The present invention relates to an improved hammer for use as a hand tool. Conventionally, a hammer consists of a handle with a head mounted at one end ofthe handle. The head provides a striking surface at one or both ends, or may provide a striking surface at one end and another tool (e.g. a claw or a spike) at the other. The striking surfaces may be hard or soft, but generally are hard, typically of steel. Tradesman such as carpenters and builders usually have to move around their work-site, and carry their tools with them, generally in a tool-belt which provides barely enough room for the essential tools. Thus, it often is not possible or convenient to carry more than one hammer or mallet, but nevertheless there are frequent occasions when a tradesman requires an implement with a soft striking surface, such as a mallet.

BACKGROUND ART

A number of solutions to this problem have been proposed in the past. For example, UK Patent No. 371725 and US Patent 2601294 disclose a hammer with a hard striking surface at one end of the head, and a soft striking surface at the other. Similar types of hammers are disclosed in UK Patent 999735 and 1238652. However, these designs have the drawback that they deprive the user of the component which is replaced by the soft striking surface (e.g. the claw of a claw-headed hammer) and this frequently is unacceptable to the user. Another solution is that proposed in UK Patents 667896 and 1504865 which disclose replaceable striking faces, some hard, some soft. This produces a versatile hammer, but changing the striking faces is a fiddly and time consuming job and the spare faces can easily be lost or mislaid.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hammer which overcomes the above described drawbacks.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention provides a hammer which includes a handle having a head mounted at one end thereof, the head providing a first hard striking surface at one end and second hard striking surface, or other tool, at the other end; characterised in that the head further provides at least one further striking surface located on the side of the head between the ends of the head, said further striking surface being a soft striking surface.

Preferably, two further striking surfaces are provided, one on each side of the head, both of which may be soft, or one of which may be soft and the other hard.

The or each further striking surface may lie flush with the side of the hammer, or be recessed into the side of the hammer, but preferably extends outwards from the side ofthe hammer.

The or each soft striking surface may be made of any suitable material e.g. rubber or a plastics material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

By way of example only a preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 is a side view ofthe hammer ofthe present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe hammer of Fig 1.

BEST MODE OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, a hammer 2 is depicted as a conventional carpenters hammer, with a handle 3 and a head 4. The head 4 provides a hard striking surface 5 at one end and a claw 6 at the other.

A further striking surface 7, 8, is provided on each side of the head, between the surface 5 and the claw 6. The striking surfaces 7, 8, are soft, and lie on the sides of the head, so that the longitudinal axes A of the soft striking surfaces are substantially peφendicular to the longitudinal axis B of the head 4.

Each surface 7, 8, is shown as a cylindrical plug but may in fact have any suitable shape. Each surface 7, 8, may be made of any suitable tough, resilient material (e.g. rubber or plastics).

Each soft striking surfaces 7, 8, could be secured to the surface of the side of the head (e.g. by gluing) but preferably is secured within a recess formed in the side of the head, using any suitable means (e.g. screw-threading, securing collars or inserts). Further, the soft striking surfaces 7, 8, may be formed as a single insert which is secured within a passage formed right through the head of the hammer. The surfaces 7, 8 may be made of the same or different materials. If preferred, one surface 7 may be soft and the other surface 8 hard.

The surfaces 7, 8, are depicted as standing proud of the sides of the hammer, but depending upon the shape of the remainder of the head, the surfaces

7, 8 could lie flush with the sides or even be recessed into the sides. However, for most uses, it would be inconvenient if the surfaces 7, 8, did not extend outwards at least to the level of any part ofthe remainder ofthe head.

It will be appreciated that the above described hammer provides a versatile tool, since it provides all the functions of a normal claw hammer, with the addition of the functions of a mallet. Further, if one of the surfaces 7, 8 is hard, the above described hammer is especially useful as a conventional hammer in restricted spaces.