Patent ID: 8001694

Claim:
A rotating trimmer head for a vegetation cutting tool configured to receive a fixed-length segment of trimmer line, the trimmer head comprising: a main housing having a cylindrically-shaped side wall, said side wall having first and second trimmer line holes formed therein at substantially diametrically opposed positions around the circumference of the main housing, wherein the main housing is mounted so as to be rotatable about a central axis by means of a drive shaft of the cutting tool; a flexible fixed-length cutting line segment positioned such that ends of the cutting line segment extend from the first and second trimmer line holes; a substantially rigid insert body received in the main housing such that rotation of the main housing causes said insert body to rotate about the central axis, the insert body having a sleeve to provide for passage of the drive shaft of the cutting tool and an arcuate line-receiving channel that traverses said insert body such that the channel arcs around said central sleeve, wherein when the insert body is positioned in the main housing in a load/unload position with respect to the main housing, one end of the channel is adjacent to the first trimmer line hole and the other end of the channel is adjacent to the second trimmer line hole such that the channel forms a substantially direct guide path P 1 between the first and second trimmer line holes so as to facilitate insertion or withdrawal of the cutting line segment along the path P 1 , the insert body being movable without deformation with respect to the main housing in both a rotational and an axial direction from said load/unload position into an operational position, and when the insert body is rotated to the operational position, the ends of the channel are moved away from the respective first and second trimmer line holes such that the cutting line segment is forced to take an indirect path P 2 between the first and second trimmer line holes and through said arcuate channel to thereby frictionally secure the cutting line segment during rotation of the trimmer head.