US2830449A - Striker tool - Google Patents

Description

April 15, 1958 w. J. BLUE ET AL STRIKER TOOL Filed Feb. 9, 1955 0. mwa M Ma m m aw W 2,830,449 Patented Apr.15 ,1 '9 5 8 Uni d tews fiif i The present invention relates generally as indicated to a striker tool, and more particularly to such toolwhich is adapted for wearing on the thumb or other finger for conveniently striking the horizontal and vertical joints during erection of masonry walls.

It is the present practice in the masonry art to emplo sweaters, or the like. Obviously, the function of this elastic portion 4 of the tool is simply to snugly engage the thumb so that the tool will notdrop therefrom during normaliuse. Therefore, insofar as the present invention is concerned, the body 1 of the tool may be secured to the 1 w thumbby draw strings or the like instead of the cuff shown a bar-like striker tool or a. tuck pointing trowel which must be alternately set aside after use and then picked up after additional courses of blocks or bricks have been laid. Likewise, the brick-layer usually sets aside his trowel or other tool in order to have a free hand for manipulation of the striker tool.

It is one principal object of this invention to provide a striker tool which may be constantly worn on the ma sons or bricklayers thumb without interfering with the normal use of the trowel and without requiring setting aside of the trowel, because the handle of the latter may yet be gripped by the remaining four fingers of the same hand. Moreover, the mason, if he so desires, may use his thumb with the present striker tool thereon to assist in the gripping of the trowel whereby said tool, in effect constitutes a false thumb or an extension thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description pro ceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of

but one of a few of the various ways in which the prin ciple of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the present striker tool;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation view of the tool as viewed upwardly from the lower end of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation view of the tool as viewed from the righthand side of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the tool herein comprises a generally oval or elliptical body 1 having a recess 2 therein open at one end for insertion of the thumb thereinto, the recess 2 preferably being of generally oval or elliptical cross-section to conform to herein. In fact, the body 1 of the tool may, if desired, be

secured over, or substitutedfor, the thumb of a glove" or mitten.

' The body 1- ofrthe tool is preferably made of a hardwear-resisting material such as steel, but it may aslwell be of some other material including'rigid or flexible plas tics, wood,=or'any comparable material. Accordingly,

the manner of securing the'cuif 4.to the body ltofv the tool will depend somewhat on the particular material from which the tool body is made; that is, if plastic material were employed as the body material, the cuff may be cemented thereto. On the other hand, if the tool body 1 were made of metal, it may be preferred to rivet the cuff 4 thereto or else to secure the same by other means such as, for example, forming a groove in the periphery of the tool adjacent the open end thereof and employing a band or wire which grips the cuff in such groove.

The closed or working end of the tool body 1 comprises, when it is desired to provide rounded, inset mortar joints with a correspondingly rounded, axially projecting rib 5 which extends transversely across the major transverse axis of the tool body 1 and which is preferably transversely coextensive with the body 1. Thus, horizontal joints may be conveniently struck simply by moving the thumb horizontally in either direction with the thumb the normal transverse cross-section shape of the thumb,

4 which is adapted to snugly embrace the thumb in an I area between the first and second joints.

Said cuff-like portion 4 of the tool may be of gathered fabric having an elastic element therein, or it may be of corrugated elastic material, or it may be of woven fabric comparable to that usually employed on the cutfs of gloves,

nail facing upwardly and, if desired, the tool may be moved horizontally with the longitudinal axis of the tool body 1. The thumb may be obliquely disposed with respect to the surface of the wall under. construction rather than perpendicular to such surface.

In addition to the aforesaid rib or projection 5, there is another rib 6 which, as shown, isnormal to rib 5 and which extends across the minor transverse axis of said body 1 and radially therebeyond. Said rib 6 extends 1ongitudinally of body 1 and terminates short of the end of rib 5, whereby the end surfaces 7 of rib 6 serve as stops or guides to determine the depth of striking of the joints when the rib 5 is used as on the horizontal joints.

Either side of said cross rib 6 may conveniently be used for striking vertical mortar joints simply by moving the hand in a vertical plane up or down with the thumbnail facing upwardly and inclined either downwardly toward the wall surface or downwardly away from wall surface so that the mason has the option of working from the bottom up or from the top down in the vertical joints.

In the case of the rib 6 aforesaid, full depth of striking out of'mort-ar therewith is achieved by having the longi-.

tudinal axis of the tool body 1 disposed substantially in a vertical position so that the side portions 8 of the other rib 5 which project transversely serve as depth guides; and, of course, the depth of striking with rib 6 will become progressively less as the tool body longitudinal axis is tilted away from the wall.

It will be apparent that the rib 5 alone may be employed in striking out the mortar from both horizontal and vere tical joints simply by turning the hand so that the opposite sides of the thumb face respectively upward and downward, and this is a preferred manner of use of the tool herein, since in both instances, that is, in the striking of horizontal and vertical joints, the thumb is moved in a horizontal and vertical plane and may be perpendicularly or obliquely disposed with respect to the line of the joint without noticeably affecting the depth and shape of the joint recessed thereby.

As evident, the thickness of ribs 5 and 6 will be the same or less than the thickness of the mortar joint so that g the' rib ends--ma'y-enter-theioint to the desired eri tent.

Straight inset joints-may. beaformedbymsingmttoolim may" be 'employed," change. being: made asiregardstthe de.

tailszdescrib'ed; provided the featuresstated'iin the=f0l16w ing claim, or-theequivalent of such, be employedti 1 we thereforeparticularly pointout ahddistinctlYwlaini: 10 as-ourinvention: 1

'A- striker? tool for masonry joints comprising a: body: formed with a thumb-receiving recess in one end of gen erally elliptical cross-sectiontshape conforming approkimatelrtotheflcross-section shape and size ofi 'a-1persons 15 thumb, 1 with diametrically opposedtaxial l ribs above and beiownthe minor-1. axis 50f "such: recess terminating in end shoulder surfaces-at. the otherendof said body, and with aatransverse rib; whose axis coincides with :the major axis' of suchrecess, said transverse rib projecting beyond the surfaces; andflhavingaann outer. surface. adapted to point athorizontal mortar. joint to a depth determined by the shoulder surfaces upon movement of the thumb laterally, said axial ribs adapted to point vertical mortar joints to a depth determined by the height of said axial ribs from the respective sides of said transverse rib upon vertical movement of thetthumb'.

References Cltediimthe fil of this patent UNIT ED, STATES PATENTS D. 138,926 Reid .....Sept. 26, 1944 1,262,018 conin's Apr. 9, 1918 1,509,457 Wickhama Sept. 23, 1924 1,547,863 Dulin July 28, 1925 FOREIGN PATENTS Canada Sept. 22, 1953

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