WO1992003263A1

WO1992003263A1 - A tool

Info

Publication number: WO1992003263A1
Application number: PCT/AU1991/000362
Authority: WO
Inventors: Owen Roger Anthony Dale
Original assignee: Owen Roger Anthony Dale
Priority date: 1990-08-13
Filing date: 1991-08-13
Publication date: 1992-03-05

Abstract

A tool (10) comprises a body (13) preferably adapted to be hand held by a user, the body has a slidable undersurface (14) which can include an arcuate portion (37) to provide a rocking action during use. Blades are held in convergent slots (15, 16) and the angle of the blades can be adjusted to vary the depth of cut effected by cutting edges (18, 19). The blades can be reversed so that the tools adapted for free hand grooving under a pulling action. The tool body (13) includes a hand grip in the form of three finger receiving recesses (20, 21, 22) or can have a handle located behind the body (13) for smaller sized bodies. The tool (10) can be used in conjunction with a tool guide (29) and a tool locator (31) as a kit, the tool guide is typically a straight edge (29) including a rubber strip (33) extending along its undersurface.

Description

A TOOL

TECHNICAL FIELD THIS INVENTION relates to a cutting tool and in particular but not limited to a hand held tool suitable for holding blades in position to cut a groove in a surface.

Although the present invention has many applications, it has principal application to the provision of decorative grooves in a surface.

BACKGROUND ART An example of one situation where decorative grooving is employed is in the framing of a picture, photograph, etc. The picture is placed centrally on a coloured background sheet known as a mat board which is in turn framed. The mat board is a layered card with a coloured outer surface, removal of a portion of the coloured outer surface reveals a contrasting base. Thus, a decorative groove can be formed about the framed picture to enhance its aesthetic appeal.

Decorative grooving of this type is usually provided by using a grooving machine which is expensive and requires multiple operations which are time consuming.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate at least to some degree the aforementioned problems associated with the prior art. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect therefore, the present invention resides in a tool suitable for holding cutting means in position to cut a groove in a surface, the tool comprising a body having a slidable undersurface and means for securing said cutting means to said body so that convergent cutting edges protrude from said undersurface. Preferably, the cutting means is removably securable to said body.

In a further aspect, the invention resides in a kit for cutting grooves in a surface, the kit comprising a hand held cutting tool, a tool guide and a tool locator, the cutting tool comprising a body having a slidable undersurface and means for securing said cutting means to said body so that convergent cutting edges protrude from said undersurface, the body having a guide slideway set at a predetermined distance from said cutting edges, said tool locator having a cutting edge locating means and a guide positioning means spaced from the locating means by a distance equal to the distance between the guide slideway and the cutting edges so that in use, the tool can be moved under manual control, slid along the guide to cut a groove at a distance from the guide set by said tool locator.

The tool body can be of any shape but preferably includes a hand grip means formed in an upper surface of the body. The hand grip means preferably includes finger receiving recesses or depressions separated by an upstanding land portion. Preferably, the land portion is generally Y-shaped in plan.

The body preferably includes sighting means which offers a direct line of sight from the user to the cutting means so that the tool can be used as a "free hand" grooving tool.

The slidable undersurface is preferably a flat surface carrying a non-grip surface coating to promote sliding. In one preferred aspect, the undersurface includes a longitudinal groove through which the cutting edges protrude. Alternatively or in addition, the undersurface can have an arcuate portion providing a rocking action during use.

The cutting means preferably comprises two removable blades which, when coupled to the body, are arranged with their respective cutting edges converging towards each other so that the blades cut a groove having convergent side walls.

The tool guide and tool locator preferably include straight edge devices having parallel spaced edges, the width of the tool locator being equal to the distance between the guide slideway and the cutting edges. The tool can include a handle located behind and secured to the body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention can be more readily understood and be put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings and wherein:-

Figures 1 and 2 are pictorial views illustrating a hand held tool according to the present invention;

Figures 3 and 4 are pictorial views illustrating application of the present invention to forming a decorative groove in a mat board; and

Figures 5A and 5B are respective end and side views illustrating a further embodiment of the present invention. BEST METHOD OF PERFORMING THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings and initially to Figures 1 and 2, there is illustrated a tool 10 which in this case is adapted to be hand held and is suitable for holding cutting means in the form of two blades 11 and 12 which are positioned as shown in Figure 1 to cut a groove in a surface (see Figure 3). It will be appreciated that although the tool is adapted to be hand held simply by screwing the tool to a suitable mechanism such as a guide mounted on a guideway, the tool can be made to follow a predetermined path during a cut. The tool in this case comprises a body 13 adapted to be hand held by a user, the body having a slidable undersurface 14 and means for securing the cutting blades to the body, in this case, comprising convergent slots 15 and 16. In the illustrated embodiment, blades 11 and 12 are shown in place in Figure 1 and blade 12 is shown in place in Figure 2. Blade 11 is shown in an exploded representation in Figure 2 and as can be seen, the blades are retained in place by virtue of exchangeable shims 17 which can be selected to increase the spacing between the blades 11 and 12. This enables adjustment of the depth of cut effected by cutting edges 18 and 19. In the embodiment of Figure 2, the blades are reversed when compared to the orientation of the blades in Figure 1. In Figure 1, the tool is adapted for free hand grooving whereby it is pushed and in Figure 2, the tool is adapted for operation under a pulling action (see Figure 3) .

