Patent Publication Number: US-2011048647-A1

Title: Tape cutter blade with truncated trapezoidal sharpened teeh

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The invention relates to tape cutting devices and more particularly to a blade of a tape cutter, the blade having truncated trapezoidal sharpened teeth capable of leaving uniform teeth on the severed end of a cut out portion of an adhesive tape after application of the tape. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A conventional blade  11  of a tape cutter is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The blade  11  is releasably secured to a sliding blade mount  10 . The rectangular blade  11  has triangular sharpened teeth  12  on one exposed end. It is supposed that a cut out portion  20  of an adhesive tape after application of the tape should be looked like one shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     However, in fact the severed end of the cut out portion  20  of an adhesive tape after application of the tape is looked like one shown in  FIG. 3 . It is seen that the severed end of the cut out portion  20  of an adhesive tape is irregular and uneven. Disadvantageously, this is ugly. Further, it can hinder a subsequent application. This is because the construction of the prior art tape cutter blade  11  does not consider the resilient nature of an adhesive tape and has triangular sharpened teeth  12  which is not capable of smoothly guiding severed end of the cut out portion  20 . Furthermore, such tape cutter blade  11  may have great difficulties of cutting out adhesive tapes formed of foam or fiber. Thus, the need for improvement still exists. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a tape cutter blade having truncated trapezoidal sharpened teeth. A triangular gap is formed between any two adjacent teeth. The sharpened teeth are capable of leaving uniform teeth on the severed end of a cut out portion of an adhesive tape after application of the tape. 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a conventional tape cutter blade to be assembled with a sliding blade mount of the tape cutter; 
         FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the blade and an ideal cut out portion of an adhesive tape after application of the tape formed by means of the blade; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the cut out portion of an adhesive tape in fact; 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded view of a tape cutter incorporating a preferred embodiment of blade according to the invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the assembled tape cutter shown in  FIG. 4  with the free end of an adhesive tape being exposed in a cutter opening in an operative applying position; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the blade shown in  FIG. 4  to be assembled with the sliding blade mount; 
         FIG. 7  is a fragmentary perspective view of the assembled blade and the sliding blade mount and other parts of the tape cutter with a desired length of an adhesive tape being pulled out of a cutter opening; 
         FIG. 8  is a side elevation of the tape cutter of the invention where the tape has been cut; 
         FIG. 9  is a top plan view of the blade and a cut out portion of the tape after application of the tape formed by means of the blade of the invention; and 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the cut out portion of the tape shown in  FIG. 9 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 to 10 , a tape cutter  40  incorporating a blade  44  in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. The tape cutter  40  comprises the following components as discussed in detail below. 
     A cutter body  40 A comprises an opening  41  proximate to a forward end and a slot  42  adjacent the opening  41 . 
     A complementary cutter body  40 B comprises an opening  41  proximate to a forward end and a slot (not numbered) adjacent the opening  41  thereof. 
     A rectangular blade  44  has a plurality of truncated trapezoidal sharpened teeth  441  on one end. A triangular gap  440  is formed between any two adjacent teeth  441 . The blade  44  is releasably secured to a sliding blade mount  43  formed of flexible plastic. The sliding blade mount  43  has two downward bent sides releasably secured to the slots  41  by snapping after securing the cutter body  40 A to the complementary cutter body  40 B. The openings  41  are thus assembled to form a cutter opening  41 . 
     A tape roll  30  having an adhesive tape  31  wound thereon is mounted in the tape cutter  40 . The tape roll  30  has one end slightly pulled out of the cutter opening  41  in a ready to use position. Also, there is a small distance (i.e., gap) between the tape  31  and the teeth  441 . 
     In use a person may pull a desired length of the tape  31  out of the cutter opening  41 . Next, the person may slide the sliding blade mount  43  to cause the teeth  441  to cut the pull out portion of the tape  31 . Advantageously, the severed end of the cut out portion of the tape  31  has a uniformed edge after application of the tape  31 . This is because the teeth  441  have a decreased length, the gaps  440  are relatively wide, and together they are capable of smoothly guiding the severed end of the cut out portion of the tape  31 . This has the benefits of being visually attractive, easy of applying the adhesive side of the tape  31  onto an object to be sealed, and capable of cutting out adhesive tapes formed of foam or fiber. 
     While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.