Blade sheath for use in cleaning a meat slicer blade and method of use thereof

A blade sheath for the circular disk of a rotary slicer is a narrow strip of flexible, but abrasion resistant, material and includes a longitiudinal channel. The two sheath ends are joined by a clip and bail to form a continuous loop. When the blade is placed in the channel of the sheath and the bail and clip are in the locked position, the the cutting edge of the blade is completely covered and the the blade surface is exposed for cleaning.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to guards for the blades of cutting and similar 
articles, and in particular to slicing machine cleaning guards. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
It is necessary with sharp tools or machines with sharp cutting edges to 
protect the user not only when the machine is in operation, but when the 
machine is being stored or cleaned. Of course the blade is kept as sharp 
as possible for effective slicing. The blade and blade area must also be 
accessible, either for use in cutting or for access during cleaning. To 
protect operators, blade guards and the like have been utilized which 
cover the cutting edge of tools and machine blades. An example of a simple 
guard is the type found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,517,649 to Frechtmann, which 
discloses a blade cover for a hand held carving knife. The guard is a rod 
with a slot into which the knife blade fits. U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,118 to 
Anderson shows a guard to be placed over a band-saw blade. The edges of a 
channel-shaped guard are forced apart and the blade is inserted between 
them. Both of these blade covers are intended to be used when the saws or 
knives are being stored or transported. 
There are also blade guards available for the toothed cutting blades of 
chain saws, and the like, all intended to protect the user and/or the area 
in which the saw is placed when the saw is off and not being used. Most of 
these provide a channel-like guard to be hand manipulated over the blade 
itself. Because of the nature of chain saws, the guards are simple, 
elongated, channeled strips which are simply manually pushed over the 
teeth edge after use. Representative of these blade guards are U.S. Pat. 
No. 3,326,250 to Kephart, Jr. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,129,731 to Tyrrell. A 
similar guard for the chain of a chain saW is disclosed by Shean in U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,143,460. 
There are also guards for rotary blades for table saws and the like which 
may be placed over the stored blades and also kept on when the blades are 
in place until time of use. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,918,165 to Paulick, Jr. a 
cutter guard is disclosed which has a split spring steel band for opening 
a circular protective structure made from a plurality of individual 
"shoes" to enclose edges of a cutter, the number of shoes varying 
according to the circumference of the cutter. Rotary disk blades are of 
that type often removed if it is necessary to clean the saw or other 
machine, which is done only infrequently. 
Meat and cheese slicers having a sharpened disc blade are in common use. 
These slicers are razor sharp and they create unique cleaning problems. 
Food slicers must be cleaned frequently, sometimes after each use for 
purposes of hygiene and also to avoid transferring the flavor of one 
sliced food into slices of the next. The slicers are common in 
delicatessens for slicing cold cuts. The circular disk blade of a meat 
slicing machine of this type is often shielded against inadvertently 
cutting a user's fingers during use by a stationary guard on the slicing 
machine itself. A user is protected during a slicing operation i.e he 
properly uses the guard and the moving table supporting the meat to be 
sliced. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,941 to Lorenz, a blade cover 
plate is interlocked to prevent operation of the blade unless the 
protective plate is in position. 
Known stationary guards prevent access to the blade over relatively large 
areas. Accordingly, during cleaning, stationary guards must be removed. 
There is no alternative which will provide access to the blade and to 
those portions of the slicer machine obscured by the stationary blade 
guard. The user may feel secure in cleaning a slicer when the power is 
off, but it is just this time when many users become distracted and 
receive serious cuts. To avoid inadvertent cuts during cleaning, 
additional blade guards have been devised which fit over the blade edge 
during cleaning only. Among these are those disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 
4,186,634 to Akczinski, Sr. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,818 to McGraw, Jr. 
which both provide circular covers with peripheral flanges to cover the 
blade edge. They both include center mounts for attaching the circular 
cover to the blade and cover an entire back side of the blade as well as 
the blade edge. When using such guards, the covered side of the blade 
cannot be cleaned. 
Blades of various descriptions have been placed in temporary packages for 
transport, the packages having means disposed over the edge of the blade 
which are not easily cut through. Typically such covers resemble envelopes 
or flattened tubes that enclose all around the blade. In connection with 
the circular blades that are used on deli-type slicers, an envelope 
enclosure precludes mounting of the blade and therefore prevents use of 
the same cover for protection during transport as well as protection 
during cleaning of the installed blade. Moreover, the typical blade cover 
is relatively loose, there being no obvious need to avoid the clearances 
which allow relative motion of the blade and its packaging. 
