Patent ID: 8745878

Claim:
A knife comprising: a blade having a front end, a tang, an upper edge, and a cutting edge, said tang of said blade pivotally interconnected to a forward end of a handle; an anvil positioned adjacent to said tang of said blade and positioned adjacent said forward end of said handle; a locking mechanism comprising a sphere; said locking mechanism retained by a carrier assembly positioned proximate to said forward end of said handle for selectively locking said blade in an open position or a closed position, said carrier assembly moveable from a first locked position to a second released position; said locking mechanism retained only by said carrier assembly and at least one of the following: said tang of said blade; said anvil; and said handle of said knife; a biasing member coupled to said carrier assembly which biases said carrier assembly towards said first forward locked position; wherein said sphere engages a first surface of said tang when said carrier assembly is in said first locked position and said blade is in said closed position, and said sphere disengages said first surface of said tang when said carrier assembly is in said second released position, and said sphere a second surface of said tang when said carrier assembly is in said first forward locked position and said blade is in said open position; and wherein a portion of said carrier assembly extends in a direction substantially parallel to a longitudinal plane of said blade over a peripheral portion of said tang such that a surface of said peripheral portion is substantially parallel to a surface of said portion of said carrier assembly, and wherein said surface of said peripheral portion is substantially orthogonal to said first surface of said tang when said blade travels between said open position and said closed position to assure said carrier assembly travels in said direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal plane of said blade.