Patent Publication Number: US-7721448-B2

Title: Folding knife with a hollow handle for fastening an item therein

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to folding tools and more particularly to a folding knife with an inverted U-shaped hollow handle having a locking mechanism for fastening an item (e.g., lighter) therein. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Science and technologies have made significant progress in these several decades resulting in a significant improvement of living quality. Moreover, many advanced products are commercially available because manufacturers have made great efforts in research and development. Quality is also pursued by the manufacturers and it is hoped that a user may conveniently use a product produced by them. 
   Folding knifes are widely used by people especially people loving outdoor activities due to its utility and portability. Hence, a wide variety of folding knifes are available. 
   Cigars are produced by rolling tobacco leaves and are without a filter. This is a contrast to cigarette which has a filter. A person has to make an opening at one end of a cigar prior to smoking. Typically, a cigar knife is used to cut an opening at one end of a cigar prior to lighting the cigar with a lighter. However, such method of lighting a cigar is very inconvenient to persons loving cigar smoking. In addition, a person may not be able to enjoy cigar smoking if a lighter or a cigar knife is not available at hand. 
   A person loving outdoor activities may bring many different items in an outing. A person may forget where an item is correctly located. It is thus often that an anxious person may spend a lot of time on finding an item when a need arises. Knives and lighters are two kinds of tool that are frequently used by people. Unfortunately, people tend to forget their correct locations due to poor memory. As an end, a person cannot find the missing knife or lighter in most cases. 
   Conventionally, folding knife manufacturers concentrate their effort on how to improve construction and/or quality of a folding knife. Therefore, a varieties of improved folding knife are commercially available. Also, folding knife market is very competitive, resulting in a drop of folding knife sales per manufacturer. It is aware by the inventor that very few folding knifes have an additional function other than cutting (i.e., multifunctional folding knife). For example, folding knife manufacturers have not developed a folding knife being capable of storing or retaining an item. Hence, conventional folding knifes still lack convenience. 
   It is thus desirable among manufacturers of the art to provide a novel, multifunctional folding knife in order to not only overcome the inadequacy of the prior art but also bring additional convenience to folding knife users. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   After considerable research and experimentation, an improved folding knife being convenient in use and having a hollow handle for fastening an item therein according to the invention has been devised so as to overcome the above drawback of the prior art. 
   It is an object of the invention to provide a folding knife comprises a handle and a blade. The handle is formed by bending a metal sheet into a shape of inverted U-section. The handle thus comprises a receiving space of inverted U-section. The receiving space is adapted to fasten an item (e.g., a lighter) therein. The lighter is clamped by both sides of the handle adjacent to the receiving space when the lighter is retained in the handle. The handle further comprises a latch formed by punching on one side thereof adjacent to the receiving space in a direction opposite to the receiving space, a clip formed by punching on another side thereof adjacent to the receiving space in a direction opposite to the receiving space and a lengthwise, outward extending flange formed by bending the edge of the other side having the latch in a direction opposite to the receiving space. The blade has the rear end pivotably secured to the front end of the other side of the handle having the latch. The rear end of the blade is lockingly fastened by the front end of the latch when the blade is in its opened position. The blade is unfastened when a predetermined pressing force is exerted on the flexible latch toward the receiving space such that the blade may pivotably retract onto the other side of the handle. The flange is adapted to stop a cutting edge of the blade when retracting the blade onto the other side of the handle. In this closed position of the folding knife, the cutting edge of the blade disposing proximate the flange is prevented from accidentally cutting a user. The latch has a first positioning member at its front end. The blade has a second positioning member on an inner surface at its rear end. The blade is secured onto the other side of the handle by matingly engaging the second positioning member with the facing first positioning member. A user has to exert a sufficient force to disengage the second positioning member from the first positioning member prior to pivoting the blade to its opened position. By utilizing this folding knife, many advantages are obtained. These advantages include being simple in construction, easy to manufacture, compact, portable, and easy to use. Moreover, the lighter can be mounted in the folding knife so that the folding knife can have the functions of cutting and lighting. 
   In one aspect of the invention the folding knife having a hollow handle for fastening an item therein has the advantages including simple in construction, easy to manufacture, and low in the manufacturing cost. Moreover, an item (e.g., a lighter) mounted in the folding knife is of conventional inexpensive type and is commercially available. It is easy to assemble the folding knife and the lighter together. Further, both the folding knife and the lighter are inexpensive. Hence, a user may not have the feeling of losing a precious thing when the folding knife is lost accidentally. 
   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 side view of a preferred embodiment of folding knife according to the invention, showing the folding knife in a closed position with a lighter being secured thereto; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the folding knife and the lighter, showing the folding knife in an opened position; and 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the folding knife and the lighter, showing the folding knife in either an open or a closed position and the lighter being in the handle. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 3 , a folding knife  1  in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a handle  10  and a blade  12 . Each component is discussed in detail below. 
