Slotted tool handle

A handle for a paint brush or similar tool which facilitates the removal of the paint brush from a display device where the brushes are stacked on a cantilever-type display arm. The paint brush handle includes a generally vertical slot adapted to slidably engage a flat, generally vertically oriented cantilever arm to maintain the brushes in general relative alignment along the arm. The slot in each paint brush handle includes a pair of upwardly converging canted surfaces on the bottom end of the slot to facilitate removal of the brushes from the cantilever arm, for example by a customer desiring to purchase a brush. The paint brush handle may include a hollow interior, or the handle may be solid throughout in which case the canted surfaces terminate in a generally central crown. A generally circular aperture is provided at the upper end of the slot to define a "keyhole" slot so that the brushes also may be displayed on a hanger having a circular cross-section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to paint brush handles and in particular to paint 
brushes adapted to be displayed by means of a cantilever arm which is flat 
in a vertical plane and protrudes outwardly from a display panel. 
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
In the past, paint brush hanger displays have been provided which use 
various geometric cantilever arm configurations for supporting the paint 
brushes on a display panel. Several of these prior art devices use a 
circular aperture in the handle and a cantilever arm having a circular 
cross section and rely on gravity to maintain alignment between the 
respective brushes. Later designs have utilized a cantilever arm having a 
relatively thin arm portion which is flat in a vertical plane for engaging 
a suitably adapted elongated slot in the paint brush handle to assure 
alignment between the stacked brushes. One example of the later type of 
hanger is shown in copending patent application Ser. No. 574,705, filed 
May 5, 1975, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. It has 
been found that when customers desire to purchase a paint brush, the paint 
brush handle sometimes will bind on the hanger arm even when only slightly 
canted with respect to the arm causing much difficulty and sometimes a 
loss of a sale. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel tool handle which 
greatly facilitates the removal of the tool from a cantilever type display 
arm. 
In accordance with the above and other objects, the present invention 
includes the provision of a paint brush handle alone, or in combination 
with, a generally flat, vertically oriented cantilever display arm. The 
brush handle is provided with a generally vertical slot (when in elongated 
hanging condition) adapted to slidably engage the cantilever arm to 
provide and maintain relative alignment between the respective brushes. A 
pair of upwardly converging canted surfaces are provided on the bottom end 
of the slot to prevent binding between the brush handle and the vertically 
flat cantilever arm when the paint brush is canted relative to the arm 
during removal or insertion onto the arm. The paint brush handle may be 
hollow, or may be solid throughout in which case the canted surfaces 
terminate in a generally central crown. A generally circular hole may be 
provided at the upper end of the slot to permit the use of the same handle 
on a different type of cantilever arm having a generally circular 
cross-section. 
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent 
from the following detailed description taken in connection with the 
accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
While the following description of the preferred embodiment relates 
paticularly to paint brush handles and display racks therefor, it is to be 
understood that the invention herein is equally applicable to any type of 
tool or implement such as brooms, or mops, hammers or other articles, and 
no unnecessary limitations should be understood from the description as it 
pertains to paint brushes. 
The present invention, generally designated 10 in FIGS. 1 and 3 through 5, 
facilitates the removal of paint brushes 12 from a display device, 
generally designated 14 in FIG. 1. More particularly, the display device 
14 includes a contilevered hanging arm member 16 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which is 
mounted on a display pegboard 18 secured to a suitable supporting surface 
20. The cantilevered hanging arm 16 is generally flat, having a 
rectangular cross-section with its largest dimension extending in a 
generally vertical direction. The arm 16 is mounted to a suitable base 20 
such as by welding, or crimps 22. The base 20 includes a pair of 
rearwardly directed hook-shaped flanges 24 which are inserted through 
apertures in the pegboard 18. The base 20 will support the arm 16 in a 
slightly upwardly canted orientation which prevents the paint brushes 12 
from inadvertently sliding off of the end of the arm 16. Each paint brush 
handle 26, referring to FIG. 3, includes a generally vertically oriented 
rectangular aperture or slot 28 which slidably engages the arm 16 to 
support the paint brushes 12, as shown in FIG. 1. The vertical dimensions 
of the slot insure and maintain alignment between a plurality of brushes 
12 supported on the arm 16 in a generally stacked relationship. 
In the preferred embodiment, a circular aperture or hole 30 also is 
provided at the uppermost end of the slot 28 so that the paint brushes may 
readily be supported on a rod-type hanger or the like. The combination of 
the aperture 30 and the slot 28 define a "keyhole" slot for hanging the 
brushes 12 on any such suitable hangers. 
In the past, it has been found that when customers attempt to remove one of 
the paint brushes 12 from the cantilever arm 16, the bottom edge of the 
slot 28 tends to engage and bind against the bottom of the cantilever arm, 
particularly if the paint brush is canted slightly with respect to the arm 
16 as shown at the right of FIG. 1. Therefore, in order to avoid this 
binding and to facilitate removal of a paint brush, a pair of upwardly 
converging canted surfaces 34 (FIGS. 4 and 5) are provided at the bottom 
of the slot. The canted surfaces 34 are inclined upwardly and inwardly and 
in the case of a paint brush handle of solid material (FIGS. 1 and 4), 
define a crown 36 at the central axis of the brush handle. In the case of 
a hollow handle (FIG. 5), the canted surfaces 34 do not meet because of 
the hollow cavity 40 on the interior central axis of the paint brush 
handle. With the canted surface thus defined, removal of the paint brush 
from the hanging arm 16 is greatly facilitated. 
For example, as shown in section in FIG. 1, as a paint brush 12 is canted 
relative to the hanging arm member 16, the canted surfaces 34 prevent 
binding which would normally occur at the bottom edges of a slot 28 having 
a flat bottom. The crown 36 primarily engages the cantilever arm 16 and, 
due to the minimal friction and binding between the crown and arm, 
provides for great ease of movement of the brush off of the arm. 
Therefore, the removal of a paint brush will be greatly facilitated since 
there will be no binding against the sliding movement of the paint brush 
relative to the hanging cantilever arm member 16. The canted surfaces 34 
work equally well with a solid handle (FIG. 4) or a hollow handle (FIG. 5) 
to alleviate the binding problem. With the hollow handle of FIG. 5, the 
surfaces 34 each terminate in sharp crowns 50, similar to the single crown 
36 of the solid handle shown in FIG. 4. 
In an attempt to define the particular angle at which the canted surfaces 
34 should be cut to optimize their performance, reference is made to FIG. 
1. For a cantilever hanging arm having a width b as shown, a slot having a 
height s, and distance d between locking points, the maximum angle which 
the handle will go through before binding occurs is defined as the angle 
2x. Therefore, the angle of the canted surface 34, defined as the angle y, 
must be greater than the critical angle x in order for the structure to be 
effective. Using trigonometry and the Pythagorean theorem we can set up 
the following relationship between the variables. 
##EQU1## 
Using algebra we find: 
##EQU2## 
Solving for x: 
##EQU3## 
The negative root of the radical is neglected since it can be shown that 
it leads to negative solutions. Substituting the values of d, s and b in 
the last equation, we can solve for the angle x. Then, the angle of the 
canted surface 34, angle y, must be slightly greater than the angle x for 
the structure to be effective as shown in FIG. 1. 
It should be understood that the canted surfaces 34 are equally applicable 
for use of tools, such as paint brushes, for hanging displays on arms 
(such as 16) which are square, rectangular, round, etc., in addition to 
the vertical flat arm shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of 
understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood 
therefrom as some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the 
art.