GB2171628A - A knife - Google Patents

Abstract

A survival knife has a blade 10 integral with a tang 11, a handle 13 being secured on the tang by a nut 14 engaging with a screw 12 of the tang. The handle is hollow and the tang contains a rectangular slot lid, the slot and the hollow interior of the handle forming a cylindrical-shaped cavity in which survival equipment, in a cylindrical container 16, can be stored. The back edge of the blade is chamfered to form a spear point 10d, and has graded saw teeth 10b and a crown cork opener 10c. Serations 10g are for cutting meat. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A knife This invention relates to a knife, and in particularto a so-called survival knife.

According to the present invention there is provided a knife comprising a blade, a substantially flat tang integral with the blade and a handle removably fitted over the tang, the tang having an elongate aperture therethrough which is spaced from the opposite sides and ends of the tang, the handle being hollow and defining therein a storage cavity which includes said aperture.

The present invention also provides a knife comprising a blade, a tang integral with the blade and having a substantially constant thickness corresponding to the thickness of the blade at the junction therewith, the tang having the shape of a four sided frame defining therewithin an aperture which forms part of a storage cavity, and a hollow handle removably fitted over the tang, the interior of the handle containing recesses alongside the aperture which define another part of the storage cavity.

The invention will now be particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a survival knife in accordance with the invention, part sectioned to show the internal construction of the handle; Figure 2 is a plan view of the knife of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an exploded view showing a side elevation of the knife and of the tang which is integral with the knife, the handle of the knife being shown in elevation separately; Figures 4 and 5 are sections on the lines IV-IV and V-V of Figure 1, and The survival knife shown in the drawings, which is formed, for example by hot drop forge stamping from blade steel, comprises a blade 10 having a cutting edge 10a and a tang 11.

The tang 11 is formed with a thumb recess 11 a adjacent the rearward end of the cutting edge 1 Oa and a finger guard 11 b is secured to the tang by rivets 1 Ic immediately to the rear of the recess 1 1a.

The tang to the rear of the finger guard 11 b is formed with a rectangular elongate aperture 1 1d so that the portion of the tang 11 surrounding the slot is in the form of a rectangularframe. Extending rearwardly from the rearward end of the tang is a screw 12.

A handle 13 is formed as a sleeve which is closed at its rearward end except for an aperture dimen sioned to receive the screw 12. The handle 13 can accordingly be fitted over the apertured portion of the tang and secured thereon by the nut 14 shown in Figures 1 and 2, thus nut can be tethered to the handle by means of a tube 15 which extends transversely through the handle and engages a circular recess 14a extending around the nut.

As shown in Figure 4, the hollow handle, when fitted on the tang 11, forms a cylindrical cavity made up of the aperture 11 d in the tang 11 and two part-cylindrical recesses 13a formed on the inside wall of the handle 13. This cylindrical cavity is designed for storage and in particular to contain a hollow plastics cylinder 16 for holding survival equipment.

Such survival equipment conveniently comprises a flint fire starter, matches and a striker or other fire lighting equipment, needles or other sewing equipment, tweezers, fish hooks, fishing line and shot or other fishing tackle, wire, water purification tablets and pain killers, aspirin or other medicine.

It will be evident that access can readily be gained to this survival equipment by removing the nut 14 and handle 13 to expose the cylindrical container for the survival equipment.

It will also be apparent that by providing a tang which extends throughout the length of the handle and which provides a storage cavity by the rectangulay frame configuration rather than by a forked configuration, an extremely robust knife and tang construction is provided which is usable with or without the removable handle.

Referring now to the knife blade itself and the junction thereof with the tang, it will be seen that a number of features which are individually novel and inventive are provided.

The edge of the tang opposite the thumb recess 11a is knurled at ill to enable the blade to be engaged by the fingers of the user at 11 a and 11c and at a third point on the handle or finger guard when fine work is being performed with the knife.

Immediately forward of the knurling, the back edge of the blade is provided with a row of saw teeth lOb. These teeth comprise sets of teeth of progressively changing shape for sawing green wood. In particular, and as shown in Figure 2, a first set 1 Obr are arcuately-recessed teeth suitable for cutting two grooves in a piece of wood; a second set lOb2 are chisel shaped teeth which are tapered in their width to cut out wood lying between the grooves cut by teeth 10b1, and a third set 10b3, which are chisel shaped teeth, extend across the full width of the path cut by the teeth of the first two sets to leave a clean groove in the wood.

Forward of the saw teeth, the back edge of the blade is formed with a round-ended slot 1 Oc. This can be used as a crown cork remover but more particularly is useful in stripping bark from twigs as the twigs are pulled through the slot in a direction perpendicular to the flat sides of the blade. The strips of bark so formed can be plaited to form rope.

At its forward end the blade is pointed, but in addition the back edge of the blade is chamfered at 1 Od for a short distance to provide a spear-shaped point 10c. This is useful when the knife is used as a throwing knife. It will also assist in opening cans.

Considering now the cutting edge of the blade, this is smoothly curved over its forward portion 1 Of to assist in cutting objects resting on a flat surface. It will be understood that the blade is heavy so that it can be used with a chopping action. The side of the heavy blade can be used as a hammer.

At the rearward end of the cutting edge, the blade is formed with a series of semi-circular grooves lOg tapering back into the blade on each side to form a serrated cutting edge suitable for cutting through bone and grissel of caught animals.

Claims (13)

1. A knife comprising a blade, a substantially flat tang integral with the blade and a handle removably fitted over the tang, the tang having an elongate aperture therethrough which is spaced from the opposite sides and ends of the tang, the handle being hollow and defining therein a storage cavity which includes said aperture.

2. A knife comprising a blade, a tang integral with the blade and having a substantially constant thickness corresponding to the thickness of the blade at the junction therewith, the tang having the shape of a four sided frame defining therewithin an aperture which forms part of a storage cavity, and a hollow handle removably fitted over the tang, the interior of the handle containing recesses alongside the aperture which define another part of the storage cavity.

3. A knife according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said storage cavity is substantially cylindrical.

4. A knife according to any preceding claim wherein the tang has a screw integral therewith at its end remote from the blade, and the handle is retained on the tang by a nut threaded on to the screw.

5. A knife according to any preceding claim having a finger guard secured thereto, by rivets or otherwise, between the blade and the handle.

6. A knife according to any preceding claim having a storage container fitted within said cavity.

7. A knife according to any preceding claim wherein the cavity in the handle contains survival materials comprising any one or more of the following, namely fire-lighting materials, sewing materials, tweezers, fishing tackle, wire, water-purifying materials, pain relief substances and medicine.

8. A knife according to any preceding claim having a row of saw teeth formed along one edge of the knife and a cutting edge formed on the opposite edge thereof.

9. A knife having a forward cutting edge and saw teeth formed along the back edge of the knife, the shapes of the saw teeth changing progressively along said back edge.

10. A knife according to claim 9 wherein said saw teeth comprise a first set of teeth shaped to cut two parallel grooves in a piece of wood, a second set of teeth following the first set along said edge and shaped to cut out wood lying between the grooves.

11. A knife according to claim 10 wherein a third set of teeth following the second set along said edge are shaped to extend fully across the path cut by the first and second sets of teeth.

12. A knife substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A knife having any one or more of the novel and inventive features herein described.