WO2008127182A1

WO2008127182A1 - Holster for a garden saw

Info

Publication number: WO2008127182A1
Application number: PCT/SE2008/050361
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ulf BÄCKSTRÖM
Original assignee: G-Man Tools Ab
Priority date: 2007-04-16
Filing date: 2008-03-28
Publication date: 2008-10-23
Also published as: SE0700917L; EP2136975A1; SE531080C2

Abstract

A holster for a garden saw (2) having a casing part (5) which, from its end (19) which is proximate to the saw handle in the receiving position and at least over the main part of its extension towards its end which is proximate to the saw blade tip, is open laterally in one direction. The casing part is provided with a protrusion (10), which points essentially in said direction and has sections with a larger cross-sectional dimension in a resting state than a hole (12) in the saw blade with which they are designed to co-operate. The protrusion sections are flexibly designed so that they, when an attempt is made to press the hole (12) of a saw blade over them, are pressed together to a dimension allowing them to pass through the hole in the saw blade.

Description

Holster for a garden saw

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

The present invention relates to a holster for a garden saw, which can be arranged to hang from the waist region of a person in order to receive and hold the blade of a garden saw in a re- ceiving position and thereby also hold the garden saw and enable movement, such as climbing, by the person without requiring for the person to hold the saw, the holster having a casing part with essentially the shape of a saw blade of a garden saw which the holster is intended to receive and designed to at least par- tially clasp the saw blade in said receiving position.

The expression garden saw does here include all types of hand saws with a handle resembling a knife handle, to which an elongated, thin saw blade is secured, so that such a saw in appear- ance resembles a knife, and which is intended to be used for cutting objects with a limited thickness, such as branches on trees, bushes, hedges and the like and also the trunk of smaller bushes.

A holster for such a saw is used in order to enable the user of the saw to carry the saw and still have the hands free, for instance in order to climb a ladder or a fruit tree, or simply in order to be able to perform other operations between the occasions for the use of the saw and still bring the saw along all the time in or- der to be able to use it when so desired. In that connection, such a holster is usually hanging in a waist belt of the person carrying the saw.

In a previously known type of such holsters, the casing part has essentially the same appearance as a knife sheath and is mainly functioning in the same manner as a knife sheath. Garden saws are often relatively long, and with such a holster with a casing part opening at the level of the waist of the person carrying the holster, there might be a problem to find the opening of the casing part with the saw blade tip and an uncomfortable movement with the arm/shoulder will be necessary in order to come upon the opening to the casing part. This operation is however not too difficult if being made on the ground or on another safe place where the person in question has a perfect balance. However, if the person in question is working up in a high tree or is standing on a ladder, and possibly has a garden shears in the other hand, then it can be very difficult and require concentration, and in some cases even be dangerous, to get the garden saw into such a holster.

In order to solve this problems, another type of holster has been proposed by the company Topman, in which the casing part is provided with a lateral slit for insertion of the sections of the saw blade proximate to the saw blade tip into the casing part in a direction parallel to the large faces of the saw blade with the back of the saw first. Hereby, it is not necessary to lift the saw as high as with the previously described type of holster in order to make it possible to insert the saw blade into the casing part of the holster, and it will also be easier to "hit" the lateral slit with the back of the blade than an upper opening of a casing part with the saw blade tip. However, a relatively high concentration is still re- quired by the person handling the garden saw in order to insert it into the casing part. Another disadvantage with the previously known holsters is that the saw could slide out of the holster in connection with sudden movements by the person carrying the holster, owing to the fact that it most often only is the gravitation that retains the saw in the holster.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a holster for a garden saw of the type defined by way of introduction, which in at least certain use situations facilitates insertion of a garden saw into the holster.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing a holster of the type defined by way of introduction with the features stated in the characterising part of the appended claim 1.

By making the casing part open laterally in one direction in this manner, so that a saw blade can be inserted into the casing part essentially crosswise to its large lateral faces, the "opening" of the casing part can be found very easily and the saw blade can very easily be inserted into the casing part, also when the person carrying the holster is in a troublesome situation, such as on a high height with the other hand occupied. Despite the fact that the casing part is open laterally in this manner at least over the main part of its longitudinal extension, there is due to the arrangement of the protrusion no risk for the saw to unintentionally fall out of the holster once having been inserted therein in order to be retained therein. On the contrary, the arrangement of the protrusion results in an increased reliability in the retention of the garden saw in the holster as compared to the previously known holsters, since the retaining action of the protrusion is essentially independent of gravitation.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the protrusion has a cone-like shape while tapering in the direction in which it points away from the casing part. Such a shape of the protrusion has turned out to be suitable in order to enable a pressing in a simple manner of the saw blade down over the protrusion while pressing it together in order to make it pass through the hole. "Cone-like" is here to be given a wide meaning and includes all types of protrusion shapes that are tapering in said direction, and the cross- section of the protrusion does not at all need to be circular, on the contrary it may very well have other shapes, such as elon- gated. According to another embodiment of the invention, said sections of the protrusion are provided with one or several slits in order to facilitate a pressing together of these protrusion sections from said resting state shape. Such slits make it possible to press the protrusion sections together in a simple manner to a smaller total cross-sectional shape so that they thereby can be passed through said saw blade hole, without requiring any appreciable compression or no compression at all of the material from which the protrusion sections are formed. Consequently, the protrusion can hereby be made of relatively hard material and the desired flexibility still achieved owing to such slits.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the protrusion is arranged to be rotatable in relation to the casing part between at least a first position, in which said protrusion sections are capable of being pressed together in order to enable a removal of a saw blade of said type from the holster by moving this in a direction essentially opposite to the direction for said insertion and thereby essentially perpendicularly to the large faces of the saw blade, and a locking position in which an attempt to move the saw blade in said direction will not result in such a pressing together of said protrusion sections that the saw blade can be removed from the holster. Owing to this rotatable arrangement of the protrusion and the possibility to thereby attain said locking position, the person carrying the holster may move freely in all sorts of situations without the slightest risk for the garden saw to fall out of the holster, even if the person himself unintentionally would hit the handle of the saw or if a branch or the like would hit the handle of the saw in the wrong direction, i.e. in said direction of removal.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the casing part is provided with first stopping means designed to co-operate with second stopping means of the protrusion in order to define two distinct positions for the protrusion when being rotated in relation to the casing part; one position which enables removal of a saw blade of said type and one position constituting said lock- ing position. By the arrangement of such stopping means, the two desired positions may be attained in a simple and reliable manner when so desired.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said protrusion sections are designed to be capable of being pressed together principally only essentially in a direction crosswise to the direction in which the protrusion protrudes from the casing part, and these protrusion sections are designed to co-operate with a hole of said type in a saw blade in order to only allow these protrusion sections to pass through the hole in the saw blade by being pressed together in a certain direction in relation to the extension of the saw blade. This constitutes a reliable manner of implementing the possibility to attain said two positions, and a possibility to do this is to arrange the above-mentioned slit or slits in a suitable manner in said protrusion sections. "A certain direction" is here intended to include an angular interval for instance in the order of +-15° in relation to a given direction.

According to another embodiment of the invention, said protrusion sections have an essentially elongated cross section and are designed to co-operate with a hole in a saw blade of said type with an essentially elongated cross section, and the protrusion sections are designed, when the protrusion is rotated in re- lation to the casing part into a position in which the protrusion sections are essentially aligned with said hole with respect to the cross section, to enable said removal and by rotation of the protrusion in relation to the casing part away from this position, in order to place the protrusion sections transverse to the blade hole, reach said locking position. This constitutes another advantageous possibility for implementation of a reliable attainment of said removal position and locking position.

According to another embodiment of the invention, which consti- tutes a further development of the previous embodiment, said protrusion sections are designed to co-operate with a hole of said type in a saw blade, which hole is elongated essentially in the longitudinal direction of the saw blade. Hereby, the handling of the saw in co-operation with the protrusion will be simple.

According to other embodiments of the invention, the protrusion is made of synthetic material and the casing part made of synthetic material. Several different plastics are for several reasons suitable as material for such a holster. Low cost, low weight and a simple manufacturing while achieving the desired properties are some such advantages.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the casing part is at one end provided with a surrounding closed section, which is designed to receive the tip of a saw blade of said type. Hereby, the saw blade and by that the saw can be retained very steadily in the holster by co-operation with this surrounding closed section and said protrusion.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the protrusion is arranged proximate to the end of the casing part that is in- tended to be located closest to a handle of a garden saw received in the holster. This positioning of the protrusion will in combination with said surrounding closed section contribute to a steady retainment of a garden saw in the holster.

Further advantages with the invention and advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Embodiments of the invention referred to as examples will be described below with reference to the appended drawing, in which:

Fig 1 is a lateral view of a holster according to an embodi- ment of the invention with a saw received therein, Fig 2 is a perspective view of a protrusion of a holster according to an embodiment of the invention,

Fig 3 is a partly cut lateral view illustrating how the protru- sion according to Fig 2 holds a saw inserted into the holster,

Fig 4 is a view corresponding to Fig 2 of a protrusion with an alternative design,

Fig 5 is a view corresponding to Fig 3 illustrating the function of the protrusion according to Fig 4, and

Fig 6 is a simplified view illustrating the co-operation be- tween stopping means of the protrusion and the casing part according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Fig 1 shows a holster 1 for a garden saw 2, which here is inserted into the holster. Such a garden saw has a handle 3 and an elongated saw blade 4.

The holster is preferably made of synthetic material and is provided with a casing part with essentially the shape of a saw blade 4 of said type. This casing part 5 is at one end 6 provided with a surrounding closed section 7 designed to receive the tip of a saw blade of said type, but the casing part is as to the rest, over the main part of its longitudinal extension from the end 19 which is proximate to the saw handle towards the end 6, open laterally in one direction so as to expose, in the receiving position shown in Fig 1 , the main part of one 8 of the large lateral faces of a saw blade received therein. Hereby, a saw blade 4 of a garden saw can be inserted into the casing part 5 laterally, essentially crosswise to the large lateral faces of the saw blade, it then only being necessary for the tip of the saw blade to be located above the upper edge 9 of the surrounding casing section 7. Thereafter, the saw blade can be stuck into said section 7 in order to reach the bottom of the casing part with the tip.

The casing part of the holster is furthermore provided with a protrusion 10 pointing essentially opposite to the direction for said intended insertion, which protrusion has sections 1 1 (see also Fig 2) with a larger cross-sectional dimension in a resting state than a hole 12 in a saw blade of said type with which they are designed to co-operate. Said sections of the protrusion are flexibly designed so that they, when an attempt is made to press the hole 12 of a saw blade over them, are pressed together into a dimension allowing the sections of the protrusion to pass through the hole in the saw blade, and so that they thereafter resume their resting state shape so as to thereby retain the saw blade in a fixed position in the casing part 5 and by that retain the saw in the holster. It will be explained in closer detail below how the protrusion is to be designed for this purpose.

When the saw 2 is to be inserted into the holster the procedure is consequently such that, after the movement of the saw blade tip to the bottom of the surrounding casing section 7 in the manner described above, the saw blade is pressed with its hole over said sections of the protrusion to a holding position, which is illus- trated in Fig 3. From this holding position, the saw can then be removed from the holster by performing the described operations in the opposite order, i.e. by first moving the end of the saw blade which is proximate to the handle outwards away from the casing part by pressing together the protrusion sections 1 1 , then pulling the tip of the saw blade out of the casing section 7 and thereupon removing the saw from the holster laterally. It is indicated in Fig 1 how the casing part 5 is not fully open laterally along its longitudinal extension and on the contrary is provided with longitudinal side ledges 13, which the teeth and the back, respectively, of the saw blade can be pressed in behind in the receiving position of the holster. An arrangement of such side ledges is however to be considered to be within the scope of the definition made in this paper that the casing part is open laterally in one direction in order to expose, in the receiving position, the main part of one of the large lateral faces of a saw blade received therein.

