Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The field of invention
This inven-tion relates to improvements in a sheath ox
scabbard for a knife having a handle and a fixed blade and to
the combination of such shea-th and knife which may be carried ~'~
in close contact with the body.
- The ba'ckground't'o'the'i'nvention --
Xnives used for fishing or hunting such as in the fille-
ting of fish or in the skinning of animals must be kept very
sharp if they are to~serve their purpose effectively. A sheath
or a scabbard usually is provided to preserve the sharpness and
to guard against accidental injury.
Such sheaths may take the form of leather pouches made
' from parts that are either sewn or stapled together and provided
with clips and other fittings which are cumbersome and costly.
The ob-jects of the invention
One object of this invention is to provide an impro~ed
sheath for the fixed blade of a knife that will preserve the
cutting edge of the blade and hold the knife securely within
the sheath against accidental dislodgement.
It is also important to ensure, notwiths-tanding the
relatively secure manner of holding the knife against acciden~
tal dislodgement, that the knife be readily removable from
the sheath for use and as easily restored within the sheath
when no longer required, without substantial risk of impair-
ment to the knife edge.
' - Still another important object is to provide a sheath
that may be readily securely supported from wearing apparel
such as from a belt or from the waist of a bathing suit or ~;
' trousers or from the top of a boot and in a manner presenting '
the knife handle in ready position for grasping by the hand.
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As well it is an important object to provide a combina~
tion sheath and knife which may be closely supported against
the body~ ~
Still another object is to provide a knife and sheath .``~ -
of reIatively liyht weight and durable~construction substantiall~
impervious, for practical purposes, to deterioration through
- immersion in salt water particularly, and of a quality to pre~
sent a keen knife edge for-the blade all at reasonable cost.
Th~ features of th~:invention
One feature o:this invention resides in providing in a .
sheath for a knife, a pair of-opposed elongated side walls of
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substantially opposite symmetry joined along their side and :~
bottom edges to define a pocket open at the top for the regis- :^
tration therewithin of a suitable knife blade, the side walls
having an inherent stiffness and resiliency and one side wall
having an aperture therethrough in a region spaced below the :; . ;~
. open top and having a configuration so as to receive in snug .
: registration therewithin an intermediate portion of a spring .`. -~
.~ metal band and so arranged as to support t~e spring metal bana .`
. 20 so that its width dimension extends substantially transversely .
of the elongated supporting side wall, the spring metal band
- including a resiliently displaceable arched portion located
. interiorly of said pocket formation and arranged at an angle
to the in~ermediate portion to extend downwardly and present
. the convex side of same towards the other one of the side
~ walls in order to frictionally resiliently bear against one `~
.~ flat surface of the knife blade, the metal band including an .
anchor portion located exteriorily of the pocket and arranged .. :
at an angle to the intermediate portion so as to substantially .
. 30 secure the intermediate portion of the metal band within the
aperture against dislodgement. :
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Still another featu~e resides in providing the tip
of the resiliently displaceable arched portion remote fxom
the intermediate portion with a con~iguration adapted to
slidingly engage against the inner surface of the supporting
sheath wall in order to facilitate t~e displacement longi-
tudinally of the pocket under the forces imparted by the in-
sertion and withdrawal of the knife blade.
Still another feature resides in providing such
arched portion with a width dimension only slightly less than ~:~
the width dimension of the pocket to minimize any tendency . .:: ~
of a sharply pointed-knife blade to jam in the recess located . :
between the edges of the arched portion and the pocket walls.
Still another feature resides in providing a clip
for attaching the shea-th to wearing apparel in the form of an :
upwardly extending loop formation carried by the anchor
portion of the spring metal band, the loop formation presenting
a downwardly opening recess for releasably clipping the sheath
to a suitable support.
More particularly the loop formation is preerabl~
derived from a spring metal band and urther the loop for-
mation remote from the anchor portion preferably terminates
.- in a resilient tip having a configuration adapted to bear in -~
a direction-to releasably and resiliently close the down- :
wardly opening recess presented by the loop formation to
secure the sheath to a support.
