Hand tool

[0002] The present invention relates to a hand tool, such as a plier and, more particularly, to a hand tool which may be hung from a key ring or similar article.

[0003] Hand tools are often carried by people on their person. Since some hand tools may be cumbersome to carry, small hand tools have been developed which can be hung from a key ring or similar article. Many of these existing small hand tools are complicated to use and expensive to manufacture.

[0004] The present invention overcomes these difficulties and has for one of its objects the provision of an improved hand tool which may be easily hung and removed from a key ring or similar article.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved hand tool which has additional tools associated therewith.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved hand tool which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and use.

[0007] Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

[0008] A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification wherein:

[0009] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hand tool made in accordance with the present invention showing it in its unfolded position.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the hand tool of FIG. 1 showing it in its folded position.

[0011] FIG. 3 is the front view of the folded hand tool.

[0012] FIG. 4 is the rear view of the folded hand tool.

[0013] FIG. 5 is a side view of one side of the folded hand tool.

[0014] FIG. 6 is a side view of the other side view of the folded hand tool.

[0015] FIG. 7 is a plan view of the folded hand tool showing the manner in which the tool is hung from a key ring or similar article.

[0016] FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the hand tool being hung on a key ring or similar article.

[0017] FIG. 9 is a plan view similar to FIG. 8 showing the hand tool hanging on a key ring or similar article.

[0018] FIG. 10 is a plan view of another embodiment of the present invention showing a hand tool in its unfolded position.

[0019] FIG. 11 is a plan view of a portion of the hand tool shown in FIG. 10.

[0020] FIG. 12 is a plan view of another portion of the hand tool of FIG. 10.

[0021] FIG. 13 is a plan view of still another embodiment of the present invention showing a hand tool in an unfolded position.

[0022] FIG. 14 is a plan view of the hand tool shown in FIG. 13 showing it in a folded position.

[0023] FIG. 15 is a plan view of the hand tool partly broken away showing the manner of unfolding the hand tool.

[0024] FIG. 16 is a plan view of the hand tool partly broken away showing the manner of folding the hand tool.

[0025] FIG. 17 is a plan view showing the folded hand tool with auxiliary tools in their extended positions.

[0026] Referring to the drawings and more particularly the embodiment of FIGS. 1-9, the hand tool 1 of the present invention comprises of a pair of jaw assemblies 2 and 3 which are pivotally mounted to each other on a pivot pin 15 to move from an open position to a closed position. Each jaw assembly 2 and 3 has a head portion 4 and 5, respectively, and a tail portion 6 and 7, respectively. Each head portion 4 and 5 has a straight teeth portion 8 and curved teeth portion 9, as well as a cutting edge 10. Each tail portion 6 and 7 has a lug 11 and 12, respectively, extending therefrom. Extending from the end of each lug 11 and 12 is a handle 13 and 14, respectively, each of which is pivotally mounted to the lugs 11 and 12 by a pivot pin 16. The tool may be placed in a folded position by folding the handles 13 and 14 around pivot 16 until the handles 13 and 14 lie adjacent the outer surfaces of the jaw assemblies 2 and 3, as shown in FIG. 2. Each handle 13-14 is preferably solid and square in cross section. The outer end 17 of one handle 13 may terminate in a Phillips screwdriver head and the outer end 18 of the other handle 14 may terminate in a slotted screwdriver head.

