Abstract:
A rotary cutter comprises a body having a handle and a cutter opening. A reservoir of rotary blades is disposed in the body. A member is moveable between a protective and an exposed operative position. A releasable blade receiver assembly allows a blade to be ejected from the cutter and a replacement blade to be loaded onto the cutter for subsequent usage.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 62/343,267 filed on May 31, 2016 and 62/436,153 filed on Dec. 19, 2016, the disclosures of which applications are incorporated herewith by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    This disclosure relates generally to manual cutters which employ a rotary blade. More particularly, this disclosure relates to rotary cutters employed for crafting applications. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    Briefly stated, a rotary cutter comprises a body having a handle and a cutter opening. A reservoir of rotary blades is disposed in the body. A member is moveable between a protective and an exposed operative position. A releasable blade receiver assembly is mounted to the body. The assembly preferably comprises a pivoted lever arm having an actuator. A spring biases the pivoted lever arm to a first position. A bottom structure is engageable with the lever at the first position. A slide axle assembly is activatable by the actuator to engage a rotary blade to permit rotation thereof and to disengage the blade. A button exteriorly of the body is actuatable to retract the slide axle assembly. The slide axle assembly is engageable with a blade in a first position and is disengageable from the blade to release the blade in a second position. 
         [0004]    The rotary blades may be substantially identical. The rotary blades may be specialty blades selected from the group consisting of a straight blade, a perforated blade, a wave blade and a pinking blade. In the protective position, the cutting edge of the blade is not exteriorly exposed. 
         [0005]    A method for replacing a blade in a rotary cutter without a user contacting the blade comprises sliding a button and depressing the button to release the blade. The method comprises ejecting the blade from the cutter and sliding the button to engage a replacement blade. The method further comprises moving the button to secure the replacement blade for usage. The method further comprises locking the replacement blade at either a protected or an exposed position. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a front view, partly in diagram form and portions shown in phantom, of a rotary cutter; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a rear view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a top plan view, partly in diagram form, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged cutter end view, partly in diagram form, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is an enlarged side view, partly in schematic, of the blade replacement mechanism for the rotary cutter of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a generally top view, partly in schematic, of the blade replacement mechanism together with a receptacle of replacement blades in a first operative position; 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a generally top schematic view of the blade replacement mechanism together with replacement blades illustrating a second operative position; 
           [0014]      FIG. 9  is a generally top schematic view of the blade replacement mechanism together with the replacement blades illustrating a third operative position; 
           [0015]      FIG. 10  is a generally top schematic view of the replacement mechanism and replacement blades illustrating a fourth operative position; 
           [0016]      FIG. 11  is a generally top schematic view of the replacement mechanism together with a reservoir of replacement blades illustrating a fifth operative position; 
           [0017]      FIG. 12  is a generally top schematic view of the replacement mechanism illustrating a sixth operative position; 
           [0018]      FIG. 13  is a side view of a pinking blade that may be employed in the rotary cutter; 
           [0019]      FIG. 14  is a photograph of a straight blade, a perforated blade, a wave blade and a pinking blade which may be employed in the rotary cutter; 
           [0020]      FIG. 15  is a photograph of a front side view of another embodiment of a rotary cutter; 
           [0021]      FIG. 16  is a photograph of a top plan view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 17  is a perspective view, exterior portions removed, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0023]      FIG. 18  is a front side view, exterior portions removed, partly in diagram form and portions shown in phantom, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0024]      FIG. 18A  is an enlarged annotated view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 18 ; 
           [0025]      FIG. 19  is a rear side view, exterior portions removed, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 19A  is an enlarged annotated view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 19 ; 
           [0027]      FIG. 20  is a top plan view, exterior portions removed, partly in diagram form, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 21  is a bottom plan view, exterior portions removed, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0029]      FIG. 22  is an enlarged cutter end view, exterior portions removed, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0030]      FIG. 23  is an enlarged opposite end view, exterior portions removed, of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 15 ; 
           [0031]      FIGS. 24A and 24B  are exploded views of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 17 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 25  is a front side view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 18  further illustrating section lines; 
           [0033]      FIG. 26  is an enlarged sectional view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 25  taken along the line B-B thereof; 
           [0034]      FIG. 27  is an enlarged annotated sectional view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 25  taken along the line C-C with the rotary cutter in a first operative position; 
           [0035]      FIG. 28  is an enlarged annotated sectional view of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 25  taken along the line C-C thereof with the rotary cutter in a second operative position; and 
           [0036]      FIGS. 29A and 29B  are enlarged annotated perspective views of the rotary cutter of  FIG. 17  with a blade cover in an opened position and the cutter blades illustrated removed from a blade receptacle and loaded into the blade receptacle, respectively. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0037]    With reference to the drawings wherein like numerals represent like parts throughout the several figures, a rotary cutter, which is specially adaptable for crafting applications, is generally designated by the numeral  10 . Rotary cutter  10  is adapted to replace a rotary cutter blade with a replacement cutter blade by means of an efficient mechanism which can be operated without the user touching or handling the rotary blades. The rotary cutter  10  may be configured to handle a wide variety of blades, for example, 28 mm, 45 mm and 60 mm circular blades and various specialty blades. The “no-touch” feature is accomplished without requiring the operator to actually physically touch the discarded blade or the replacement blade. 
