Pipe cutter of the ratchet type

• US 4,157,615 A
• Filed: 01/13/1978
• Issued: 06/12/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aurele Courty
• Original Assignee: Aurele Courty
• Inventors: Courty, Aurele
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Jr., James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zatarga, J. T.
• Application Number:
  US05/869,346
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• Field of Search: 30/99, 30/98
• US Class Current: 30/99
• CPC Class Codes: B23D 21/08 with cutting wheels

Abstract

A pipe cutter incorporating a ratchet handle. A tubular open-ended rigid body, adapted to surround the pipe to be cut, carries a cutting wheel and a jaw adjustable towards and away from the cutting wheel. An elongated handle has a ring member at one end rotatable within a peripheral groove of the tubular body. A pawl and ratchet system is arranged between the handle and the body, whereby back-and-forth rotation of the handle through a limited angle will cause step-by-step rotation of the body and cutter in one direction through at least 360°. The body has a lateral opening which registers with the access opening between the jaw and the cutter. The ring of the handle also has a lateral opening which can register with the opening of the body in one angular position of the handle for the insertion of a pipe through the aligned openings in position within the body and between the jaw and the cutter.

Claims

1. A pipe cutter comprising a partly tubular open-ended rigid body split along its full length to define a lateral opening through which a pipe can be inserted with said body rotatable around said pipe, said body having a peripheral groove interrupted by said lateral opening, one radial surface of said peripheral groove being defined by a flange integral with one end of said body and the opposite radial surface of said peripheral groove being defined by a removable retainer split ring removably secured to the opposite end of said tubular body, an elongated handle forming a split ring at one end thereof, said split ring engaged within said groove for relative rotation between said handle and tubular body, said split ring defining a lateral opening of substantially the same width as the lateral opening of said tubular body and registering with the latter opening in a predetermined angular position of the handle relative to said tubular body, a pawl and ratchet system formed between the contacting surfaces of said split ring and said groove of said tubular body with the ratchet teeth interrupted by said openings, said system including ratchet teeth formed on the radial surface of said flange and said split ring of said handle carries a pair of pawl members consisting of two pins freely extending through holes of said split ring, having a bevelled end engageable with said ratchet teeth and further including a leaf spring carried in a cavity of said split ring and pressing said pins against said ratchet teeth, said two pawl members spaced from each other a distance greater than the width of said lateral openings, whereby there is always one pawl member in contacting engagement with the ratchet teeth for the full 360-degree rotation of said handle around said body, and a pipe cutter member and an opposite pipe abutment member carried by said one end of said body and axially spaced from said split ring, one of said pipe cutter member and abutment member being mounted for radial movement relative to said body towards and away from the other of said pipe cutter member and said pipe abutment member to engage a pipe therebetween, manual means to move said radially movable member to press a pipe between said two members, said two members having a spacing therebetween in register with said lateral openings, whereby a pipe can be inserted through said registering lateral openings and between said two members, and said pipe cutter member pressed against said pipe and back-and-forth operation of said handle causes rotation of said body and cutter in one direction through at least 360 degrees to cut a pipe inserted within said body and between said cutter and pipe abutment members.

2. A pipe cutter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pipe abutment member is in the form of a V-shape jaw, said one end of said body having an L-shape extension carrying said pipe cutter member at one end and providing a guideway in which said V-shape jaw is longitudinally movable and guided.

3. A pipe cutter as claimed in claim 2, wherein said manual means includes a bolt rotatably carried by said extension and threaded within a threaded hole of said jaw, and a knob secured to said bolt externally of said extension to rotate said bolt and move said jaw towards and away from said pipe cutter member.

4. A pipe cutter as claimed in claim 3, wherein said pipe cutter member is a cutting wheel rotatably mounted within said extension about a rotational axis parallel to that of said tubular body.

5. A pipe cutter as claimed in claim 4, wherein said jaw can take a limit position in which spacing between the same and the said cutter wheel is substantially equal to the spacing between said lateral openings and is in alignment therewith.