Abstract:
A gardening tool such as a grass trimmer is provided with a tool head, a motor for driving the tool head, a front housing for accommodating the motor, a trigger switch for activating the motor, a trigger operable to control the trigger switch, a battery pack for providing electric energy to the motor, a circuit board for electrically connecting the motor to the battery pack, and a rear housing for accommodating the circuit board. The rear housing forms a housing chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, the circuit board, and wires between the circuit board and the trigger switch.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of CN 201510134597.3, filed on Mar. 25, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
       FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates generally to gardening tools, and more particularly to grass trimmers. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0003]    A gardening tool such as a grass trimmer has an operating handle and a power portion to couple with a battery pack. The operating handle and the power portion are constructed as two separate parts at present. This construction makes a waste of material, and a wire positioned between the operating handle and the power portion is often undesirably exposed. 
         [0004]    The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    In one aspect of the disclosure, a gardening tool includes a trimmer head, a motor for driving the trimmer head, a front housing for accommodating the motor, a trigger switch for activating the motor, a trigger for being operated to control the trigger switch, a battery pack for providing electric energy to the motor, a circuit board for electrically connecting the motor to the battery pack, and a rear housing for accommodating the circuit board. 
         [0006]    Preferably, the rear housing includes a connecting portion for detachably connecting with the battery pack and a handle portion for being griped by the user which is disposed between the motor and the circuit board. 
         [0007]    Furthermore, wherein when the battery pack is connected to the rear housing, at least one part of the battery pack is preferably exposed outside of the rear housing. 
         [0008]    Furthermore, the rear housing preferably forms an air inlet at the connecting portion. 
         [0009]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, where the rear housing may further form an air inlet at the accommodating portion. 
         [0010]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, where the rear housing may further form a first air inlet at the connecting portion and a second air inlet at the accommodating portion. 
         [0011]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the accommodating portion may be disposed between the motor and the handle portion. 
         [0012]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the handle portion may be disposed between the connecting portion and the accommodating portion. 
         [0013]    Furthermore, the rear housing may form a support surface for supporting the arm of the user when the user uses the ipsilateral hand to grip the handle portion. 
         [0014]    Furthermore, the direction in which the support surface substantially extends and the length direction of the handle portion may intersect at an obtuse angle. 
         [0015]    Furthermore, the gardening tool may further include a connecting means for connecting the front housing and the rear housing, and a fan for generating an airflow from the inside of the rear housing to the inside the front housing, wherein the connecting means forms an air channel for allowing the airflow to flow from the inside of the rear housing to the inside the front housing. 
         [0016]    Furthermore, the rear housing ay form a plurality of air inlets for allowing airflows to flow into the rear housing. 
         [0017]    Furthermore, the gardening tool may further include a connecting means for connecting the front housing and the rear housing and a connecting wire may be disposed inside the handle portion where the rear housing forms a clip structure for clipping the connecting wire at the inside of the handle portion. 
         [0018]    Furthermore, the gardening tool may further include a speed-control button for being operated to control the rotational-speed of the motor with the speed-control button being slidably disposed at the rear housing. 
         [0019]    In another aspect of the disclosure, a gardening tool includes a tool head, a motor for driving the trimmer head, a front housing for accommodating the motor, a trigger switch for activating the motor, a trigger for being operated to control the trigger switch, a battery pack for providing electric energy to the motor, a circuit board for electrically connecting the motor to the battery pack, and a rear housing for accommodating the circuit board. 
         [0020]    The rear housing preferably forms a housing chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, the circuit board and wires between them and the rear housing may comprise a connecting portion for detachably connecting with the battery pack. A handle portion for being griped by the user may be disposed between the motor and the circuit board. 
         [0021]    Furthermore, the battery pack may be connected to the rear housing with at least one part of the battery pack being exposed outside of the rear housing. 
         [0022]    Furthermore, the rear housing may form an air inlet at the connecting portion. 
         [0023]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the rear housing may form an air inlet at the accommodating portion. 
         [0024]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the rear housing may form a first air inlet at the connecting portion and a second air inlet at the accommodating portion. 
         [0025]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the accommodating portion may be disposed between the motor and the handle portion. 
         [0026]    Furthermore, the rear housing may further comprise an accommodating portion, which has an accommodating chamber for accommodating the trigger switch, and the handle portion may be disposed between the connecting portion and the accommodating portion. 
         [0027]    Furthermore, the rear housing may form a support surface to support the arm of the user when the user uses the ipsilateral hand to grip the handle portion 
         [0028]    Furthermore, the direction in which the support surface substantially extends and the length direction of the handle portion may intersect at an obtuse angle. 
         [0029]    Furthermore, the gardening tool may further include a connecting means for connecting the front housing and the rear housing, and a fan for generating an airflow that flows from the inside of the rear housing to the inside the front housing where the connecting means forms an air channel for allowing the airflow to flow from the inside of the rear housing to the inside the front housing. 
