Tool guard attachment for a rotary hand tool

• Main Authors: HIRSCHBURGER, WOLFGANG, BABER, BRAD M, ENNIS, ED
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 16.06.2004
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: ACCESSORY MACHINES OR APPARATUS; BROACHING; COMBINATION OR MULTI-PURPOSE TOOLS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; DETAILS OR COMPONENTS OF PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS NOTPARTICULARLY RELATED TO THE OPERATIONS PERFORMED AND NOTOTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; FILING; HAND TOOLS; LIKE OPERATIONS FOR WORKING METAL BY REMOVING MATERIAL, NOTOTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; MACHINE TOOLS; MANIPULATORS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NAILING OR STAPLING MACHINES IN GENERAL; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PLANING; PORTABLE POWER-DRIVEN TOOLS; SAFETY DEVICES, e.g. THOSE FOR SAWS; SAWING; SCRAPING; SHEARING; SLOTTING; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OR PRESERVING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL

A tool guard attachment (10) for a rotary hand tool of the type which has a housing with a nose portion from which an output shaft protrudes and which typically has a mechanism for holding tool bits or implements is disclosed. The tool guard attachment (10), which mounts to the nose portion of the rotary hand tool, has a guard housing (12) with an enlarged guard portion (18) at the outer end thereof which provides a shield or guard for a flat circular tool implement (20) that is mounted on an arbor shaft assembly (22) that in turn is connected by a U-joint (64) to a drive shaft assembly (24) at an acute angle relative to the arbor shaft assembly (22). The drive shaft assembly (24) engages a driver nut or the like that is mounted to the output shaft of the rotary hand tool. The angle between the drive shaft and the arbor shaft is offset about 10 to 30 DEG so that the rotary hand tool itself does not interfere with the cutting blade (20) engaging a work surface at a perpendicular angle during operation. A lower guard (34) that is retractable in the enlarged guard portion (18) of the housing is normally biased away from the enlarged guard portion (18) for protecting a user from injury.