[0027] The tail 6 of the jaw assembly 2 has a curved notch 20 formed by a finger 21 extending inwardly from the tail 6. The tail 7 of the jaw assembly 3 has a curved inner surface 22 opposite to and spaced from the notch 20 in order to form a hang space 23 therebetween. The finger 21 terminates short of the surface 22 to form a gap 26 therebetween. The finger 21 of tail 6 has a resilient spring 25 extending therefrom which extends across the gap 26 and bears against the inner surface 22 of the tail 7. The spring 25 is preferably a leaf spring which is angled as shown in the drawings. As seen more clearly in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the hand tool 1 is in its folded position, a key ring K or similar article may be inserted in the hang space 23 by moving the key ring K past the gap 26 and the spring 25, which is flexed downwardly and which then snaps back to close the hang space 23 and hold the key ring K in place. When it is desired to remove the key ring K, it is moved against the spring 25 from the inside of the hang space 23 to lift the spring 25 in the opposite direction to move the key ring K out the hang space 23 and through the gap 26. If desired, the spring 25 may be manipulated manually to permit the key ring K to pass in and out of the hang space 23. Alternatively, the key ring K may be positioned in the hang space 23 when the jaw assemblies 2-3 are in their open position with the spring 25 spaced from the inner surface 22 so that when the jaws assemblies 2 are closed, the spring 25 strikes the inner surface 22 to close the hang space 23 and hold the key ring K in place.

[0028] Referring now to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 10-12, the same reference characters that were used in the embodiment of FIGS. 1-9 will be used to identify the same structures. In this embodiment, the tail 6 has a curved inner surface 30 similar to and substantially complimentary to the curved inner surface 22 of the tail 7 to form a gap 31 between the surfaces 22 and 30. The tail 7 has a finger 32 extending across the gap 31. When the jaw assemblies 2-3 are closed, the finger 32 will strike the tail 6 thereby closing the gap 31 and hang space 23. A key ring K may be positioned in hang space 23 before the jaw assemblies 2-3 are closed so that after the jaw assemblies 2-3 are closed, the key ring K will be held in place in the hang space 23. When it is desired to remove the key ring K, the jaw assemblies 2-3 are opened thereby opening the hang space 23 in order to permit the key ring K to be removed from the hang space 23 through the gap 31.

[0029] Referring to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 13-17, the hand tool 100 has a pair of jaw assemblies 102 and 103 each having a head portion 104 and 105, respectively, and a tail portion 106 and 107, respectively, and being pivoted to each other by means of a pivot pin 110. A spring 115 is mounted around pivot pin 110 to keep the jaw assemblies 102-103 slightly separated when tool 100 is in its unfolded position. Each of the head portions 104 and 105 has curved teeth 108 and a semi-circular notch 101, the purpose of which will be described in greater detail hereinbelow.

[0030] Lugs 109 extend from each of the tail portions 106 and 107 and hollow handles 111 are pivotally mounted on the lugs 109 on pivot pins 112 adjacent to one end of the hollow handles 111. Each hollow handle 111 has a base 116, side walls 117 and is open opposite the base 116. The hollow handles 111 have a plurality of auxiliary tools 113 pivotally mounted thereon by means of a pivot 112 located at the outer end of the hollow handles 111 . The auxiliary tools 13 may consist of blades, drivers and the like. The auxiliary tools 113 are pivotally mounted within the hollow handle 111 and may be individually opened to permit them to be used, as shown in FIG. 17. When the jaw assemblies 102 and 103 are in the closed position, as shown in FIG. 14, the two semi-circular notches 101 for a key ring hang space 123 within which a key ring K may be held so that the hand tool 100 can hang from the key ring K.

[0031] In order to hold the two jaw assemblies 102-103 in the closed position, a hook 120 is provided on one tail 109 and a lock bar 121 is provided on the other tail 109. The hook 120 has a finger 114 extending rearwardly therefrom. When the jaw assemblies 102-103 are closed, the hook 120 is inserted over the lock bar 121 (FIGS. 11 and 13) to lock the jaw assemblies 102-103 together. The hook 120 is pivoted on the same pivot pin 112 on which the hollow handle 111 pivots so that when the hollow handle 111 is folded, as shown in FIG. 14, the edge 130 of the hollow handle 111 will move finger 114 up to place the hook 120 over the lock bar 121. When the handles 111 are unfolded, the hook 120 is lifted and moved off of the lock bar 121 so that the jaw assemblies 102-03 can now open.

[0032] It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improved hand tool which may be easily hung and removed form a key ring or similar article, which has additional tools associated therewith and which is simple to manufacture and use.

[0033] As many and varied modifications of the subject matter of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description given herein above, it will be understood that the present invention is limited only as provided in the claims appended hereto.