In the illustrated embodiment, the tool body 13 includes a hand grip in the form of three finger receiving recesses 20, 21 and 22 in order for the tool to be comfortably gripped in the fashion illustrated in Figure 3. When under free hand operation, as mentioned above, the blades 11 and 12 are reversed when compared to the blade orientation of Figure 2, such that the cutting edges 18 and 19 appear visible through a sighting aperture 23. Thus, under free hand action, the actual cut being made can be viewed at all times.

In the illustrated embodiment, the blades 11 and 12 are retained in place by grub screws 24 and 25 respectively, although any suitable removable retaining means can be employed including suitably positioned end screws which can be used to reduce the likelihood of the blades moving end wise out of the slots 15 and 16.

On the slidable undersurface 14, a teflon backed tape is employed to enhance sliding and the surface 14 includes a longitudinal slot 26 through which the cutting edges 18 and 19 protrude.

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, there is illustrated one application of the present invention to providing a groove 27 in a section of mat board 28 using the tool having blades positioned as in Figure 2. As can be seen, a tool guide in the form of a straight edge 29 is employed and during operation of the tool 10, the side face of the tool operates as a guide slideway which travels along the edge 30 of the straight edge 29 so that the groove 27 is cut in parallel with the edge 30. Prior to the cutting step illustrated in Figure 3, the straight edge 29 is located in position on the mat board 28 using a tool locator 31 which, in this case, is a parallel edged straight edge device having a width equal to the distance from the side face of the tool 10 and the juncture of the cutting edges 18 and 19. Thus, by placing the tool guide and tool locator in abutment as illustrated in Figure 4 and locating the edge 32 of the locator along the line where the groove is to be provided, it is simply a matter of removing the locator 31 whilst retaining the straight edge 29 in position. The tool can then be drawn back in parallel relationship with the straight edge 29 with the locator removed in order to cut the groove 27 as depicted in Figure 3.

The relationship between the tool guide 29, tool locator 31 and tool 10 is depicted in Figure 4 where the tool is illustrated in phantom. In order to inhibit movement of the straight edge 29 relative to the mat board 28, the straight edge includes a rubber strip 33 extending along its undersurface. Thus, in order to utilise the present invention, it is appropriate that it be marketed in kit form where the kit comprises the tool 10, the tool guide 29 and the tool locator 31.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that grooving of mat boards or other surfaces can be easily accomplished using the present invention. Likewise, with the blades reversed as illustrated in Figure 1, free hand grooving can be accomplished with the action of the tool being observed at all times. Likewise, the sight aperture 23 affords viewing of the blades during a "pull back" action as illustrated in Figure 3, thereby making it easy to observe the completion of a groove so that accurate cornering can be obtained.

With reference to Figures 3 and 4, by removing a single blade and appropriately lengthening the depth of cut, it is possible to utilise the groover as a cutter rather than a grooving tool and as can be seen in Figures 3 and 4, the groover has been utilised both to form the groove 27 and to cut out a frame section formed by edge 34. An assortment of different shaped grooves can be cut using the tool of Figure 10 simply by adjusting the location of the cutting edges 18 and 19 relative to one another. For example, a V-shaped groove can be cut where the cutting edges are close together or a flat bottom groove can be cut where the blades are withdrawn and slightly spaced with suitable adjustment of shim position.

Referring to Figures 5A and 5B, there is illustrated a further embodiment of the present invention which in this case is a miniaturized version of the tool previously described. The tool 35 has a body 36 about 20mm wide and 35mm long with a handle 37 attached to the body 36. Unlike the previous embodiment, this embodiment includes separate slots for blades set at various predetermined angles and the blades are removably held in place by screws and washers 38.

The depth of cut can be altered during a cut by a rocking action on the arcuate surface 39 at the rear of the tool. The tool described in relation to Figures 1 to 4 can also be equipped with an arcuate surface providing a rocking action to vary the depth of cut.

From the foregoing, it will therefore be appreciated that while the above has been given by way of illustrative example of the present invention, there are many modifications and variations thereto that will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A tool suitable for holding cutting means in position to cut a groove in a surface, the tool comprising a body having a slidable undersurface and means for securing said cutting means to said body so that convergent cutting edges protrude from said undersurface.

2. A kit for cutting grooves in a surface, the kit comprising a cutting tool, a tool guide and a tool locator, the cutting tool comprising a body having a slidable under surface and means for securing said cutting means to said body so that convergent cutting edges protrude from said undersurface, the body having a guide slideway set at a predetermined distance from said cutting edges, said tool locator having a cutting edge locating means and a guide positioning means spaced from the locating means by a distance equal to the distance between the guide slideway and the cutting edges so that in use, the tool can be moved under manual control, slid along the guide to cut a groove at a distance from the guide set by said tool locator.

3. The invention according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the tool includes a hand grip means formed in an upper surface of the body, the hand grip means including finger receiving recesses or depressions separated by an upstanding land portion.

4. The invention according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the body includes sighting means which offers a direct line of sight from the user to the cutting means so that the tool can . be used as a "free hand" grooving tool.

5. The invention according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the undersurface includes an arcuate portion providing a rocking action during use in order to vary the depth of cut.

6. The invention according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4 or 5 wherein the tool includes a handle located behind the body.

7. The invention according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the tool is adapted to be hand held in use.