Patent Publication Number: US-6336380-B1

Title: Pounding tool

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a pounding tool, and more particularly to a hammer. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in FIG. 1, a prior art hammer  5  comprises a main body  60  and a protective jacket  70 . 
     The main body  60  has a head  61  and a handle  62  which is provided with a top side  621  and a bottom side  622 . The direction extending from the top side  621  to the bottom side  622  is the same as the pounding direction of the head  61 . 
     The protective jacket  70  is made of a plastic material by injection molding and is fitted over the handle  62  to facilitate the gripping of the handle  62 . 
     Such a prior art hammer  5  as described above is defective in design in that the reaction force, which is brought to pass by the pounding action of the head  61 , is transmitted via the handle  62  and the protective jacket  70  to the hand holding the hammer  5 , thereby resulting in the numbness of the hand. 
     With a view to overcoming the drawback of the prior art hammer  5 , another prior art hammer  6  is provided on the protective jacket  80  thereof with two straight troughs  81  extending along the direction of the longitudinal axis of the protective jacket  80  such that the two troughs  81  are corresponding in location to the top side  91  and the bottom side  92  of the handle  90  for absorbing the shock wave. The protective jacket  80  is effective in mitigating the reaction force that is brought about by the pounding action of the hammer  6 ; nevertheless the protective jacket  80  is not cost-effective. The troughs  81  of the protective jacket  80  are formed by drilling or injection molding. The drilling method is technically difficult and time-consuming, whereas the method of injection molding is technically infeasible because of the design problem of the molding tool and the problem of releasing the protective jacket from the molding tool in which the protective jacket is formed. For example, the molding tool must be provided with two long molding columns for forming the troughs  81 . The molding columns are vulnerable to deformation or severance. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary objective of the present invention is therefore to provide a pounding tool which is free from the drawbacks of the prior art pounding tools described above. 
     In keeping with the principle of the present invention, the foregoing objective of the present invention is attained by a pounding tool with a protective jacket which is fitted over the handle of the pounding tool and is provided with a plurality of shock-absorbing holes which are arranged in two rows and are respectively located over the top side of the handle and under the bottom side of the handle. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a prior art pounding tool. 
     FIG. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of another prior art pounding tool. 
     FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 shows a side view of the first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a portion taken along the direction indicated by a line  5 — 5  as shown in FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 shows a side view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of a portion taken along the direction indicated by a line  7 — 7  as shown in FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 8 shows a side view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 shows a sectional view of a portion taken along the direction indicated by a line  9 — 9  as shown in FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 10 shows a side view of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 11 shows a sectional view of a portion taken along the direction indicated by a line  11 — 11  as shown in FIG.  10 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in FIGS. 3-5, a hammer  1  embodied in the present invention comprises a main body  10  and a protective jacket  20 . 
     The main body  10  has a head  11 , and a handle  12  connected at one end thereof with the head  11  and provided with a top side  121  and a bottom side  122 . The direction formed from the top side  121  to the bottom side  122  is the same as the pounding direction of the head  11 . 
     The protective jacket  20  is made of a plastic material by injection molding and is fitted over the handle  12  to facilitate the gripping of the handle  12 . The protective jacket  20  is provided with a plurality of through holes  21  extending from one side thereof through other side thereof. The through holes  21  are of two forms, namely, oblong through holes  21 A and round through holes  21 B. The oblong through holes  21 A and the round through holes  21 B are arranged alternately and linearly in two rows along the longitudinal direction of the protective jacket  20  and are located respectively over the top side  121  and under the bottom side  122  of the handle  12 . 
     A reaction force is brought about by the pounding action of the head  11  such that the reaction force is transmitted to the protective jacket  20  in which the reaction force is partially absorbed by the through holes  21  of the protective jacket  20 . As a result, the shock wave is so minimized that it does not cause a painful or numb feeling in the hand holding the hammer  1 . 
     The through holes  21  of the protective jacket  20  of the present invention are relatively shallow and can be therefore drilled with ease. In addition, the through holes  21  can be made integrally with the protective jacket  20  by injection molding. The design of the molding tool is also less complicated as compared with that of the prior art molding tool. As a result, the protective jacket  20  of the present invention is relatively cost-effective. 
     The through holes of the protective jacket  20  of the present invention may be various in pattern. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a hammer  2  of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a protective jacket  30  which is provided with a plurality of through holes  31  and partitions  32  of a semispherical construction. Now referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, a hammer  3  of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown comprising a protective jacket  40  which is provided with a plurality of through holes  41  in communication with one another. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a hammer  4  of the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a protective jacket  50  which is provided with a plurality of through holes  51  which are basically similar to the through holes  41  of the third preferred embodiment described above, with the exception being that the partitions  52  of the protective jacket  50  are tapered in shape.