US3815230A

US3815230A - Rotary shear with pickup finger and pressure release

Info

Publication number: US3815230A
Application number: US00295193A
Authority: US
Inventors: Florian Berkeley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-10-05
Filing date: 1972-10-05
Publication date: 1974-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 1991-06-11

Abstract

An elongated handle having first and second spaced jaws at one end and rotary anvil structure and rotary cutting disk structure journaled from the first and second jaws. The rotary cutting disk structure is disposed closely adjacent but slightly spaced from the rotary anvil structure for rolling engagement with the latter upon the spaced jaws being urged toward each other. The jaws comprise integral portions of the handle which is constructed of metal and the metal is at least slightly bendable and resilient so as to enable the jaws to be biased toward each other. One of the jaws has a smooth bore formed therethrough and the other jaw has a threaded blind bore formed therein in registry with the smooth bore. A headed shank-type fastener is journaled through the smooth bore and threadedly engaged in the threaded blind bore whereby tightening of the fastener will cause the one jaw through which the fastener is journaled to be biased toward the other jaw. An elongated radially extending pickup finger is fixed to the head of the fastener and extends along the one jaw and outwardly beyond the free end thereof and may be used not only as a wedge to lift cloth to be cut between the rotary anvil means and the cutting disk means but also as a lever to angularly displace the head of the fastener from which it is supported.

Description

United States Patent [191 Florian June 11, 1974 1 ROTARY SHEAR WITH PICKUP FINGER AND PRESSURE RELEASE [76] Inventor: Berkeley .1- Florian, 1500 Florian Dr., Dania, Fla. 33004 [22] Filed: Oct. 5, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 295,193

[52] US. Cl. 30/178, 30/273 [51] lnt.Cl B26b 17/04 [58] Field of Search 30/178, 179, 230

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,578,346 12/1951 Florian .l 30/178 3,621,572 11/1971 Kruger 30/178 Primary Examiner-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-Marc R. Davidson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Clarence A. OBrien; Harvey B. Jacobson [57 ABSTRACT An elongated handle having first and second spaced jaws at one end and rotary anvil structure and rotary cutting disk structure journaled from the first and second jaws. The rotary cutting disk structure is disposed closely adjacent but slightly spaced from the rotary anvil structure for rolling engagement with the latter upon the spaced jaws being urged toward each other. The jaws comprise integral portions of the handle which is constructed of metal and the metal is at least slightly bendable and resilient so as to enable the jaws to be biased toward each other. One of the jaws has a smooth bore formed therethrough and the other jaw has a threaded blind bore formed therein in registry with the smooth bore. A headed shank-type fastener is journaled through the smooth bore and threadedly engaged in the threaded blind bore whereby tightening of the fastener will cause the one jaw through which the fastener is journaled to be biased toward the other jaw. An elongated radially extending pickup finger is fixed to the head of the fastener and extends along the one jaw and outwardly beyond the free end thereof and may be used not only as a wedge to lift cloth to be cut between the rotary anvil means and the cutting disk means but also as a lever to angularly displace the head of the fastener from which it is supported.

5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Pmmwm M 1m 3.815230 SHEET 2 OF 2 FIG- 7 36 2 22 ROTARY SHEAR WITH PICKUP FINGER AND PRESSURE RELEASE The rotary shear of the instant invention comprises an improvement over the rotary shear disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 2,578,346, dated Dec. 11, 1951.

.Heretofore rotary shears such as the rotary shear disclosed in my above mentioned prior patent have been provided with means whereby the jaw members supporting the rotary anvil structure and the rotary cutting disk structure may be biased together. However, these prior rotary shears have been constructed in a manner whereby only semi-permanent adjustment of the spacing of the jaws could be effectively carried out. Rotary shears of this type are maintained in a state of adjustment whereby the rotary cutting disk means is .just barely rollingly engaged with the rotary anvil structure and after initial adjustment has been obtained, further adjustment of the special relationship of the jaws of the shears is not carried out until such time as it is necessary to change the rotary disk means or sharpen the latter. However, with rotary shears adjusted in this manner, it is sometimes difficult to start the material to be cut between the rotary disk means and the rotary anvil means.

Accordingly, the main object of this invention is to provide rotary shears constructed in a manner whereby each time a piece of material to be cut is placed between the rotary cutting disk means and the rotary anvil means, the placement of the material to be cut may be accomplished while the rotary anvil means and the rotary cutting disk means are sufficiently spaced from each other to receive the material to be cut therebetween.

Another object of this invention, in accordance with the immediately preceding object, is to provide rotary shears including an oscillatable forwardly projecting pickup finger swingable between a laterally offset inoperative position and a straight forwardly projecting operative position with the pickup finger operatively associated with the jaws of the shears in a manner so as to enable the jawsto separate upon displacement of the pickup finger to its inoperative position and the jaws to be automatically drawn together to the predetermined desired adjusted positions thereof upon displacement of the pickup finger from the inoperative position to the straight forwardly projecting operative position.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a rotary shear in accordance with the preceding objects and including means by which relative displacement of the jaws of the shears toward and away from each other may be adjusted according to a given angularly displaced position of the pickup finger.

