Abstract:
A lever arm tool is provided for facilitating the efficient squeezing of relatively thick or dense material from a tube or bag. This invention provides an arm, which serves as a handle to rotate a second arm that is provided with a slot for receiving the end of the tube or bag for squeezing. Adapted specifically for the extraction of such materials as calk, putty, sealant and even cake decorating material, this invention provides an easy, efficient, relatively stress free means of squeezing materials from tubes and bags.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to leverage tools. More specifically, this invention relates to leverage tools adapted to compress a flexible container and through proper use to extract the materials contained with in the flexible container. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     A variety of devices or techniques have been used to assist a person in the compression of flexible containers to remove the contents thereof. However, such devices are typically inadequate for the extraction of dense materials because generally such prior devices do not provide the leverage necessary to easily extract these dense materials, these prior devices also are often complex and expensive to produce mechanical machines, as opposed to applicant&#39;s invention. 
     The reader is referred to the following U.S. patent documents for general background material: 3,570,803, 3,586,213, 3,951,571, 4,664,549, 5,322,193, 5,634,496, 6,007,515 and 6,032,398. Each of these patent documents is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for the material contained therein. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is desirable to provide a tool for the compression of flexible containers, such as tubes, bags and the like, to extract material from the container. For example, it is desirable to have a tool, which is adapted to provide compression for calking tubes, masonry tubes, cake decorating bag containers and the like. Presently, a typical user squeezes these containers either by hand, by using a key-type device, or through the use of a machine. Squeezing by hand can be very difficult, as the material within the container tends to be quite dense. The use of key-type devices puts the pressure on the user&#39;s fingers and does not provide adequate leverage for dense materials. Squeezing machines are often mechanically complex, inflexible in use, and can be unreliable in operation, that is subject to jamming. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a tool that that is simple to use and inexpensive to produce. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a tool that provides a leverage arm that magnifies the user&#39;s force to uniformly squeeze the tube with ease. 
     Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a tool for compressing tubes containing dense materials for extraction, as described and recited in the claims. 
     This and other objects of this invention are achieved by the apparatus herein described and are readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following drawings, detailed description and claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In order to show the manner that the above recited and other advantages and objects of this invention are obtained, a more particular description of the preferred embodiments of this invention, which are illustrated in the appended drawings, is described as follows. The reader should understand that the drawings depict only present preferred and best mode embodiments of this invention, and are not to be considered as limiting in scope. A brief description of the drawings is as follows. 
     FIGS. 1 a,    1   b,    1   c  and  1   d  are perspective, top view, side view and end view respectively of the first embodiment of this invention. 
     FIGS. 2 a,    2   b,    2   c  and  2   d  are perspective, top view, side view and end view respectively of the second embodiment of this invention. 
    
    
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiment of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is a tool for compressing tubes, bags and the like containing relatively thick or dense material. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “tube” shall be defined to include any container, including tubes and bags, which are used to hold and dispense materials, where the tube or bag has a first end, having an opening for the exit of the material, and a second generally flat end. Examples of such tubes are toothpaste tubes, calking tubs, silicon tubes, cake decorating bags or tubes and the like. Essentially, this invention is a bar bent to approximately ninety degrees thereby forming two legs. The longer of the two legs serves as a handle, while the shorter of the two legs is provided with a slot running along some of its length. The slot is provided for the insertion of the generally flat end of the tube. 
     FIG. 1 a  shows a perspective view of a first embodiment  100  of this invention in use with a cake decorating tube  101 . This tool  100  is bent  104  to an angle  106  of approximately ninety degrees to form two leg elements  102 ,  103 . The tool  100  is provided with a slot  105  in the shorter leg  103  to receive the generally flat end  107  of the cake decorating tube  101 . The longer leg  102  is provided as the handle for turning about the axis  108  while the user holds the tube  101  relatively stationary. As the longer leg  102  turns, the shorter leg  103  is also turned about its center axis  108 , thereby turning and compressing the generally flat end  107  of the tube  101 . Compressing the tube  101  causes the material in the tube  101  to exit the opening  109  provided at the first end  110  of the tube  101 . In this view the tube  101  is a cake decorating bag. The preferred material for this invention is metal, preferably aluminum although other materials such as plastic, ceramic, composites, steel, iron or the like can be substituted without departing from the concept of this invention, although aluminum is the present preferred material because of its relative strength, light weight, low cost and ease of manufacture. The lengths of the longer leg  102  and the shorter leg  103  can be selected according to need of the desired tube. In one present embodiment the longer leg  102  is approximately 11 inches long and the shorter leg  103  is approximately 10 inches long. In an alternative embodiment of the invention the longer leg  102  is 4 inches long and the shorter leg  103  is 3.75 inches long. In this alternative embodiment the slot  105  is located in the longer leg  102 . 
