Patent Publication Number: US-9839276-B2

Title: Nail clipper with adjustable cutting jaw

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/214,191 filed on Sep. 3, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a nail clipper having a gap-adjustable cutting jaw capable of adjusting the gap of the upper and lower jaws so as to allow the user to cut nail having a wider thickness range. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Nail clippers typically include first and second plate members of metal material that are joined together at one end, and having a pair of jaw portions at the opposite end thereof, and an operating lever coupled to the plate members for moving the jaws from an open position to a nail cutting position. 
     In order to accomplish the nail cutting operation, conventional nail clippers include a hook member of cylindrical shape which is coupled to a front side of the first and second plate members and to which the operating lever is engaged to provide a leverage action to cut nails inserted between the jaw members. More specifically, the cylindrical hook member includes a hooking groove formed at an upper side of the hook member, and a front tip portion of the operating layer is engaged to the hooking groove to carry out the leverage action magnifying the cutting force of the jaws. Since such nail clippers have a single hooking groove, the gap between the upper and lower jaws of the conventional nail clippers is set to a fixed size depending on the design of the nail clippers. Thus, common nails clippers have a limited gap size, and they cannot effectively be used to cut nails of greater thickness, such as abnormally grown finger or toe nails, thicker toe nails, and toe nails grown excessively or deformed greatly. Consequently, it is necessary to use another nail clipper of bigger size with a bigger gap size to cut such nails of greater thickness, and thus, requiring multiple nail clippers to cover the necessary thickness range of their nails. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems or shortcomings occurring in the prior art nail clippers, and the present invention is contemplated to provide a nail clipper which is reliable and durable in structure, while also allowing the user to easily adjust the cutting gap of the nail clipper by simple gap adjusting operation. 
     The nail clipper of the present invention utilizes a hook member having a specially designed shape to easily realize the gap adjusting operation by the user, and the front portion of the operating layer of the nail clipper has a specially configured structure enabling its coupling function with the hook member for nail cutting operation and the gap adjusting operation as well. 
     Accordingly, the nail clipper of the present invention can be used to cover a wide thickness range of people&#39;s nails, including nails of small or normal thickness, as well as the nails of greater thickness or abnormal shape such as deformed or bent nails, only with simple gap adjusting operation that can be easily performed by an average layperson without difficulty. 
     According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the nail clipper comprises: 
     a clipper body having first and second clipper body members, said first and second clipper body members each having a matching jaw portion at a front side thereof for clipping operation; 
     an operating lever configured to move said match jaw portions to cut a nail inserted between said matching jaw portions; and 
     a hook member mounted to a front area of the first and second clipper body members, said hook member having a cylindrical shaft portion with a hooking groove formed at an upper area of the cylindrical shaft portion, 
     wherein said hooking groove includes a vertical groove portion extending vertically downwardly from an upper end of the cylindrical shaft portion, a first lateral groove portion extending in a lateral direction from the vertical groove, a second lateral groove portion extending in another lateral direction from the vertical groove, the first lateral groove portion formed below the second lateral groove portion,
 
wherein the operating lever includes a lever body portion, and a tip portion extending in an angled or inclined direction from the lever body, said tip portion having a coupling hole formed there-through and defining a front tip portion at a front side of the coupling hole,
 
wherein said front tip portion of the operating lever is shaped and configured to be inserted through the vertical groove portion of the hook member and to couple with a selected one of the first and second lateral groove portions of the hook member to set a desired gap size of the matching jaw portions of the clipper body.
