Patent ID: 7549229

Claim:
A portable circular saw comprising: a base, a circular blade performing a cutting work by rotation, a circular saw body housing the blade, a pivot that connects the circular saw body to the base such that the circular saw body pivots in a direction crossing a cutting direction of the blade with respect to the base, the pivot allowing bevel angle adjustment of the circular saw body between a minimum bevel angle and a maximum bevel angle with respect to the base of the circular saw, a locking device manually operated by a user to lock the circular saw body to the base in a desired bevel angle position between the minimum bevel angle and the maximum bevel angle after the user places the circular saw body in the desired position by pivoting the circular saw body around the pivot and a restricting arrangement that prevents free pivotal movement of the circular saw body by holding the circular saw body at a predetermined common bevel angle position defined between the minimum bevel angle and the maximum bevel angle, when the circular saw body is pivoted around the pivot and reaches the common bevel angle position, the restricting arrangement further comprising: an engagement portion provided on one of the circular saw body and the base, and an engaging member provided in the other of the circular saw body and the base, the engaging member contacting with the engagement portion when the circular saw body is pivoted in a direction to increase or decrease the bevel angle with respect to the base, thereby holding the circular saw body at the common bevel angle position, wherein the engaging member is selectively moved between a restricted position in which the engaging member is allowed to contact the engagement portion and an unrestricted position in which the engaging member is not allowed to contact the engagement portion such that, when in the unrestricted position, the engaging member does not contact the engagement portion even when a desired bevel angle position is selected that corresponds to a particular common bevel angle position of the circular saw body.