US3009497A - Hand guard for hacksaw operators - Google Patents

Description

A. E. LORCH HAND GUARD FOR HACKSAW OPERATORS Filed Dec. 11, 1958 \WZZEVZ 5 57 02 a O r Nov. 21, 1961 atent 3,009,497 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 3,009,497 HAND GUARD FOR HACKSAW PERATOR Allen E. Lurch, 5120 Lincoln Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Dec. 11, 1958, Ser. No. 779,681 7 Claims. (Cl. 145-35) This invention relates to a hand guard for hacksaw operators, and more particularly to a guard which is flexible and affords over all protection to the hand of the operator.

A workman in this :art is well aware of the hazards encountered while manipulating a hacksaw in sawing a piece of work being operated on. Not only is he likely to sustain harmful injury from the breaking of a saw blade, but also from a jab with the sawed 011 end of the work when unexpectedly completing a saw cut.

One of the more important objects of the present invention is to provide a flexible guard of tough sheet material for enveloping both the handle of a hacksaw and the operators hand to shield his hand both in advance and below while within a pocket afforded by the guard and grasping the saw handle during a sawing operation.

Additional objects of importance are to provide the guard with improved appendages to hold it in place on a hacksaw, to assist in the formation of the aforementioned pocket, and to secure the device against longitudinal displacement while reciprocating it, while at the same time maintaining the handle and adjacent part of the saw frame in an encased relation to the device.

A further important object is to provide an improvement in devices of the kind to which this invention pertains, which embodies a new, different and superior mode of combining a hand guard with the handle and adjacent frame portion of a hacksaw.

Yet a further object is to provide an article of manufacture for the aforesaid uses which is simpler, easier to apply and capable of being manufactured at a lower cost.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, wherein is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention as now reduced to practice,

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of my improvement applied to the rear end portion of a hacksaw and enclosing the handle thereof.

FIG. 2 is a top plan View of the applied guard with the forward portion of the hacksaw broken away.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary detail showing, mostly in side elevation, the wraparound appendage embracing the Vertical, rear frame member of the hacksaw.

FIG. 4 is a section on zig-zag line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the extended device, per se, the outer end portion of one of the appendages thereof being angularly deflected and shown edgewise to contract the view.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the extended device as viewed in FIG. 5 comprises a symmetrical, trapezoidally shaped guard of sheet material having a body portion 5, parallel sides 6 and 7 and diverging sides 8 and 9. The corners 1t) connecting the longer parallel side to the diverging sides are shown more rounded than the corners 11 connecting the shorter parallel side of the figure to each divergent side.

The body portion of the device may consist of leather or of a leather-like substance, or it may be constructed of canvas. It should be tough and somewhat stiff, yet sufficiently flexible so that it can be flexed along a line extending longitudinally over its central portion, and bisecting its parallel sides.

Proximal to the side 6 and bisecting the line of flexion aforementioned is situated an eyelet 12 surrounded by a reinforcing band 12a through which, in practice, is extended the unthreaded end of a tensioning rod 13 of a hacksaw l4. Said rod is detachably connected to a hacksaw blade 15, and said band 12a is secured to the guard 5 by rivets 12b.

A tensioning wing nut .16 is adjustably connected to the threaded end portion of rod 13 to tension the blade 15 through the medium of a holding pin 17, which extends at a right angle to said blade, through the rod 13 and engages a hole in said blade.

The divergent sides 8 and 9 of the trapezoid, when flexed backwardly toward each other as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 5, may be said to constitute wings or flaps 18 and 19 designated only in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, to form sides of a pocket 20 a greater depth than width into which the hand of an operator can be projected to grasp the encased handle 21 of the hacksaw to manipulate the latter during a sawing operation, and be protected by the guard against the already mentioned hazards.

The front side edge and fore front top edge of the pocket are brought into juxtaposition by the use of the appendages aforementioned, which will now he described in detail.

Proximal to the boundary of the longer parallel side 6 of the trapezoid are two spaced apart pairs or combinations of appendages consisting, for example, of straps and buckles for detachably securing the device, in co-operation with the eyelet 12, to the hacksaw frame in an enveloping relation to the handle 21.