Still another feature resides in providing the knife
handle with a generally symmetrical configuration about the
plane of the knife blade with the handle presenting a shoulder
formation locat~d intermediately of the extent of the knife
blade to the upper edges of the sheath walls which shoulder
formation and upper edges have corresponding and complemen-tary
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shaping whereby the shoulder formation is received in snug
seated registration to stabilize the combination when the
` knife blade is in full registration within the pocket of the .~
: sheath. . .. ~ ~ `
These and other objects and~ features will become
apparent upon reading the following description in conjunction
with the shee-ts of drawings in which: ~
Figure I is a vertical side elevational view of one .`:
embodiment of a knife and sheath, with the lowermost portion ~
broken away and revealing the dispo~i$ion and con~iguration - :
of the clip attachment for such sheath and knife.
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Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of that -
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portion of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1 taken along
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the lines 2-2 of Figure 1 to disclose the manner of anchoring .:
the knife blade by the resilient arched spring portion ^
: mounted within the pocket of such sheath;
:. Figure 3 is a ~iew in solid outline of the embodi~
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ment of figure 1 taken from a point to the lef~ in figure 1 : ~ :
illustrating the manner of attachment of the sheath to the .
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top of a boot with the broken outline indicating the final,
: clasped position. : .
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Figure 4 is a vertical side elevational view of a ~-
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second embodiment.of knife and sheath provided with a modified
- clip attachment, revealing the relationship of the modified
-i clip attachment to sheath and knife. . :.
Figurle 5 is a vertical cross-sectional ~iew of that
portion of the embodiment illustrated in figure 4 partly ~- ;
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broken away and taken along the lines 5-5 of figure 4 revealing :~
the manner of securing the knife blade within the pocket of
. 30 such sheath;
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Fi~ure 6 is a ver-tical cross-sectional view of the''
sheath'of figures 4 and 5 partly broken away illustrating the'
manner of supporting the upper end of the resilient ~rched
spring metal band to depend downwardly within such sheath ;
pocket and the passage of the sharpenèd end of the knife blade
into the pocket without jamming;
: Figure'7 is a perspective'view of the mcdified clip
portion of figures 4 and 5 used for the attachment of such
sheath to wearing apparel. ~ -
Descri~tion of preferred embodime~ts
The'embodiment of the invention illustrated in figures
1 to,3 inclusive'reveals a knife 10 provided with a fixed ~lade ,~
11 anchored within the forward portion of a uniformly cantoured ':
handle 12, symmetrical about the plane of the blade with the
' knife blade shown projecting downwardly into full registration :.
'-. with the pocket 13 of a s~eath or scabbard 14.
. The opposed sheath walls 14a and 14b are of'opposite ~'
symmetry and preferably to be moulded from polypropylene a :
durable thermoplastic, relatively stiff but resilient and ,~
which will not materially affect the sharpness of the blade . ~
edge upon contact. ' , ,
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. Each moulded side wall 14a and 14b has a perimetral
configuration in side elevation closely corresponding to the
~' perimeteral outline of the enclosed knife blade 11.
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Supported from the sheath wall 14b to extend down-
wardly within nocket 13 is a smooth spring metal band 15 pre- '
ferably derived from suitable stainless steel and permanently
res.iliently arched as at 16 to present a displaceable bearing
surface in frictional engagement to the flat surface of knife
' blade 11.