A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide a rotary shear in accordance with the preceding objects which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use, so as to provide a device that will be economically feasible, long lasting and relatively trouble free in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the rotary shear of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the rotary shear of the instant invention with the pickup finger thereof illustrated as positioned in FIG. 1 and in the operative position;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the rotary shear;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the pickup finger and threaded shank-type fastener by which the rotary finger is supported from one of the jaws of the rotary shear and utilized to urge the other jaw of the shear toward the one jaw from which the shank-type fastener is supported;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing through the center of the pickup finger;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view similar to FIG. 5 but illustrating a modified form of pickup finger;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view similar to FIG. 1 but with the pickup finger in a laterally displaced inoperative position;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view illustrating five exemplary cuts which may be made with the rotary shear of the instant invention by utilizing five rotary cutting disks of different configurations.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the rotary shear of the instant invention. The shear 10 includes an elongated handle 12 having a pair of generally parallel and laterally spaced

integral jaws

14 and 16 on one end and defining a finger receiving frame 18 at its other end. The jaw 14 has a longitudinally extending passage 20- formed therethrough which divides the jaw 14 into

opposite side plates

22 and 24 joined by an upper integral transversely extending portion 26.

A pivot fastener 28 extends between and is secured through the

side plates

22 and 24 and has a wave-type cutting disk 30 journaled thereon. A spur gear 32 is also journaled on the fastener 28 alongside the cutting disk 30 and is drivingly coupled to the latter by means of a one-way clutch (not shown) of anyconventional design.

A lever 34 includes a first end oscillatably supported in the passage 20 by means of a pivot fastener 36 extending and secured between the

side plates

22 and 24. The first end of the lever 34 disposed between the

side plates

22 and 24 includes sector gear teeth 38 meshed with the spur gear 32 and the second or opposite end of the lever 34 defines a thumb-receiving frame 39.

The jaw 16 has a drum-type rotary anvil 40 joumaled therefrom by means of a pivot fastener 42 and the jaw 16 includes a smooth upstanding bore 44 formed therethrough and registered with a blind threaded bore 46 formed in the jaw 14. The smooth bore 44 includes a lower end counterbore 48 and a headed shank-type fastener 50 has its smooth shank portion 52 rotatably received in the smooth bore 44, its threaded shank portion 54 threadedly engaged with the threaded bore 46 and its diametrically enlarged head 56 seated in the counterbore 48, the outer end of the head 56 being provided with a diametric kerf 58.

The fastener 50, of course, serves to bias the jaw 16 toward the jaw 14 when the fastener 50 is tightened. However, when the fastener 50 is not tightened, the

cutting disk 30 is at least slightly spaced from the drumtype anvil 40 and thus in order to cut material disposed between the cutting disk 30 and the drum-type anvil 40, the fastener v50 must be tightened sufficiently to bias the jaw 16 toward the jaw 14 in order to swing the drum-type anvil 40 into rolling contact with the cutting disk 30.

The above description comprises a description of a rotary shear substantially equivalent to the rotary shear disclosed in my above-mentioned prior patent.

However, the rotary shear includes an elongated lever arm 60 defining a pickup finger 68. The arm 60 includes an upstanding smooth bore 62 formed through one end and a short horizontal threaded bore 64 formed in and extending longitudinally of the corresponding end of the lever arm 60. The inner end of the threaded bore 64 opens into the bore 62 and is provided with a setscrew 66. The head 56 is firmly received in the bore 62 and releasably secured in position therein by means of the setscrew 66 when the latter is tightened against the head 56. The lever arm 60 extends forwardly from the head 56 of the fastener 50 and terminates at its forward end in a smoothly upwardly curving pickup finger portion 68 whose upper surface 70 is inclined rearwardly and upwardly and terminates a spaced distance forward of the rotary anvil 40 at an elevation spaced above the horizontal center of the anvil 40. The pickup finger 68 is disposed immediately forwardly of the anvil 40 and includes a rear face 72 which is contoured so as to be partially cylindrical in configuration and to closely embrace the forward and lower peripheral portions of the anvil 40. One side of the lever arm 60 includes an upstanding longitudinally extending flange 74 which is abuttingly engageable with the right end of the rotary anvil 40 when looking along the shear 10 in a forward direction.

