US2006679A - Handle - Google Patents

Description

HANDLE Filed April 30, 1954 fian/ Qatar/M Patented July 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PAT-BENT OFFICE-f HANDLE Roderic M. Koch, Evansville, Ind. Application April 30, 1934, Serial No. 723,285

2 Claims. (01. 217 125) I My present invention relates to an improved handle and the method of making the same from sheet metal. While the handle of my invention is adapted for use with various carriers, receptacles, and other commodities, it is especially adapted for utilization with baskets, as for instance fioral baskets of metal, and other artistic articles of manufacture.

In carrying out my invention I provide a method by means of which sheet metal handles may be manufactured with facility at comparatively low cost of production, and fashioned in various forms and shapes, to insure an artistic appearance for the handles, as well as to provide a convenient hand-grasp by means of which the basket, container, receptacle, etc., may be carried.

My invention consists essentially in certain steps in the process or method of manufacturing the handles, and in combinations and arrangements of parts of the handle, as will be more fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated one complete example, and several modifications, embodying the principles of my invention, but it will be understood that these exemplifications are illustrative of the invention, and that changes and alterations'are contemplated and may be made, within the scope of my claims, without departing from the principles of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sheet metal strip, having therein a series of longitudinally extending slits or slots, which forms the blank from which the handle is fashioned.

Figure 2 is a face View of the handle-strip; Figure 3 is an edge view of the handle-strip of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a conventionalized View (reduced in size) showing one of the shapes that may be employed for the completed article.

Figure 5 is a face view showing a modified form of handle-strip.

Figure 6 is a face View of another modified form of the invention; Figure '7 is an edge view of Figure 6; and Figure 8 is also a conventional View, reduced in size, showing a handle according to the invention as depicted in Figures 6 and 7.

In addition to the two conventional illustrations of samples of the completed article, the drawing shows the steps employed in the process or method of manufacturing the handles.

In Figure 1 the strip designated l is of sheet metal, which may or may not be-resilient, and this strip or blank is fashioned with a series of longitudinally extending, centrally located, slits or slots 2, each of which passes through the thickness of the metal. While theslits are shown'of substantially uniform length, and substantially equidistant apart, it will be understood that the length of the slits may be varied, and the distance between the slits may also be varied, for the purpose of accomplishinga variety of formations or configurations in the completed article.

Ihe ends 3, 3, of the metal strip-are not slitted, but on the other hand, are left blank, in order that provision maybe made for suitable means for attaching 0r fastening the ends of the handle to' the basket. As one means of attachment I may provide holes 3 near the endsof the handlestrip, by means of which the ends may be riveted in suitable manner to the walls of the basket, but it will be understood that other fastening means may be employed for this purpose.

In the production of the strips, they may be sheared from the edge of a sheet of metal, or these strips may be fashioned from a long strip of sheet metal which is cut transversely into the desired uniform lengths for my purpose. In either event, the sheet of metal, or the long strip, is slitted, as at 2, 2, and for this purpose the work may be passed between a pair of rolls having cutters thereon to form the slits, or the work may be fed to a suitable press'or other machine adapted to form the slits therein.

The slits 2 may be regularly spaced apart, or irregularly spaced, and the series of slits may extend substantially the full length of the handlestrip I as indicated in Figure 1. In some instances, only an intermediate portion of the flat metal strip may be slitted, for the purpose of forming a handle in the strip, leaving the remainder of the strip solid. As thus fashioned, a central or middle hand-grasp would be used in the intermediate portion of the handles shown in Figures 4 and8.

At the slitted portions of the strip I expand or stretch the metal into various forms, as for instance, into loops made up of arches, and these arches may be shaped to produce a hexagonal loop as in Figure 3, a circular loop as in Figure '7, or any other suitable and appropriate shapes may be imparted to the arches in order that they may be employed as a hand-grasp for the handle.

These configurations or arches are fashioned in the slit metal strip in a suitable machine, by means of which the arches as 4 and 5 in Figures 2 and 3, are made to extend in opposite directions from the opposite faces of the flat strip, leaving a flat blank portion 6 between the loops formed by the arches.

The chord of the arch and the depth of the arch may be varied in order to increase or diminish the peripheral dimensions of the hand-grasp,

and the distance between the longitudinally alinedarches or loops may also be varied for the purpose of providing a comfortable and convenient hand-grasp at the central or median portion of the handle-strip.

- In Figure 5, the metal strip the handle-strip, theftwo outer,'or edge-arches l and'l' areexpanded from one and the same 'face of thestrip, while the intermediate-arch 8 as indicated. 1

is expanded from the other face of, the strip,

in opposite direction, leaving the flat portions 6 In Figures 6 and 7 a further modified form of my invention is illustrated, where two series of spaced pairs of slits are provided, and the ends of the adjoining pairs of slits overlap, thus providcase, the expanded strip provides a convenient and comfortable hold for the hand. 7

.. Thehandle strip thusformed may be fashioned into various shapes, as for instance, a round hanisprovided with a longitudinal series of pairs. ofslits; instead of a single row of.slits,;and in this modified form of dle H in Figure 4; a triangular handle H m Figure 8; or the handle may be bent to other desired shape.

As thus constructed the handle strip is flexible and. resilient, and it may withfacility be bent to conform to the shapeof the receptacle or carrier to which it is to be attached. The attaching ends 3, 3, may be'conflned'between' the opposite walls of a basket and fastenedto the walls by rivets; or these ends maybe attached at'the outer'side of the basket walls, and there fastened by rivets, Q

or secured in other suitable manner.

In the practice of my invention I am enabled to'utilize comparatively light metal, which is inexpensive, and with facility to fashion the slitted strip into a handle-strip possessing the required bulk, rigidity, and durability, for the performance. :of its ornamental and utilitarian functions; and theha'ndles maybe manufactured in quantities with rapidity and comparatively low cost of production.

Having thus fully described inventionpwhat' I claim as new and desire to secure-by Letters Patent is: a l. A sheet metal'handlestrip having rowsot alternately disposed groups of oppositely extending arches and said rows being spaced by a flat,

longitudinal, strip portion.- 7,

2. A sheet metal handle strip havingrowsjof alternating groups of oppositely extendinga-rchesalong its longitudinal edges and flat space-portionsaround three sides of each group. j

RODERIC M. KOCH.

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