         [0038]    The rotary cutter  10  has a housing  20  which forms a handle  22  having a contoured form. The handle also has a pair of grip portions  24  and  26  configured to facilitate the manual gripping of the cutter. The housing  20  functions to provide a protective cover for the rotary blades, which in the illustrated embodiment, is designated as blade  12  having a central opening  14  for a 45 mm blade. It should be appreciated that this rotary cutter will be configured and dimensioned for blades of various sizes and types. For purposes of description herein, the principal description will primarily focus on the 45 mm blade  12  and pinking blade  12 C. 
         [0039]    The rotary cutter  10  also functions to house and/or mount at one side a replacement blade assembly  50  for mounting the blade for rotation in the illustrated embodiment and for dismounting the blade and ejecting the blade from the cutter. The housing also receives replacement blades designated as  12 A and  12 B with central openings  14 A and  14 B, respectively. Two representative replacement blades are illustrated for purposes of description. It should be understood that blades  12 A and  12 B may be specialty blades such as a pinking blade  12 C ( FIG. 13 ) or other blades including a straight blade  12 D, a perforated blade  12 E, a wave blade  12 F, and a pinking blade  12 G ( FIG. 14 ). The cartridge  30  typically has two blades, but may also include one blade. 
         [0040]    The forward portion of the housing extends radially beyond the mounted blade in a protective nose  28  to provide a protection against the cutting surface of the blade. The housing also provides an opening  40  which allows the blade to be exposed for cutting purposes upon manual depression of a trigger  42 . The trigger  42  is typically a spring biased so that the rotary cutter is normally configured in a protected position where the blade is not exposed exteriorly of the housing for cutting purposes. A dual positionable lock button  44  at the top of the housing is operable to lock the trigger  42  at the protective or operative positions. 
         [0041]    With reference to  FIGS. 6-12 , one embodiment of a blade replacement mechanism is generally designated by the numeral  50 . Upon appropriate action by the operator via a dual action button  70 , the blade replacement mechanism  50  functions to eject a blade  12  which has been spent and reloads a new replacement blade  12 A from a replacement cartridge  30  having a blade receptacle  32  mounted within or to the housing of the rotary cutter. The blade is designated by the numeral  12  and replacement blades are designated as  12 A and  12 B in the drawings. Although blades  12 A and  12 B are illustrated of identical type, they may be of different types. 
         [0042]    With reference to  FIG. 7 , a crank-like pivotal lever arm  60  has an opposed actuating end  64  and a working end  66 . The lever arm is mounted to a support  62  about an intermediate pivot  68 . The lever arm  60  has a double inverted U-shaped configuration. In the operative position wherein the blade is mounted for usage illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the actuating end  64  rests on a catch  72 . The catch  72  is operatively connected to a button  70  and is laterally displaceable. The pivotal lever arm  60  is biased by a spring  74 , which engages the underside of the actuating end  64 , and is urged clockwise toward the position illustrated in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0043]    The support  62  also pivotally mounts at least two locking toggles  76  which pivot about axles  77  ( FIG. 6 ). The toggles each have a geometrically configured follower surface  78  partially surrounding each pivot axis and a distal catch  80 . The working end  66  of the lever arm forms a cam surface which interacts with the followers  78  of the toggles  76  so that the toggles  76  are forced to either a retracted release position or an extended locking position, such as illustrated in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0044]    The catches  80  engage against the side of the blade and therefore capture and lock the blade to the support. It is appreciated, however, that the blade is capable of rotation about the axis through the blade opening  14  when the toggles  76  retain the blade  12 . As further illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the receptacle  30  includes a leaf spring  34  which biases the replacement blades  12 A,  12 B toward the pivot arm  60 . 
         [0045]    With reference to  FIG. 8 , the button  70  may be retracted in the direction of the arrow. This laterally displaces the catch  72  and allows the catch  72  to disengage from the underside of the actuating end  64  of the lever arm  60 . 
         [0046]    With reference to  FIG. 9 , the actuating end  64  is depressed and the working end  66  is forced upwardly to inwardly retract the locking toggles  76  to release the blade  12 . The blade is now free and is easily ejected from the housing. In some embodiments, the cutter is additionally shaped to free blade  12  from the cutter. 
         [0047]    With reference to  FIG. 10 , the entire mechanism is moved back to the reload position by the dual action button  70  being pressed down and back in the directions of the arrows. 
         [0048]    The replacement blade  12 A is then reloaded as illustrated in  FIG. 11 . The spring  74  biases against the pivot arm so that the working end  66  is moved downwardly to engage the toggles  76  and secure the replacement blade  12 A. The button  70  is then returned to the rest position when the catch  72  engages the activating end  64  to lock the pivoted lever arm  60  so that the replacement blade is now ready for usage as illustrated in  FIG. 12 . 