         [0030]    Furthermore, the rear housing may form a plurality of air inlets for allowing airflows to flow into the rear housing. 
         [0031]    Furthermore, the gardening tool ay further include a connecting means for connecting the front housing and the rear housing and a connecting wire may be disposed inside the handle portion where the rear housing forms a clip structure for clipping the connecting wire at the inside of the handle portion. 
         [0032]    Furthermore, the gardening tool may further include a speed-control button for being operated to control the rotational-speed of the motor where the speed-control button is slidably disposed at the rear housing. 
         [0033]    Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0034]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an exemplary grass trimmer. 
           [0035]      FIG. 2  shows a state of the grass trimmer in  FIG. 1  without the battery pack. 
           [0036]      FIG. 3  shows the state as shown in  FIG. 2  in another perspective. 
           [0037]      FIG. 4  is a partial view of the grass trimmer in  FIG. 1 , 
           [0038]      FIG. 5  is another partial view of the grass trimmer in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0039]      FIG. 6  shows a part of the grass trimmer in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0040]      FIG. 7  shows an internal view of a part of the grass trimmer in  FIG 1 . 
           [0041]      FIG. 8  shows an internal view of a part of the rear housing with the triggers and connecting means. 
           [0042]      FIG. 9  shows an internal view of a part of the rear housing. 
           [0043]      FIG. 10  is an enlarged view of the speed-control button. 
       
    
    
       [0044]    The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of exemplary embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0045]    The following description of the preferred embodiments is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the scope of the invention hereinafter claimed, its application, or uses. 
         [0046]    Referring to FIGS. land  2 ; a grass trimmer  100  includes a front housing  10 , a rear housing  20 , a motor  30 , a battery pack  40 , a trimmer head  50 , a connecting means  60  and a shield  70 . 
         [0047]    The front housing  10  is disposed at the front of the grass trimmer  100  and the rear housing  20  is disposed at the rear of the grass trimmer  100 . 
         [0048]    The front and rear herein referenced are used only to indicate a relative positional relationship not an absolute positional relationship. 
         [0049]    The motor  30  is received in the front housing  10 . The trimmer head  50  is driven by the motor  30  and connected to a cutting member  51  which is used to cut grass. The cutting member  51  may be a trimmer line or a cutting blade. It should be noted that the trimmer head  50  can be replaced by other tool heads of others gardening tools. 
         [0050]    The battery pack  40  provides the power to the motor  30  and is capable of detachably connecting with the rear housing  20 . 
         [0051]    The connecting means  60  connects the front housing  10  and the rear housing  20  as a whole. 
         [0052]    The shield  70  is fixed to the front housing  10  for protecting users. 
         [0053]    As shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 , the connecting means  60  includes a connecting tube assembly  61  that extends along a first direction  101 . The connecting tube assembly  61  includes a first connecting tube  61   a  and a second connecting tube  61   b.  The connecting means  60  also includes a connecting base  62 . The connecting base  62  interconnects the first connecting tube  61   a  and the second connecting tube  61   b.  The first connecting tube  61   a  is connected to the front housing  10 . The second connecting tube  61   b  is connected to the rear housing  20 . 
         [0054]    The connecting means  60  forms an air channel  60   a  for allowing an airflow to pass there through. 
         [0055]    As shown in  FIGS. 2-4 , the front housing  10  includes a receiving portion  11  which forms a receiving chamber  11   a  for receiving the motor  30  and a coupling portion  12  for coupling with the first connecting tube  61 . The coupling portion  12  is used to connect the receiving chamber  11   a  and the air channel  60   a.    
         [0056]    Particularly, the receiving portion  11  and the coupling portion  12  are manufactured as one-piece. 
         [0057]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the shield  70  is installed to the connecting housing  12  of the front housing  10 . The connecting housing  12  extends along a direction away from the side wall of the motor housing  11  and the extension direction oblique to and intersects with a rotating axis of the motor  30 . The connecting housing  12  defines a connecting chamber interconnecting with the battery chamber. The first connecting tube  61   a  is installed through into the connecting chamber. The connecting housing provides a first mounting aperture for fixing the shield  70 . In the illustrated embodiment, the first mounting aperture is a threaded hole. The shield  70  is fixed to the connecting housing  12  by a bolt fastened to a threaded hole. This has the advantage of providing a low cost construction without additional parts as well as providing convenient installation and disassembly. 
         [0058]    Generally, the cutting member  51  is a trimmer line. The trimmer line may abrade after use for a long time period of time which may affect the cutting quality. As shown in  FIG. 5 , a blade  71  is fixed at the inside of the shield  70  for cutting the trimmer line. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the blade  71  is constructed as an L shape. The blade  71  has a cutting edge  711  and an installing section  712  for fixing it. The cutting edge  711  is substantially perpendicular to the installing section  712 . The shield  70  provides a second mounting aperture. Particularly, the second mounting aperture is a threaded hole. The blade  71  is fixed to the shield  70  by a bolt fastened to a threaded hole. The cutting edge  711  extends along a direction away from the shield  70  when the blade  71  is fixed to the shield  70 . 