   The handle  10  is formed by bending a metal (e.g., stainless steel) sheet into a member of inverted U-section. The handle  10  thus has a receiving space  16  of inverted U-section (i.e., open to the bottom). The receiving space  16  is adapted to fasten an item (e.g., a lighter)  2  therein. That is, the lighter  2  is clamped by both sides of the handle  10  (i.e., both sides of the receiving space  16 ) when the lighter  2  is retained in the handle  10 . The handle  10  further comprises a latch  14  formed by punching on one side of the handle  10  (i.e., on the other side of the receiving space  16 ) adjacent to the receiving space  16  in a direction opposite to the receiving space  16 , a clip  13  formed by punching on another side of the handle  10  (i.e., on one side of the receiving space  16 ) adjacent to the receiving space  16  in a direction opposite to the receiving space  16 , and a lengthwise, outward extending flange  18  formed by bending the edge of the other side of the handle  10  in a direction opposite to the receiving space  16 . 
   The blade  12  has the rear end pivotably secured to the front end of the other side of the handle  10  (i.e., the side with the latch  14  formed thereon). The rear end of the blade  12  is fastened by the front end of the latch  14  when the blade  12  is in its opened position. Thus, the blade  12  is retained. The blade  12  is unfastened when a sufficient pressing force is exerted on the latch  14  toward the receiving space  16 . Thereafter, the blade  12  can retract onto the other side of the handle  10  by pivoting. In this closed position, a cutting edge  122  of the blade  12  is disposed proximate the flange  18  which serves as a guard for preventing the cutting edge  122  from accidentally cutting a user. 
   The latch  14  has a first positioning member  140  at its front end. The blade  12  has a second positioning member  120  on an inner surface at its rear end. The blade  12  is secured onto the other side of the handle  10  by matingly engaging the second positioning member  120  with the facing first positioning member  140  (see  FIG. 3 ). A user has to exert a force to disengage the second positioning member  120  from the first positioning member  140  prior to pivoting the blade  12  to its opened position. 
   The folding knife  1  is advantageous for being simple in construction, easy to manufacture, compact, portable, and easy to use. Moreover, the lighter  2  can be mounted in the folding knife  1  so that the folding knife  1  can have the functions of cutting and lighting as detailed below. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3  again, the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. The lighter  2  is clamped by both sides of the handle  10  when the lighter  2  is retained in the handle  10  (see  FIG. 2 ). Thus, the handle  10  and the lighter  2  are assembled as a holding unit  3 . A user may easily assemble the folding knife  1  and the lighter  2  together prior to taking an outdoor activity (e.g., hiking, mounting climbing, camping, rock climbing, etc.) This has the benefit of preventing a user from forgetting where either one of the folding knife  1  and the lighter  2  is located when a need arises. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3  again, use and inoperative states of the preferred embodiment of the invention are illustrated. The latch  14  has a first positioning member  140  at its front end. The blade  12  has a second positioning member  120  on an inner surface at its rear end (see dotted lines). The blade  12  is secured onto the other side of the handle  10  by matingly engaging the second positioning member  120  with the facing first positioning member  140 . A user has to exert a force to disengage the second positioning member  120  from the first positioning member  140  prior to pivoting the blade  12  to its opened position. This has the benefit of preventing the blade  12  from accidentally cutting a user when the blade  12  is in its closed position. 
   A protrusion  124  is formed on an outer surface of the blade  12  proximate the rear end of the blade  12 . A user may exert a sufficient force on the protrusion  124  to pivot the blade  12  from its closed position (solid lines) to its predetermined opened position (dotted lines). At this opened position, the rear end of the blade  12  is urged against a projection  17  at the front end of the other side of the handle  10 . Also, the latch  14  slightly pivots outward to have its front end engaging the rear end of the blade  12  because of the elastic force released by the resilient latch  14 . As an end, the blade  12  is locked. 
   The folding knife  1  is advantageous for being capable of using by one hand, simple in construction, easy to manufacture, compact, and portable. Moreover, a user may carry the folding knife  1  by hanging the clip  13  (see  FIG. 2 ) on the clothes. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3  again, after use a knife retracting operation of the preferred embodiment of the invention is described below. The blade  12  is disengaged from the latch  14  when a sufficient pressing force is exerted on the latch  14 . Next, the blade  12  can retract onto the other side of the handle  10  by pivoting. In this closed position, the first positioning member  140  and the second positioning member  120  are matingly engaged together. Also, the cutting edge  122  of the blade  12  is disposed proximate the flange  18 . The flange  18  thus serves as a guard for preventing the cutting edge  122  from accidentally cutting a user while carrying the folding knife  1  in its closed position. 
   In view of the above, the invention provides a folding knife  1  with a hollow handle  10  for fastening an item therein. It is contemplated by the invention that the invention has the following advantages. The folding knife  1  is simple in construction, easy to manufacture, and low in the manufacturing cost. Moreover, the lighter  2  mounted in the folding knife  1  is of conventional inexpensive type and is commercially available. It is easy to assemble the folding knife  1  and the lighter  2  together. Further, both the folding knife  1  and the lighter  2  are inexpensive. Hence, a user may not have the feeling of losing a precious thing when the folding knife  1  is lost accidentally. 
   While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations 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.