AU2001100185A4 - A bevel - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Applicant: KHK ENTERPRISES PTY LTD Invention Title: A BEVEL The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:.

2 A BEVEL The present invention relates to a bevel.

Bevels are used in the building industry to make a record of an angle at which a piece of material should be cut, for example roofing material, and are then used to mark the material for cutting. A bevel consists of two arms which pivot relative to one another. To make a record of an angle, the arms are set against the angled edge of the gap into which the material is to fit once cut. The arms are then locked in position relative to one another and the bevel is taken to a work area where the bevel is laid against material to be cut and the material is marked using the bevel as a guide so that the material can be cut at the correct angle.

A disadvantage of this approach is that a person using the bevel can only make a single measurement at one time. Thus, it is necessary for a person who is working on a roof to climb to the roof, take a measurement, return to the work area where the material is being cut to cut the material and then return to the roof to make a further measurement. It would be desirable to provide a bevel which could be used to make multiple measurements to thereby reduce the need to climb up to the roof repeatedly.

Accordingly, the invention provides a bevel having: a pair of arms pivotably mounted to one another near one end of each arm; and angle indicating means for indicating the angle between the pair of arms.

Preferably, said angle indicating means is a protractor carried by a first arm of said pair of arms.

H:\Caroline\Keep\Speci\GM33656-KHK Enterprises.doc 24/07/01 3 Preferably, said protractor is part of said first arm.

Preferably, said protractor is generally semicircular.

Preferably, said protractor has angle markings on both sides.

Preferably, each side is marked so that the sides can readily be distinguished from one another.

Preferably, a second arm of said pair of arms is formed by a pair of arm members situated either side of said first arm, whereby said protractor moves between said arm members.

Preferably, each of said arm members has an aperture through which said angle markings may be read.

Preferably, locking means is provided to lock said first arm to said second arm.

Preferably, said locking means is carried by said second arm.

Preferably, said locking means bears on said protractor when in a locking position.

Preferably, each arm of the bevel is greater than 0.50m long.

Preferably, each arm of the bevel is approximately l.Om long.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now H:\Caroine\Keep\peci\M33656-KHK Enterprises.doc 24/07/01 4 be described in relation to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the bevel of a first preferred embodiment; Figure 2 is a top view of the bevel of the first preferred embodiment; Figure 3 is a detailed view of the bevel of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a further detailed view showing the bevel of Figure 1 in place next to some corrugated iron; Figures 5 to 7 show the bevel of Figure 1 in use; Figure 8 is a partial side view of a bevel of second preferred embodiment; and Figure 9 is a linear view of the bevel of Figure 8.

Figure 1 illustrates the bevel 1 of a first preferred embodiment. The bevel 1 has a first arm 3 and a second arm 5 which are pivotably mounted together by pivot pin 19. Angle indicating means is provided by a protractor 7, reading hole 9, and reading indicator 11.

Thus, the angle between the two arms is indicated by the angle marking of the protractor which is in register with the reading indicator 11 when a measurement is being made.

As is apparent from Figure 2, the second arm 5 is formed by a pair of arm members provided by first flanged arm member 4 and second flanged arm member 6. The arm members are flanged so that the flange may be brought into abutting contact with a sheet of material to be cut.

Figure 1 shows the bevel 1 viewed from the direction of the first flange member 4 and shows a reading hole 9. A corresponding reading hole is also provided in second flange member 6, and the protractor has 7 has angle markings on both sides so that the angle between the arms 3, 5 can be measured irrespective of which side of the bevel is located against the element to be measured or H:\Caroline\Keep\Speci\G3365.KHK Enterprises.doc 24/07/01 5 cut. The sides are marked as side A and side B respectively so that they can be distinguished-from one another. Thus, two bevels of the same design may be used to enable a first person working, for example, on a roof to call out measurements to a second person in a work area "Side A 350") so that the second person can cut material at the correct angle.

The bevel further comprises a lock screw 13 mounted by lock screw bracket 14 and threaded block 17 to the second arm 5. Referring to Figure 3, the lock screw end 15 of lock screw 13 abuts the outer surface of the protractor 7 in order to lock the arms of the protractor in the position relative to one another. It will be apparent from Figure 3, that the lock screw is arranged so that if the longitudinal axis of the lock screw 13 were extended it would pass through to pivot point 19, whereby the lock screw end 15 will always bear on the outer surface of the protractor 7.

It will also be noted that the reading indicator 11 is provided by a notch extending from the reading hole 9 to thereby facilitate reading of the angle.

Figure 4 illustrates how the bevel may be positioned in four different orientations as indicated by four representative pieces of corrugated iron 2ba-2bd that is, the flange members 4 and 6 allow the bevel 1 to be located against the work surface provided by the corrugated iron in four different orientations.

Figure 5 shows how a bevel 1 may be used to measure the angle at which roofing sheets 32 must be cut to fit house 30. In the position illustrated in Figure i, the bevel 1 is being used to measure the angle at which a further piece of roof sheeting 32 must be cut in order to fit the roof sheeting between a valley 34 in the roof of H:\CarolineKeep\peci\ M33656-KHK Enterprises.doc 24/07/01 6 the house 30 and a neighbouring piece of roof sheeting 32a. Various alternative positions 1' where the bevel may be located are illustrated in Figure 5. The person using a bevel 1 can climb the roof and make measurements at all of the locations noting the side of the bevel which is being used and the angle. The person can then fold the bevel 1, climb down from the roof and then proceed to cut the sheets of roofing material to the right dimensions.

This is achieved as illustrated in Figure 6 by first marking the roof sheet as illustrated in Figure 6 and then cutting the roof sheet as illustrated in Figure 7.

It will be appreciated that it highly advantageous that the arm lengths of the bevel are substantial in order to reduce errors in measured angle.

Therefore, in the preferred embodiment the lengths of the bevel arms are approximately 1 metre long although, it will be appreciated that arm lengths of approximately may also be useful. Length markings are provided along at least the first arm to enable the length of the material to be measured.

As described previously, the bevel of the first preferred embodiments is designed to be folded together.

For this purpose, a notch 16 is provided in the first arm in order to receive the bracket 14 of the lock screw 13.

Further, the end 23 of the first arm is cut at an angle which corresponds to the angle at which a spacing block 21 carried by the second arm so that the second arm is not capable of rotating in a clockwise direction beyond the position in which it is parallel and in register with the first arm.

An alternative, less preferred, bevel is shown in Figures 8 and 9. In this embodiment, like reference numerals are used where appropriate. The bevel 41 of the second preferred embodiment has first and second arms 3, H\Caroine\Keep\Speci\G33656-KJ(K Enterprises.doc 24/07/01 7 but the protractor 43 is generally circular rather than semi-circular. The lock screw 45 is carried by a lock screw arm 47 which is again arranged so that the axis of the lock screw 45, passes through the pivot point 19.

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the present invention and these modifications are considered to be within the scope of the invention described herein.

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Claims (4)

1. A bevel having: a pair of arms pivotably mounted to one another near one end of each arm; and angle indicating means for indicating the angle between the pair of arms.

2. A bevel as claimed in claim 1 wherein said angle indicating means is a protractor carried by a first arm of said pair of arms.

3. A bevel as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said protractor is part of said first arm.

4. A bevel as claimed in claim 4, wherein a second arm of said pair of arms is formed by a pair of arm members situated either side of said first arm, whereby said protractor moves between said arm members. A bevel as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of said arm members has an aperture through which angle markings may be read. H:\CaroineKeep\Speci\C;33656-KHK Enterprises.doc 24/07/01