1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-purpose tongs, and more particularly to a multi-purpose tongs for picking up waste paper, footwear and the like in such a manner that when pressing an operation lever mounted at a handle, the operation lever pushes an operation rod within a body so as to close a tongs part which is hinged-connected to the operation rod.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, most restaurants provide a variety of customer services in which, for example, a service employee, when customers take off their shoes at an entrance, keeps the shoes in a shoe shelf, and then takes the shoes out of the shoe shelf again so as to allow the customers to wear their shoes at the time of departure.
Operations for putting the shoes of the customers into and taking them out of the shoe shelf to arrange the shoes at the entrance as a part of the service, however, are mainly performed by an employee's hand. Accordingly, since these operations generate harmful effects which are infected with various germs such as trichophyton being parasitic on the shoes and are also unsanitary, the restaurants may not be sufficiently maintained under clean conditions.
In order to reduce such harmful effects, a tongs is used at the restaurants so that operations for putting the shoes into and taking them out of the shoe shelf to arrange the shoes may be more sanitarily performed. Consequently, the restaurants may be sufficiently managed and maintained under sanitary conditions.
The tongs is variously utilized to pick up footwear as well as waste paper or for collecting chestnut burrs which naturally fall off a tree.
The tongs of the related art includes a body 111, a handle 160, a pin 121, a spring 130, a support part 140, a tongs part 150, and a fixed lever 163. The body 111 is formed, at the vicinity of an end of one side thereof, with a slot penetrated in a longitudinal direction, and an operation rod 120 is inserted into a hollow hole formed within the body 111. The handle 160 is hinged-coupled, at an intermediate portion thereof, to one end of the operation rod 120 and is inserted into the slot to penetrate the body 111. The pin 121 protrudes radially inward from an inner surface of the other side of the body 111 and is formed to be spaced apart from an outer peripheral side of the operation rod 120. The spring 130 is provided within the body 111 and the operation rod 120 is inserted within the spring 130. The support part 140 is integrally constituted with the other end of the body 111. The support part 140 includes a support piece to allow the operation rod to be penetrated and link pieces 141 and 142 formed to be bent at a right angle at opposite edge ends of the support piece. The tongs part 150 is hinged-coupled with the link pieces 141 and 142 and an intermediate portion of the support part 140, and is bent in a ‘’ shape. The tongs part 150 is comprised of operation parts 153 provided at one side thereof and upper and lower tongs parts 152 and 151 provided at the other side thereof. Each of the lower tongs parts 151 has a saw-toothed shape at opposite side surfaces of an end thereof, thereby picking up chestnut burrs. The fixed lever 163 is fixed, at one end thereof, to an outer peripheral surface of one side of the body 111 while being hinged-fixed, at the other side thereof, to one end of the handle 160.
The related art is operated as follows. When a user pulls the upper operation lever 162 to be adjacent to the body 111 by a thumb and the like in a state of grasping the handle, the operation rod 120 in the body 111 fixed to the handle 160 compresses and the spring 130 and is elastically moved. Accordingly, a pair of operation parts 153, which is hinged-coupled by the pin 121 at a lower portion of the operation rod 120, is pulled upward in a state of being supported by the link pieces 141 and 142.
The opposite operation parts 153, which are hinged-coupled to the opposite link pieces 141 and 142 by the pin 121, are rotated about a hinge coupled with the tongs part 150 and the link pieces 141 and 142 by the pin 121, and thus the operation parts 153 are closed to face each other. Furthermore, the lower tongs parts 151 also approach to face each other, thereby easily picking up chestnut burrs between the lower tongs parts 151.
When the upper operation lever 162 attached to the body 111 is released, the operation rod 120 is moved reward by elastic restoration force of the spring 130. Consequently, the opposite operation parts 153 are opened about the hinge coupled with the tongs part 150 and the link pieces 141 and 142 by the pin 121 in opposite directions, and the opposite lower tongs parts 151 are opened outward so as to be pushed to each other, and thus the lower tongs parts 151 are returned to an original position.
In general, the tongs is used in such a manner that a user directs toward the tongs on the ground in a standing state.
In the tongs of the related art, when the operation lever provide at the handle is pressed in order to pick up items, the operation lever pulls the operation rod in the body and the tongs part which is hinged-connected to the operation rod is closed. Therefore, there is a problem in that the operation lever is pressed beyond force in which weight of the operation rod and gravity force applied to the operation rod are summed during operation of the tongs.
In other words, the force, in which weight of the operation rod and gravity force applied to the operation rod are summed, are required during operation of the tongs.
Also, in the tongs of the related art, although the upper and lower tongs parts are the same in width and the lower tongs part protrudes outward to have a small size, the tongs part is wide than thickness thereof and has lower coupling strength. Therefore, there is a problem in that the tongs is not used in the case of cooking food such as pancakes easily broken to pieces.
In addition, since the tongs of the related art has a structure in which the tongs part is closed by pulling the operation rod, the lower tongs parts protrude outward than the upper tongs parts. Therefore, there is a problem in that the lower tongs parts are not inserted between the ground and items in order to pick up the items which are wide relative to the ground, and thus the wide items may be not grasped.