Abstract:
A hand-held scraper device containing a stowable multi blade pivoting head. The pivoting head is comprised of at least two scraping elements which remain at a fixed angle relative to each other while still allowing a pivoting action of the head assembly independently from the handle. The angle of the scraping elements relative to each other is set such that as the two scraping elements are jointly presented against the work surface they will be maintained at an angular attitude conducive to a scraping action in both a push and pull direction. The pivoting head can be collapsed for more efficient stowage or as an alternate configuration for specific scraping applications.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 60/661,371, filed Mar. 14, 2005. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This device relates to a handheld manual-powered scraping tool employing a pivotable and stowable head for removing material from a work surface. 
     BACKROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There have been more than 200 patents granted over the years for devices of a wide variety of forms intended to be used for human powered removal of material from a surface through the use of scraping action. One of the most common commercial usages of these devices has focused on the removal of ice from automobile windshields. Although there have been several improvements over time related to their performance, ergonomics, and ease of use, the author believes there are additional attributes and novel features that would further improve upon the functionality and commercial viability of these devices. 
     Devices such as the paint scraper U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,324 by Farris provides a dual push-pull scraping head located at the end of a handle, but doesn&#39;t take advantage of stowing or pivoting features. Gutter cleaning devices U.S. Pat. No.6,139,077 by Molzan and U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,271 by Segal employ pivoting blades mounted to an extensible handle, but requires a cord for blade stowage (for the intent of remotely gathering leaves between the blades) and a spring for positioning the blades in their open position. The ergonomic scraper per US 2002/0095737 A1 by Panfill is comprised of a leveraging handle and a dual blade head for scraping, but is not configured with a pivoting or stowable scraping head. 
     There have been several devices intended primarily for automobile glass which feature a multi-blade pivoting scraping head. U.S. Pat. No. 2,236,093 by Friend (1939) is the earliest concept employing a multi-blade pivoting head. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,698 Francis-Rouse (1995) might be considered a modernized version updated with a leveraging handle. U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,836 Williams (2000) is another form of the multi-blade pivoting head concept. Although all may be functional by design, they cannot be stowed conveniently within the automobile and are limited in their usefulness due to their implied size and in some cases to the inflexibility of the blades. If they are sized for scraping larger surfaces such as windshields, they would be too large to be practical for use on small surfaces such as rear-view mirrors, nor could they be stowed in a typical sized car door pocket. Most of the other devices with related patents provide a rigid scraping blade which is ineffective for conforming to non-flat surfaces such as automobile glass. 
     The device described herein employs the beneficial features of a multi-blade scraping head but also adds other novel features as described below to enhance its effectiveness and usefulness by addressing the aforementioned shortcomings and concerns. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The device is a handheld manual-powered scraping tool employing a pivotable multi blade head for removing material from a work surface. This scraper which employs two blade elements set at the appropriate relative angle to allow scraping in push and pull directions provides efficiency advantages over a scraper using a single blade. In the preferred embodiment, mounting the two blade head onto a handle that can pivot independently from the head provides ergonomic and functional advantages over a conventional fixed head scraper by maintaining the most efficient scraping angle of blades relative to the work surface independently of the operators preferred handle holding position. The pivoting head is configured with intentionally flexible blade elements to allow the blades to conform to the work surface, thereby allowing fewer operator strokes when the device is used to remove material from a curved surface such as ice from automobile glass. The device also provides a means to stow the pivotable head in a collapsed configuration to allow convenient storage of the device and to provide a means to protect the blades from damage when not in use. In the preferred embodiment, a central fixed third blade allows scraping of smaller surfaces such as automobile rearview mirrors when the device is configured for ice removal. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         FIG. 1A  is an isometric view of the preferred embodiment with the scraping blades stowed back. 
         FIG. 1B  is an isometric view of the preferred embodiment with the scraping blades stowed forward. 
         FIG. 1C  is an isometric view of the preferred embodiment with the scraping blades deployed. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the scraping assembly. 
         FIG. 3A  is an isometric view of the first alternate embodiment shown in the stowed configuration. 
         FIG. 3B  is an isometric view of the first alternate embodiment shown in the working configuration 
         FIG. 4A  is an isometric view of the second alternate embodiment shown in the stowed configuration. 
         FIG. 4B  is an isometric view of the second alternate embodiment shown in the working configuration. 
         FIG. 4C  is an isometric view of the second alternate embodiment shown with the removable handle separated from the scraping attachment assembly. 
     
    
    
     REFERENCE NUMERALS FOR THE FIGURES 
     
         
           1  Handle 
           2  Pivot shaft 
           3  Scraping element, front 
           4  Scraping element, rear 
           5  Enhanced scraping blade 
           6  Fixed scraping blade 
           7  Work surface 
           8  Concave cam feature—stow-deploy 
           9  Convex cam feature—stow-deploy 
           10  Convex cam feature—pivot lock 
           11  Concave cam feature—pivot lock 
           12  Telescoping handle 
           13  Brush head 
       
