Knife with removable blade housing

Claim 1

A hand knife comprising a handle assembly having a concave arcuate surface at one end with two tapped apertures opening thereinto, a drive gear adjacent to the arcuate surface of the handle assembly between the tapped apertures opening thereinto and rotatably supported in the handle assembly, a ring-like blade housing member of short axial length having portions of greater axial length at said arcuate surface of the handle assembly than the remainder thereof and having through apertures in the portions of greater axial length, headed and threaded fasteners extending through the apertures in the ring-like member and threaded into the tapped aperture in the handle assembly detachably securing the ring-like blade housing member to the handle assembly, a ring-like blade member rotatably supported in the ring-like blade housing member and having a cutting edge at one end projecting from the ring-like blade housing member and gear teeth at its opposite end in mesh with the drive gear, characterized by the apertures in the ring-like blade housing member being slots opening into the end of the ring-like blade housing member opposite to the end from which the cutting edge of the blade projects, whereby the ring-like blade housing member and the blade carried thereby can be removed from the handle assembly without removing from the handle the screws connecting the ring-like blade housing member to the handle assembly.