GB2261624A

GB2261624A - Cutting device

Info

Publication number: GB2261624A
Application number: GB9124813A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Leonard Pimbert; Richard Griffith Fellows; John Peter Lilly
Original assignee: British Gas PLC
Current assignee: British Gas PLC
Priority date: 1991-11-22
Filing date: 1991-11-22
Publication date: 1993-05-26
Also published as: GB9124813D0

Abstract

A device 1 for cutting channels in a board of material such as polystyrene, has a body part 2 which supports a heating element 5 in the form of a loop 6. An electric current is used to heat the element which melts the polystyrene in its immediate vicinity as the loop is urged through the material thereby to 'cut' the channel therein. In use the device rests on the board of material during the cutting operation. <IMAGE>

Description

A CUTTING DRVICX The present invention relates to a cutting device and more particularly to a device for cutting channels through suitable materials.

According to the invention a device for cutting or forming channels in a material comprises a body part which supports an electrically operable heating element, the heating element being in the form of a loop which projects from the body part.

In use, an electrical current passes through and heats up the heating element and at least a portion of the hot loop is moved in a chosen direction through a suitable material, such as a block or board of polystyrene, as the material in the immediate vicinity of the heated loop melts.

As the loop moves through the length of the board a channel is cut out.

Advantageously, the body part of the device may have at least one surface for engaging the surface of the material to be cut so that the device can rest on the material as it cuts or forms the channel.

The material-engagable surface of the device may conveniently be of planar form and the loop of heating material may extend in a transverse direction to the plane of the material-engagable surface of the device.

Conveniently, the body part may have a handle projecting thereform to facilitate using the device. In one embodiment the handle may be connected to another body part with the parts having substantially coplanar surfaces for engaging the surface of the material to be cut.

The loop may have two opposite side portions and a base portion which bridges the side portions. The two side portions may be substantially perpendicular to the bridging portion, so that the channel produced is of rectangular 'U' shape in cross-section. The loop may may however take other forms, for example, it may include a round-bottomed 'U' shaped portion for cutting channels of similar shape in cross-section.

The heating element may comprise a plain electrical resistance wire. Alternatively the element may, for example, of coiled form which is contained within a metal sheath or sleeve via which heat is transferred to the material to be cut when the device is in use.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a persepctive view of one embodiment of device according to the invention, Figure 2 is a side view of the device in Figure 1, Figure 3 is an end view of the device in the direction of arrow A in Figure 2 as the device is cutting through a board of material, and Figures 4 and 5 show the corss-sectional and perspective views respectively of the resulting channel which has been cut through the board.

Referring to Figures 1 and 3, the device 1 comprises a first body part 2 connected by a handle 3 to a second body part 4. The body part 2 supports an electrically operable heating element 5 which is in the form of a loop 6. The body parts 2 and 4 have respective flat or planar bottom surfaces 7, 8 which are co-planar.

The loop 6 extends away from the body part in a downward direction (as viewed in the drawings) substantially perpendicular to the plane containing the body part surfaces 7, 8. The loop comprises two parallel opposite side limbs or portions 6a, 6b, which are substantially perpendicular to the surfaces 7 and 8, and a bridging portion 6c which connects the side portions 6a and 6b. The bridging portion 6c is substantially perpendicular to the side hartiaas da and 6b, and is substantially parallel to the plane containing the surfaces 7, 8.

When the device is to be used it is placed on, for example, the surface 11 of a block of material 10, such as polystyrene, through which it is desired to cut a channel, with the body part surfaces 7,8 engaging the surface of the block.

The device has an electrical circuit (not shown) which includes the heating element so that the latter can be energised from one or more batteries or from a mains source of electricity (not shown). One or more batteries may, for example, be housed in the handle 3 which may be provided with an actuating or circuit-completing knob (not shown).

With the heating element in the heated condition the device 1 is urged across the block 10 so that the loop 6, as a result of melting the polystyrene in its immediate vicinity, is moved through the block and 'cuts' a channel 12 of rectangular cross-section as shown in figure 3. The melted regions of polystyrene quickly resolidify once the heating elements moves out of the immediate vicinity and a strip or length of material 13 which is left in the channel is lifted out to leave the open channel as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Claims

1. A device for cutting channels in a material, comprising a body part which supports an electrically operable heating element, the heating element being in the form of a loop which projects from the body part.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which the body part has at least one surface for engaging the surface of the material in which the channel is to be cut.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising a second body part and a handle which connects the two body parts.

4. A device as claimed in claims 2 and 3, in which the second body part also has a surface for engaging the surface of the material to be cut and the two body part surfaces lie substantially in a common plane.

5. A device as claimed in claim 2 or claim 4, in which the loop projects away from the body part in a direction transverse to the plane of the material-engagable surface of the body part.

6. A device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the loop includes a portion of rectangular 'U' shape.

7. A device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.