open position. The left half of the handle is not shown so as to expose the elements of the invented lock mechanism.
(8) FIG. 7 shows the same side view of the knife as shown in FIG. 2 with the left half of the handle being removed so as to expose the elements of the lock mechanism.
(9) FIG. 8 shows the same side view of the knife as shown in FIG. 3 with the left half of the handle being removed so as to expose the elements of the lock mechanism.
(10) FIG. 9 shows the same side view of the knife as shown in FIG. 4 with the left half of the handle being removed so as to expose the elements of the lock mechanism.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(11) As shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a folding knife is provided having a novel locking mechanism. In FIG. 1, knife blade 11 extends from the handle 10 and is shown in its opened (i.e., working) position. Tang 25 of the blade 11 is positioned within a cavity formed between the two halves 12 and 13 of the handle 10. Thumb studs 39 and 40 are secured on the blade 11 to facilitate opening of the blade from the closed position using a thumb of the hand holding the knife. Thumb studs 39 and 40 are not essential to the invention and may be present or absent in the described structure. As further shown in FIG. 1, the knife includes a pocket clip 45 preferably secured with screws 30 to the handle halve 13 of the handle 10. This clip is also not essential to the invention and may be present in the structure or absent therefrom.
(12) FIG. 2 shows a side view of the knife shown in FIG. 1. Contours of the blade 11 hidden inside the handle are shown by the dotted line. FIG. 2 further shows how tang 25 is positioned within the cavity formed by the halves 12 and 13 of the knife handle 10.
(13) FIG. 3 shows the same knife as shown in FIG. 2 from the side with the knife blade 11 being in a semi-open/semi-closed position. Contours of the blade 11 hidden inside the handle are also shown by the dotted line. FIG. 3 shows how tang 25 of the blade 11 rotates with respect to its position in FIG. 2.
(14) FIG. 4 shows the same knife as shown in FIG. 2 from the side with the knife blade 11 being in the closed (folded) position. Contours of the blade 11 hidden inside the handle are again shown by the dotted line. FIG. 3 shows how tang 25 of the blade 11 is further rotated with respect to its position in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.
(15) FIG. 5 shows a three-dimensional exploded diagram of the knife shown in FIG. 1. The top portion of FIG. 5 shows the outer part of the halve 13 of the handle 10, as well as other elements of the folding knife that are visible from the outside when folding knife is assembled. Specifically, these elements include an axial screw 16 securing an axial pin 15 to enable the blade's rotation, a part of an axial hole 27 formed in the halves 12 and 13 of the handle 10, a groove 36 and a slider element 34 which moves along groove 36. FIG. 5 also shows various elements which are not essential to the present invention and which can be absent from the structure. These elements include pin 37 restricting movement of the blade in the closing (i.e. folding) direction, screws 30 connecting the two halves 12 and 13 of the handle 10, and the pocket clip 45.
(16) The lower part of FIG. 5 shows an inner part of the handle half 12 as well as multiple element positioned inside the cavity formed by handle halves 12 and 13, these elements being not visible or partially visible when the described folding knife is assembled. As shown in FIG. 5, a stop (locking or abutment) pin 17 is mounted in at least one socket 28 located in the front portion of the handle. A locking member 19 includes a front part 20 with a curved recess which is rotatably fitted onto the stop pin 17, a rear part 24 located at the side of the locking member opposite from the front part 20 connected to the stop pin 17, and a protrusion 21 located between the rear part 24 and the front part 20. When the knife is assembled, locking member 19 moves along the same plane as the blade 11. A spring 23 is further provided with one of its ends being affixed to the handle, for example, with pins 43 inserted in nests 44. Spring 23 is preferably formed as a resilient plate or a resilient wire rod. When spring 23 is secured to the handle 10 with one of its ends, the other end of the spring 23 acts on the rear part 24 of the locking member 19. Further, links 32 are located in slots 33 formed within halves 12 and 13 of the handle 10 and are rotatably connected to the locking member 19 by a pin 31 passing through a hole in the rear part 24 of the locking element 19. Sliders 34 are positioned in grooves 36 and secured to links 32 via a connecting pin 35.
(17) Bushings 29, which are not essential to the described invention, preferably have an internal threading and serve to secure together halves 12 and 13 of the handle 10 by means of screws 30.
(18) As shown in the central part of FIG. 5, the knife includes blade 11 with tang 25 having an axial hole 14 and at least two protrusions, i.e., a step protrusion 22 and a rounded eccentric protrusion 52. The perimeter of the tang between these two protrusions is hereafter referred to as the radial perimeter. Blade 11 has at least one sharpened (i.e., honed) edge 26 and stop edge 18, which rests against the stop pin 17 when the blade 11 is in its fully extended (i.e., open) position. Washers 38 are placed onto the axial pin 15 on either side of the blade and are used for the smooth running of the blade. Small washers 42 are placed onto the stop pin 17 on either side of the locking member 19 and serve to smoothly move the locking member. Thumb studs 39 and 40 are attached to the blade via opening 41 to facilitate movement of the blade of the described folding knife from the closed position into the open position. It should be mentioned that the elements 38, 42, 41, 39 and 40 are not essential to the construction of the disclosed invention.