With the shear 10 held in one hand in the conventional manner, the forward end of the shear It) may be moved laterally to the left over a worktable with the forward or under marginal portion of the pickup finger 68 engaged with the top of the worktable or bench. In this manner, the pickup finger 68 will be angularly displaced from the straightforward position thereof illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings to the inoperative position thereof illustrated in FIG. 7 of the drawings. As a result of the pickup finger 68 being angularly displaced from the operative position of FIG. 1 to the inoperative position of FIG. 7, the fastener 50 is loosened so as to enable the resiliency of the material of which the handle 12 is constructed to allow the jaw 116 to swing at least slightly away from the jaw 14. This, of course, will cause the cutting disk 30 and anvil 40 to be disposed in spaced apart relation whereby material to be cut between the cutting disk 30 and the anvil 40 may be readily introduced between these two components. Thereafter, the underside of the forward end of the pickup finger 68 is displaced to the left over the top of the worktable so that the lever arm 60 will be swung back to the operative position illustrated in FIG. 1 as defined by engagement of the limit stop flange 74 with the adjacent side of the drum-type anvil 40, and such movement of the lever arm 60 from the inoperative position of FIG. 7 to the operative position of FIG. I will cause the fastener 50 to again be tightened and the jaw I6 to be urged toward the jaw 14 so as to again position the anvil 40 in rolling contact with the cutting disk 30. Thereafter, the lever 34 may be oscillated relative to the handle 12 in the conventional manner in order to advance the rotary shear along the material being cut between the cutting disk 30 and the anvil 40.

As can be seen from FIG. 8 of the drawings, when the lever arm 60 is in the inoperative position, the jaw 16 drops slightly relative to the jaw 14 and thereby swings the rotary anvil 40 away from the cutting disk 30.

In as much as the cutting disk 30 is removably journaled on the fastener 28, cutting disks of various types may be utilized on the shear so as to enable the latter to make cuts of various configurations, such as the cuts A, B, C, D and E illustrated in FIG. 9, the cut A being made by the cutting disk 30. Of course, cutting disks of still further configurations may be utilized to form cuts of any repeating configuration.

With attention now invited more specifically to FIG. 6 of the drawings, there may be seen a modified form of lever arm 60 which, in lieu of the threaded bore 64 and setscrew 66, is provided with a vertical slot 64' formed in the rear end of the lever arm 60 and with a clamp-type fastener 66 being operatively associated with the slotted portion of the lever arm 60 so as to allow the slotted portion to be clamped tightly about the head 56 of the fastener 50.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A rotary shear, comprising a handle having first and second vertically spaced forwardly projecting spaced jaws at one end relatively shiftable toward and away from each other, rotary anvil means and rotary cutting disk means journaled from said first and second jaws for rotation about horizontal transverse axes, thrust means connected between said jaws for selectively shifting the portions of said jaws from which said anvil means and said disk means are supported relative to each other to decrease the spacing therebetween and thereby bring said rotary anvil and rotary cutting disk means into rolling contact with each other, said thrust means including an actuator therefor comprising an elongated lever having one base end portion oscillatably supported from said handle for angular displacement of said lever about an upstanding axis and a free end portion underlying the lower jaw and projecting forwardly of the axis of rotation of the corresponding rotary means and disposed for frictional engagement with a surface upon which material to be cut by said shear is supported.

2. The combination of claim I wherein said free end portion of said lever arm is provided with an upwardly facing ramp surface inclined rearwardly and upwardly toward the other rotary means.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein an intermediate portion of said lever arm includes a laterally outstanding abutment member engageable with one axial end of said one rotary means to establish a limit of angular displacement of said lever arm in one direction.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said thrust means comprises a rotary thrust member extending between and threadedly engaged with at least one of said jaws, said lever arm being carried by said rotary thrust member and projecting generally radially outwardly therefrom.

S. A rotary shear, comprising a handle having first means including an actuator therefor comprising an elongated lever having one base end portion oscillatably supported from said handle for angular displacement of said lever about an upstanding axis and a free forward end portion underlying the lower jaw and the rotary means carried thereby and disposed for frictional engagement with a surface upon which material to be cut by said shear is supported, said forward end portion including an upwardly projecting portion positioned for abutting engagement with one axial face of the lowerjaw rotary means to establish a limit of swinging movement of the forward end portion of said lever in one direction.

Claims

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said free end portion of said lever arm is provided with an upwardly facing ramp surface inclined rearwardly and upwardly toward the other rotary means.

5. A rotary shear, comprising a handle having first and second vertically spaced forwardly projecting spaced jaws at one end relatively shiftable toward and away from each other, rotary anvil means and rotary cutting disk means journaled from said first and second jaws for rotation about horizontal transverse axes, thrust means connected between said jaws for selectively shifting the portions of said jaws from which said anvil means and said disk means are supported reLative to each other to decrease the spacing therebetween and thereby bring said rotary anvil and rotary cutting disk means into rolling contact with each other, said thrust means including an actuator therefor comprising an elongated lever having one base end portion oscillatably supported from said handle for angular displacement of said lever about an upstanding axis and a free forward end portion underlying the lower jaw and the rotary means carried thereby and disposed for frictional engagement with a surface upon which material to be cut by said shear is supported, said forward end portion including an upwardly projecting portion positioned for abutting engagement with one axial face of the lower jaw rotary means to establish a limit of swinging movement of the forward end portion of said lever in one direction.