US3699654A

US3699654A - Pocketknife

Info

Publication number: US3699654A
Application number: US105863A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ernst Joachim Gerling
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-10-09
Filing date: 1971-01-12
Publication date: 1972-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 1989-10-24
Also published as: DE2051431B2; GB1280756A; IE35092L; DE2051431C3; DE2051431A1; IE35092B1; BR7104833D0

Abstract

A pocketknife having a handle or a haft and a knife blade which can be folded and unfolded from the handle. The handle is formed out of sheet material which is bent to receive the knife blade between two sides when the blade is folded. A portion of the sheet material forms a spring which engages the knife blade to hold the blade in a fully unfolded or folded position as desired.

Description

United States Patent Gerling Oct. 24, 1972 [54] POCKETKNIFE l,l79,l ll 4/1916 Knowlton ..30/155 [72] Inventor: Ems Joachim ceding, Brosshausen 1,280,462 10/1918 7 l-lemmlng ..30/ 164 X ,.Stra55e 3650 solingen-ohligs, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Germany 821,478 10/1959 Great Britain ..30/l55 [22] Filed: Jan. 12, 1971 y 7 Primary Examiner-Robert C. Riordon [2]] Appl' 105,863 Assistant Examiner-J. C. Peters Attorney-Allison C. Collar [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 9, 1970 Germany ..P 20 51 431.2 [57] ABS RMCT A pocketknife having a handle or a haft and a knife 52 us. Cl ..'....30/155 blade which can be folded n unfolded from the [51] Int. Cl. ..B26b 1/02 die; The handle is formed out of Sheet material which [58] Field of Search "30/155, 161, 164 156, 157 is bent to receive the knife blade between two sides when the blade is folded. A portion of the sheet material forms a spring which engages the knife blade [56] References Cited to hold the blade in a fully unfolded or folded position UNITED STATES PATENTS V as desired. 75,955 3/1868 Mosley .Q ..30/155 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDOBI 24 I972 SHEEI 1 BF 2 Inventor- ERNST JOACHIM GERLING Attorney PATENTEDOm24 1912 3.699.654

SHEET 2 or 2 lnren far- ERNST JOACHIM GEPLLING MQQ gf/1 Attorney 1 POCKETKNIFE This invention relates to a pocketknife comprising a handle or haft and a knife blade which can be folded into and unfolded out of the handle or haft.

According to the invention there is provided -a pocketknife comprising a handle or haft, and a knife blade which can be folded into, and unfolded out of the handle or haft. The, handle or haft is formed out of sheet material which has been bent to receive the knife blade between its two sides when the blade is folded. A

pending upon the number and arrangement of the knife portion of the sheet material forms a spring which is enwill become apparent from the following detailed.

description considered in connection with accompanying drawings which disclose the embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 shows the handle of the pocketknife inaccordance with the invention before bending, with the two sides of the handle lying in approximately a single plane;

FIG. 2 shows the pocketknife with the handle of FIG. 1 cut away;

FIG. 3 is a cross section through the pocketknife of FIG. 2 with the hoop positioned over the blade;

FIG. 4is aside view of the pocketknife of FIGS. 1 to 3 with the knife blade open;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a modified pocketknife in accordance with the invention before the sheet material has been bent;

FIG. 6 shows the pocketknife in accordance with the invention with portions of the sides of the handle pressed inwards, the handle being illustrated in cutaway form; and,

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a modified pocketknife in accordance with the invention with curved slits in its open and closed conditions.

Referring to FIGS. 1-6, the pocketknife has a'boxshaped handle or haft l, which is produced by bending sheet material and carriers one or more knife blades 2. Slits 3 are provided in the region of the back portion or fold of the handle, which is almost semicircular in shape, the slits being on opposite sides of the handle. These slits may extend in a straight line, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings they form at least one spring 4 which secures the respective knife blade 2 in its closed position and, if necessary, also in its open position.

Box-shaped handle 1 may consist of any desired flexible or resilient material, for example strip steel. One or more rivets 8 which hold the sides of the handle blades. Springs 4 may also, for example, extend along curved lines as can be seen from FIGS. 7 and 8. This is particularly effective in securing knife blade 2 in its open and closed positions, since spring 4 becomes progressively stiffer from its free end to its fixed end as the distance between the slit and the fold increases. The straight slits in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4-6 are uniformly spaced from the fold and could also be slanted to obtain a similar progressive increase in the distance. In

FIGS. 7 and 8, the number 8 designates rivets and the numbers-'9 and l0'designate holes. It is also possible, for exarnple,.for'two springs 4 to be provided side by side. The springs may be wider than the knife blade.

,Slits 3 may either each extend from a position intermediate the handle ends to one end of the handle, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6, or, as can be seen in FIGS. 4, 7 and 8,.may form an angle at the end or be closed upon themselves. Each have their ends intermediate the handle ends, so that a reliable and particularly resistantlocation of the knife blade, which bears with its heel 5 against the handle, is obtained when the knife is open. If the spring 4 is constructed to be wider than the blade, the side of handle 1 may advantageously be pressed inwards in the vicinity of hole 9 in order to provide the blade with a lateral guide. In this and similar cases, a covering 6 of any desired material may be provided. Covering 6 also helps to improve the appearance.

