Blade pick and well cleaner

A tool which functions as a blade pick and well cleaner to be used with "pocket" knives. The blade pick and well cleaner, made of a strong, slightly malleable material, preferably stainless steel, has ends that may be inserted in the notch of knife blades and attachments to assist in their opening when fingers and fingernails are ineffective or inadequate for this purpose. The bottom end of the blade pick also serves as a cleaner to remove the material adhering therein, including that material which made opening the blade or attachment difficult. In the preferred embodiment, the blade pick and well cleaner replaces the toothpick or tweezers that are found in handle slots or receptacles of a specific type of knife known as a "Swiss Army Knife". The tool may also be composed of any one of several permanent magnet materials having sufficient strength, hardness and corrosive assistance properties to serve the purposes of the tool. In such case, the tool need not be bowed and can be retained in place by magnetic attraction. Such a tool also provides the user with an emergency compass.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of Invention 
This invention relates to a tool for positively moving a knife blade or 
attachment from its sheathed position, either wholly or partially, and to 
clean the well where the knife blade or attachment is sheathed. 
2. Related Art 
Devices are known which assist the act of extracting knife blades and other 
devices from the wells in which they are sheathed for carrying safety. The 
knives to which they apply belong to the generic class of knives normally 
called penknives or pocket knives wherein the blades and an assortment of 
other items such as can openers, corkscrews, screwdrivers, files, etc. 
fold into the handles. The devices to assist in extracting the blade or 
other item from the sheathed position range from specially designed 
handles, that encase the blades and attachments, through spurs, notches 
and holes integrated into knife blades and attachments to receive 
extraction implements, ranging from fingernails to nail heads. The actual 
implement to be used to assist in opening, or unsheathing, the blades or 
other items is not part of the knife, as such. Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 
915,007, discloses a pocket knife and an opening key therefor; however, 
the key so described is not designed to provide a well cleaning 
capability. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a blade pick and 
well cleaner that is designed to be used with knives of the type commonly 
referred to as penknives or pocket knives. It is particularly designed, 
however, for use with a specific subclass of pocket knives comprising 
combination knives intended for use by outdoors' people. Such knives may 
include in addition to longer and shorter knife blades, instruments and 
items such as spoons, scissors, saws, can and bottle openers, forks, 
files, gouges, punches, screwdrivers, and corkscrews. The cases for such 
knives, though commonly made of rust and corrosion resistant metals, are 
prone to collect materials, such as wood sap, congealed liquids, mud and 
small organic and inorganic particulates, in the wells where the blades 
and other attachments are sheathed when not in use. The collection of 
material in these wells eventually makes opening and closing of blades and 
attachments difficult as best, and impossible at worst, if the user must 
rely upon his or her fingers and fingernails. 
The invention provides the user a device to be used in cooperation with the 
notch normally provided in the knife blades and attachments to assist the 
user to open the blades and attachments. The invention also confers the 
ability to clean the wells rapidly, when the knife blades or attachments 
are in an open position, thereby permitting the blades or attachments to 
be closed completely or more easily opened by use of the fingers alone. 
In a particular brand of knives, known as "Swiss Army Knives", and knives 
having similar characteristics, the invention can be stored in slots or 
receptacles provided in the casings which ordinarily contain items such as 
tweezers or toothpicks. Such items, however, are constructed of softer or 
weaker metals or other materials than the invention and therefore are of 
little or no value for purposes served by the invention as well as for 
other uses to which the invention may be put. Such collateral uses include 
the untying or loosening of knots, prying up handles on pop top cans, and 
tops from canned foods; common activities of outdoors' people for which a 
small, strong, blunt instrument is desirable. It also can function as a 
pipe cleaner and tamper.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings, numerals are used to indicate aspects of the 
invention and capital letters are used to indicate parts of a knife to 
which the invention is related and for which it is intended in the 
preferred embodiment. 
FIG. 1 depicts the tool 10 of the invention which comprises of a shank 11 
having a flat bottom end 12. It has a protruding, or top, end 13 which is 
disposed at a right angle to a shank main body 17 and has a face 14 that 
is smaller than where protruding end 13 emerges from body 17. Shank main 
body 17 has a rectangular cross-section throughout, the cross-section 
being uniform from where the underside 15 of end 13 joins shaft main body 
17 to where shank main body begins to taper along surface 16 to end 12. 
From face 14, an underside 15 of end 13 is angled to provide a larger 
surface area where end 13 joins at a right angle to the shank main body 
17. 
From FIG. 2 it can be seen that the lower portion of body 17 tapers along a 
surface 16 to end 12 so that such end's surface dimensions are the same as 
face 14. Shank main body 17 is preferable slightly bowed or bent, with 
respect to its longitudinal axis x--x.sub.1. This bowing of shank 11 
provides resistance when the invention is inserted into the receptacle or 
slot C of the knife handle D, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The resulting 
resistance and friction serves to retain the invention within slot C of 
knife handle D until physically removed by the user. 
The tool 10 of the invention, when extracted from slot C is used to assist 
in opening the knife blades and attachments by inserting either the bottom 
end 12 or the protruding end face 14 into the blade or attachment notch A 
and applying force in a direction that will permit the blades or 
attachment to open after breaking loose from debris and retaining 
material. With the blade or attachment in an open position, bottom end 12 
may be inserted into the blade or attachment well J and moved up and down 
the length of the well to scrape and remove material hindering the knife 
blade or attachment from opening or sheathing. 
The tool of the invention is preferably composed of stainless steel such as 
cold formed A151 type 302 stainless steel (A313) which may also be in a 
full hard or spring-temper condition. Wrought stainless steel A151 types 
301, 304, 305, and 308 may also be used. Where exposure to sea water is 
likely, forged nickel-copper alloy known as "Monel" is an excellent 
material for the invention. Materials having permanent magnetic properties 
such as 36% cobalt steel, the Alnico alloys, Cunico, Cunife, Remalloy, 
fabricated by casting, sintering or pressing may also be used. In such 
case, the invention is usually held in position in the knife's slot C by 
magnetic attraction and need not be slightly bowed to provide the friction 
for retention. With the invention composed of a permanent magnetic 
material, it provides additional advantages which include, by providing an 
opening or hold 20 at the tool's center of gravity, a compass for the user 
if the tool is appropriately balanced on a pin, pointed object or 
suspended on a thread or the like at hole 20. Other materials will occur 
to those skilled in the art. 
If desired, a logo can be molded or surface imprinted on the upper side of 
end 13, or elsewhere on tool 10 or the owner's name or initials or the 
like can be imprinted, inscribed or etched thereon. 
In practice, the overall length of the tool is 17/8", its width is 7/16", 
and its thickness is 1/16". End 13 is 9/64" across as seen in FIG. 2. Face 
12 tapers from 1/32" to 1/16" for 3/8" along surface 16. End 13 is 
outwardly 1/32" thick and diverges downwardly along underside 15 to 1/16" 
in a lateral distance of 5/64". 
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been 
disclosed and described in detail above, it should be understood that the 
invention is not necessarily limited thereby, and its scope is to be 
determined by that of the following claims.