Knife with sliding gear

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12083696-B2
Application number	US-202318313838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2023
Priority date	Jul 1, 2022
Publication date	Sep 10, 2024
Grant date	Sep 10, 2024

Abstract

A utility knife includes a blade, a housing to store the blade, an actuator, and a pinion gear to deploy the blade. The pinion gear includes one or more sets of teeth that are engaged with a fixed rack of the housing and a sliding rack of the blade holder. The pinion gear is also coupled to the actuator, which is configured to linearly translate the pinion gear. As the pinion gear linearly translates between front and back ends of the housing, the pinion gear rotates due to its engagement with the fixed rack. The further engagement between the pinion gear and the sliding rack causes the sliding rack to advance in the same linear direction as the pinion gear by a distance that is greater than the linear distance traversed by the pinion gear, thereby advancing or retracting the blade connected to the blade holder.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A utility knife, comprising:
a handle comprising or has attached thereto a first geared rack;
a blade holder configured to have a blade mounted therein or thereto, the blade holder comprising a second geared rack that is configured to facilitate advancing and retracting movement of the blade holder and the blade relative to the handle,
wherein the first geared rack remains in a fixed positional relationship with the handle when the blade holder and the blade are advancing and retracting relative to the handle.

2. The utility knife of claim 1 , further comprising a pinion gear rotatably disposed between the first and second geared racks.

3. The utility knife of claim 2 , wherein the pinion gear is configured to (i) rotate about an axis and (ii) linearly translate such that the axis moves along a portion of a length of the utility knife a first distance to facilitate movement of the blade holder and the blade a second distance, the second distance being different than the first distance.

4. The utility knife of claim 1 , wherein the handle comprises a spacer forming a channel configured to have the blade holder movably disposed therein.

5. The utility knife of claim 4 , wherein the first geared rack of the handle is disposed on an interior surface of the channel formed by the spacer.

6. The utility knife of claim 5 , wherein the channel formed by the spacer has an open end through which the blade is configured to be at least partially deployed from the handle.

7. The utility knife of claim 4 , wherein the handle further comprises first and second sidewalls disposed on opposing sides of the spacer.

8. A utility knife, comprising:
a handle comprising:
a spacer;
first and second sidewalls disposed on opposing sides of the spacer, the spacer and opposing first and second sidewalls cooperating to form a channel in the handle configured to receive at least a portion of a blade therein; and
a geared rack associated with the spacer;

a movable geared rack configured to be associated with the blade in the channel; and
a pinion gear rotatably engaged with the geared rack of the handle and the movable geared rack, rotation of the pinion gear being configured to cause selective advancing and retracting movement of the blade relative to the handle,
wherein:
the spacer and the first and second sidewalls have a fixed position relative to one another during the selective advancing and retracting movement of the blade relative to the handle; and
the geared rack is disposed in a fixed position relative to the spacer and the first and second sidewalls during the selective advancing and retracting movement of the blade relative to the handle.

9. The utility knife of claim 8 , further comprising a blade holder movably disposed within the channel, the blade holder being configured to have the blade mounted therein or thereon.

10. The utility knife of claim 9 , wherein the movable geared rack is formed or mounted on the blade holder.

11. The utility knife of claim 9 , wherein the blade holder is configured to have the blade mounted therein or thereon such that movement of the blade holder results is a corresponding movement of the blade.

12. The utility knife of claim 8 , wherein the movable geared rack is associated with the blade such that movement of the movable geared rack results is a corresponding movement of the blade.

13. The utility knife of claim 8 , wherein the pinion gear is configured to (i) rotate about an axis and (ii) linearly translate such that the axis moves along a portion of a length of the utility knife a first distance to facilitate movement of the blade a second distance, the second distance being different than the first distance.

14. A utility knife, comprising:
a handle comprising a spacer, the spacer having opposing internal surfaces, an open end, and a fixed geared rack associated with one of the opposing internal surfaces, the opposing internal surfaces cooperating to form a channel within the spacer;
a sliding geared rack movably disposed within the handle and configured to move a blade or blade holder disposed at least partially within the handle; and
a pinion gear disposed within the channel and engaged with the fixed geared rack associated with the spacer and the sliding geared rack, rotation of the pinion gear being configured to cause the sliding geared rack to move relative to the spacer, the pinion gear being configured to rotate and translate to cause the blade or blade holder to move relative to the spacer.

15. The utility knife of claim 14 , wherein the handle further comprises opposing first and second sidewalls disposed on opposing sides of the spacer.

16. The utility knife of claim 14 , wherein the fixed geared rack associated with one of the opposing internal surfaces of the spacer is formed on or fixedly connected to the one of the opposing internal surfaces of the spacer such that the fixed geared rack and the spacer have a fixed positional relationship.

17. The utility knife of claim 14 , further comprising an actuator connected to the pinion gear, wherein movement of the actuator causes the pinion gear to move relative to the spacer.

18. The utility knife of claim 14 , wherein the pinion gear comprises a first set of teeth that engage the fixed geared rack associated with the spacer and a second set of teeth that engage the sliding geared rack.

19. The utility knife of claim 14 , further comprising a blade holder disposed at least partially within the channel and configured for selective movement relative thereto, the blade holder being configured to have a blade mounted thereto.

Assignees

• Darex Llc

Inventors

• Dovel Daniel T

Classifications

• B26B5/001

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

• B26B5/003 Primary

  comprising retraction means for the blade or the blade holder · CPC title