Folding knife

Claim 2

A folding knife, comprising: a knife blade having a tang formed at its inner end; a handle transversely flanking the tang; a pivot hole formed through the tang of the knife blade; bushing means fixed to the handle and extending through the pivot hole in the tang for movably supporting the knife blade about a transverse axis across the handle; and latching means on said bushing and pivot hole for selectively locking the knife blade at a preselected angular position relative to said transverse axis, said latching means being manually releasable in response to movement of the tang relative to the handle in a preselected direction perpendicular to said transverse axis.

Claim 3

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said bushing means includes a semicylindrical peripheral surface centered about said transverse axis and having opposite ends smoothly joining continuous curved surfaces of decreasing radius.

Claim 4

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said bushing means is defined by a continuous outer peripheral wall and includes a semicylindrical peripheral surface centered about said transverse axis and having opposite ends smoothly joining continuous curved surfaces of decreasing radius; and a radially extended lug formed on said bushing means between said curved surfaces, said lug having an outer radius, relative to said transverse axis, equal to the radius of said semicylindrical peripheral surface.

Claim 5

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said pivot hole is defined by a continuous inner wall formed across the tang of the knife blade and generated as a partial cylindrical surface.

Claim 6

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said pivot hole is defined by a continuous inner wall formed across the tang of the knife blade and generated as a partial cylindrical surface having a radially extended notch at one end.

Claim 7

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said pivot hole is defined by a continuous inner peripheral wall formed across the tang of the knife blade and generated as a partial cylindrical surface centered about a second transverse axis and having a radially extended notch at one end; said partial cylindrical surface of the inner peripheral wall being extended about the pivot hole from one side of said notch about an angle of approximately 270° about said second transverse axis and smoothly joining a curved surface of increasing radius leading to the remaining side of said notch.

Claim 8

The folding knife of claim 1 wherein said bushing means is defined by a continuous outer peripheral wall and includes a semicylindrical peripheral surface centered about said transverse axis and having opposite ends smoothly joining continuous curved surfaces of decreasing radius: and a radially extended lug formed on said bushing means between said curved surfaces, said lug having an outer radius, relative to said transverse axis, equal to the radius of said semicylindrical peripheral surface; said pivot hole being defined by a continuous inner peripheral wall formed across the tang of the knife blade and generated as a partial cylindrical surface centered about a second transverse axis and having a radially extended notch at one end; said partial cylindrical surface of the inner peripheral wall having a radius relative to the second transverse axis substantially equal to the radius of said semicylindrical peripheral surface, said partial cylindrical surface being extended about the pivot hole from one side of said notch about an angle of approximately 270° about said second transverse axis and smoothly joining a curved surface of increasing radius leading to the remaining side of said notch.

Claim 9

A folding knife, comprising: a handle having a blade slot extending along its length and through transversely spaced bolsters at one handle end; a knife blade having a tang movably mounted within the open blade slot at said one handle end, said knife blade being movable relative to the handle between a folded position substantially sheathed within the blade slot and an extended position protruding outward from said one handle end; a bushing fixed to said handle blade at a location inwardly adjacent said one handle end, said bushing having a substantially cylindrical periphery generated about a transverse axis on said handle; a pivot hole formed transversely through the tang of said knife blade, the periphery of said pivot hole having a substantially cylindrical periphery that complements the periphery of said bushing; latching means formed at corresponding angular positions about the respective peripheries of said bushing and pivot hole for selectively locking said blade to said handle selected angular position relative to said transverse axis, said latching means being releasable by manually shifting the tang relative to the bolsters in a first direction perpendicular to said transverse axis; said latching means further comprising biasing means operably engaged between the tang and bushing for yieldably urging the tang relative to the bolsters in a direction diametrically opposite to said direction along said selected radial line.

Claim 10

A folding knife, comprising: a handle having a blade slot extending along its length and through transversely spaced bolsters at one handle end; a knife blade having a tang movably mounted within the open blade slot at said one handle end, said knife blade being movable relative to the handle between a folded position substantially sheathed within the blade slot and an extended position protruding outward from said one handle end; a bushing fixed to said handle blade at a location inwardly adjacent said one handle end, said bushing having a substantially cylindrical periphery generated about a transverse axis on said handle; a pivot hole formed transversely through the tang of said knife blade, the periphery of said pivot hole having a substantially cylindrical periphery that complements the periphery of said bushing; latching means formed at corresponding angular positions about the respective peripheries of said bushing and pivot hole for selectively locking said blade to said handle selected angular position relative to said transverse axis, said latching means being releasable by manually shifting the tang relative to the bolsters in a first direction perpendicular to said transverse axis; said latching means further comprising biasing means operably engaged between the tang and bushing for yieldably urging the tang relative to the bolsters in a direction diametrically opposite to said direction along said selected radial line.

Claim 11

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein the dimension across the pivot hole along said selected radial line exceeds the dimension across the bushing along the same line by an amount equal to the corresponding depth of said latching means along parallel lines.

Claim 12

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein said latching means includes: a radially protruding notch formed about the periphery of said pivot hole and a corresponding radially protruding lug formed about the periphery of said bushing.

Claim 13

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein said latching means includes: a radially protruding notch formed about the periphery of said pivot hole and a corresponding radially protruding lug formed about the periphery of said bushing; the dimensions across the pivot hole along the selected radial line exceeds the dimension across the bushing along the same line by an amount equal to the corresponding depths of the radially protruding notch and lug.

Claim 14

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein said latching means includes: a radially protruding notch formed about the periphery of said pivot hole and a corresponding radially protruding lug formed about the periphery of said bushing; the dimensions across the pivot hole along the selected radial line exceeds the dimension across the bushing along the same line by an amount equal to the corresponding depths of the radially protruding notch and lug; said biasing means comprising a spherical ball that bears against a compression spring embedded within a recess formed in the bushing, along said ball being in yieldable rolling engagement with the periphery of said pivot hole.

Claim 15

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein the substantially cylindrical periphery of said bushing is interrupted by a radially protruding lug; the substantially cylindrical periphery of said pivot hole being interrupted by a radially protruding notch.

Claim 16

The folding knife of claim 8 wherein the substantially cylindrical periphery of said bushing is interrupted by a radially protruding lug; the substantially cylindrical periphery of said pivot hole being interrupted by a radially protruding notch; the respective lug and notch being complementary to one another in size and shape.