Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
LONG-LIFE ABRASIVE PAD ASSEMBLY
Background
[0001] Sandpaper and other abrasive pads are generally known and used in
a variety of
industries for removing material from surfaces of various materials, e.g.,
wood, in order to
smooth the surfaces, roughen the surfaces, and/or prepare them for subsequent
treatment
after one or more top layers of material are removed. These products are
consumable and
generally have a short work life due to the high degree of wear and tear
caused during the
abrasion process. As such, these products rapidly deteriorate, which results
in a quickly
.. diminishing service life and performance. Frequently changing out worn out
pads in order
to maintain a sufficient level of performance is generally a tedious and
costly process.
Summary
[0002] The present disclosure is directed to a long-life abrasive pad
assembly.
[0003] According to an aspect is an abrasive pad assembly, comprising:
an abrasive
layer having first and second surfaces with the first surface being coated
with material
particles having predetermined hardness characteristics; a substrate having
first and second
surfaces with the first surface attached to the second surface of the abrasive
layer, the
substrate being composed of a material having stiff and resilient
characteristics; and a
fastening layer having first and second surfaces with the first surface being
attached to the
second surface of the substrate and the first surface having fastening
material disposed
thereon.
[0004] According to an embodiment, the fastening material comprises loop
fabric.
[0005] According to an embodiment, the material articles are composed of
at least one
of diamond, cubic boron nitride, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, and garnet.
[0006] According to an embodiment, the substrate is composed of any of
steel, brass,
and aluminum.
[0007] According to an aspect is a handheld tool assembly, comprising:
(a) a motor;
(b) a fastening surface operably connected to the motor; and (c) an abrasive
pad
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õ
,
,
assembly, comprising: (i) an abrasive layer having first and second surfaces
with the first
surface being coated with material particles having predetermined hardness
characteristics; (ii) a substrate having first and second surfaces with the
first surface
attached to the second surface of the abrasive layer, the substrate being
composed of a
material having stiff and resilient characteristics; and (iii) a fastening
layer having first
and second surfaces with the first surface being attached to the second
surface of the
substrate and the first surface having fastening material disposed thereon;
wherein the
fastening layer is removably connected to the fastening surface.
[0008] These and other aspects of the invention will be
apparent from the embodiments
described below.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0009] In the drawings, like reference characters generally
refer to the same parts
throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to
scale, emphasis
instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the
invention.
[0010] FIG. 1 is a top view of an abrasive pad according to
one embodiment disclosed
herein.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a side view of the abrasive pad of FIG. 1.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a side view of a system that includes a
handheld device configured to
receive the abrasive pad of FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a photograph of two abrasive pads and a
handheld device configured
to receive the abrasive pads according to one embodiment disclosed herein.
Detailed Description of Embodiments
[0014] Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, an abrasive pad 10 includes
an abrasive
surface 12. The abrasive surface 12 may be formed from or include any material
with a
high hardness that is capable of scratching or abrading other materials.
Examples of
materials that can be used for the abrasive surface 12 include diamond, cubic
boron nitride,
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aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, garnet, and other materials that have
hardnesses similar
to these materials, e.g., according to the Mohrs, Vickers, or other hardness
scale. The
abrasive surface 12 may comprise grit, chunks, particles, flakes, shaving,
chips, grains, or
other fragments of any of the aforementioned materials. The diameter or
dimensions of
these fragments may range in size depending on the desired smoothness desired
to be
achieved by the abrasive surface 12, i.e., with smoother finishes typically
corresponding to
smaller sized fragments.
[0015] As shown in FIG. 2, the abrasive surface 12 of the abrasive pad
10 is secured to
a substrate 14, which is provided to provide structurally integrity to the
abrasive pad 10.
For example, the substrate 14 may take the form of a sheet or plate of durable
and generally
stiff but resilient material, such as steel, brass, aluminum, or other metals.
In one
embodiment, the abrasive surface 12 is made from a composite of the
aforementioned
abrasive material and a bonding material to secure the abrasive material to
the substrate 14.
The process to bond said abrasive to the substrate may alternately and/or
additionally
include, but is not limited to, electroplating, brazing, soldering, epoxy, or
any other
adhesive or bonding processes known or discovered.
[0016] Opposite to the abrasive surface 12, the abrasive pad 10 includes
a fastening
surface 16 secured to the substrate 14 that enables the abrasive pad 10 to be
detachably
secured to a handheld abrading device. In one embodiment, the fastening
surface 16
comprises a hook material or a loop material that corresponds to complementary
hook or
loop material of an abrading device, e.g., a handheld powered or unpowered
device
configured to receive and attach to the abrasive pad 10.
[0017] In FIG. 3, a handheld device 18 is illustrated having a fastening
surface 20,
which is complementarily formed with respect to the fastening surface 16 such
that the
surfaces 16 and 20 together form a hook and loop type fastener or other
detachable
attachment means 22. In this way, the abrasive pad 10 is capable of detachably
securing
to a rotating, member 24 of the device 18. For example, the device 18 may be
an
electrically or pneumatically powered sanding tool having a handle 25 arranged
to be held
by a user, a trigger 26 to be pulled to initiate movement of the member 24,
and a motor 28
coupled to the member 24, e.g., via a shaft, to provide the aforementioned
movement in
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response to input from the trigger 26. Advantageously, the attachment means 22
facilitates
the abrasive pad 10 to be quickly and easily changed, e.g., to a variety of
different abrasive
grit sizes of the material of the abrasive surface 12 for multiple different
abrading
procedures or applications.
100181 As another example, a handheld device 30 is illustrated in FIG. 4.
The handheld
device 30 includes a main body 32 (e.g., which may house a motor or other
actuator or
movement generator) to which a vibrating or oscillating member 34 is attached.
The
member 34 includes a fastening surface 36 which may include hook and/or loop
material
as described above with respect to the surfaces 16 and 20 and the attachment
means 22 in
order to detachably secure the abrasive pad 10 thereto. Two of the abrasive
pads 10,
designated with reference numerals 10a and 10b, are illustrated in FIG. 4.
More
specifically, the fastening surface 16 of the abrasive pad 10a and the
abrasive surface 12 of
the abrasive pad 10b are shown face up, respectively, in FIG. 4.
[0019i While several inventive embodiments have been described and
illustrated
herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of
other means and/or
structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one
or more of
the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or
modifications is
deemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments described herein.
More
generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all
parameters, dimensions,
materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and
that the
actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend
upon the
specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is/are
used. Those
skilled in the art will recognize or be able to ascertain using no more than
routine
experimentation, many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments
described
herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are
presented by
way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and
equivalents
thereto, inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically
described
and claimed. Inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to
each
individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described
herein. In
addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles,
materials, kits,
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and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or
methods are not
mutually inconsistent, is included within the inventive scope of the present
disclosure.
[0020] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood
to control over
dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference,
and/or ordinary
meanings of the defined terms.
[0021] The indefinite articles "a" and "an," as used herein in the
specification and in
the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to
mean "at least
one."
[0022] The phrase "and/or," as used herein in the specification and in
the claims, should
be understood to mean "either or both" of the elements so conjoined, i.e.,
elements that are
conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases.
Multiple
elements listed with "and/or" should be construed in the same fashion, i.e.,
"one or more"
of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other
than the
elements specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether related or
unrelated to
those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a
reference to "A
and/or B", when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as
"comprising" can
refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than
B); in
another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in
yet another
embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
[0023] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, "or" should
be understood
to have the same meaning as "and/or" as defined above. For example, when
separating
items in a list, "or" or "and/or" shall be interpreted as being inclusive,
i.e., the inclusion of
at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of
elements, and,
optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the
contrary, such as
"only one of" or "exactly one of," or, when used in the claims, "consisting
of," will refer
to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In
general, the term
"or" as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive
alternatives (i.e. "one
or the other but not both") when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as
"either," "one
of," "only one of," or "exactly one of" "Consisting essentially of," when used
in the claims,
shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
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[0024] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase
"at least one,"
in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean
at least one
element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements,
but not
necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically
listed within the
list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of
elements.
This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than
the elements
specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase "at
least one" refers,
whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus,
as a non-
limiting example, "at least one of A and B" (or, equivalently, "at least one
of A or B," or,
equivalently "at least one of A and/or B") can refer, in one embodiment, to at
least one,
optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally
including
elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally
including more
than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than
A); in yet
another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A,
and at least
one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other
elements); etc.
[0025] It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to
the contrary, in any
methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of
the steps or acts
of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or
acts of the method
are recited.
[0026] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all
transitional phrases such
as "comprising," "including," "carrying," "having," "containing," "involving,"
"holding,"
"composed of," and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to
mean including
but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases "consisting of' and
"consisting essentially
of" shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set
forth in the
United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section
2111.03.
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