 
     Preferably, the first lateral groove portion of the hook member extends in a diagonally upward direction, with inclination of 15-75 degree, orienting toward a rear end of the nail clipper when it is assembled, and the second lateral groove portion extends in a diagonally upward direction, with inclination of 15-75 degree, orienting toward a front end of the nail clipper when it is assembled. It is also preferable that the coupling hole of the operating lever has a generally D-shape, or a rectangular or track-shape with two opposing parallel sides. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of the nail clipper according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, with the gap of the upper and lower jaws set to have a normal gap; 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of the nail clipper of  FIG. 1 , with the gap of the upper and lower jaws set to have a wide gap; 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged sectional view illustrating the structure of the hook member of  FIGS. 1 and 2 , with the section taken along a longitudinal axis of the hook member; 
         FIG. 4  is a top plan view of the hook member of  FIG. 3 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is an enlarged plan view illustrating a distal portion of the operating lever of  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings, the nail clippers of the present invention are described herein in detail in association with exemplary or currently preferred embodiments thereof. However, the following descriptions of such embodiments are intended primarily for illustrating the principles and exemplary constructions of the nail clippers of the present invention, and the present invention is not specifically limited to these exemplary embodiments. Thus, one skilled in the art can appreciate or recognize that various modifications and substitutions can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Throughout the disclosure, the same or similar elements and portions thereof are referred and described with the same reference characters for the simplicity and illustrative purposes. 
     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the nail clipper according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention is described herein below. As depicted in the drawings, the nail clipper includes a first clipper body member  102  and a second clipper body member  104  coupled together at a rear end (e.g., a right end in the drawings shown) by a pin member or other known coupling elements (not shown), such as pins, rivets, coupling screws, and the like. The body members  102  and  104  have a first cutting jaw  106  and a second cutting jaw  108 , respectively, at a front end thereof, and are configured to cut nails in cooperation with an operating lever (to be described below) upon operation. These body members  102  and  104  are configured such that the cutting jaws  106  and  108  are normally in a spaced apart relationship, and can be moved into a cutting position as the user operates the nail clipper. 
     For clipping operation, the nail clipper  100  includes an operating lever  110  connected to a pin or hook member  120  which extends through a set of bores formed at the front end portion of the first and second clipper body members  102  and  104 . The hook member  120  includes a cylindrical shaft  122  for coupling to the bores of the clipper body members, and a flange  124  for abutting the bottom surface of the second clipper body member  104  as shown. In cutting operation, the frontal tip area of the lever  110  contacts the upper surface of the first body member  102  to provide a leverage effect, and is capable of operating the jaw portions to move towards each other to cut or trim a desired object (e.g., finger nails or toe nails) inserted between the jaw portions. 
     The hook member  120  is formed preferably of metallic or composite materials, and includes a hooking groove  126  with specially designed groove configuration for enabling the gap adjustment operation to adjust the gap of the cutting jaws  106  and  108  by the user, and a distal tip of the lever  110  is engaged to the hooking groove  126  in a manner to be described below. As specifically shown in  FIG. 3 , the hooking groove  126  includes a vertical groove portion  126   a  extending vertically downwardly from the upper surface of the hook member  120  to the groove end face  126   b , a first lateral groove portion  126   c  extending in a lateral direction from the vertical groove portion  126   a , and a second lateral groove portion  126   d  extending in a lateral direction from the vertical groove portion  126   a . According to the preferred embodiment as shown in the drawings, the first lateral groove portion  126   c  extends in a diagonally upward direction (preferably with inclination of 15-75 degree) orienting toward the rear end of the nail clipper when assembled, and the second lateral groove portion  126   d  extends in a diagonally upward direction (preferably with inclination of 15-75 degree) orienting toward the front end of the nail clipper when assembled, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . However, it is specifically noted that the shapes and extending directions of the first and second lateral groove portions are not limited thereto. For example, the first and second lateral groove portions  126   c  and  126   d  may extend in a horizontal direction, or in a diagonally upward direction with inclination less than 15 degree (°). 
