Abstract:
A cutter for cutting sheet materials such as plastic film or metal foil is provided. The cutter incorporates a handle, a cutting blade and a hook for attaching the cutter to a dispenser of the sheet material. The cutter rides along the top of the box to cut the sheet material.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM  
       [0001]    This application claims priority Under §119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/383,730, filed on May 28, 2003, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to cutters for cutting sheet materials. More specifically, the present invention relates to sliding cutters used to cut plastic film or metallic foils that are dispensed from a roll.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Plastic film and metal foil are widely used throughout the food industry to wrap or cover various food products. The film or foil is typically dispensed from a roll contained in a box. Whenever a piece of film or foil is required, the length of the film or foil is withdrawn from the box and cut to length by a cutter that is attached to the carton or to a cardboard insert placed in the front of the carton. One such cutter is a sliding cutter that slides in a track. The known sliding cutters are complicated devices having a separate track that is attached to the top surface of the box and a cutter that is configured to ride in the track. Since these cutters are complicated structures they are expensive to manufacture. Accordingly, there is a need for a simplified low cost sliding cutter.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    In accordance with the present invention, an inexpensive sliding cutter for cutting sheet materials is provided. The cutter eliminates the need for a separate track, which significantly reduces the cost of the cutter.  
           [0005]    The cutter allows a user to withdraw a length of sheet material, such as plastic film or metal foil from a dispenser, and cut the film or foil to length without serious risk of injury to the user. The cutter has a handle with an attached cutting blade and a hook for attaching the cutter to the dispenser. The cutter is attached to the box so that it is disposed within the box in a gap formed between the front wall of the box and a flap tucked into the box. The cutter handle rides on top of the box straddling the gap between the front wall and the box flap. In this way, the cutter is operable to slide along the length of the box to cut the sheet material to length. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]    All of the objectives of the present invention are more fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numbers represent like features, wherein:  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 1 is a side view of a box containing a roll of sheet material and a slidable cutter;  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front view of the box containing a roll of sheet material and slidable cutter illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the box containing a roll of sheet material and slidable cutter illustrated in FIG. 1;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the cutter illustrated in FIG. 3;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 5 is a side view of the cutter illustrated in FIG. 4;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of a second cutter;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 7 is a side view of the cutter illustrated in FIG. 6;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of a third cutter;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 9 is a side view of the cutter illustrated in FIG. 8; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the cutter illustrated in FIG. 8. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    Referring now to the drawings in general and to FIGS.  1 - 5 , a roll of sheet material  5 , such as plastic film or aluminum foil, is contained within a box  10 . A cutter  20  disposed in the box is operable to cut off a piece of the sheet material. More specifically, a desired length of sheet material may be pulled out of the box  10  off of the roll  5  and cut off by the cutter  20 . The cutter  20  slides along the length of the box  10  to cut off the sheet material.  
         [0018]    The box  10  has a front wall  12  and a top  14 . A flap  16  attached to the top  14  is tucked into the box adjacent the front wall  12 . A gap or slot is formed between the flap  16  and the front wall  12 . The cutter  20  is disposed within this slot as discussed further below. An opening is formed in the top  14  of the box so that the sheet material  5  can be pulled off the roll through the opening in the top of the box, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The length of the box  10  is longer than the length of the roll  5  so that the roll can be contained within the box. In addition, preferably the top  14  and flap  16  are substantially coextensive with the front wall  12  of the box.  
         [0019]    Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the cutter  20  comprises a handle  22  that is wider than the width of the slot between the flap  16  and the front wall  12 . A blade  25  is fixedly attached to handle  22 . The blade  25  has two cutting edges, a right edge and a left edge so that the cutter  20  can cut the sheet material  5  regardless of whether the cutter is slid from right to left or left to right, as discussed further below. A vertically elongated stem  27  is attached to the bottom edge of the blade. The stem  27  has a thickness that corresponds to the width of the slot between the front wall  12  and the flap  16  of the box. More specifically, preferably the stem  27  has a thickness that is the same as or less than the width of the slot so that the cutter  20  can slide readily within the slot. The lower edge of the stem  27  forms a reverse curve forming a hook  29  as shown in FIG. 5.  
         [0020]    Referring to FIGS.  1 - 3 , the cutter  20  is disposed within the box  10  so that the stem  27  and blade  25  are disposed within the slot between the front wall  12  and the flap  16  of the box. The front edge of the box top  14  and the top edge of the front wall  12  provide bearing surfaces upon which the bottom of the cutter handle  22  rides. Since the handle  22  is wider than the slot between the flap  16  and the front wall  12 , the handle  22  spans the slot, and rides along the front edge of the box top  14  and the top edge of the front wall  12 . The hook  29  at the bottom of the stem  27  hooks around the bottom of the flap  16  to prevent the box top  14  and flap  16  from being displaced downwardly relative to the top edge of the front wall  12  of the box, which would otherwise misalign the bearing surfaces upon which the cutter handle  22  rides.  
