Patent ID: 7134461

Claim:
A pencil sharpener comprising: a frame; a drive mechanism composed of a drive device and an electric power supply unit; a transmission mechanism comprising a gear train that transmits power from the drive mechanism; a cutting mechanism equipped with at least one cutting blade that is driven by power from the transmission mechanism to shave a pencil; and a pencil-core adjustment mechanism straddling the drive mechanism and cutting mechanism that adjusts the thickness of a pencil-core, in which pencil sharpener: the pencil-core adjustment mechanism comprises a core stopper shaft composed of a disk and an upper end on which the tip of a pencil strikes, an elastic body that is provided with a center hole and pressed by the core stopper shaft, and a core adjustment switch composed of a short electrode plate and a long electrode plate that is formed with a protuberance that contacts the short electrode plate and which extends to enable one end thereof to contact the disk of the core stopper shaft, and a pencil inserted into the cutting mechanism presses against and turns ON a switch provided in the drive mechanism to transmit power from the electric power supply unit to the drive device, thereby operating the cutting mechanism via the transmission mechanism to sharpen the pencil, and pressing of the pencil against the upper end of the core stopper shaft causes the disk of the core stopper shaft to contact and press down one end of the long electrode plate to separate the protuberance of the long electrode plate from the short electrode plate, thereby turning OFF the core adjustment switch and stopping the supply of power to terminate the operation.