     The dimension of the hook member  120  as well as the length and width of the groove portions  126   a ,  126   c , and  126   d  are selected to provide multiple gap sizes (e.g., a normal gap G 1  and a wider gap G 2 ) between the jaws  106  and  108  to be in a suitable range to cover a normal thickness and a wider thickness of the nails of the users. More specifically, the cylindrical shaft  122  has a diameter “d” which is preferably in a range from ⅛ inch to 6/16 inch, and each of the vertical groove portion  126   a  and the lateral groove portions  126   c  and  126   d  has a groove width “t” which is preferably in a range from 1/32 inch to 3/32 inch. The length “h” from the upper surface of the flange  124  to the upper tip of the cylindrical body  122  is preferably in a range from 7/16 inch to 15/16 inch, The length “a” from the upper surface of the flange  124  to the groove end face  126   b  is preferably in a range from ¼ inch to ½ inch, and the length “b” from the upper surface of the flange  124  to the upper tip of the first lateral groove portion  126   c  is preferably in a range from 6/16 inch to 10/16 inch, and the length “c” from the upper surface of the flange  124  to the upper tip of the second lateral groove portion  126   d  is preferably in a range from 8/16 inch to 12/16 inch. 
     The operating lever  110  is formed preferably of a thin metallic material, and includes a lever body portion  112  onto which a thumb of the user is placed to hold and operate the nail clipper, and a tip portion  114  extending in an angled or inclined direction from the lever body  112 . As shown in  FIG. 5 , the tip portion  114  includes a pair of opposing rim or circumferential portions  114   a  and a front bar portion  114   b , and thereby, defining therein a coupling hole  116  of generally D-shape, or rectangular, or track-shape with two opposing parallel sides. The front bar portion  114   b  is formed into a generally linearly extending bar or similar shape, and has a dimension (e.g., width and thickness) suitable for slidably inserting and coupling to the vertical groove portion  126   a  as well as lateral groove portions  126   c  and  126   d . According to one preferred embodiment, the front bar portion  114   b  has a width “t 1 ” and a thickness about the same or slightly smaller than the width “t” of the groove portions  126   a ,  126   c ,  126   d  of the hook member  120 . Thus, the front bar portion  114   b  of the lever  110  can be slidably inserted to the vertical groove  126   a , then into a selected one of the lateral grooves  126   c  and  126   d  for coupling thereto upon selection of the user. The D-shaped (or generally rectangular) coupling hole  116  of the lever has a diameter “d 1 ” (i.e., the distance between two parallel rims  114   a ) which is about the same or slightly larger than the diameter “d” of the cylindrical shaft  122 , and a width “W” which is about the same or slightly smaller than the diameter “d” of the cylindrical shaft  122  in light of the required allowance enabling the cylindrical shaft  122  to be displaced within the coupling hole  116  during the gap adjustment operation for moving the position of the operating lever  110  by the user. 
     In order to initially assemble the nail clipper into a first position having a normal (or smaller) gap size “G 1 ” with the frontal tip of the lever  110  coupled to the first lateral groove portion  126   c , the user first aligns the front bar portion  114   b  of the operating lever with the vertical groove portion  126   a  of the hook member  120 , and pushes the tip portion to slide downwardly along the vertical groove and against the first clipper body member which is elastically biased upwardly, while pulling the lever  120  in a rearward direction toward the rear side of the clipper. This causes the front bar portion  114   b  to engage with the first lateral groove portion  126   c  when the front bar portion  114   b  is aligned with the first lateral groove portion  126   c . As such, the users can easily assemble the lever  110  to the hook member  120  of the nail clipper with a normal or smaller clipper gap (G 1 ), and the frontal tip of the lever  110  is securely coupled to the first lateral groove portion  126   c , as shown in  FIG. 1 . Here, as the frontal tip of the lever  110  is tightly caught in the first lateral groove portion  126   c  (see  FIG. 1 ) due to the upwardly-biasing spring force of the first clipper body member  102 , it cannot easily escape therefrom unless the user applies a sufficient force to the operating lever  110  in a frontward direction (that is, leftward in the drawings) to move the front tip of the lever  110  out of the groove while pressing the first clipper body member  102  downward against its elastic spring force. In this manner, the nail clipper can be readily assembled to have a first gap size (G 1 ) to cut nails having normal or smaller thicknesses, and it can reliably be used without the risk of accidental disassembling. 