         [0021]    To cut off a piece of sheet material  5 , the operator pulls the sheet material off the roll through the opening in the top  14  of the box  10 . The sheet material is pulled over the front edge of the box so that it rests on the front edge of the flap  16  and the top edge of the front wall  12 . To cut the sheet material, the cutter  20  is slid along the length of the box. As the cutter  20  is slid, the bottom surface of the handle  22  rides over the sheet material so that the sheet material is held down between the handle and the box  10 . For this reason, preferably the bottom surface of the handle is a low friction surface. This can be accomplished by either forming the entire handle out of a low friction material or by coating the bottom surface of the handle with a low friction material.  
         [0022]    As the cutter  20  is slid along the length of the box, the blade  25  cuts the sheet material  5 . When the cutter  20  is slid from right to left, the left edge of the blade  25  cuts the material. When the cutter is slid from left to right, the right edge of the blade cuts the material. As the cutter is slid along the length of the box, preferably the hook  29  at the bottom of the stem  27  remains engaged with the bottom edge of the flap  16 .  
         [0023]    Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, a second cutter is designated  120 . The second cutter  120  is configured similarly to the cutter  20  illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, with the addition of wheels that provide a smoother interface between the cutter and the box  10 . Specifically, the second cutter comprises a handle  122  to which a blade  125  is fixedly attached. The stem  127  is attached to the bottom edge of the blade and the lower edge of the stem forms a hook  129 .  
         [0024]    Referring to FIG. 7, a plurality of handle wheels  124  are rotatably mounted to the handle. Preferably the wheels  124  in the handle are appropriately sized and located so that the wheels ride over the front edge of the box top and the top edge of the front wall  12 , straddling the slot between the flap  16  and the front wall  12 . In addition, a hook wheel  130  is rotatably attached to the hook  129 . The hook wheel  130  is disposed so that it is operable to ride along the bottom edge of the box flap  16 . The handle wheels  125  and hook wheel  129  provide a smooth rolling interface between the cutter  120 , the sheet material  5  and the box  10  so that the cutter can readily slide along the box to cut the sheet material. Although the second cutter in  120  has been described with both the handle wheels  124  and the hook wheel  130 , in certain situations it may be desirable to incorporate only one of the two types of wheels.  
         [0025]    Referring now to FIGS.  9 - 10 , a third cutter is designated  220 . The third cutter  220  comprises a handle  222 , a blade  225  attached to the handle, and a vertically elongated stem  227  fixedly attached to the bottom edge of the blade. The stem  227  has a thickness that corresponds to the width of the slot between the front wall  12  and the flap  16  of the box. More specifically, preferably the stem  227  has a thickness that is the same as or less than the width of the slot so that the cutter  220  can slide readily within the slot.  
         [0026]    The third cutter  220  also includes a hook for engaging the box  10 . However on the third cutter the hook is in the form of a clip  228  attached to the bottom edge of the handle, rather than the bottom edge of the stem  227 . More specifically, the clip  228  comprises a vertically elongated radially deformable finger. The clip  228  is spaced apart from the stem  227  to form a gap between the clip  228  and the stem  227 . The cutter  220  is disposed in the box so that the stem  227  rides in the slot between the flap  16  and the front wall  12  of the box, and the clip  228  hooks over the front wall  12  of the box so that the front wall is disposed in the gap between the stem  227  and the clip  228 . Preferably, the gap between the stem and clip is at least slightly smaller than the thickness of the front wall  12  of the box so that the clip  228  deforms outwardly away from the stem  227  when the cutter is hooked on the box.  
         [0027]    As shown in FIG. 8, preferably the blade  225  is a double-edged blade having a right edge and a left edge. Preferably the sides of the blade are tapered downwardly so that the blade is wider at the top then at the bottom. In this way, the intersection between the right and left edges of the blade and the bottom surface of the handle form obtuse angles.  
         [0028]    While particular embodiments of the invention have been herein illustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the invention to such disclosures, but changes and modifications may be made therein and thereto within the scope of the following claims. For instance, the cutters  20  and  120  have been described as having a stem that has a fixed length. However, in certain applications it may be desirable to utilize an adjustable length stem so that the hook  29 ,  129  can hook over boxes having various height flaps  16 . Such an adjustable may comprises a two-piece stem having a biasing element, such as a spring, biasing the stem to a short position.