     FIG. 1 b  shows a top view of the first embodiment  100  of this invention. The slot  105  is shown running approximately through the center of the shorter leg  103  and is generally perpendicular to the axis of the longer leg  102 . In alternative embodiments of the invention the slot  105  can be positioned in the longer leg  102  and/or may run parallel to the axis of the longer leg  102 . 
     FIG. 1 c  shows a side view of the first embodiment  100  of this invention. This view demonstrates that, in the present preferred embodiment of the invention, the longer leg  102  has a generally round cross section  111 . In alternative embodiments, the cross section  111  of the longer leg  102  may have a variety of shapes, including but not limited to: oval, triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and the like. 
     FIG. 1 d  shows an end view of the first embodiment  100  of this invention. This view demonstrates that, in the present preferred embodiment of the invention, the shorter leg  103  has a generally rounded cross section  112 . In alternative embodiments, the cross section  112  of the shorter leg  103  may have a variety of shapes, including but not limited to: oval, triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and the like. 
     FIG. 2 a  shows a perspective view of a second embodiment  200  of a second embodiment of this invention in use with a tube of calk  201 . This tool  200  is bent  204  to an angle  206  of approximately ninety degrees to form two leg elements  202 ,  203 . The tool  200  is provided with a slot  205  in the shorter leg  203  to receive the generally flat end  207  of the tube of calk  201 . The longer leg  202  is provided as the handle for turning about the axis  208  while the user holds the tube  201  relatively stationary. As the longer leg  202  turns, the shorter leg  203  is also turned about its center axis  208 , thereby turning and compressing the generally flat end  207  of the tube  201 . Compressing the tube  201  causes the material in the tube  201  to exit the opening  209  provided at the first end  210  of the tube  201 . In this view the tube  201  is a calk tube. The preferred material for this invention is metal, preferably aluminum although other materials such as plastic, ceramic, composites, steel, iron or like the can be substituted without departing from the concept of this invention, although aluminum is the present preferred material because of its relative strength, light weight, low cost and ease of manufacture. The lengths of the longer leg  202  and the shorter leg  203  can be selected according to need of the desired tube. In one present shorter leg  203  can be selected according to need of the desired tube. In one present embodiment the longer leg  202  is approximately 4.5 inches long and the shorter leg  203  is approximately 3.5 inches long. 
     FIG. 2 b  shows a top view of this second embodiment  200  of this invention. The slot  205  is shown running approximately through the center of the shorter leg  203  and is generally perpendicular to the axis of the longer leg  202 . In alternative embodiments of the invention the slot  205  can be positioned in the longer leg  202  and/or may run parallel to the axis of the longer leg  202 . 
     FIG. 2 c  shows a side view of the second embodiment  200  of this invention. This view demonstrates that, in the present preferred embodiment of the invention, the longer leg  202  has a generally round cross section  211 . In alternative embodiments, the cross section  211  of the longer leg  202  may have a variety of shapes, including but not limited to: oval, triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and the like. 
     FIG. 2 d  shows an end view of the second embodiment  200  of this invention. This view demonstrates that, in the present preferred embodiment of the invention, the shorter leg  203  has a generally rounded cross section  212 . In alternative embodiments, the cross section  212  of the shorter leg  203  may have a variety of shapes, including but not limited to: oval, triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, octagonal and the like. 
     The foregoing description is of two distinct example embodiments of the invention as presently envisioned by the inventor and has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description of the best mode of the invention currently known to the inventor. This description is not intended to be exhaustive of all possible embodiments. nor is it intended to limit the invention to the precise form, dimensions, or choice of materials described herein. Obvious modifications or variations are possible and are foreseeable in light of the above teachings. These embodiments of the invention were chosen and described to provide illustrations of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated by the inventors. All such modifications and variations are intended to be within the scope of the invention. The scope of the patent protection of this invention should be determined by the appended claims when they are interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally and equitably entitled.