Patent ID: 7347276

Claim:
A manual garden tool comprising: a shaft having upper and lower ends; a ground-engaging implement at the lower end of the shaft for working soil by downward insertion thereinto; a handle secured at the upper end of the shaft, the handle comprising first and second hand grips spaced radially from the shaft and an aperture defined by sidewalls; a support plate secured to the upper end of the shaft, the support plate has a central axis that intersects the hand grips and comprises two edges parallel to and offset from the central axis, the support plate being received within the aperture in the handle; and wherein a lower surface of the handle abuts an upper surface of the support plate such that downward forces generated at the hand grips of the handle are distributed across the surface of the support plate and wherein at least the two edges of the support plate parallel to and offset from the central axis of the support plate are in abutment with sidewalls in the aperture of the handle such that angular forces generated at the hand grips of the handle by rotation of the tool about an axis of the shaft are distributed from the handle to the support plate at a location radially outwardly of the shaft.