US3315356A - Power driven carving knife - Google Patents

Description

April 25, 7 R. 1.. SWANKE ETAL 3,315,355

POWER DRIVEN CARVING KNIFE Filed Sept. 11, 1964 3 Sheetsheet 1 v INVENTORS ROY L. SWANKE ALLEN F. CAWL S ATTORNEYS April 25, 1967 R. L. SWANKE ETAL 3,315,356

7 POWER DRIVEN CARVING KNIFE Filed Sept. 11, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 N wE INVENTORS ROY L. SWANKE BY ALLEN P CAWL ATT RNEYS April 25, 1967 R. L. SWANKE ETAL 3,315,356

POWER DRIVEN CARVING KNIFE Filed Sept. 11, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet s l M INVENTORS ROY L. SWANKE T 3 BY ALLEN F. CAWL I 8 Q1? v% ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,315,356 POWER DRIVEN CARVING KNIFE Roy L. Swanke, Newington, and Allen P. Cawl, Wethersfield, Conn., assignors, by mesne assignments, to General Electric Company, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 395,744 Claims. (Cl. 30272) This invention relates to improvements in electric driven carving knives, comprising novel elements of construction, the nature of which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the prototype thereof illustrated in full detail in the accompanying drawings.

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a novel receptacle and locking and securing means for the blades of the knife which has a safety feature of preventing disengagement of the knife blades when the knife is in operation.

In accordance with the invention, means are provided by which both knife blades may .be simultaneously mounted and secured in place to their receptacles and simultaneously released and detached therefrom by a single manual operation. The blades are also prevented from becoming disengaged from their receptacles during knife operation unless an actuating means is operated by the knife operator. This is accomplished by forming the ends of the knife blades which are to be connected to the receptacles with longitudinal slots terminating in enlarged apertures at their inner ends. The locking and releasing means on the receptacles are in turn formed with a smaller portion which can move in the slots on the blades and a larger portion which fits only within the apertures at the ends of the slots. When the blades are assembled to their apertures the larger portions of the locking and releasing means prevent blade disengagement.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded view of the device of this invention showing substantially all of the parts thereof in relative relationship to each other;

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View through the front end of the assembly showing particularly the manner in which the blades of the knife are mounted and secured or locked in the blade carriers or receptacles;

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The prototype of this invention includes a housing which serves as a handle for manipulation of the blades during carving, comprising a housing composed of the two mating parts and 12. These parts can be made of any suitable material and, for example, can be molded of a plastic. The knife comprises a pair of blades 14 and 16, which are power operated for relative reciprocating movement on their longitudinal axes, as is common in this art. Although not shown, these blades are provided with a sliding connection at their outer ends in the usual manner, so as to prevent their separation during use by permitting easy separation for cleaning. At the inner ends the blades 14 and 16 are offset in opposite directions to provide the connecting ends or tongues 14a and 16a respectively, provided with open ended slots 14b and 16b. The inner ends of these slots are enlarged, as, for example, by means of the connecting apertures 14c and 16c. Secured to the blades 14 and 16 respectively are juice guards 18 and 20 which are L-shaped molded pieces which are secured as illustrated to the respective blades by means of the rivets 18a and 20a, see FIGURE 4. These pieces can be molded of a suitable plastic.

A pair of receptacles on which the tongues of the blades can be locked are provided. As illustrated, they comprise the generally T-shaped molded pieces 22 and 28. As illustrated in FIGURE 2, the stem of the receptacle 28 has riveted thereto on one side a spring finger 32 and on the other side a spring finger 30. These rivets are indicated at 34. On the free end of the spring finger 30 is a pin 38, which has a base portion 38a of larger diameter than the terminal end, and which pin lies in an aperture in the stern. Similarly, the stem of the receptacle 22 has riveted on the same face thereof a pair of spring fingers 23 and 24. They are secured by the rivets 26. The free end of the spring finger 24 is provided with a pin 36, which passes through an aperture in that stem and normally lies against the face of the spring 30. The housing part 10 is provided with an aperture in which a finger button 40 is slidably mounted and positioned to press against the end of the pin 38. As indicated in FIGURE 5, the blade receptacles 22 and 28 are complementarily shaped so as to be assembled into a generally rectangular relationship. This assembly is slidably mounted in a casing comprising the part 42 and the cover 44 which are secured together by means of the selftapping screws 45. At the inner ends of the receptacles 22 and 28 are mounted the pins 46 and 50, see FIGURE 3, on which are mounted the bearing sleeves or bushings 48 and 52.

