1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to guards for use with handles usable with hand saws including a variety of different types of carpenter saws, metal cutting saws, wood cutting saws, crosscut saws and the like. The present invention is particularly adaptable for use with conventionally configured carpenter's hand saw handles.
The teeth of such saws are highly susceptible to damage upon contacting materials for which the saw has not been designed. The result is that the teeth will become dull or broken and a costly resharpening is required. Also, on the other hand, it is a common occurrence for objects with which the saw may have inadvertently come in contact may become marred or scratched by such contact. In order to prevent damage to both the saw and the surrounding environment it is preferable to include a guard means for protecting the teeth from unwanted contact with various articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various articles have been utilized in the past to protect the teeth of saws from contact with other objects including a variety of types of guards and longitudinally extending protecting members. One example of such a design is U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,118 which discloses a guard protecting the cutting edges of saw blades wherein a flexible protecting member is shown. This design merely would .RTM.provide a predetermined length of the protecting member which is not in any way secured to the handle of the saw itself. Another configuration is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,797 for a hand saw guard wherein another similar predetermined section of guard is shown. Another similar Patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,761,477 issued to C. A. Sherman on a saw guard.
More pertinent is U.S. Pat. No. 1,085,499 disclosing a hand saw which includes a segmented protecting member. This segmented protecting member is adapted to collapse and is capable of being urged within a pocket within the handle of the saw. This design does not provide the continually flexible guard means of the present invention.
Also various means for including starter knives in the blades of saws are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,034,367; 3,837,024; 2,853,106 and 2,780,256.
The present design as a whole is distinguishable from each of the above cited references.