MIllers Falls Patent Text

145. WOOD-WORKING TOOLS, 16 Patented Sept. 8, 1931 1,822,520

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

CHARLES H. FOX, OF MILLERS FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MILLERS FALLS COMPANY, OF MILLERS FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS

CLAMPING LEVER FOR PLANES

Application filed August 9, 1928. Serial No. 298,469

This invention relates to improvements in planes, such as carpenters' or bench planes, and more particularly to improvements in means for clamping the cutting blade or plane iron in operative position.

The general object of the invention is to provide a clamping lever which is sturdy in construction, which may be manufactured at low cost, which may be readily applied and which will hold the cutting blade firmly against the plane stock or the frog thereof under all conditions of operation.

A more specific object is to provide a clamping lever which is so constructed as to not only clamp the cutting blade at the lower and upper ends, as is usual, but also to clamp it intermediately so that it is firmly held throughout its length, thereby eliminating bowing thereof and chattering and gouging action during operation.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claim.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a plane partly in vertical section, showing an embodiment of the improved construction of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1:

Fig. 3 is a detail side elevational view of the improved clamping lever shown in Fig.1; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are side elevational and bottom plan views thereof respectively showing the parts in unassembled relation.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be noted that there is shown generally a plane 10, having a body 11, knob 12, handle 13, throat 14, frog 15, blade or plane iron 16, cap 17, feeding screw 18, fulcrum stud 19, and shifting lever 20, all of which may be of the usual or any desired construction.

The present invention particularly resides in the structure of the clamping lever 21. The lever comprises a main body portion 22 which is provided at its upper end with a locking cam 23 and associated spring 24 and near its lower end with a fulcrum slot 25 adapted to cooperate with the fulcrum stud 19. At its lower end and below the slot, the main body portion 22 is terminated short of the usual length of such clamping levers, as at 26, and has a partially underlying and rockingly mounted tip member 27 which preferably forms a continuation of the outline of the main body portion 22 viewed either from the top or side thereof, and has at its lower end a bearing edge 28 adapted to be clamped against and to support the plane iron 16, (or the cap 17, if such is used).

The tip 27 may be conveniently secured to the main body portion 22 by means of a headed rivet 29 passed loosely through a hole 31 in the tip 27 and into driven fit with a hole 30 in the lower end of the main body portion 22. By such a structure, a certain amount of angular play is permitted between the tip 27 and the main body portion 22, both vertically and laterally.

In order to protect the connecting rivet 29 from undue strain and also to limit the aforesaid angular play, the lower end of the main body portion 22 and the upper end of the tip 27 are provided with mating interlocking means, such as the T-head 32 on that portion of the tip 27 underlying the main body portion 22 and the mating depression 33 on the underside of the lower end of the main body portion, the clamping force between the main body portion 22 and the tip 27 being exerted primarily along the bearing line 34 at the lower edge of the depression 33 in the main body portion 22. Thus it will be seen that the tip 27 has a limited universal movement with respect to the main body portion 22.

At a point rearwardly of the bearing line 34 and preferably on a line substantially parallel to said bearing line and at a distance therefrom approximately equal to the distance from the said bearing line to the bearing edge 28, the tip 27 is provided on its lower face with a plurality of laterally spaced lugs, such as the pair of lugs 35, which may be conveniently positioned one on each side of the fulcrum slot 25. Also, preferably, the upper end of the fulcrum slot 25 is positioned substantially mid-way between the bearing edge 28 and the cam 23, and the bearing line 34 is positioned approximately midway between said upper end of said fulcrum slot 25 and the bearing edge 28.

The bearing edge 28 of the tip 27 and the contact portions of the lugs 35 are formed so that they lie in the same plane, whereby when the clamping lever 21, comprising the main body portion 22 and associated tip 27 is clamped in position on the plane, the plane iron will be firmly held in place by pressure exerted not only along the lower or cutting edge and at the upper end where the cam 23 acts, but at a plurality of laterally spaced points between the cutting edge and the fulcrum stud 19.

In its preferred form, the lower end of the tip 27 and the contact portions of the lugs 35 are milled to provide milled faces 28' and 35' respectively, which lie in substantially the same plane, whereby larger effective bearing and clamping surfaces are obtained.

From the foregoing, it will be readily appreciated that by the present invention, there has been provided means for effectively clamping the cutting iron of a plane at a plurality of points whereby it is rigidly held in firm position against the stock or frog of a plane, thereby minimizing the possibility of chattering, gouging and other undesirable action during operation. Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A clamping lever for a plane iron including, in combination, a main body portion, a tip portion member partially underlying said lower end of said main body portion member and rockingly mounted with respect thereto, said tip portion member having a bearing edge adapted to exert pressure adjacent the cutting edge of a plane iron and a pair of laterally spaced lugs adapted to exert pressure on said plane iron on a line substantially parallel to but spaced rearwardly from said bearing edge, said tip portion member being secured to said main body portion member by a rivet passing loosely through a hole in one of said members and into the other of said members, said rivet being substantially centrally located transversely of said members, the underlying portion of said tip portion member being formed with a T-shaped head and the underside of the lower end of said main body portion member being formed with a mating depression adapted to accommodate said T-shape.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES H. FOX.