One combination of straps comprises a tensioning strap 26 provided with a plurality of holes 28 and an anchoring or buckle strap 29 provided with a buckle 30 and including a keeper.

The other combination of straps similarly consists of a tensioning strap 32 provided with a plurality of holes 33 and an anchoring or buckle strap 34 provided with a buckle 35 and including a keeper. When the guard is mounted upon a hacksaw each combination of straps, or of other attaching connections will be located along a side of the flexed sheet so that a pair or set of attaching connections of one combination will be in alinement with the other combination for securement thereto.

Each of said combinations of tension and buckle straps are arranged at a right angle and in a contiguous relation with one another so that, in the operative position of the guard upon the hacksaw, the tensioning strap 26 of the first combination will engage the buckle 35 of the anchoring strip 34 of the second combination; and the tensioning strap 32 of the second combination will engage the buckle 3d of the anchoring strap 29 of the first combination. The tension strap 26 of the first combination is tautly secured to the buckle 35 when it has been threaded therethrough and has the buckle tongue engaging the proper hole of the holes 28 in the strap. Finally each combination of tension and buckle strap is fastened to the body portion 5 by means of a plurality of fasteners 37 and 3 38, the fasteners 38 being common to both a tension and an anchoring strap.

Strap 32 of the second combination has a novel and peculiar fastening to the rear, vertical frame member 4-6 of the hacksaw frame before it is buckled to the buckle 30 of the first combination. This peculiar fastening is best shown in FIG. 3, where it will be seen that the tensioning strap 32 is first wound around the vertical, rear frame member 40 before it is threaded through the buckle 3t) and has the buckle tongue engaged with the proper hole 33 tautly to secure the strap 32 to the buckle.

Owing to the fact that the tensioning strap 32 of the second combination constitutes a wrap-around strap for the vertical frame member 40, to accomplish its purpose it is necessarily made longer than the tensioning strap 26.

In its broader aspect the invention, in regard to the attaching means for the guard sheet, may be said to comprise two anchor connections and two tensioning connections, one of said tensioning connections co-operating with one of said anchor connections to secure the device to the frame of a hacksaw, and the other of said tensioning connections co-operating with the other anchor connection to form in the device a pocket for the hand of the operator.

In attaching the device to the hacksaw frame the wing nut 16 is loosened on the tensioning rod 13, thus permitting the rear end of the saw blade to be detached from the holding pin 17. The end of the tensioning rod being thus freed it is threaded through the eyelet 12 of the guard 5.

Next the free end of the saw blade is re-engaged with the holding pin 1-7, and the Wing nut 16 is tightened.

The draw strap 32 is then wrapped around the rear, vertical frame member 40 (one way being shown as seen in FIG. 3), and secured to the buckle in a tensioned condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to prevent longitudinal movement of the guard in relation to the handle 21 while the saw is being reciprocated.

Next the draw strap 26 is fastened to the buckle securing the guard to the upper portion of the handle and adjacent part of the hacksaw frame.

By the latter two operations the front side edge of the pocket and top fore front thereof are drawn into close proximity, closing that portion of the pocket and leaving the remaining top edge portion open to be slightly flexed wherethrough to project the hand to enter the pocket and while protected grasp the handle.

To remove the guard from the hacksaw a reversal of performance of the operations just described is necessary.

It will be seen that when the body portion of the guard sheet is flexed, it forms a deep, spacious pocket for the operators hand, one strap of each strap combination alining with a strap of the other combination for buckling thereonto.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only, and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which come within the scope of the subject matter claimed.

