AUTO OPENING FOLDING KNIFE BLADE ENGAGEMENT LOCK

Abstract

An auto opening folding knife having a blade pivoted from a closed position to a spring urged release open locked position with a combined self-activating sliding auto release and locking arm. The sliding auto release and locking arm is mounted within the knife handle on dual fixed guide and pivot pins within respective arm openings being spring urged there against. Arm positional projections are engaged on a modified blade shank during operation moving the locking arm back and up then releasing to slide forward locking the blade in auto open use position until manual arm engagement by the user against the arm spring and blade spring for release and transitional closure.

Claims

1. An auto opening folding knife comprises, an elongated handle, an elongated knife blade having a sharp edge portion and an apertured shank portion, said knife blade coupled within said handle for pivoted movement from a first closed retained position to a second auto opened locked position, a blade engagement spring provides auto opening rotation force to the knife blade upon release, an apertured spring urged locking and release arm within said handle for engagement with said shank portion from said first closed retained position to said second auto blade release to open lock position, guide pins registerable in said apertured locking arm, tapered upstanding end portion surfaces on said locking arm, a blade shank engagement portion depending from said locking arm, and an end engagement notch for registration with a stop pin on said handle in the closed retained position.

2. The auto opening folding knife set forth in claim 1 wherein handle portions have an end handle spacer there between.

3. The auto opening folding knife set forth in claim 1 wherein said apertured locking arm has a first repositioning guide retainment slot and a second repositioning guide slot in longitudinally aligned spaced relation to one another.

4. The auto opening folding knife set forth in claim 1 wherein said blade shank portion has an arcuate end surface defining shank retainment portions when in locking arm engaged closed position and open position.

5. The auto opening folding knife set forth in claim 1 wherein said spring urged locking and release arm is slidably disposed within said handle portion from blade lock open blade retained closed position to an auto blade release transition position in both longitudinal and vertical displacement by rotating blade shank engagement selectively therewith.

6. The auto opening folding knife set forth in claim 1 wherein said spring urged locking arm is slidably disposed within said handle portion from a blade closed lock position to an auto blade release position to a spring return blade open lock position against the shank portion after deployment of the blade.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a folding knife of the invention in open locked position with portions broken away.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the folding knife.

[0013] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective assembly view of the folding knife of the invention in open position.

[0014] FIG. 4 is a side elevational view with portions broken away of the folding knife with locking arm release in partially opened or closed position.

[0015] FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevational view with portions broken away of the folding knife in closed locking arm engaged position.

[0016] FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial side elevational view of the locking arm engaging in locked open position with portions broken away.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, an auto opening folding knife 10 of the invention can be seen in its unfolded locked position. The knife 10 has a blade 11 pivotally secured within handle portions 12 with an end handle support spacer 13 secured there between. The blade 11 is pivotally secured between handle portions 12 by a hinge pin fitting 14 therethrough for auto displacement which defines an auto opening folding knife configuration. The blade 11 has a shank 11A with an extending blade body 11B.

[0018] An auto opening spring assembly 29 is engaged with the shank 11A and the handle portions providing an automatic blade opening from a closed to a fully open locked position as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0019] A safety and auto release locking arm assembly 17 is movably positioned within the handle portions 12 to and from open blade lock position and closed blade retainment position illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 of the drawings respectively. Safety release locking arm assembly 17 has an apertured arm 18 with an elongated repositioning retainment slot 19 therein. A second repositioning guide slot 20 is formed adjacent the slot 19 having a foreshortened length with a contoured depending end portion at 20A, best seen in FIGS. 1, 3-6 of the drawings.

[0020] The safety auto release locking arm assembly 17 is, as noted, movably retained within and between the handle portions 12 by a pair of fixed guide pins 21A and 21B. Guide pin 21A is received within the arm slot 20 while the guide pin 21B extends through the corresponding elongated arm slot 19.

[0021] A resilient arm spring 22 is retained within the elongated arm slot 19 against the guide pin 21B thus urging the locking release arm 18 towards the blade shank 11A for selective engagement therewith during the blade range of motion as will be described in detail hereinafter.

[0022] The arm's upper surface 17A has an upstanding tapered and textured end portion surfaces 17B over the contoured guide slot 20 which acts as and extends from the handle portions 12 for a user engagement surface during use.

[0023] The lower end surface 17C in oppositely disposed relation thereto has tapered blade selective shank engagement portion 23 which defines the depending portion of the arm 18 for direct retainment engagement with a portion 25 of the blade shank 11A in blade open lock position, as best seen in FIG. 6 of the drawings. A tapered end arm surface 26 extends from the lower arm 18 surface engagement portion 23 and correspondingly in direct blade shank engagement when in closed position as seen clearly in FIG. 5 of the drawings, correspondingly, an end arm notch 16 in the end surface of the arm 18 is in direct contact with a stop pin in 28 when in blade closed and locked position.

[0024] The stop pin 28 extends from the handles 12 for registration with a notch 26A in the blade assuring blade travel limit for proper blade shank locking in open position with locking release arm 18 engagement as hereinbefore described.

[0025] The auto opening blade spring assembly 29 is typical of a coil knife blade spring found in the industry which in this example is positioned in the handle portion around the opening for the hinge pin 14 and is engaged between the blade shank 11A and the frame of the handle portion so as to spring load the blade 11 when in closed locked position as is seen in FIG. 5 of the drawings and as such is well known and understood within the art of automatic spring urged knife blade configurations.

[0026] It will therefore be seen that in use from a closed folded position shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings, the blade 11 is held in place, under tension, within the handles 12 by the spring urged locking retainment activation arm 18 engaged against the blade shank retainment portion 27. Upon user, not shown, auto blade deployment is activated by sliding the locking release arm 18 back against the spring 22 as shown in broken lines in FIG. 5 of the drawings releasing the blade 11 for auto opening to a locked open position. As the shank tab 11A rotates, it will simultaneously lift the arm 18 which is accomplished due to the contoured depending portion 20A of the increased dimension of the slot 19 as seen in FIG. 4 of the drawings as the end surface of the arm 18 travels along the radial end of the shank 11A.

[0027] Once the blade 11 reaches full open position as illustrated best in FIGS. 1 and 6 of the drawings, the locking arm 18 slides back under spring 22 tension and locks the blade in open position. The arm's tapered blade shank engagement portion 23 is engaged as described on the shank's engagement portion 25. Correspondingly, to close the knife the user, not shown, will engage the locking arm's 18 upper end surface 17B sliding it back against the spring tension, releasing the blade 11 illustrated by directional force arrows FA thus releasing the blade shank 11A and the blade 11 allowing it to be pivoted down against the blade spring assembly 29 into the closed locked position in FIG. 5 of the drawings.

[0028] It will therefore be apparent from the above-described operational action that the auto opening folding knife 10 of the invention with the safety release locking arm assembly 17 achieves multiple actionable locking arm to blade and blade shank positional engagement in a selective controlled contact and locking engagement positions to define a unique auto opening safety lock arm assembly for a folding knife.

[0029] It will thus be seen that a new and useful auto opening folding arm locking knife has been illustrated and described and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. Therefore, I claim: