Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present inv~ntion relates to a rake and more
particularly to a rake having auxilliary rake head means co-
operatin~ with a fixed rake head for enabling piles of leaves,
grass or the like to be grasped and picked-up to simplify
disposal in a container or wheelbarrow or other sultable recep-
tacle.
The rake of the present invention is particularly
advantageous inasmuch as it avoids the necessity of one having
to stoop or kneel to gather leaves or grass for disposal for the
movable action of the auxilliary and main rake heads enables
the grasping and lifting and disposal of leaves or grass while
the user remains in a standing position.
More specifically, the pick-up rake of the invention
consists of a rake handle having f'ixed at one end a main rake
head of conventional design and construction and which enables
the raking or sweeping o~ leaves or grass in a conventional
manner. Moveably carried by the rake handle is an auxilliary
or secondary rake head assembly which includes an auxi'lliary
rake head and which is movable as desired from a storage posi-
tion to a pick-up position so that leaves and grass grasped
between the rake heads may then simply be raised by the user
and the rake heads then opened to dispose of the leaves or
grass or clippings in a convenient manner without requiring the
user to stoop or kneel to gather and collect the leaves.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
The present applicant is the inventor and patentee
~; in Canadian Patent No. 1,027,412, granted March 7, 197~, and
entitled "RAKE". This prior Canadian Patent relates to a leaf
'and grass collecting rake generally similar to the arrangement
of the present invention, and the rake of the prior Patent has
been found to be efficient in its dual function of enabling the
raking of leaves in conventional manner, and also when used in
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the collecting and lifting of leaves and grass and debris.
With the arrangement of this Canadian Patent, however, the
first and second rake heads are of generally similar width,
and when in raised storage position, it has been found that the
width of the raised rake head portion at times interferes with
conventional raking movement by the user.
The present applicant is also the inventor and patentee
in U.S. Patent 4,292,794, granted October 6, 1981, and entitled
"RAKE". The assembly of this U.S. Patent is an improvement over
applicant's Canadian Patent 1,027,412 as the auxilliary rake head
is of reduced width in its raised storage position, thus mini-
mizing interference during conventional raking movement. How-
ever, even with its reduced width the~auxillary rake head of
U.S. Patent 4,292,794 still presents some interference to normal
raking and rake handling as a result of the position of the
auxilliary rake head a distance up the rake handle.
The presnt invention constitutes an advantage over
the assemblies of these two prior Patents by providing a pick-
up rake having an auxilliary rake head which in storage position
is adjacent to and overlies the main rake head thus completely
eliminating any possibility of interference during conventional
raking. The positioning of the auxilliary rake head in adjacent
relationship with the main rake head when in storage position
also results in better rake balance by positioning the weight
of the assembly closer to the ground during use.
Other prior patent documentation known to the applicant
and relating to rakes of the pick-up variety are as follows:
U.S. Patent 2,797,544 - July 2, 1957 - H. H. Fite
U.S. Patent 2,891,374 - June 23, 1959 - G. G. Richmond
U.S. Patent 2,746,234 - May 22,1956 - A. B. Utley
Canadian Patent 454,621 - November 16,1948 - M. F. 2ifferer
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The disadvantage of U.S. Patenk 2,891,374 is similar
to that of Canadian Patent 1,027,412 discussed above, and the
- remaining patents relate to pick-up rakes which are of different
structural design and wherein provision is not made for raising
an auxiliary rake head to upper storage position.
OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
:
The main object of the present invention is to provide
a rake of the pick-up variety wherein an auxiliary rake head is
movably mounted with respect to a fixed rake head of conventional
design and which auxiliary rake head is selectively movable from
a storage position adjacent the main rake head enabling normal
raking to a pick-up position opposed to the maln rake head enabl-
ing leaves, grass and debris to be gathered and held between the
two rake heads.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a
pick-up rake comprising a rake handle having a main rake head
with a raking side and a rear side secured to its lowermost end,
and an auxiliary rake head assembly including an auxiliary rake
head carried_by the rake handle which is selectively movable from
a storage position adjacent the rear side of the main rake head
enabling normal raking, to a pick-up position opposing the raking
side of the-main rake head enabling leaves, grass and debris to
be gathered and held between the two rake heads, the auxiliary
rake head assembly including a shaft pivotally secured at its
upper end to a pair of outwardly extending sleeve arms which are
fixedly secured to a handle sleeve which is mounted for guiding
sliding movement along the rake handle, and a pair of auxiliary
rake head guide arms pivotally secured to the shaft adjacent its
lower end and pivotally secured to a collar carried by the rake
handle, the collar being mounted for rotational movement
with respect to the rake handle and being restrained against
relative axial movement, and guide means for guiding movement of
the handle sleeve with respect to the rake handle in a first
selected path for guiding reciprocal movement of the auxiliary
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rake head assembly in pick-up capacity, and in a second selected
path for guiding movement of the auxiliary rake head assembly to
and from storage position.
- In preferred construction, the guide means comprise first
and second slots intersecting at their lowermost ends provided in
the handle sleeve, and a guide pin on the rake handle for select-
ively engagement within the slots,the first slot extending longi-
tudinally of the handle sleeve and the second slot extending
divergingly upwardly with`respect to the first slot, engagement
of the guide pin within the first slot guiding movement of the
auxiliary rake head assembly in pick-up capacity, and engagement
of the guide pin within the second slot guiding movement of the
auxiliary rake head assembly to and from storage position. In
this arrangement, the rake handle has a second guide pin engaged
in a circumferentially extending slot provided in the collar and
which slot in the collar has a length substantially one-half of
the circumference of the collar.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates the pick-up rake of the present
invention showing the auxiliary rake head in storage position;
Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the path
of movement of the auxiliary rake head assembly from the storage
position shown in Figure 1 toward pick-up position;
Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the position-
ing of the auxiliary rake head assembly in pick-up position with
respect to the main rake head; and
Figure 4 is a side view illustrating in ~ull lines the
relative positioning of the rake heads in leaf and grass grasping
position, and in broken lines the relative positioning of the
rake heads in open or leaf and grass discharging position.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF
THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The present invention will now be described with refer-
ence to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals
refer to like parts.
In the drawings, the rake handle is shown by numeral 2,
and numeral 4 identifies the main rake head which may be of any
conventional design having a plurality of tines 6. Tne angled con-
figuration of the tips of the tines provides the rake head 4 with
a raking side 8 and a rear side 10.
The rake handle 2 carries an auxiliary rake head assemb-
ly indicated generally by numeral 12. This auxiliary assembly in-
cludes an auxiliary rake shaft 14 which carries at its lower end
an auxiliary rake head 16 which may be of conventional design, and
which also has tines 6.
- Pivotally attached to the upper end of shaft 14 are a
pair of sleeve arms 18, which are fixedly secured to and extend
outwardly from a handle sleeve 20 which is mounted for sliding
movement on the handle 2 as will be èxplained in more detail below.
A collar 22 is mounted on the handle 2 below the handle
sleeve 20 and this collar is mounted for rotational move~
ment with respect to handle 2 but is restrained against any rela-
tive axial movement, and this conveniently can be accomplished by
providing a circumferential slot 24 in the collar and which receives
a guide pin 26 secured to the handle 2. The circumferental slot
24 has a len~th of approximately one-half the circumference of the
collar 22.
A pair of auxiliary rake head guide arms 28 extend be-
tween the lowerend of shaft 14 and the collar 22 and in Figure 3,
one of the arms 28 is shown in phantom to clearly illustrate the
positioning of pivot pin 26 within the circumferential slot 24 of
collar 22.
The handle sleeve 20 is mounted for sliding axial move-
ment on the handle 2, and guide means are provided for guiding
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movement of the handle sleeve with respect to the rake handle
in a first selected path for reciprocal movement of the auxiliary
rake head assembly in pick-up capacity, and in a second selected
path for movement of the auxiliary rake head assembly to and from
storage position. This guiding may suitably be accomplished by
providing the handle sleeve with first 30 and second 32 slots
which intersect at their lowermost ends, and which selectively
receive a guide pin 34 carried by and secured to the handle 2.
The first slot 30 extends longitudinally of the handle
sleeve 20 and the second slot 32 extends divergingly upwardly with
respect to the first slot, with the slots intersecting at their
lowermost ends, as shown at 35.
Figure 1 illustrates the auxiliary rake head 16 in storage
position, and in this position, the guide pin 34 is positioned at
the uppermost end of the second slot 32. In this position, the
auxiliary rake head 16 is positioned adjacent to the main rake
head 4 and overlies the rear side of the main rake head in spaced
relationship.
Figure 1 illustrates the positioning of the auxiliary
rake head when the present pick-up rake is to be used for the
raking of debris and grass in conventional fashion.
When it is desired to change the rake to pick-up capacity
the handle sleeve 20 is drawn upwardly along the handle 2, and the
action of guide pin 34 riding in slot 32 rotates the handle 2 and
main rake head ~ with respect to the handle sleeve and auxiliary
rake head assembly in rotatational manner as shown by arrow 36 in
Figure 2. This rotational movement continues un-til the guide pin
reaches the point of intersection of slots 30 and 32 at which time
the raking sides of the two rake heads are in facing relationship
generally as shown in Figures 3 and 4, W~th the guide pin 34 posi-
tioned in the lowermost end of slot 30, the rake heads 4 and 16are spaced apart in the manner generally shown in Figure 3, and
axial downward movement of the handles sleeve 20 with respect to
handle 2 (with guide pin 34 moving upwardly in slot 30) results
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in the two rake heads ~eing brought toaether to grasp grass and
debris as shown in full lines in Figure 4. It will be apprec-
iated that reciprocal movement of the handle sleeve 20 with res-
pect to handle 2 in the direction illustrated by the arrow in
Figure 3 will resul~ in a movement of auxiliary rake head 16 toward
and away from the main rake head ~ in leaf-gathering and discharging
positions. This movement is clearly shown in Figure 4, which ill-
ustrates in full.lines the positioning of the auxiliary head with
respect to the main rake head when in leaf holding relationship
and which shows in broken lines the positioning of the auxiliary
head with respect to the main head when in leaf discharging
relationship.
When it is desired to return the auxiliary rake head to
the storage position as shown in Figure 1, the handle sleeve is
moved upwardly with respect to handle 2, and the handle sleeve 20
rotated to position guide pin 34 within slot 32 with downward move-
ment of the handle sleeve 20 with respect to sleeve 2 then result-
ing in a pivoting movement of -the handle 2 with respect to handle
sleeve 20 (the reverse of that described above with respect to
Figure 2) to orientate the two rake heads to the storage position
as shown in Figure 1.
In the foregong description and accompanying drawings,
the guide means are described and illustrated as consisting of a
guide pin 34 riding selectively within either of slots 30 or 32.
It will be appreciated however that this guiding movement could
equally be accomplished by providing the guide slots 30 and 32 in
the handle itself and by providin~ the handle sleeve with an in-
wardly directed guide pin for selective engagement within the
slots in the handle 2.
The length of the slot 24 in collar 22 which receives
guide pin 26 need only be of a length to enable the necessary
rotation to occur, and an equivalent arrangeme~ permitting ro-
tation of the collar while restraining axial movement of the
collar with respect to the handle 2 is possible without departing
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from the inventive concept.
Component parts of the present pick-up rake can con-
veniently be made of appropria~e materials such as plas-tic,
or metal, such as aluminum, or magnesium for strength with
light weight.
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