None of the aforesaid slicer blade guards employs a continuous channel-like 
guard which covers only the blade edge. One might anticipate problems with 
attaching a structure similar to the linear blade guard that fits only on 
the cutting edge, in particular that more cuts would be caused than 
avoided if users were required to hand manipulate a cover onto a slicer 
blade in the area of the razor sharp edge. Therefore it may not be 
surprising that the prior art lacks a circular channel guard for a disc 
blade, and in particular a circular channel guard which can be placed on 
the blade in an enlarged position and tightened by shortening its 
circumference once in place. A bail and clip for shortening a circular 
structure, such as used on tape reel covers or on spring-form cake pans, 
has likewise not been employed in the field of blade guards. Heretofore 
there has been no rotary slicer blade guard which is effective to cover 
only the blade edge of a slicer and leave the surfaces of the blade and 
surrounding slicer area uncovered for complete cleaning of a meat slicing 
machine. Nor has there been a blade guard which employs a bail-clip 
arrangement on a loop guard which can eliminate the need to manually press 
the guard over the blade edge and to provide a tightly fitting guard which 
will not slip off the blade. 
SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
The aforementioned prior art problems are obviated by the blade sheath of 
this invention. A narrow strip of a generally flexible material defines in 
cross section a generally U-shaped longitudinal slot along the underside 
of the strip to form a channel-shaped sheath. The sheath has two ends 
connected together by a bail and clip to structure a continuous loop which 
is slightly larger than the blade's circumference when the bail is in its 
open position. The ends can be arranged to overlap. When the sheath is 
arranged at a blade edge, the bail and clip can be closed to 
circumferentially shorten the sheath, whereby the sheath is inherently 
forced radially downward onto the cutting edge, without further manual 
action by the user. The bail is also effectively secured to lock the 
sheath over the blade edge. The sheath covers only the blade edge, leaving 
the whole blade front and back surfaces unobscured for cleaning. The use 
of the bail and clip is a primary safety feature of the sheath because it 
allows a user to place the guard over the cutting edge of the blade 
without even having to press the cover down in place with his fingers. It 
is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a blade guard which 
covers only the cutting edge of the blade of a slicing machine so that the 
blade surface and surrounding area of the slicing machine may be quickly 
and safely cleaned. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a blade guard which is 
easily applied and removed without a user's hands or fingers touching 
portions of the blade itself. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a blade guard which is 
durable, impact resistant and moisture resistant. 
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a blade edge guard 
which is self mounting and lockable over a circular blade edge. 
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a blade guard 
which circumferentially expands and contracts for easy placement over a 
blade edge. 
It is another object of this invention to provide a blade cover which clips 
into its locked position and does not require the user to apply pressure 
in a direction toward the blade edge, thus greatly reducing the risk of 
injury.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, 
blade sheath 10 is illustrated in its open circumferentially enlarged 
position (FIG. 1) and in its closed circumferentially shortened position 
(FIG. 2). Sheath 10 has U-shaped strip 12 and connector 14. U-shaped strip 
12 is shown with outer surface 13, sides 15 and ends 16 and 17 joined by 
connector 14. Underside 19 of strip 12 includes longitudinal channel -8 
Which is defined by flange-like sides 15, 16 and the outer leg 13, 
together forming a generally U-shaped slot in strip 12. In FIG. 1, 
connector 14 is in the open position, ends 17 and 16 being spaced. In FIG. 
2, connector 14 is closed and ends 17 and 16 are touching, the 
circumference of guard 10 being less than the circumference of guard 10 in 
open position, as illustrated in FIG. 1, and accordingly the strip 12 
being positioned radially inwardly toward the blade axis by a 
corresponding amount. Clip 14 is seen to have bail 27 attached by plate 20 
to strip end 17 and and clip 24 attached by plate 22 to strip end 16. When 
clip 24 is pushed in the direction of arrow 23, ends 16 and 17 are drawn 
together until they touch and guard 10 is locked firmly to a blade. The 
inside depth of the channel defined by strip 12 is related to the span of 
the bail closure and to the circumference of the blade. Assuming for 
example a blade radius of five inches (13 cm) and an inside depth (i.e., 
radial blade edge coverage) of one quarter inch (0.6 cm), the bail span 
from open to closed should be at least 1.6 inches (4 cm) such that the 
open circumference results in a strip radius greater than the blade radius 
by more than the depth of the strip channel. 
Now referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, two alternative embodiments of the strip of 
the blade guard are illustrated in cross section. Guard 30 (seen in FIG. 
3) is generally U-shaped in cross section, the sides and base of the "U" 
forming right angles. Strip 30 has dual layers, outer layer 32 being 
preferably a flexible metal of appropriate thickness to permit bending 
into the required radius, and inner layer 34 being abrasion-resistant 
plastic to avoid dulling the cutting edge. Strip 40 (seen in FIG. 4) is 
generally U-shaped in cross section, but its innermost surface forms a V. 
Outer layer 42 is preferably flexible metal and inner layer 44 is 
preferably plastic. 