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIG. 1C , the scraping device consists of a handle  1 , a pivot shaft  2 , and two planar scraping elements  3  and  4 . Optionally, the scraping elements  3  and  4  may be augmented with item  5  blades affixed to their scraping edges to facilitate removal of material from the work surface  7 . Also a fixed scraping blade item  6  may be affixed to either end of the handle  1  as an additional scraping element to be used independently from scraping elements  3  and  4 . FIGS.  1 A,B,C and  2  are views of the preferred embodiment  FIG. 1A  is a view of the device in the stowed back configuration for storage or for scraping with the fixed blade element  6 .  FIG. 1B  is a view demonstrating the capability of stowing the scraping elements  3 ,  4  in a forward alternate configuration advantageous for certain scraping applications.  FIG. 1C  is a view of the device in the deployed configuration for scraping with the pivotable blade elements  3  and  4 . 
     The scraping elements  3  and  4  are related in shape and size, each having a planar form comprised of a straight edge ended for scraping against the work surface  7 . The scraping elements  3  and  4  are mutually attached via a pivot shaft  2  at each respective end opposing its scraping edge such that the pivot shaft  2  provides a pivot axis parallel to the scraping edges for both scraping elements  3  and  4 . 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the scraper assembly exposing the details of the pivot axis region. The scraping elements  3  and  4  contain mechanical interfering features at their pivot shaft end to limit the amount of angular displacement to approximately 90 degrees relative to each other. Also, element  3  contains concave cam features at each end boss while element  4  contains mating convex cam features  9  located to provide clocking detents at the 0 degree stowed and 90 degree deployed limits of elements  3  and  4 . These cam features allow the scraping elements  3  and  4  to lock into a deployed state relative to each other yet allow them to pivot as a single unit about the shaft  2 . Similarly, convex cams item  10  located on the boss features of item  4  interface with concave cam features  11  in handle  1  to provide clocking detents of the item  2 ,  3 ,  4  assembly relative to handle  1  for retaining the stowed element  3 ,  4  assembly in either of two stowed positions: stowed forward as shown in  FIG. 1B  or stowed back as shown in  FIG. 1A . 
     OPERATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With the scraping device in the stowed back configuration as shown in  FIG. 1A  the scraping elements  3  and  4  are positioned to minimize the overall volume for storage. This is also the configuration for use of the fixed blade  6  for specifically tough or small tasks. For certain applications where a larger fixed blade is preferred, the  3 ,  4  elements assembly may be stowed forward as shown in  FIG. 1B . This configuration allows the scraper to be used in a conventional fashion. 
     To operate the scraping device in the pivoting configuration shown in  FIG. 1C  with both elements  3 ,  4  in contact with the work surface  7 , both elements are rotated about shaft item  2  until they lock into the deployed position of approximately 90 degrees relative to each other. With the outboard edges of scraping elements  3  and  4  in contact with the work surface  7  as shown in  FIG. 1C , the user is able to simultaneously apply downward force and forward or rearward motion into the tool handle  1  while pivoting the handle  1  about the shaft  2  to facilitate the reach and comfort of the user. Throughout these pivoting and scraping motions by the user the novel configuration of the scraping device ensures that the two scraping elements  3  and  4  both remain in contact with the work surface  7  and at the predetermined angle found to be effective for scraping regardless of the angle of the handle  1  relative to the work surface  7 . 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION OF ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS 
       FIGS. 3A ,  3 B, and  3 C show a second embodiment which employs a handle  12  that is removable from the scraping elements  3  and  4  and shaft  2  such that the scraping elements and shaft form an assembly which may be used by hand, separate from the handle  12  as described in the first alternate embodiment.  FIG. 3A  depicts a stowed version of the scraping device whereby the handle  12  is a telescoping tubular form. The handle may also include a brush  13  near the free end of the handle  12 .  FIG. 3B  shows the deployed configuration of the  3 ,  4  elements relative to the handle  12 . The cam features which provide the stow and deploy detents as described in the preferred embodiment are also employed functionally in this embodiment.  FIG. 3C  shows the same embodiment with the capability of removing the  3 ,  4  element assembly from the handle  12  to provide more options for the operator. 
     Another alternate embodiment could be configured by combining various features of the preferred and alternate embodiments. Any possible configured embodiment would contain at least two scraping elements joined by a common axis to allow the scraping elements to pivot relative to each other within confined angular limits to what has been previously described as the stowed and deployed positions. 
     The scraping elements of any of the device embodiments may vary in size and flexibility as required to perform most effectively for the intended work surface. The scraping elements may take a smaller and more flexible form when the intended use is for removing food from surfaces as compared with the device that is intended to be used for removing ice from auto glass or paint from a surface for example. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be set in the claims that follow and not limited to the configurations illustrated and explained previously. 
       FIGS. 4A ,  4 B, and  4 C show a third embodiment which employs a handle  12  that is removable from the scraping elements  3  and  4  and shaft  2  such that the scraping elements and shaft form an assembly which may be used by hand, separate from the handle  12  as described in the first alternate embodiment  FIG. 4A  depicts a stowed version of the scraping device whereby the handle  12  is a telescoping tubular form. The handle may also include a brush  13  near the free end of the handle  12 .  FIG. 4B  shows the deployed configuration of the  3 ,  4  elements relative to the handle  12 . The cam features which provide the stow and deploy detents as described in the preferred embodiment are also employed functionally to this embodiment  FIG. 4C  shows the same embodiment with the capability of removing the  3 ,  4  element assembly from the handle  12  to provide more options for the operator. 
     A fourth embodiment could be configured by combining various features of the preferred and alternate embodiments. Any possible configured embodiment would contain at least two scraping elements joined by a common axis to allow the scraping elements to pivot relative to each other within confined angular limits to what has been previously described as the stowed and deployed positions. 
     The scraping elements of any of the device embodiments may vary in size and flexibility as required to perform most effectively for the intended work surface. The scraping elements may take a smaller and more flexible form when the intended use is for removing food from surfaces as compared with the device that is intended to be used for removing ice from auto glass or paint from a surface for example. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be set in the claims that follow and not limited to the configurations illustrated and explained previously.