Handheld lighting device with detachable knife

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10427311-B2
Application number	US-201815870605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2018
Priority date	Jan 12, 2017
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A handheld lighting device is provided with a detachable knife assembly. In one example, the handheld lighting device may include a light source that generates a light beam to illuminate a scene, such as a work area. The knife assembly may be coupled to the lighting device using an attachment mechanism. The lighting device may include a slot that may receive a sleeve of the knife assembly such that the knife assembly may be secured to the lighting device. The lighting device may illuminate the work area such that a user may readily see the area that a knife of the knife assembly may cut. The light source of the lighting device may be activated using a multi-access user control that may be L-shaped and actuated from one or more locations on the user control. Additional features and related methods are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lighting device comprising:
a housing configured to be gripped by a user;
a light source disposed at least partially within the housing and configured to project a light beam to illuminate an area of interest external to the housing;
a substantially L-shaped user control comprising a primary actuation surface disposed on a first axis of the L-shape and a secondary actuation surface disposed on a second axis of the L-shape, wherein each of the primary and secondary actuation surfaces are configured to operate the light source in response to corresponding first and second user actuations; and
a knife assembly comprising:
a sleeve,
a blade at least partially enclosed by the sleeve and coupled thereto, and
wherein the knife assembly is configured to selectively decouple from the housing to permit the user to selectively operate the lighting device with the knife assembly and without the knife assembly.

2. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the user control is configured to translate in response to the first user actuation and configured to translate and pivot in response to the second user actuation.

3. The lighting device of claim 2 , wherein the lighting device further comprises a Hall effect control configured to adjust a mode of operation of the light source associated with the user control, wherein the light source is a first light source, the lighting device further comprises a second light source.

4. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the user control is configured to:
receive the first user actuation and translate laterally in response thereto; and
receive the second user actuation and simultaneously pivot and translate laterally in response thereto.

5. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a slot having sidewalls with grooves defined therein and configured to slidably receive engagement members of the sleeve along a first direction to selectively couple and decouple the knife assembly in relation to the housing.

6. The lighting device of claim 5 , wherein:
the engagement members comprise elongate tongues disposed at least partially about a perimeter of the sleeve; and
the grooves comprise elongate voids configured to receive the tongues to prevent translation of the knife assembly in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.

7. The lighting device of claim 5 , wherein:
the sleeve comprises a locking member; and
the housing comprises a recess in at least one of the sidewalls of the slot and configured to receive the locking member to secure the sleeve within the slot.

8. The lighting device of claim 1 , wherein the knife assembly further comprises a user-operable sliding mechanism coupled to the blade and configured to extend and retract the blade from the sleeve in response to a translation of the sliding mechanism relative to the sleeve.

9. The lighting device of claim 8 , wherein:
the blade comprises a tab biased in a first direction;
the sleeve comprises a stop configured to engage with the tab while biased in the first direction to prevent the translation of the sliding mechanism; and
the knife assembly comprises a user-operable safety mechanism configured to bias the tab in a second direction to disengage the tab from the stop to permit the translation of the sliding mechanism.

10. The lighting device of claim 9 , wherein the tab is a first tab, the stop is a first stop, the user-operable safety mechanism is a first user-operable safety mechanism, and wherein:
the blade further comprises a second tab biased in the first direction;
the sleeve further comprises a second stop configured to engage with the second tab while biased in the first direction to prevent the translation of the sliding mechanism; and
the knife assembly further comprises a second user-operable safety mechanism configured to bias the second tab in the second direction to disengage the second tab from the second stop to permit the translation of the sliding mechanism.

11. The lighting device of claim 1 , further comprising a laser aligned relative to the blade to direct a laser beam toward a work surface.

12. A method comprising:
providing a lighting device comprising:
a housing configured to be gripped by a user,
a light source disposed at least partially within the housing and configured to project a light beam to illuminate an area of interest external to the housing,
a substantially L-shaped user control comprising a primary actuation surface disposed on a first axis of the L-shape and a secondary actuation surface disposed on a second axis of the L-shape, wherein each of the primary and secondary actuation surfaces are configured to operate the light source in response to corresponding first and second user actuations; and
a knife assembly comprising:
a sleeve,
a blade at least partially enclosed by the sleeve and coupled thereto; and

operating the light source while the knife assembly is coupled to the housing;
decoupling the knife assembly from the housing; and
operating the light source while the knife assembly is decoupled from the housing.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the user control is configured to translate in response to the first user actuation and configured to translate and pivot in response to the second user actuation; and
the method further comprises applying first and second user actuations to the primary and secondary actuation surfaces, respectively, to operate the light source.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:
the lighting device further comprises a Hall effect control;
the method further comprises operating the Hall effect control to adjust a mode of operation of the light source associated with the user control;
the light source is a first light source; and
the lighting device further comprises a second light source.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
translating the user control laterally in response to the first user actuation; and
simultaneously pivoting the user control and translating the user control laterally in response to the second user actuation.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the sleeve comprises engagement members;
the housing comprises a slot having sidewalls with grooves defined therein and configured to slidably receive the engagement members; and
the decoupling comprises sliding the engagement members along a first direction to decouple the knife assembly in relation to the housing.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the engagement members comprise elongate tongues disposed at least partially about a perimeter of the sleeve; and
the grooves comprise elongate voids configured to receive the tongues to prevent translation of the knife assembly in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein:
the sleeve comprises a locking member;
the housing comprises a recess in at least one of the sidewalls of the slot; and
the method further comprises receiving the locking member in the recess to secure the sleeve within the slot.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein:
the knife assembly further comprises a user-operable sliding mechanism coupled to the blade; and
the method further comprises translating the sliding mechanism relative to the sleeve to selectively extend and retract the blade from the sleeve.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the blade comprises a tab biased in a first direction;
the sleeve comprises a stop configured to engage with the tab while biased

Assignees

• Surefire Llc

Inventors

• Nguyen Loc
• Matthews John W

Classifications

• B26B1/08

  with sliding blade {(with detachable blades B26B5/001)} · CPC title

• B26B5/001

  with blades being slid out of handle immediately prior to use · CPC title

• B26B11/008 Primary

  comprising electronic or electrical features, e.g. illuminating means, computing devices or sensors · CPC title