Knife Blade Guard Actuator for Automatic Safety Retraction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional knives with pivotable blade guards require the blade guard to be manually positioned over the material to be cut, which is inconvenient, especially when handling delicate materials, and may not provide sufficient safety.

Innovation Solution

Incorporating an actuator with a movable handle that transitions the blade guard between safety and cutting positions, allowing for automatic retraction into the safety position, and utilizing a spring bias for the blade guard to ensure quick safety engagement.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the blade guard is manually positioned over the material to be cut, then the cutting operation can be performed, but the user safety is compromised and delicate materials cannot be handled safely

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser safetyVSAvoidmanual positioning requirement

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The blade guard is designed to automatically return to the safety position after the cutting operation, without requiring manual intervention. The spring mechanism self-activates when the blade is withdrawn from the material, automatically repositioning the blade guard to cover the cutting edge and protect the user.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The blade guard is pre-positioned in the safety position during storage and transport. The spring mechanism maintains readiness to automatically return the blade guard to this predetermined safe position, eliminating the need for manual repositioning after each cut.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If the blade guard projects out of the housing in safety position, then user safety is improved, but the knife construction becomes wider

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveuser safetyVSAvoidknife width

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLength of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The blade guard transitions from a static protruding position to a dynamic system that moves between retracted and extended positions. During cutting operations, the blade guard can be positioned to clear the material, then automatically returns to the safety position, optimizing both safety and compactness at different operational stages.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Enhances user safety by allowing the knife to be used with delicate materials and providing a narrower construction, while ensuring the blade guard automatically returns to a safe position after use, reducing the risk of injury.

Implementation Method 1

The blade guard is for example biased by a spring into the safety position

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectSpring bias: Spring

Data Source

PatentUS10994434B2Knife

Publication Date: 2021.05.04 MARTOR

AI summary

A knife has a housing, a blade having a cutting edge and mounted on the housing with the edge extending transversely of a predetermined direction. An actuator is movable on the housing and pivots a blade guard on the housing about a guard axis for movement in the predetermined direction from a safety position in which the blade guard covers the cutting edge of the blade into a cutting position in which the blade guard is spaced from the cutting edge and the cutting edge is freely accessible and from the cutting position in a direction opposite the predetermined position into the safety position.