Abstract:
A bevel setting tool having a rectangular plate, both sides of which are marked with reference indicia and a moveable fence that slides longitudinally on a stud that passes from the fence through a slot centrally located in the plate and into a locking knob. The fence and knob may be disassembled so that the fence can be positioned on either side of the plate.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to protractors, bevel gauges, and other tools used for setting and determining angles, particularly in woodworking. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   It is often necessary to mark and transfer an angle when doing woodworking and similar processes. The conventional tool for transferring an angle is a sliding bevel. While this tool is quite useful in transferring an angle from one work piece to another, problems are often encountered when trying to transfer an angle from a work piece to a typical woodworking power tool such as a table saw, where angles are set by reference to scales graduated in degrees. Often there is not enough registration space on the saw or other tool to allow a sliding bevel to be used accurately. It is also often necessary to lay out a specific angle for items such as dovetail joints. A typical sliding bevel is useful for this process; however, sliding bevels rarely have angular graduations and those that do make it difficult to accurately set angles by reference to the graduations. 
   Homemade and commercially available angle setting reference tools such as one marketed under the name “Bevel Boss” have long been available, but these tools are relatively large, can be somewhat difficult to use, and can rarely be used successfully to directly establish or mark an angle on a work piece. 
   Accordingly, there is a need for a compact tool capable of establishing a wide range of angles with significant accuracy and that can be used for directly transferring an angle to or establishing an angle on a work piece. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The bevel setting tool of this invention includes a rectangular plate, both sides of which are marked with reference indicia. A moveable fence slides longitudinally along a centrally located slot and includes a locking knob with a threaded stud that passes through the slot so that the fence can be locked in any position on the plate to which it can be moved. The fence and knob may be disassembled so that the fence can be positioned on either side of the plate. Alternatively, fences can be positioned on both sides of the plate attached to each other by a threaded stud within the central slot, making it possible to establish a reference surface on either side of the plate without any disassembly and reassembly of components. The fence faces may be highly polished so that reflections of the plate indicia in the face will facilitate positioning the fence. Friction-increasing polymeric film may also be positioned on the plate contact surface of the fence to facilitate accurate positioning of the fence on the plate. 
   The plate may also include one or more rulers as well as angular graduations. 
   In order to tell what angle a sliding bevel is set at, typically after having set the bevel by reference to a work piece, the handle of the sliding bevel is positioned along one edge of the bevel setter plate, and is slid until the blade aligns with an angular graduation, which can be read by the user. 
   In order to set a sliding bevel gauge at a specific angle, the fence is positioned on the plate by reference to the appropriate angular graduation, and locked in position. The sliding bevel blade is then set against the fence with the bevel handle against the edge of the plate, and the blade is locked into position. 
   This bevel setter can also be used to mark angles directly by placing the fence against the edge of a work piece and marking along an edge of the plate. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an isometric view of the bevel setter of this invention shown in use together with a sliding bevel gauge. 
       FIG. 2  is an isometric view of the bevel setter of  FIG. 1  shown positioned for marking a desired angle on a work piece. 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the bevel setter shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  is a top view of the bevel setter shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 5  is a bottom view of the bevel setter shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 6  is an edge view of an alternative embodiment of the bevel setter of this invention utilizing two fences. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the drawings as bevel setter  10 , which utilizes a rectangular plate  12  penetrated by a centrally located slot  14  and marked with indicia  16  on the front face  18  of the plate  12  and indicia  20 ,  22  and  24  on the back face  26  of the plate  12 . A knob or thumb screw  28  positionable on one face of the plate  12  is connected by a threaded stud or screw shank  30  to a fence  32  positionable on the other face of the plate  12 . Either or both of the fence  32  and knob  28  can be threaded to receive the stud or screw  30 . The fence  32  may be made in a variety of shapes that will typically be as long as the plate  12  is wide and have faces  34  and  38  square to the plate  12  face  18  or  26  when the fence  32  is positioned on the plate  12 . Fence faces  34  and  36  may be highly polished so that indicia on the plate are reflected in the face of the fence, which facilitates accurate positioning of the fence  32  relative to indicia  16 ,  20 ,  22  or  24  on the plate  12 . Circular recesses  40  in the bottom  42  of fence  32  may receive disks  44  of friction-increasing materials such as high density urethane, which will improve the characteristics of contact between the fence and plate  12  and thereby facilitate positioning of the fence  32  on plate  12 . (These disks  44  and the underside  42  of fence  32  are illustrated in  FIG. 3 .) 