         [0059]    As shown in  FIG. 2-3  and  FIGS. 6- 10 , the grass trimmer  100  further includes a trigger switch  81 , a speed-control switch  82 , a first connecting wire  83 , a speed-control button  84 , a trigger  85 , a second connecting wire  86  and a circuit board  87  while the rear housing  20  includes a handle portion  21 , a connecting portion  22  and an accommodating portion  23 . 
         [0060]    The trigger switch  81  is capable of activating the motor  30  and the trigger  85  is used to control the trigger switch  81 . The speed-control switch  82  is capable of controlling the rotational-speed of the motor  30  and the speed-control button  84  is used to control the speed-control switch  82 . 
         [0061]    The circuit board  87  is used to electrically connect the motor the battery pack. The first connecting wire  83  is used to electrically connect the circuit board  87  to the speed-control switch  82 . The second connecting wire  86  is used to electrically connect the circuit board  87  to the motor  30 . The circuit board  87  is disposed inside the connecting portion  22 . 
         [0062]    The handle portion  21  is intended to be gripped by the user when the user uses the grass trimmer  100 . The handle portion  21  extends substantially along a first direction  101 . 
         [0063]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the rear housing  20  forms a clip structure  24  for clipping the first connecting wire  83  at the inside of the handle portion  21 . The clip structure  24  may include two claws  24   a,    24   b  for contact the first connecting wire  83  at opposite sides of the first connecting wire  83 . The claws  24   a  and  24   b  project inwardly. 
         [0064]    As shown in  FIG. 9 , the inserting part of the second connecting tube  61   b  in the rear housing  20  forms a wire slot  611  for allowing the first connecting wire  83  and the clip structure  24  to pass there through. The wire slot  611  allows the size of handle portion  21  to be smaller. 
         [0065]    The connecting portion  22  is used to detachably connect with the battery pack. The handle portion  21  is located between the motor  30  and the connecting portion  22 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , when the battery pack  40  is connected to the rear housing  20 , at least one part of the battery pack  40  is exposed outside of the rear housing  20  for better heat dissipation. 
         [0066]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , the rear housing  20  forms a support surface  223  to support the arm of the user when the user uses the ipsilateral hand to grip the handle portion  21 . The direction  102  in which the support surface  223  substantially extends along and the length direction (first direction  101 ) of the handle portion  21  intersect at an obtuse angle β. The obtuse angle β may range from 100° to 170°. Particularly, the angle β may range from 120° to 160°. 
         [0067]    The support surface  223  will decrease weariness of users when they use the grass trimmer  100  for a long time. 
         [0068]    The battery pack  40  has battery pack terminals, and the grass trimmer  100  has a connecting terminal  222  for electrically connecting with the battery pack terminals at the connecting portion  22 . The battery pack  40  is capable of coupling to the connecting portion  22  along the directions which are parallel to the first direction  101 . 
         [0069]    The accommodating portion  23  is located between the motor  30  and the handle portion  21  and forms an accommodating chamber  23   a  which is used to accommodate the trigger switch  81  and the speed-control switch  82 . 
         [0070]    As shown in  FIG. 10 , the speed-control button  84  is slidably connected with the rear housing at the accommodating portion  23 . When a user operates the speed-control button  84  to slide to different positions, the motor  30  outputs different rotatational-speed. 
         [0071]    As shown in  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 , and  FIGS. 6-10 , the rear housing  20  forms a housing chamber  20   a  which includes the accommodating chamber  23   a,  and the housing chamber  20   a  is formed from the connecting portion  22  to the accommodating portion  23 . The trigger switch  81  and the circuit board  87  are all accommodated in the housing chamber  20   a.    
         [0072]    The grass trimmer  100  further includes a fan  31  inside the front housing  10  and the fan  31  is driven by the motor  30 . When the fan  31  rotates, it generates an airflow which flows air from the rear housing  20  to the front housing  10  by passing the air through the air channel  60   a.    
         [0073]    For cooling the electrical components inside the rear housing  20 , the rear housing  20  forms a plurality of air inlets to allow the air to flow into the rear housing  20 . 
         [0074]    Specifically, the rear housing  20  forms a first air inlet  221  at the connecting portion  22  and a second air inlet  231  at the accommodating portion  23  so as to cause the air flow to pass through the circuit board  87  and the trigger switch  81 . 
         [0075]    The above illustrates and describes basic principles, main features and advantages of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that the above embodiments do not limit the present invention in any form, Technical solutions obtained by equivalent substitution or equivalent variations all fall within the scope of the present invention.