Secured on the inner face of the top of the housing part 10 on a pin 62, by means of a press nut, are the switch blades 54 and 60. These blades are insulated from each other by means of an insulating insert 58. The blade 54, see also FIG. 1, is provided with a thumb button 56 lying exteriorly of the housing. A circuit lead 54a connects to the contact 54 and a circuit lead 60a connects to the contact 60. In FIG. 1 is diagrammatically illustrated the power supply cord comprising a plug 64, the conductors L1 and L2 and an angling fixture to be engaged in an aperture in the housing part 10 in the usual manner.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 3, the electric drive motor for the knives includes a laminated stator 66 having an energizing winding 68, a wound rotor 70 and a commutator 72. The rotor and commutator are mounted on a shaft which terminates in a driving gear 82, see FIG. 3. The shaft at the gear end is journaled in a spherical journal 80a mounted in a fixture 74, which may be a die casting, see FIGURE 1. An associate die casting 76 is provided with a spherical bushing 8011, see FIG- URE 3. The die castings 74 and 76 are mounted at the respective ends of the stator 66 by means of long machine screws 78. see FIG. 1, which interconnect these parts into a unit. As shown, in FIG. 3, the drive gear 82 meshes with a driven gear unit comprising the gear 84 and the gear 86 journaled for rotation on a pin mounted in the die casting 74. The gear 86, in turn, meshes with a driven gear 88 journaled on a shaft 92, also mounted in the die casting 74. The die casting is extended at 92a to provide further support for this shaft. Formed as a part of the gear 88 is a grooved cam 90, which is positioned, as shown in FIG. 3, to receive the bearing bushings 48 and 52, mounted on the respective knife receptacles 22 and 28.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a brush holder disk 94 of insulating material is secured to the die casting 76, through which the end of the shaft 80 projects and on which is secured a cooling fan 98, which can be molded of plastic material. Secured on one face of the insulat- 3 ing disk 94 are a pair of brush holders 96, adapted to position the brushes B which engage the commutator 72.

When assembled it will be seen that the part 42 for the receptacle casing is secured on the upper face of the die casting 74 by means of the screws 42a.

The housing parts and 12 are secured together by means of a series of machine screws S. The housing part 10 is provided with internally formed ribs 10a to serve in positioning the operative parts in cooperation with the ribs 12a formed on the housing part 12. As will be seen in FIG. 1, these ribs are shaped to cooperate with the shapes of the related parts to provide positioning seats for the operative parts. Theses eats include the ribs 12b, which position the motor.

In view of the clarity with which the device of this disclosure is presented, an extensive description of its operation is hardly necessary. When the winding 68 of the motor, which is in the series circuit including the switch operated by the button 56 is energized the motor will be rendered operative. It follows that the cam 90 is rotated and in view of its cam groove formation the blade receptacles 22 and 28 will give a limited axial reciprocatory movement in the housing 42-44. The blades 14 and 16, being locked to these receptacles, are driven with the same motion. As shown in the figures, the blades 14 and 16 project through an opening in the end of the housing 10-12 and the L-shaped pieces 18 and 20, mounted on the blades, normally lie in that opening and act as a barrier to prevent the admission of liquids into the casing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject matter of this invention is capable of variation without departure from the scope of novelty herein disclosed. It is intended therefore that the embodiment selected for illustrative purposes be so recognized.

What is claimed:

1. An electric power driven knife blade assembly to effect relative axial reciprocation of a pair of blades comprising a combination of elements, including an electric motor, a pair of blade receptacles, a housing within which said receptacles may reciprocate axially, power transmission means connecting said motor to said receptacles to effect their relative reciprocation in said housing, means on said receptacles comprising spring biased pins for releasably locking each of a pair of cutting blades on said receptacles, said pins extending through the same side of the receptacle, means projecting through the wall of said housing for actuating one of said pins to move it to a release position, and first means operated by said one pin as it moves to the release position for moving the other of said pins to the release position to permit disengagement of both knife blades from said receptacles.

2. In the combination of claim 1 a pair of blades having terminal tongues provided with open ended longitudinal slots terminating in apertures at their inner ends, said pins lying in said apertures when the blades are mounted on said receptacles and having a larger diameter than the width of said slots, said actuating mov ing said pins out of said apertures to permit longitudinal extraction of the blades from said receptacles.

3. In the combination of claim 1, said housing comprising a pair of complementary parts shaped to provide slideways in which said receptacles reciprocate respectively.

4. In the combination of claim 1 wherein said actuating means directly engages one of said pins to move it to said release position and said first means is connected to said first pin to be moved thereby to engage the second pin and move it to the release position.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein both said pins extend in the same direction on their respective receptacles, and said moving means moves one of said pins which in turn moves the other when actuated.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,096 8/1965 Beisheim et -al. -272 3,234,649 2/1966 Preble et al. 30-272 FOREIGN PATENTS 769,621 6/1934 France.

JAMES L. I ONES, 111., Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. AN ELECTRIC POWER DRIVEN KNIFE BLADE ASSEMBLY TO EFFECT RELATIVE AXIAL RECIPROCATION OF A PAIR OF BLADES COMPRISING A COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS, INCLUDING AN ELECTRIC MOTOR, A PAIR OF BLADE RECEPTACLES, A HOUSING WITHIN WHICH SAID RECEPTACLES MAY RECIPROCATE AXIALLY, POWER TRANSMISSION MEANS CONNECTING SAID MOTOR TO SAID RECEPTACLES TO EFFECT THEIR RELATIVE RECIPROCATION IN SAID HOUSING, MEANS ON SAID RECEPTACLES COMPRISING SPRING BIASED PINS FOR RELEASABLY LOCKING EACH OF A PAIR OF CUTTING BLADES ON SAID RECEPTACLES, SAID PINS EXTENDING THROUGH THE SAME SIDE OF THE RECEPTACLE, MEANS PROJECTING THROUGH THE WALL OF SAID HOUSING FOR ACTUATING ONE OF SAID PINS TO MOVE IT TO A RELEASE POSITION, AND FIRST MEANS OPERATED BY SAID ONE PIN AS IT MOVES TO THE RELEASE POSITION FOR MOVING THE OTHER OF SAID PINS TO THE RELEASE POSITION TO PERMIT DISENGAGEMENT OF BOTH KNIFE BLADES FROM SAID RECEPTACLES.

Images