   As will be appreciated by reference to  FIG. 4 , bevel angles between 0° and 60° can be shown in indicia  16  by “folding” the scale positioning the markings at 2 pairs of distances from the slot  14 . This makes it possible to provide a wide range of angular indicia on a relatively short plate  12 . Other scale and indicia configurations are possible. As will be understood by reference to  FIG. 5 , one of the faces such as back face  26  of plate  12  can carry ruler indicia  24  along plate  12  edges, can be marked with commonly used dovetail angles such as indicia  20 , and can be marked with the angles required in order to form polygons of various numbers of sizes such as indicia  22 . 
   The plate  12  of this bevel setter can be made from stamped stainless steel; however, it can also be made of a wide variety of other appropriate materials including aluminum, brass and various plastics. The plate  12  can be manufactured using laser or water-jet cutting, casting, molding or machining. The indicia on the plate  12  may be chemically etched into the plate. Alternatively, they can be laser-etched, engraved, printed or stamped into the plate  12  surface. They also could be applied with a label, molded directly into the ruler component or made utilizing any other suitable manufacturing or marking technique. 
   Fence  32  can be made from a section of extruded aluminum or of any other suitably strong, stable and durable material, including brass, steel, various metal alloys, wood, plastics and plastic composite materials. As noted above, the side faces  34  and  36  of fence  32  can be polished so that they are reflective, which can facilitate accurate positioning of the fence  32  by reference to angular indicia  16 ,  22  or  26 . 
   The layout of the angle indicia  16  are overlapped such that a full range of angles from 0° to 60° can fit into a relatively small space. Typically, angular markings radiate from a single point (either on the part, or off of the marked component). As a result, the parts must either be very large, or the markings must be very close together in order fit an appreciable range of angles on the part. In the bevel setter  10  of this invention, the angle range is split into two sets, 0° to 35° and 35° to 60°, and each set of angular indicia  16  radiates from a different center point. One set of angular markings  16  (0°-35°) has been marked along the outer edges of the plate  12 . These 0°-35° graduations have been split in the middle, allowing space for the second set of graduations  16 , 35°-60°. By placing the lower (0°-35°) angles on the outside edges of plate  12 , and the higher angles (35°-60°) on the inside plate  12 , each graduation can be quite long, increasing the ease and accuracy with which the fence  32  can be set, because there can be long registration between the indicia  16  line and fence face  34  or  36 . As will be apparent from inspection of  FIG. 4 , there is no requirement that the range of angles marked by indicia  16  be split at 35 degrees; the split could happen at other places, and there is no requirement that the total indicia  16  range be 0-60 degrees; the range could start or end higher or lower. 
   As will be appreciated by reference to the preceding description and the accompanying drawings, numerous alternative configurations of components and different materials and indicia marking techniques can be used to practice this invention without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims. For instances materials not yet developed could be used rather than the exemplary materials described herein provided that such other materials have appropriate durability, rigidity and other physical properties appropriate for the bevel setter of this invention. 
   Similarly, modifications and additions in structure or configuration are possible without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims. For instance, the disks  44  positioned in the underside of fence  32  could be rare earth magnets that would secure the fence  32  in alternative desired positions on a plate  12  made of steel without necessarily requiring that the fence be mechanically locked in place using a threaded screw or stud  30  and a thumbscrew  28  or a second fence  32 . Other means of locking the fence  32  in a desired position would also be possible, including arrangements for clamping the fence to the plate  12  near an edge of the plate  12  without use of any stud  30  or other structure passing through the plate  12 , and therefore without any need for slot  14  in plate  12 . The faces  34  and  36  also do not necessarily need to be parallel to each other; they might, for instance, lie at a typical dovetail angle relative to each other. As yet another alternative, two fences  32  might be locked on one face of plate  12  at different angles to make it possible rapidly to mark different angles on a work piece without stopping to change the fence setting. In yet another alternative, a second fence may be substituted for thumbscrew  28 . Use of a second fence as a knob on the side opposite a user is reading avoids the need to switch the fence from front to back, thereby facilitating use of the tool. 
   The bevel setter of this invention is not confined to the embodiments described herein but includes variations and modifications within the scope and spirit of the foregoing description, the accompanying drawings and the following claims.