I claim:

1. A safety guard for hacksaw operators comprising a sheet of flexible material which viewed in its extended position simulates a symmetrically shaped trapezoidal figure, and two combinations of appendages secured to said sheet adjacent the longer parallel side thereof, one appendage of each combination being securable to a different appendage of the other combination when said sheet is bent along a medial line extending across its parallel sides to bring opposed edges into juxtaposition for fastening, whereby to maintain the guard in an operative relation to a hacksaw and in a pocket forming relation to its operators hand, said connections being located along opposite sides of the flexed sheet so that a pair or set of appendages of each combination will be in alinement with the other combination for securement therewith.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a guard comprising a sheet of flexible material which is trapezoidally shaped when viewed in its extended position and which is bendable along a medial line extending across its parallel sides, and a combination of appendages secured to each of opposite sides of said sheet adjacent to the longer parallel side thereof equidistantly at each side of said medial line, the appendages of each combination comprising two straps, one strap of each combination being securable to a different strap of the other combination when said sheet is flexed along said medial line to bring the latter straps into alignment for fastening.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a polygonally shaped sheet of flexible material having two parallel sides of different lengths, two divergently opposed sides, and two combinations of appendages comprising a plural number each secured in a superposed relation and having a common fastening means attaching each combination to said sheets equidistantly at each side of a medial line extending across its parallel sides and proximal to the longer of said two parallel sides, one appendage of one combination becoming alignable with a different appendage of the other combination when said sheet is flexed about said medial line to bring its opposed side edges into juxtaposition for fastening by the appendages thus aligned.

4. A safety guard for protecting the hand of an operator while performing a tooling operation, comprising a symmetrically shaped, four-sided sheet of flexible material, two sides of which are parallel and of diflerent lengths and two sides of which are divergent and of the same length, two combinations of angularly extending appendages each comprising two members secured together and to said sheet at each, side of and equidistant from a medial line extending across the parallel sides of said sheet and proximal to the longer parallel side thereof, one appendage of one combination being adapted to be attached to a different appendage of the other combination when said sheet is flexed about said medial line incident to attaching said appendages, each combination of two appendages consisting of a tensioning strap and a buckling strap, the tensioning strap of one combination being longer than the tensioning strap of the other combination, said longer tensioning strap being adapted to be wrapped around a frame member of an operators tool prior to its attachment to a buckling strap, and an eyelet in said sheet adjacent said longer parallel side, and substantially equidistant between the divergent sides thereof, said eyelet being in a position to receive a tensioning rod of a hacksaw blade when the guard is in its mounted position on a hacksaw, in which position the guard forms a pocket enclosing the operators hand.

5. In a safety guard for the operator of a hacksaw having a handle portion with a vertical member, a body portion of flexible sheet material which is bendable along its mid-width so as to bring opposed edges of said sheet material into juxtaposition for fastening in a position wherein it will form a pocket with a wing at each side, said pocket being adapted to enclose between said wings the hand of a workman grasping the hacksaw handle, and means for attaching said guard to the handle portion of a hacksaw, said means including an elongated flexible connection having one of its end portions attached to a side portion of one of said wings, and a member carried by a side portion of the other of said wings to which the free end of said connection is attachable in a tensioned manner with the mid-length portion of said connection wrapped completely around the aforesaid vertical member of the handle portion of the hacksaw.

6. The subject matter of claim 5, and in the mounted guard said wings being separable along their top edges to facilitate inserting the operators hand between them.

7. In a safety guard for the operator of a hacksaw having a handle portion with a vertical member, a body portion of flexible sheet material bendable along its midwidth so as to bring opposed edges of the sheet into juxtaposition for fastening in a position wherein it will form a pocket with a wing at each side, said pocket being adapted to enclose between said wings the hand of a workman grasping the hacksaw handle, means for attaching said guard to the handle portion of a hacksaw, said means including an elongated flexible connection having one of its end portions attached to a side portion of one of said wings, a member carried by a side portion of the other of said wings to which the free end of said connection is attachable with the mid-length portion of said connection engaging the aforesaid vertical member of the handle portion of the hacksaw, and an eyelet in the front end portion of the mounted guard extending through the mid-width portion thereof in a position to receive the tensioning rod of the hacksaw.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,078,821 Biggs Nov. 18, 1913 2,660,974 Swain Dec. 1, 1953 2,683,878 Davila July 20, 1954 2,832,074 Wheeler Apr. 29, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 184,753 Switzerland Aug. 17, 1936

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