The constitution and the function of a protrusion 10 according to an embodiment of the invention will now be explained with reference to Figs 2 and 3. The protrusion 10 has an end with a cone- like shape, to be more precise with the shape of a truncated cone. The sections 1 1 are provided with slits 14, 15, which facilitate a pressing together of the protrusion sections 1 1 from the resting state shown in Figs 2 and 3 to a state in which the sections 1 1 can pass through a hole 12 in a saw blade 4. Furthermore, the protrusion is provided with a surrounding flange 16, which is arranged to define the position of the saw blade 4 when this is received on the protrusion, as shown in Fig 3. The casing part is provided with longitudinal spacing ribs, not appearing in Fig 3, which support the saw blade essentially along its entire extension with support surfaces essentially aligned with the posi- tion of the flange 16. The protrusion is arranged to be rotatable in relation to the casing part 5, and it is provided with stopping means in the form of two shoulders 17 (see also Fig 6) arranged to co-operate with stopping means in the form of shoulders 18 on the casing part 5 in order to define two distinct positions of the protrusion in relation to the casing part. The protrusion with the flexible sections 1 1 are with advantage so designed that the protrusion sections in one of said end positions, a so-called locking position, can not be pressed together in the manner required for removing the saw blade from the protrusion.

A protrusion according to another embodiment of the invention is shown in Figs 4 and 5, and this protrusion deviates from the protrusion according to Figs 2 and 3 in that the cone-like sections 1 1 ' have an essentially elongated cross-section. Such a cross- section makes it easy to attain a reliable locking position of said type for the protrusion. In the present case, the protrusion sections 1 1 ' are designed to enable removal of the saw blade by pressing together the sections 1 1 ' when the protrusion is rotated in relation to the casing part into a position in which the sections are essentially aligned with a, with respect to the cross-section, likewise elongated hole in the saw blade. By rotation of the pro- trusion in relation to the casing part away from this position in order to place the protrusion sections 1 1 ' transverse in relation to the blade hole, said locking position will be reached. In this locking position, said protrusion sections are transverse in relation to the hole in the saw blade, and this position is shown in Fig 1 as well as in Fig 5. When the protrusion is rotated to this distinct locking position defined by the shoulders 17 and 18, the saw blade can not even by mistake by being hit by branches or the like be removed from the holster. If the saw thereafter is to be used, the protrusion 10 is rotated to the other distinct position, in which the sections 1 1 ' are cross-sectionally aligned with the elongated hole 12 in the saw blade 4, and the saw blade can then be pushed up over the sections 1 1 ' by pressing together of them owing to the slit 14'.

The invention is of course not in any way limited to the embodiments described above. On the contrary, several possibilities to modifications thereof should be apparent to a person skilled in the art without thereby deviating from the basic idea of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The protrusion could be homogenous and made of a sufficiently elastic material, even though an attainment of the flexibility by arrangement of slits has appeared to be very favourable.

The holster could of course have a different shape than the one shown in the drawings in order to receive a garden saw with another design of the saw blade. Likewise, a larger or smaller part of the casing part could be open laterally than shown in the drawings. The protrusion could be moulded in one piece with the rest of the holster in the same tool and in that case be fixed in relation to the remaining part of the holster.

