US949649A - Foot-guard. - Google Patents

Description

R. D. GULTER.

FOOT GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. s, 1909.

949,649, Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

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RICHARD D. GULTER, OF EAST TAWAS, MICHIGAN.

FOOT-GUARD.

oaaeio.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, RICHARD D. CUL'rnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Tawas, in the county of Iosco and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvrnnents in Foot-Guards, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in foot guards to be attached to the rear edges or heads of shovels to form a foot rest for the shoveler and enable him to use the shovel without injury to his foot or shoe, an object of the invention being to provide a device of this character which is extremely cheap and simple, is small and compact so that it may be readily carried in a pocket and which may be readily attached to and detached from a shovel as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure l is a front elevation of a shovel provided with my foot guard. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same on the plane indicated by the line c-a of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view of my improved foot guard on a greater scale. Fig. 4t is a side elevation of the same.

My improved foot guard may be made of iron, steel or any other suitable material and preferably is a casting, although it may be forged. The body 1 of my improved foot guard is of suitable length to enable it to extend from one side of the shovel handle nearly to one side of the shovel. and is of suitable width and thickness and is curved longitudinally to adapt it to conform to the shape of the inner end, edge or head of the shovel and is provided at its outer end on its upper side with a stop stud 2 to bear against the outer edge of the shoe sole of the shoveler and prevent his foot from slipping from said guard. The inner end of the body of the guard is concaved or recessed as at 8 to adapt it to fit against the inner end of the handle of the shovel. On the under side of the guard and preferably formed integral therewith are studs 4, 5 which are at suitable distances from the ends of the guard and are split from their lower ends to the point where they join the body of the guard, that is to say, each of the said studs is divided as by a kerf 6 so that the upper end or edge of the shovel may be placed in said kerfs of the divided studs and hence the latter are adapted to bear both on the front and rear Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 3, 1909.

Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

Serial No. 481,087.

sides of the shovel. At the inner end of the guard on the under side thereof is a downwardly extending substantially conical look stud 7 which tapers toward its lower end and when the guard is placed on the shovel, the said lock stud, owing to its tapered form, is forced downwardly against the front of the eye of the shovel and coacts wit-h the split or divided studs a, 5 to firmly lock the guard to the shovel as will be understood. In order to detach the guard from the shove-l, it is only necessary to strike a few blows on the under side of the guard as with a hammer, stone or other object.

It will be understood from the foregoing,

that the guard may be very readily attached to or detached from a shovel, owing to the coaction of the divided or split studs and the downwardly tapering locking stud. The pressure of the foot of the shoveler on the foot guard causes the latter to be firmly wedged and locked on the rear edge of the head of the shovel and it will also be understood that the foot guard is light, simple, cheap ancPcomp-act and may be, when not in use on the shovel, very readily placed in a pocket.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, is

1. A foo-t guard for application to the head or upper edge of a shovel and comprising a body portion, downwardly extending split studs to receive the upper portion of the shovel blade bet-ween them and a clownwardly tapered locking stud to bear on one side of the shovel and coact with said splitstuds to exert wedge action and lock the foot guard in place.

2. A foot guard for application to the head or upper edge of a shovel and comprising a body portion having a stop stud on its upper side at its outer end and provided on its under side with divided studs to re ceive the upper portion of the shovel blade between them and also with a downwardly tapered locking stud to bear against one side of the shovel and coact with said divided studs to exert wedge action and lock said foot guard in place.

I11 testimony whereof I afIiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD D. CULTER. lVitnesses BYRON H. OLos, J. R. MCHARG.

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