The upper end of the arched portion 16 is supported
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by an intermediate'portion 17 extending in a direction
generally transverseIy of the'downward extent of arched ;~
portion 16 with intermediate portion 17 registered snugly
within a slot or aperture 18 which has a cross-section closely -'
following the cross-section of the spr~ing metal band. ~ ;
The lower end of the arched portion 16 is forme~
with'a slightly curvate tip 19 to facilitate slight sliding
movement of-such tip on the inner surface of supporting wall
14b when the resilient arched portion 16 is displaced under ' ~'
sliding co~'tact with the knife blade 11 when it is inserted '
i~to or withdrawn from pocket 13. ~, -
Intermediate portion 17 of metal band 15 joins , ~-
' arched poxtion 16 to an outer anchor portion 20 extending at
' substantially right angles thexeto and then changing direction ;;
to define a narrow loop formation 21 defining a downwardly
opening recess 22 with the lowermost extent of the loop for- ,~' ,'
mation 22 being reversely arched as at 23 against,the outer
surface of supporting wall 14b to thereby resiliently close ,'~
,~ the opening. The lowermost tip is rounded as 23a to eliminate
any catching or tearing.
Upper edges 24 and 25 of opposed sheath walls 14a - ,-~
and 14b have a generally saddle shape which-corresponds with a
complementary shoulder formation ~6 presented intermediately
o~ the extent of knife handle 12 forwardly of the recess 27
for the index finger, -,,
With the shoulder formation 26 firmly registered in
the saddle shapecl seat formation defined by upper edges 24 and ' - '
25 of the sheath walls 14a and 14b and with the arched portion ,~'
16 of the metal band 15 resiliently biased against knife blade'
- 30 11 when fully inserted within the pocket 13 of sheath 14 a
stable interlock of knife and sheath is established.
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Further it is preferable to mould the knife handle :
12 from polypropylene plastic but :in the form of a hollow
body to reduce the weight factor w:ith the ou-tline of the
void in knife handle 12 shown only in broken outline in
figures 1 and 2 at 28.
The embodiment of figures 4 to 7 inclusive reveal
a similar knie 28, knife blade 29 and handle 30 and sheath
31 as compared with the embodiment of figures 1 to 3 inclusive. ~ :
-- . The spring ~etal.band 32 has been modified as com- ;
pared with the spring metal band 15 of figures 1 to 3 in-
- clusive in the following manner: the width dimension of
the arched or convexly shaped portion 33 has been increased
so as to eliminate any substantial gap between the edges
of the band and the sides of the pocket to avoid possible
jamming of the sharp point 34 of knife blade 29 shown in :~
broken outline in figure 6. With such combination the knife
blade 29 will be readily guided past the resilient arched `-~.
portion without damàge.
According to this embodiment the loop formation 34a .
20 . is formed from a separate piece with the lowermost inner .
. portion 35 being spot welded as at 36 to the upwardly extending :
: anchor portion 37 which includes intermediate portion 38 ,~
snugly registered with transverse slot or aperture 38a. .. -:
Loop formation 34a terminates downwardly in an up-
wardly curvate end 39 which bears against the lowermost inner~
most portion 35 t:hereby closing the downwardly opening recess .`~
and providing`a resilient clip for securing the article to . ..
wearing apparel or other support.
The exterior anchor portions 20 and 37 respectively ~`
of the spring metal band 21 of figures 1 to 3 inclusive and o~ :
the composite spring m~tal band 32 of figures 4 to 7 inclusive ~.. ~-
are arranged substantially at right angles to the intermediate :
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p~rtions 1, and 38 so as to bear against the outer sur- ~
faces of the sheath walls in the regions above the apertures . .
18 and 38a respectively.
By reason of such disposition the lower tips of - :
dependent arched portions 16 and 33 are urged under their
: own tension against the inner suriEaces o~ their respecti~e
supporting sheath walls to thereby stabilized the connection. .`
. It will be understood that the spring me~al
band and knife blade of the embodiments are both preferably .~ ~
- 10 derived from suitable s~ainless steel so as to minimize l :
any corrosive tendency in the presence of salt water.
- While the preferred embodiments of the in~ention
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have been described and illustrated variations or modi~
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cations may be undertaken by those persons skilled in.this .::-
art without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as defined in the appe~ded claims. ~ . .
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