It is also possible to provide, in the region of the point of the blade, a hoop 7 which forms an additional safeguard against unintentional opening of the knife blade andcan be used for carrying the knife.

While only afewembodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What isclaimed is:

l. A-pocketknife, comprising:

a planar sheet of material, folded about its longitudinalaxis so as to form a U-shaped handle having two parallel sides, and including at least two iongitudinal slits, each disposed in one of the sides of said handle adjacent the folded portion of said sheet of material so as to form a U-shaped, cantilever spring integrally formed with said sheet of material and said handle; and knife blade, pivotably secured in said handle between said sides thereof so that the blunt end of said knife blade engages said cantilever spring when said knife blade is pivoted outwardly from or inwardly into said handle.

2. The pocketknife as recited in claim 1, wherein said slits provided in said sheet of material are disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle and adjacent said folded portion thereof, and extend from a predetermined point inbetween the ends of said handle linearly to one end of said handle, thereby forming a U- shaped cantilever spring which extends from one end of said handle adjacent the blunt end of said knife blade so that the end of said knife blade is received in the U- shaped channel of said spring when said knife blade is pivoted outwardly from or inwardly into said handle.

3. The pocketknife as recited in claim 2, wherein said handle further comprises at least two additional slits disposed in said handle parallel to the folded portion thereof and the longitudinal axis of said handle, extending from a predetermined point between the ends of said handle to the other end of said handle, so as to form at least one additional U-shaped cantilever spring 4 between two predetermined points located between the ends of said handle, said slits being joined at one end above the pivotably secured blunt end of said knife blade by an additional slit provided in said sheet of material disposed perpendicular to said longitudinal slits, "so as to form a single U-shaped slit in said sheet of material and a U-shaped cantilever spring disposed between the ends of said handle when said sheet of material is folded.

5. The pocketknife as recited in claim 2, wherein said Y slits are curved inwardly towards the center of the sides of said handle, and extend between two predetermined points located between the ends thereof, said sheet of material further comprising an additional slit provided therein disposed perpendicular to the ends of said longitudinal slits disposed adjacent the blunt end of said knife blade and joining the ends thereof so as to form a U-shaped slit in said sheet of material and a triangularshaped cantilever spring between the ends of said handle.

Claims

1. A pocketknife, comprising: a planar sheet of material, folded about its longitudinal axis so as to form a U-shaped handle having two parallel sides, and including at least two longitudinal slits, each disposed in one of the sides of said handle adjacent the folded portion of said sheet of material so as to form a U-shaped, cantilever spring integrally formed with said sheet of material and said handle; and a knife blade, pivotably secured in said handle between said sides thereof so that the blunt end of said knife blade engages said cantilever spring when said knife blade is pivoted outwardly from or inwardly into said handle.

2. The pocketknife as recited in claim 1, wherein said slits provided in said sheet of material are disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle and adjacent said folded portion thereof, and extend from a predetermined point inbetween the ends of said handle linearly to one end of said handle, thereby forming a U-shaped cantilever spring which extends from one end of said handle adjacent the blunt end of said knife blade so that the end of said knife blade is received in the U-shaped channel of said spring when said knife blade is pivoted outwardly from or inwardly into said handle.

3. The pocketknife as recited in claim 2, wherein said handle further comprises at least two additional slits disposed in said handle parallel to the folded portion thereof and the longitudinal axis of said handle, extending from a predetermined point between the ends of said handle to the other end of said handle, so as to form at least one additional U-shaped cantilever spring integrally formed with said handle and extending from the other end thereof, and further comprising an additional knife blade, pivotably secured in said handle at the other end thereof so that the blunt end of said knife blade engages the U-shaped channel of said additional cantilever spring when said knife blade is pivoted outwardly from or inwardly into said handle.

4. The pocketknife as recited in claim 2, wherein said slits are disposed parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle adjacent the folded portion thereof and extend between two predetermined points located between the ends of said handle, said slits being joined at one end above the pivotably secured blunt end of said knife blade by an additional slit provided in said sheet of material disposed perpendicular to said longitudinal slits, so as to form a single U-shaped slit in said sheet of material and a U-shaped cantilever spring disposed between the ends of said handle when said sheet of material is folded.

5. The pocketknife as recited in claim 2, wherein said slits are curved inwardly towards the center of the sides of said handle, and extend between two predetermined points located between the ends thereof, said sheet of material further comprising an additional slit provided therein disposed perpendicular to the ends of said longitudinal slits disposed adjacent the blunt end of said knife blade and joining the ends thereof so as to form a U-shaped slit in said sheet of material and a triangular-shaped cantilever spring between the ends of said handle.