Claims

1 . A holster for a garden saw, which can be arranged to hang from the waist region of a person in order to receive and hold the blade (4) of a garden saw in a receiving position and thereby also hold the garden saw and enable movement, such as climbing, by the person without requiring for the person to hold the saw, the holster having a casing part (5) with essentially the shape of a saw blade of a garden saw which the holster is intended to receive and designed to at least partially clasp the saw blade in said receiving position, characterized in that the casing part (5), from its end (19) which is proximate to the saw handle in the receiving position and at least over the main part of its longitudinal exten- sion towards its end (6) which is proximate to the saw blade tip, is open laterally in one direction in order to expose, in the receiving position, the main part of one (8) of the large lateral faces of a saw blade (4) received therein and enable a lateral insertion of a saw blade into this part essentially crosswise to the large lateral faces of the saw blade, that the casing part of the holster is provided with a protrusion (10) pointing essentially opposite to the direction for said intended insertion, the protrusion having sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') with a larger cross-sectional dimension in a resting state than a hole (12) in said saw blade with which they are designed to co-operate, and that said sections of the protrusion are flexibly designed so that they, when an attempt is made to press said hole of a saw blade over them, are pressed together to a dimension allowing said sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') of the protrusion (10) to pass through the hole (12) in the saw blade and so that they thereafter resume their resting state shape so as to thereby retain the saw blade in a fixed position in the casing part and by that retain the saw in the holster.

2. A holster according to claim 1 , characterized in that said protrusion (10) has a cone-like shape while tapering in the direction in which it is pointing away from the casing part (5).

3. A holster according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') of the protrusion are provided with one or several slits (14, 14', 15) for facilitating a pressing together of these protrusion sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') from said resting state shape.

4. A holster according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protrusion (10) is arranged to be rotatable in relation to the casing part (5) between at least a first position, in which said protrusion sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') are capable of being pressed together in order to enable a removal of a saw blade (4) of said type from the holster by moving this in a direction essentially opposite to the direction for said insertion and thereby essentially perpendicularly to the large faces of the saw blade, and a locking position in which an attempt to move the saw blade in said direction will not result in such a pressing together of said protrusion sections that the saw blade can be removed from the holster.

5. A holster according to claim 4, characterized in that the casing part (5) is provided with first stopping means (18) designed to co-operate with second stopping means (17) of the protrusion (10) in order to define two distinct positions for the protrusion when being rotated in relation to the casing part; one position which enables removal of a saw blade of said type and one position constituting said locking position.

6. A holster according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that said protrusion sections (1 1 , 1 1 ') are designed to be capable of being pressed together principally only essentially in a di- rection crosswise to the direction in which the protrusion (10) protrudes from the casing part (5), and that these protrusion sections are designed to co-operate with a hole (12) of said type in a saw blade in order to only allow these protrusion sections to pass through the hole in the saw blade by being pressed together in a certain direction in relation to the extension of the saw blade.

7. A holster according to any of claims 4-6, characterized in that said protrusion sections (1 1 ') have an essentially elongated cross section and are designed to co-operate with a hole (12) in a saw blade of said type with an essentially elongated cross section, and that the protrusion sections are designed, when the protrusion (10) is rotated in relation to the casing part (5) into a position in which the protrusion sections are essentially aligned with said hole with respect to the cross section, to enable said removal and by rotation of the protrusion (10) in relation to the casing part (5) away from this position, in order to place the protrusion sections transverse to the blade hole (12), reach said locking position.

8. A holster according to claim 7, characterized in that said protrusion sections (1 1 ') are designed to co-operate with a hole (12) of said type in a saw blade, which hole is elongated essentially in the longitudinal direction of the saw blade.

9. A holster according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said protrusion (10) is made of synthetic material.

10. A holster according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the casing part (5) is made of synthetic material.

1 1 . A holster according to any of the preceding claims, charac- terized in that the casing part (5) at one end (6) is provided with a surrounding closed section (7), which is designed to receive the tip of a saw blade (4) of said type.

12. A holster according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the protrusion (10) is arranged proximate to the end (19) of the casing part (5) that is intended to be located closest to a handle (3) of a garden saw received in the holster.