         [0049]    It will be appreciated that the foregoing blade replacement mechanism  50  provides an efficient way in which the blade may be loaded without requiring the operator to physically engage the blade. The used blade may also be ejected from the rotary cutter housing without the operator touching the blade. In some embodiments, replacement blades may be easily loaded into the housing and/or removed from the housing when the replacement blades are spent. 
         [0050]    With reference to  FIGS. 15-29B , a second embodiment of a rotary cutter is generally designated by the numeral  110 . 
         [0051]    The rotary cutter  110  has a housing  112  comprising a front housing assembly  114 , an intermediate guard/trigger assembly  116  and a rear housing assembly  118 . The housing  112  forms a handle  122  having a contoured form. The handle also has a pair of grip portions  124  and  126  configured to facilitate the manual gripping of the cutter. The housing  112  functions to provide a protective cover for the rotary blades, which in the illustrated embodiment, are designated as blades  12  each having a central opening  14  for a 45 mm blade. It should be appreciated that this rotary cutter  110  is also configured and dimensioned for blades of various sizes and types. The blades  12  are received in a blade receptacle  121 . The receptacle  121  typically initially has three to six blades, but may also include one or other numbers of blades. 
         [0052]    The rotary cutter  110  also functions to house and/or mount at one side a replacement blade assembly  150  for mounting the blade for rotation in the illustrated embodiment and for dismounting the blade and ejecting the blade from the cutter. For some embodiments, the replacement blade assembly may be similar in form and function to replacement blade assembly  50 . 
         [0053]    With reference to  FIGS. 29A and 29B , a plurality of blades are removeably retained to the housing by a hinged blade cartridge cover  130  which is secured in a closed position by spring loaded retainer button  132  engaging a tab  134  of the cover. The hinged cover has a spring loaded back plate  136  which engages against the blade stack. 
         [0054]    The forward portion of the housing  120  extends radially beyond the mounted blade in a protective nose  128  to provide a protection against the cutting surface of the blade. The housing also has a protective guard  129  having a slot  140  which allows the blade to be exposed for cutting purposes upon manual depression of an elongated trigger  142 . The trigger  142  is pivotal and spring biased so that the rotary cutter is normally configured in a protected position where the blade is not exposed exteriorly of the housing for cutting purposes. A dual positionable lock button  144  at an upper portion of the housing has transversely opposed pin segments  145  and  147  and an intermediate wedge  146  which is operable to obstruct a tortuous channel  148  exteriorly from the trigger  142  to lock the trigger and hence the rotary cutter at the protective or operative positions. In a secured transverse position, the channel  146  slides over segment  147  and thus allows the trigger and rotary cutter to move between operative and blade protective positions. 
         [0055]    With additional reference to  FIGS. 27 and 28 , upon appropriate action by the operator via a dual action slide button  170  having a lock portion  170 , the blade replacement mechanism  150  employs a sliding axle  152  which functions to eject a blade  12  that has been spent and reloads a new replacement blade  12  from a the blade receptacle  121  mounted within the housing of the rotary cutter. The sliding axle  152  is sprung transversely against a datum axle  154  to pick up one blade at a time when it is pushed to slide forward. The receptacle cover  130  includes a spring loaded back plate  136  which biases the replacement blades toward the floor  156 . The datum axle  154  is adjustable to set a blade gap between floor  156  of the receptacle  121  allowing one blade. At the forward position, the sliding axle  152  locks with the blade axle anchor  158 . It is appreciated that the blade is capable of rotation about the axle  152  through the blade opening  14 . 
         [0056]    A crank-like pivotal lever arm  160  has an opposed actuating end  164  and a working end  166  which carries the sliding axle  152 . The lever arm is mounted to a support about an intermediate pivot  168 . The actuating end  164  is operatively connected to the button  170  and is forwardly and laterally displaceable. The pivotal lever arm  160  is biased by a spring  174 , which engages the underside of the actuating end  164 , and is urged toward the position illustrated in  FIG. 27 . 
         [0057]    With reference to  FIG. 28 , the button  170  may be depressed in the direction of the arrow. This laterally displaces the sliding axle  152  and allows the axle to disengage from the blade. The blade is now free and is easily ejected from the housing. 
         [0058]    The entire mechanism  150  is moved back to the reload position by the dual action button  170  being pressed down and back in the directions of the arrows. 
         [0059]    The replacement blade  12  is then reloaded as illustrated in  FIG. 27 . The button  170  is then returned to the operative position when the sliding axle  152  engages the axle anchor  156  and is locked so that the replacement blade is now ready for usage as illustrated in  FIG. 28 . 
         [0060]    While preferred embodiments of the foregoing rotary cutter and method therefor have been set forth for purposes of illustration, the foregoing description should not be deemed a limitation of the invention herein. Accordingly, various modifications, adaptations and alternatives may occur to one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention.