Pocket knife with a weighing element

• US 20050241071A1
• Filed: 06/25/2003
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flytec AG (Jocasi Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: Flytec AG (Jocasi Holding AG)
• Inventors: Camenzind, Lorenz, Joder, Peter, Lerch, Erich
• Granted Patent: US 7,886,442 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 7/118
• CPC Class Codes: B25F 1/00 Combination or multi-purpose hand tools associations of tools for different working operations with one portable power-drive means B25F3/00; combined stapling and punching tools B25C5/0214
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 11/001 of the Swiss-knife type
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/52 Weighing apparatus combined with other objects, e.g. furniture with walking sticks A45B3/08
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3728 with wireless means

Abstract

A pocket knife having at least one pull-out cutting tool or blade, provided on at least one side with a lateral covering covering said knife, and at least three blockable assembly axes which hold together the knife or the cutting tool in a pull-out or retracted position. A weighing element is arranged inside the pocket knife (1). Said element can be extracted about at least one of the axes (9,10) or at least one other axis (11) and/or is displaceably mounted during weighing. The weighing element (13) is actively connected to a transmitting device (21) in order to transmit the weight that is to be measured to a measuring sensor (23).

Claims

1. A pocket knife comprising:

a body;

at least one cutting tool or blade which can be folded out of the body, a side cover of the body covering at least one side of the knife, and at least three mounting spindles which hold the knife together and can are operable to lock the cutting tool in a folded-in or folded-out position with respect to the body,

a weighing element for detecting a weight to be weighed and mounted to the body such that it the weighing element can be folded out of the body.

2. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a transmission arrangement and a measuring sensor operatively connected to the weighing element by the transmission arrangement for transmitting the weight to be weighed to the measuring sensor.

3. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 2, wherein the transmission arrangement includes a lever element which is at least operatively connected to the weighing element in order to transmit the weight to be weighed in a lever-like manner to the measuring sensor.

4. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 15, wherein the spindle on which or about which the weighing element is mounted such that it can pivot or be folded, is mounted to be or is operable to move essentially transversely to the spindle of the pocket knife within a distance.

5. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring sensor is a micromechanical sensor, and

evaluation electronics connected to the sensor and arranged in at least one side cover of the body.

6. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 2, wherein the weighing element and the transmission arrangement are mounted in such a manner that there is no or little friction resisting their movement relative to the body.

7. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 2, wherein the weighing element and the transmission arrangement are mounted in a resilient manner wherein the transmission element is connected to a retaining element via a resilient mounting spindle.

8. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a measuring arrangement for detecting an angular position of the weighing element based on a longitudinal axis of the knife body.

10. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 2, further comprising an evaluation microprocessor operable for receiving data detected by the measuring sensor and transmitted to the microprocessor in wireless fashion.

15. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weighing element is foldable out of the body about at least one of the spindles.

16. The pocket knife of claim 1, wherein the weighing element is supported at the body such that it can be moved during weighing.

17. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 5, wherein the micromechanical sensor comprise a silicon sensor.

18. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 6, wherein the weighing element and the transmission arrangement are mounted by bearings selected from the group consisting of friction bearings, ball bearings and flexural bearings.

19. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 8, wherein the measuring arrangement is selected from the group consisting of a Hall sensor, an optical sensor and a potentiometer having a resistance path and a slide.

9. A pocket knife comprising:

a body;

at least one cutting tool or blade which can be folded out of the body, a side cover of the body covering at least one side of the knife;

a measuring sensor system for detecting a weight to be measured;

evaluation electronics and display electronics for the detecting weight, the electronics being arranged in the at least one side cover and being formed through a plane in the knife;

tools arranged on the plane and being foldable out of the knife so as to leave free a passage region for that connection on this plane in a folded-in position of the tools.

20. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 9, wherein the microprocessor receives the transmission by arranging a coil in the measuring sensor and by transmission to the evaluation microprocessor by means of transponder transmission.

23. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 9, further comprising an evaluation microprocessor operable for receiving data detected by the measuring sensor and transmitted to the microprocessor in wireless fashion.

11. A pocket knife comprising:

a knife body;

a weighing element lever for weighing purposes and pivotably mounted to the body to pivot out of the knife body;

a transmission arrangement in the knife body, to which the weighing element transmits the weight to be weighed in a weighing cell;

the transmission arrangement is operable to transmit the weight to be weighed in a lever-like manner on to the weighing cell.

21. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 11, wherein the weighing cell is a micromechanical sensor.

12. A method for weighing a weight using a pocket knife comprising a knife body with a weighing element foldable out of the knife body;

the method comprising rocking or moving to and fro the pocket knife body at least twice for moving or rotating the weighing element, which is mounted such that it can move or rotate about a spindle of the body, at least twice through the 90°

point, at which the weighing element protrudes downwards perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the pocket knife, and determining a peak value for the weight being measured at least twice in each case, and averaging the peak values, to indicate the weight to be measured.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising detecting the force which is set by the pocket knife moving to and fro by continuously using evaluation electronics, and, in the event of occurrence of approximately similar peak values, achieved by means of electronic filtering methods, displaying the values or their mean value as the weight to be weighed.

14. A method for weighing a weight using a pocket knife comprising a body, a weighing element foldable out of the body for weighing;

and a Hall sensor,

the method comprising in the region of the weighing element, detecting the position of the weighing element with the Hall sensor, or detecting the angular deviation when the body of pocket knife body is not positioned with its axis exactly horizontally, detecting a value by the a microprocessor for the weight suspended on the weighing element a correspondingly correcting the weight using the angular deviation detected by the Hall sensor.

22. The pocket knife as claimed in claim 22, wherein the weighing cell is a silicon sensor.