Patent ID: 8707567

Claim:
A trimmer head for use with two lengths of flexible cutting line in a flexible line rotary trimmer, said head comprising: a housing adapted to be operatively connected to a rotary trimmer to effect rotation of the head, said housing defining a cylindrical depending skirt having opposed line openings therein; and a spool for carrying two lengths of cutting line, said spool being operatively connected to said housing for rotation therewith about a common axis, said spool including a body portion, at least one flange projecting radially therefrom so as to define at least one cutting line storage area about said body portion of said spool and a pair of line receptor channels extending inwardly through opposed portions of said at least one flange and downwardly in an aligned disposition through opposed portions of said body portion of said spool, said channels defining opposed open inlet ends in said at least one flange, a pair of opposed open outlet ends in said body portion of said spool below said flange and a pair of continuously curvilinear portions in said body portion of said spool, each of said curvilinear portions defining an abrupt turn of approximately 90° between the inwardly and downwardly extending portions of one of said channels, said inlet ends being radially alignable with said line openings in said housing skirt upon relative rotation of said spool and said housing and said outlet ends being disposed above a lowermost end of the spool and being exposed so as to provide access thereto with said spool operatively connected to said housing, whereby separate lengths of cutting line can be inserted through said aligned openings in said housing skirt into and through said receptor channels such that engagement of the cutting lines with the abrupt turns of said curvilinear portions directs the cutting lines from said flange into said downwardly extending portions along said approximately 90 degree turns, and upon relative rotation of said spool with respect to said housing, said channels grip and hold said lengths of line in place whereby said line is wrapped about the spool without having to otherwise hold the cutting line in place or interrupt the operative connection between the spool and the housing, and in the event of a line breakage proximate one or both of said line openings in the housing skirt, a user can grip and pull portions of both lines protruding from said channel outlet ends in a direction away from said spool and generally parallel to said common axis whereby the cutting line on said spool is pulled from the head for replacement without having to interrupt the operative connection between the spool and the housing.