Now referring to FIG. 5, a meat and cheese slicer 50 is illustrated with 
blade 52 in position and covered by blade guard 10. In order to clean 
slicer 50, it is necessary to remove stationary guard 57, thus exposing 
the entire cutting edge of blade 52. Guard 10 is preferably placed onto 
blade 52 before guard 57 is removed. Removing guard 57 exposes both blade 
front 59 and blade rear 58, as well as table 56 and adjacent areas of 
slicer 50. Prior art blade guards covered blade rear 58, making it 
impossible to clean the entire blade in safety since the blade guard had 
to be removed in order to clean blade rear 58, thereby exposing the blade 
during a time of increased danger to the user. To clean a disc-shaped 
blade with the blade guard of this invention, a user positions the strip 
12 at the periphery of the blade with the strip channel opened towards the 
blade edge. The bail connector 14, having bow shaped tabs at the ends, is 
closed by hinging one tab over on the strip, drawing the ends of the strip 
together and shortening the circumference defined by the strip and 
connector. The ends can be brought fully into abutment as in FIGS. 1 and 
2, or alternatively, the ends can be arranged to merely approach or to 
overlap as in FIGS. 6a and 6b. In each case closing the bail foreshortens 
the circle defined by the device. Closing of the bail connector and the 
resulting circumferential shortening cause the strip to move radially 
towards the blade's center and lock into unmoving and protective position 
enclosing over the outermost part of the blade edge. The user does not 
touch the blade edge at all. 
The bail connector according to the invention can be a captive loop type as 
shown in the drawings, or can be a type where one of the wire loops is 
only temporarily received on the opposed end of the strip. In this 
configuration, the loop can be removably captured under a flange facing 
away from the junction of the two ends. When the wire loop is separated 
from the flange, the two ends can be widely separated. It is presently 
preferred that the wire loops be captive, thereby minimizing the manual 
activities of the user near the blade's sharpened edge. 
There are several variations which can be practiced in the scope of this 
invention. The strip may be a single or double layer, and still be within 
the scope of this invention. The strip may define in cross-section a 
U-shaped channel, which can be wide or narrow, and squared or rounded. The 
channel itself may also form a "V" on its inside or outside, or both. Of 
course, the sheath may be provided in appropriate thicknesses and lengths 
to fit all standard slicer blades. 
The strip 12 and connector 14 together define a sheath circumference that 
is greater than the blade circumference by enough to allow the strip side 
walls to clear the blade when the connector 14 is open, whereby the opened 
sheath can be positioned at the blade edge. The circumference of the 
sheath is then shortened by the connector to pull the sheath down over the 
blade edge. 
Connector 14 is preferably a bail clip as shown. Each end of the opposite 
ends of strip 12 is hinged to one of two tabs forming the bail clip 
connector 14. The two tabs are hinged to one another at a space from their 
hinged connection to the strip. Therefore, when one of the tabs is rotated 
away from the other of the tabs, around the hinged attachment of said one 
of the tabs to the strip, the ends of the strip are pulled toward one 
another. 
A bail closure of this type can be made of metal or plastic and can have 
solid body tabs or wire bows defining tabs. In each case the closure is 
easily shortenable, making the entire sheath shortenable and adapted to be 
urged radially onto the blade edge without the user needing to exert 
pressure onto the blade edge and risking injury. 
There are many advantages to the blade guard of this invention. Chiefly, 
the guard locks into place over the edge of a circular blade without 
obscuring any substantial area on the blade front or rear surfaces. It is 
not necessary for the user to press directly on the blade , even through 
the guard, when he is locking the guard in place. The blade guard safely 
covers the entire cutting area of the blade and protects the cleaner from 
being cut while he is cleaning a slicing machine. 
FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate two embodiments of the invention wherein even 
the area of the blade between the ends of the strip is protectively 
enclosed. In these embodiments, an enlarged terminal part 62 is fixed to 
one end of the strip and slidably receives the other end of the strip. The 
wire bow ends of the bail closure are spaced sufficiently that the bail 
clip spans over the terminal part 62, the latter guiding the relative 
motion of the two ends of the strip and protecting the user from contact 
with the blade even in the confined space between the two ends. 
In FIG. 6a, the terminal part 62 is a separate piece 64 of wider channel 
that is fixed to the outside of the strip at one end, for example by 
gluing, heat welding or the like. In FIG. 6b, the terminal part 62 is an 
integral extension 65 of the strip, having been molded integrally with the 
strip, deformed by stretching the channel with application of heat, or the 
like. In each case, the terminal part helps to guide the ends of the strip 
during closure and to protect the user from cuts. 
Having now illustrated and described my invention, it is not intended that 
such description limit this invention, but rather that this invention be 
limited only by reasonable interpretation of the appended claims.