Abstract:
A foldable shovel having a plurality of elements telescopically mounted together. The elements include a blade, a hand grip and an intermediate section with the intermediate section telescopically mounted to the blade and the hand grip. Openings in the blade, section and hand grip and a locking clip for locking the intermediate section to the blade and to the hand grip. The locking clip is a resilient clip having a button removably extending into the openings in order to hold the intermediate section to the blade and to the hand grip.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to shovels and more particularly to foldable shovels which can be disassembled for storage, shipping or length adjustment and which can be easily re-assembled.  
           [0002]    Foldable shovels have been in use for a number of years. In general they comprise blades, handles and hand grips which can be disassembled and reassembled from each other for storage, shipping or length adjustment. Known foldable shovels are complex to assemble and disassemble, sometimes require special tools and are expensive and complicated to manufacture and maintain.  
         OBJECTS  
         [0003]    The present invention overcomes these drawbacks and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved foldable shovel which may be easily assembled and disassembled.  
           [0004]    Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved foldable shovel which can be easily assembled and disassembled without the use of special tools.  
           [0005]    Another object of the present invention is an improved foldable shovel in which the length of the tool may be easily adjusted.  
           [0006]    Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved foldable shovel which is simple to use and inexpensive and simple to manufacture and maintain.  
           [0007]    Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice 
       
    
    
     DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification wherein:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the foldable shovel of the present invention.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the shovel.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a side plan view of the shovel.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken above line  4 - 4  of FIG. 3.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4A is an exploded sectional view similar to FIG. 4 showing the position of some of the parts when the shovel is disassembled.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line  5 - 5  of FIG. 2.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  of FIG. 3. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0016]    Referring to the drawings, the foldable shovel  1  of the present invention comprises a blade  2 , handle sections  3  and  4  and a hand grip  5 . The blade  2  has a stem  6  extending therefrom and the hand grip  5  has a stem  17  extending therefrom. The stem  6  of the blade  2  has an opening  7  therein; section  3  has openings  8  and  9  therein adjacent the ends  10  and  11 , respectively; section  4  has openings  12  and  13  therein adjacent the ends  14  and  15 , respectively; and stem  17  of the hand grip  5  has an opening  16  therein. The section  3  may have a reduced diameter portion  20  adjacent end  10  so that it may telescope into the end  21  in the blade stem  6 . The section  4  may be made entirely of reduced diameter so that it may telescope into the end  11  of the section  3  and the end  22  of the hand grip stem  17 . However, it will be understood that the diameters of the various parts may be changed so long as certain parts of the shovel may telescope over and/or into other parts. It will also be seen that the length of the shovel  1  can be shortened or lengthened depending on the number of sections  3  and  4  used and that more or less sections  3  and/or  4  may be used without departing from the invention.  
         [0017]    Improved holding means  30  are provided to removably hold the various parts  2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  of the shovel  1  together and to permit easy assembling and disassembling thereof The holding means  30  comprises a resilient lock clip  31  having a pair of opposed legs  32  and  33  which are formed by bending a single strip of resilient material to form opposed legs  32  and  33  into a V having apex  34 . The legs  32 - 33  can be pressed together and when released the resiliency of the clip  31  will cause them to spring back to their original position. The clips  31  are mounted within the inner surface  23  of the section  3  reduced portion  20  adjacent end  10  and on the inner surface  24  of the section  4  adjacent ends  14  and  21 . The two legs  32 - 33  are sufficiently spread apart and biased outwardly so that they will bear against and be held frictionally within the inner surfaces  23  and  24  of the sections  3  and  4 . One leg  32  has a push button  35  which is adapted to be pressed in to compress leg  32  relative to the leg  33  and which is adapted to extend through the openings  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  12 ,  13  and  16  to lock the various parts together. The various parts are held in place by the frictional force exerted by the legs  32 - 33  of the clips  31  on the inner surfaces of the sections  3  and  4  and the push buttons  35  inserted into the various openings  7 ,  8 ,  9 ,  12 ,  13  and  16 . If desired, the leg  33  of some or all of the clips  31  may be permanently or removably attached to the inner surface of any one or more of the sections  3  or  4  without departing from the invention. In addition, any of the clips  31  may be completely removed from one shovel or section thereof and used within another shovel or section.  
         [0018]    In the shovel  1  shown in the drawings, a clip  31  is positioned in the end  10  of section  3  and has push button  35  extending through its opening  8 . The reduced portion  20  of section  3  is then telescopically inserted within the open end  21  of the blade stem  6  and push button  35  is manually depressed so that the legs  32 - 33  of the clip  31  are compressed and the push button  35  slides within and along the inner surface of the blade stem  6  until it reaches the opening  7 . At this point, the natural resiliency of the clip  31  snaps the leg  32  outwardly so that the push button  35  moves into the opening  7  to hold the blade  2  and section  3  together. In order to disassemble the two it is merely necessary for the push button  35  to be depressed until it moves out of the opening  7  in the blade stem  6  so that the reduced portion  20  of the section  3  can be telescopically moved out of blade stem  6 .  
         [0019]    In a similar manner, a clip  31  is positioned within section  4  adjacent its end  14 . Push button  35  extends through the opening  12  where the resilient clip  31  is held in place at that point. The push button  35  is pressed down to compress the legs  32 - 33  of the clip  31 . Section  4  is then telescopically inserted into section  3  and the push button  35  will slide along the inner surface  23  of section  3  until it reaches the opening  9 . At this point, the legs  32 - 33  of the clip  31  snap automatically and push button  35  moves into the opening  9  to hold the two sections  3  and  4  together. When it is desired to disassemble the two sections, it is merely necessary to press the push button  35  down until it is out of the opening  9  after which the section  4  can be telescopically moved out of the section  3 .  
         [0020]    Likewise, a clip  31  is positioned within the section  4  adjacent the end  15 . In this position, the push button  35  extends through the opening  13  and the clip  31  is held in place at this point. The push button  35  of clip  31  is pressed in and the end  15  is telescopically inserted within the stem  17  of the hand grip  5 . The push button  35  moves along the inner surface of the hand grip  17  until it reaches the opening  16 . At this point, the legs  32 - 33  will spread apart to move the push button  35  into the opening  16 . This will hold the hand grip  5  and the section  4  together. When it is desired to remove the hand grip  5  from section  4  it is merely necessary to depress the button  35  until it is out of the opening  16  at which point the section  4  can be telescopically removed from the hand grip stem  17 .  
         [0021]    It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improved foldable shovel which may be easily assembled and disassembled, which can be easily assembled and disassembled without the use of special tools, in which the length of the tool may be easily adjusted, and which is simple to use and inexpensive and simple to manufacture and maintain.  
         [0022]    As many and varied modifications of the subject matter of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description given hereinabove, it will be understood that the present invention is limited only as provided in the claims appended hereto.