(19) As can be seen from FIG. 5, stop pin 17 secured at the front of the handle restricts the movement of the folding blade in the unfolding direction and, at the same time, functions as a rotational axis for the locking member 19.
(20) FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of the described folding knife with the left half of the handle being removed so as to show elements of the locking mechanism. FIG. 6 shows the same elements shown in FIG. 5 and described in the paragraphs above but in their assembled positions within the folding knife. Blade 11 is shown in its open (working) position, in which stop edge 18 abuts stop pin 17, to which, in turn, is pivotally connected the locking member 19. As can be seen in FIG. 6, in this position of the blade, protrusion 21 of the locking member 19 abuts and extends beyond step protrusion 22 of tang 25 of blade 11, thus preventing the movement of the blade in the direction of folding. In other words, locking element 19 is in a position locking blade 11 in the open (working) state. As described above, one end of spring 23 is secured inside the handle, while the other end exerts pressure on the rear part 24 of the locking member 19, thereby holding the locking element 19 in its blade locking position. Links 32 are movably connected to the locking member 19 on both sides via a pin 31 inserted into an axial hole formed in the rear part 24. Further, sliders 34 are attached to each link 32 such that each slider 34 moves within groove 36 (shown in FIG. 5) following the movements of the locking member.
(21) FIG. 7-9 show a side view of the folding knife in its various operating states. The left half of the handle is not shown in these figures to allow a viewer to see all the main operational components of the invented locking mechanism and to track movements and interconnection of these components.
(22) To start, FIG. 7 shows blade 11 in its folded (i.e., closed) position, in which the blade abuts against pin 37 restricting further movement of the blade in the folding direction. Locking member 19 under the influence of spring 23 presses on the rounded protrusion 52 of the tang 25 thus holding blade 11 in the folded (i.e., closed) position. This position of the locking member 19 will be referred to hereinafter as the lowest position. Sliders 34, connected by means of pins 31 and links 32 to the locking member 19, are also in their lower position. This position of sliders 34 within grooves 36 (as viewed from outside of the handle) is further illustrated in FIG. 4.
(23) Next, FIG. 8 shows blade 11 in its semi-open position. Tang 25, and with it step protrusion 22 and a rounded protrusion 52, is rotated around axis 15 resulting in protrusion 52 overcoming the force of spring 23 and pushing locking member 19 into a position hereinafter referred to as the top position. Correspondingly, because sliders 34 are connected to the locking member 19 via pin 31 and links 32 moving within slots 33, position of sliders 34 has also changed with the position of locking member 19. This position of sliders 34 will be hereinafter referred to as their top position. This position of sliders 34 within grooves 36 (as viewed from outside of the handle) is further illustrated in FIG. 3
(24) Finally, FIG. 9 shows blade 11 in the open position. Comparing positions of various components in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, it can be seen that rounded protrusion 52 and step protrusion 22 turned with the blade and tang 25. When the blade 11 is fully extended and stop edge 18 of the blade 11 abuts the stop pin 17, locking member 19 under the influence of spring 23 is rotated around the stop pin 17 into its lower position, where projection 21 of the locking member 19 extends beyond step protrusion 22 of tang 25 once again securely locking blade 11 in the open (i.e., working or expanded) position. Since locking member 19 is again located in the lower position, sliders 34 are also in their lower positions. This position of sliders 34 within grooves 36 (as viewed from outside of the handle) is further illustrated in FIG. 2.
(25) The process by which the user unlocks and folds the blade of the described folding knife is described with reference to FIGS. 2-4 and 7-9. In the open and locked position, shown in FIGS. 2 and 9, sliders 34 are in their lower position. As explained above, sliders 34 are accessible from the outside of the knife handle and are movable from their lower position to their top position within grooves 36. To release the blade, the user moves one of sliders 34 from its lower position to its top position thereby breaking the force of spring 23 and releasing protrusions 21 and 22 from their locked position. Then, either by pushing on the unsharpened edge of the blade or by inertia, the user rotates the blade through the semi-open position (shown In FIGS. 3 and 8) into the closed position (shown in FIGS. 4 and 7), thereby allowing the front part 20 of the locking member to slide along the radial perimeter of the tang 25, and releases slider 34, thereby allowing locking member 19 under the force of spring 23 to press against the rounded protrusion 52 to lock the blade in the closed position. Conversely, to move the blade from the closed/locked position, the user moves one of the sliders 34 from its lower position to its top position thereby breaking the force of spring 23 and releasing the rounded protrusion 52 from its engagement with the locking member. Then, either by pushing on one of the thumb studs 39, 40 or by inertia, the user rotates the blade through the semi-open position into the open position and releases slider 34, thereby allowing protrusion 21 of the locking member under the force of spring 23 to engage step protrusion 22 of the tang 25, so as to lock the blade in its open position. It should be noted that the direction of movement of sliders 34 and the location of groove 36, are selected in a way allowing the user to comfortably accomplish the above movement of the sliders with one hand. In other words, while the knife is held in one hand, a thumb of the same hand can be used to move one of the sliders 34 into the top position breaking the force of spring 23.
(26) In the preceding specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive sense.
