GB1347194A - Cordless electric garden trimmer with safety lock means - Google Patents

Abstract

1347194 Machinery guards J S DOYEL 19 April 1972 [15 Sept 1971] 18081/72 Heading F2J [Also in Division A1] A safety cover for the cutting unit of a hand held battery powered electric trimmer for grass, hedges or the like (see Division A1), is formed by a pair of spring biased shrouds which completely enclose the cutters when the trimmer is not in use. The actuating mechanism which opens the shrouds includes a switch so that the motor is only activated when the shrouds are open. In one embodiment, the shrouds 18 and 20 which also includes a funnel 21 for expelling trimmings are opened when triggers 34, 36 are pressed inwards against the force of a leaf spring 42 which normally biases the safety cover into the closed position. The stem 32 carries a switch so that the motor can only be activated when the safety shrouds open as the triggers are depressed. The shrouds 18, 20 are locked in the closed position by means of a plate 58 which is vertically slidable on a T-shaped projection 60 of the housing and which has outwardly extending jaws 58e, 58/ which clamp lugs 18a and 20a together. To provide a child tamperproof measure the plate 58 has to be pulled away from the housing to deflect the bar 60 before it can be pushed over a top ridge 62, prior to the opening of the shrouds. A groove 58b is provided in the back of the plate 58 so as to receive the ridge 62 and maintain the plate in the open position when the trimmer is in use. In an alternative embodiment, the funnel 21 in the shroud 20 (Figs. 7-11, not shown) is provided with a hinged closing plate which seals this aperture when the shrouds are in the closed position and which opens by actuation of a cam arm as the safety cover is opened by means of the triggers immediately prior to use of the trimmer.