Mat cutter

• US 5,269,212 A
• Filed: 05/26/1992
• Issued: 12/14/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fletcher-Terry Company LLC
• Original Assignee: Fletcher-Terry Company LLC
• Inventors: Kozyrski, Vincent T., Peters, Alan R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Eugenia
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peterson, Kenneth E.
• Application Number:
  US07/888,201
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 83/455, 83/614, 83/578, 83/635, 83/581, 83/522.17
• US Class Current: 83/455
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 1/045 for thin material, e.g. for sheets, strips or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 2007/0087 for use on a desktop
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/015 for sheet material or piles of sheets B26D7/018 and B26D7/02 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/025 acting upon planar surfaces B26D7/04 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 1/3853 cutting out frames B26F1/384, B26F1/40 and B26F1/44 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/7507 Guide for traveling cutter
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/856 To work-engaging member
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/8769 Cutting tool operative in opposite directions of travel
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/8773 Bevel or miter cut
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/8822 Edge-to-edge of sheet or web [e.g., traveling cutter]

Abstract

A push-pull DIY cutter for sheet material, such as mat and foam board, utilizes a blade-mounting handle that is pivotable from a null position in both of two opposite directions, so as to alternatively bring into operative position a blade element spaced to either side of the null position center line. The cutter is adapted to slide along a clamping bar and to be reversible thereon, for ambidextrous use and maximum-width border cutting, and different forms of blades can be employed interchangeably.

Claims

1. A cutter system for cutting sheet material, including a cutter in combination with clamping means, said cutter having a base with opposite ends, and a bottom portion in which is defined a downwardly opening rectilinear channel extending from end-to-end therealong, said channel being of effectively uniform cross section, taken in planes to which its longitudinal axis is normal, and said bottom portion having underlying surface portions disposed to the opposite sides of said channel;

said clamping means having a lower portion and an upper portion, said lower portion comprising an elongate clamping bar with underlying surface elements disposed in a single plane for contacting and clamping a sheet of workpiece material against a flat, underlying surface, said upper portion having an upstanding rectilinear track member thereon formed with said effectively uniform cross section along substantially its entire length, taken in planes normal to the longitudinal axis thereof, said cutter and said clamping means being slidably interengageable, with said track member of said clamping means received in said channel of said cutter base;

said clamping means having distance-measuring indicia visible thereon, and said system further including a measuring stop device mounted upon said track member for securement at selected locations along the length thereof, said measuring stop device comprising a body having opposite ends and a bottom portion in which is defined a downwardly opening rectilinear channel extending lengthwise, from end-to-end therealong, said measuring stop device channel having said effectively uniform cross section along substantially its entire length;

wherein said track member has a lateral surface portion extending along its length; and

wherein said measuring stop device includes a locking piece for effecting such securement, said locking piece being rotatably mounted on said body and including an upper end portion accessible for manual turning of said piece about its axis of rotation, and a cylindrical lower end portion disposed eccentrically to said axis of rotation, said lower end portion being aligned laterally adjacent said lateral surface portion of said track member, and being so positioned and dimensioned that turning of said locking piece on said axis of rotation will cause the surface of said lower end portion to fixedly engage with, and release from, said lateral surface portion.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said bottom portion of said cutter base and said upper portion of said clamping means are of symmetrical cross section relative to said longitudinal axes thereof and taken in said normal planes, said cutter and clamping means thereby being so interengageable in both of the end-to-end inverted orientations of said cutter.

3. A cutter for cutting sheet material, comprising:

a base having an upstanding wall portion; and

a cutting head including mounting structure having upper and lower opposite end portions, handle means on said upper end portion, and blade-holding means on said lower end portion, said head being mounted on said wall portion for pivotal movement in opposite directions relative to a central axis of said wall portion extending through the axis of pivoting, and said blade-holding means being constructed to secure at least one form of blade on said head so as to provide operative blade elements protruding beyond the lower boundary of said lower end portion of said mounting structure at each of two locations spaced to the opposite sides of a longitudinal axis of said mounting structure extending endwise thereof through said axis of pivoting;

said blade-holding means being constructed to secure a single blade that provides blade elements at both of said locations, as well as to secure one blade in each of two positions to independently provide blade elements at said locations.

4. A cutter for cutting sheet material, comprising:

a base having an upstanding wall portion; and

a cutting head including mounting structure having upper and lower opposite end portions, handle means on said upper end portion, and blade-holding means on said lower end portion, said head being mounted on said wall portion for pivotal movement in opposite directions relative to a central axis of said wall portion extending through the axis of pivoting, and said blade-holding means being constructed to secure at least one form of blade on said head so as to provide operative blade elements protruding beyond the lower boundary of said lower end portion of said mounting structure at each of two locations spaced to the opposite sides of a longitudinal axis of said mounting structure extending endwise thereof through said axis of pivoting;

said blade-holding means being constructed to secure a single blade that provides blade elements at both of said locations, as well as to secure one blade in each of two positions to independently provide blade elements at said locations, and said blade-holding means comprising parts that cooperate to clamp the blades therebetween, said parts defining a pair of rectilinear, side-by-side passages extending generally in the same direction as said longitudinal axis of said mounting structure and opening at said lower boundary, at least one of said parts having at least one element extending therefrom toward the other of said parts and effectively defining a laterally extending blade-abutment element at a location spaced upwardly from said lower boundary.

5. The cutter of claim 4 wherein said side-by-side passages are disposed on axes that converge upwardly and in planes that converge inwardly, and wherein confronting surfaces on the innermost and outermost of said parts are effectively of matingly concave and convex cross section, respectively, taken in planes normal to said longitudinal axis of said mounting structure.

6. The cutter of claim 4 wherein said mounting structure comprises the innermost of said parts, wherein said parts are formed with aligned, laterally extending slots, and wherein said cutter includes a fastener extending through, and displaceable along, said slots to secure said parts in clamping relationship.