Patent ID: 7347469

Claim:
A hand tool for material gathering, lifting, and manipulation comprising: a substantially rigid blade member with a proximal end and a distal end; and a pocket for receiving at least a portion of a hand of a user wherein the pocket is fixed to the blade member and wherein the pocket has an open inner volume and an entrance; wherein the hand tool has a first end and a second end, wherein the distal end of the rigid blade member defines the second end of the hand tool, and wherein the entrance of the pocket is adjacent to and opens to the first end of the hand tool and the pocket communicates distally from adjacent to the first end of the hand tool; wherein the open inner volume of the pocket is defined by an upper panel disposed to the material engaging side of the blade member, a lower panel disposed opposite to the upper panel and to the obverse side of the blade member, a first pocket side panel, and a second pocket side panel disposed opposite to the first pocket side panel; a protuberance disposed on the upper panel of the pocket adjacent to the entrance of the pocket wherein the protuberance comprises a projection from the upper panel of the pocket wherein the protuberance and the upper and lower panels of the pocket are fixed in relation to one another; a pad member retained relative to an interior surface of at least one of the upper panel or the lower panel of the pocket; wherein the blade member and the hand tool have a material engaging side and an obverse side whereby the material engaging side of the blade member of the hand tool can be used in gathering, lifting, and manipulating material with a hand of a user engaged with the pocket.