     To the contrary, in order to assemble the nail clipper into a second position having a larger gap size “G 2 ” with the frontal tip of the lever  110  coupled to the second lateral groove portion  126   d , the user first aligns the front bar portion  114   b  of the operating lever with the vertical groove portion  126   a  of the hook member  120 , and pushes the tip portion to slide downwardly along the vertical groove against the first clipper body member which is elastically biased upwardly, while also pushing the lever  120  in a frontward direction toward the front side of the clipper. This causes the front bar portion  114   b  to engage with the second lateral groove portion  126   d  when the front bar portion  114   b  is aligned with the second lateral groove portion  126   d . As such, the users can easily assemble the lever  110  to the hook member  120  of the nail clipper with a wider clipper gap (G 2 ) and the frontal tip of the lever  110  is securely coupled to the second lateral groove portion  126   d , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Here, as the frontal tip of the lever  110  is caught in the second lateral groove portion  126   d  (see  FIG. 2 ) with a protruded tip “ 126   t ” (see  FIG. 3 ) engaging to the coupling hole  116  of the front bar portion  114   b  as the first clipper body member  102  applies the upwardly-biasing spring force, the frontal tip of the lever  110  cannot easily escape from the second lateral groove portion  126   d  unless the user applies a sufficient force in a rearward direction (that is, rightward in the drawings) to move the front tip of the lever  110  out of the groove while pressing the first clipper body member  102  downward against its elastic spring force. In this manner, the nail clipper can be readily assembled to have a second gap size (G 2 ) to cut nails having larger thicknesses, and it can reliably be used without the risk of accidental disassembling. 
     In addition, the users can also easily change the gap size of the nail clipper between the normal/smaller size (G 1 ) and the wider size (G 2 ) whenever desired, by first unlocking the front bar portion  114   b  out of the currently coupled one of the first and second lateral grooves, and then shifting to engage with the other lateral groove which is free. For example, in order to unlock and shift the engagement from the first lateral groove  126   c  of normal/smaller size (G 1 ) to the second lateral groove  126   d  of wider size (G 2 ), the user needs to push the operating lever  110  in a front ward direction to unlock the operating lever  110  from the first groove  126   c , and leaves the front bar portion  114   b  to engage to the second groove  126   d  with the aid of the elastic spring force of the first clipper body member  102 . Likewise, in order to unlock and shift the engagement from the second lateral groove  126   d  of wider size (G 2 ) to the first lateral groove  126   c  of normal/smaller size (G 1 ), the user needs to pull the operating lever  110  in a rearward direction to unlock the operating lever  110  from the second groove  126   d , and presses the front bar portion  114   b  downward against the elastic spring force of the first clipper body member  10  to have the front bar portion  114   b  engaged to the first groove  126   c    2 . As such, the gap shifting operation can be performed by layperson without difficulties. 
     It is further noted that the operating lever  110  can be rotated between the operating position (shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) and the retracted or storing position with the operating lever  110  turned upside down (not shown) in such a manner similar to conventional nail clippers. This is enabled by pivotally rotating the hook member  120  by 180 degree using the operation lever  110  and then rotating the same upside down. Further detailed descriptions of this lever flipping feature is omitted herein, and one of ordinary skill in the art may readily recognize how this lever position conversion is possible upon examining the structures of the nail clipper of the present invention disclosed above, and further in view of the structures of well-known and readily available conventional nail clippers having similar lever flipping function. 
     As described above in connection with exemplary embodiments thereof, the present invention is contemplated to provide a nail clipper which is reliable and durable in structure, while also allowing the user to easily adjust the cutting gap of the nail clipper by simple gap adjusting operation to accommodate nails with a wide thickness range, both having smaller or normal thicknesses as well as larger thicknesses. 
     The above disclosed embodiments of the invention are representatives of a presently preferred form of the invention, but are intended to be illustrative rather than definitive thereof. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate or recognize that various modifications and substitutions can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.