Field of the invention This invention relates to a hand-held knife, and more particularly a knife comprising a handle including a hand-grip part, a blade connected to the handle and having a cutting edge and a back edge. The invention relates particularly to a hand-held knife of the general type represented by woodcarving knives and similar knives that the user typically holds with one hand with the cutting edge directed away from his body in order to perform an"off movement"with the hand and the arm, i. e. to perform a cutting movement directed away from the body. The term "woodcarving knife"refers herein to a knife of this type.

The present invention relates particularly to a one-hand woodcarving knife having a blade that is uniquely positioned in relation to the hand-grip part of the knife in order to provide an ergonomically improved woodcarving knife.

Background Woodcarving knives usually comprise a blade that is connected to a handle with the longitudinal axis of the blade of the knife and the handle essentially coinciding. The handle comprises a hand-grip part that the user grasps when carving.

One disadvantage of existing woodcarving knives is that their general design with the handle and the blade essentially in line with each other does not allow the user in a natural way to utilize the force of his arm efficiently. As a consequence of that orientation of the cutting edge in relation to the hand-grip part-generally the cutting edge is positioned in line with the lower part of the hand-grip part-the user when carving instinctively produces the carving movement of the knife essentially with his hand angled in relation to the forearm during the off movement of the arm.

Such a carving movement is more strenuous and therefore is not as efficient as a carving movement that is produced exclusively or at least essentially by the off movement of the arm, thus with the hand essentially aligned with the forearm during the carving movement.

Another disadvantage of knives known in the art is that in certain typical uses the hand of the user easily slips off the handle toward the cutting edge of the blade and hits the cutting edge so that incision wounds are caused. A solution to this problem that is well known in the art is to provide the handle with transversely protruding parts, a so called cross guard.

US 2 048 322 discloses a hand-held paring knife having a curved cutting edge throughout its length. The cutting edge is concavely shaped over a section extending from the hand-grip part of the handle and over the major part of the length of the blade and then changes then into a convex shape over the remaining section to the free end of the blade. The concave part of the cutting edge is intended to correspond at least roughly to the shape of an object with a rounded contour.

This knife is not suitable for woodcarving and neither does it solve the above described disadvantages of the known woodcarving knives.

Summary of the invention The objective problem is thus to provide a woodcarving knife that in use efficiently utilizes the user's arm force by making the user to produce the carving movement in a natural way essentially without angling the wrist in relation to the forearm.

The problem is thus solved by providing a one-hand woodcarving knife according to the claims. The woodcarving knife comprises a handle including an elongate hand- grip part having a palm face, a finger face opposite to the palm face and a longitudinal axis L between the palm face and the finger face, and further comprising a blade that is attached to the handle and has within it the longitudinal axis of the hand-grip part and that moreover has a cutting edge directed in the same direction as the finger face of the hand-grip part and a back edge directed in the same direction as the palm face, wherein the blade extends forwardly from a front end of the handle and wherein the cutting edge of the blade is inclined downwardly and forwardly from the hand-grip part at an angle a of inclination within the range of 15° to 40° with the longitudinal axis L of the hand-grip part, wherein the blade is attached to the hand-grip part of the handle through an intermediate part, in that the intermediate part has a front edge directed in the same direction as the cutting edge and connected to the cutting edge of the blade and a rear edge directed in the same direction as the back edge and connected to the back edge, in that the intermediate part is shaped to provide between the hand-

grip part and the proximal end of the cutting edge of the blade an incision-safety distance in the longitudinal direction of the hand-grip part, in that the edges of the intermediate part are blunt and in that an area in which the front edge of the intermediate part connects to the cutting edge of the blade is in the vicinity of the longitudinal axis (L) of the hand-grip part.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are defined by the dependent claims.

An advantage with the present invention is that persons having weak hands are able to utilize the arm force more efficiently in order to carve with the knife compared with conventional woodcarving knives. Moreover, the force required to hold a knife according to the present invention during the carving movement is less than the force required to hold a conventional woodcarving knife.

A further advantage of the knife according to the present invention is that the hand- grip part of the handle in one preferred embodiment is shaped such that the user instinctively opens up his hand if it should slip towards the blade of the knife, which reduces the risk for incision wounds. In addition, if the user's hand should yet slip along the handle toward the cutting edge of the blade, incision wounds are prevented by his index finger having to move past a blunt intermediate part before it reaches the cutting edge of the blade of the knife. In one embodiment the angle of the intermediate part relative the hand-grip part of the handle provides a free space between the hand-grip part and the cutting edge of the blade.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the knife according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top view of the knife in figure 1.

Figures 3a to 3f schematically show a hand-gripping the knife according to the present invention (Figs. 3a-3c) and a prior art knife (Fig. 3d-3.

Figure 4 is a side view of the knife according to the present invention hold in the user's hand.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment The illustrated woodcarving knife which is an example of an embodiment comprises a handle 20 including an elongate hand-grip part 30, having a palm face 30b, a finger face 30a opposite to the palm face and a longitudinal axis L between the palm face 30b and the finger face 30a, and further comprises a blade 50 that is attached to the handle 20 and has within it the longitudinal axis L of the hand-grip part 30 and that moreover has a cutting edge 50a directed in the same direction as the finger face 30a of the hand-grip part 30 and a back edge 50b directed in the same direction as the palm face 30b of the hand-grip part 30. The blade 50 extends forwardly from a front end 40 of the hand-grip part 30.

The term hand-grip part is used in this application to designate that part of the handle which normally comes in contact with the user's hand when he grasps the handle and uses the knife. In the illustrated embodiment, the hand-grip part 30 comprises the entire handle or substantially the entire handle, but the handle may also be longer than the hand-grip part.

The term palm face is used in this application to designate that side of the hand- grip part which rests on the palm of the user when the user carves. In the illustrated embodiment, the palm face 30b is essentially represented by the side of the handle 20, the top side, that is directed upwards in Figs. 1 and 2.

The term finger face is used in this application to designate that side of the hand- grip part which is opposite to the palm face, i. e. the downwardly directed side, the underside, of the handle in the illustrated embodiment.

The term longitudinal axis of the hand-grip part is used in this application to designate an imaginary line having essentially the same orientation as the hand- grip part, more exactly, that it is essentially perpendicular to the forearm of the user when the user holds the knife with his hand closed around the hand-grip part and extended as shown in Figure 4, it being assumed that the size of the hand-grip part naturally harmonizes with the size of the hand of the user.

In accordance with the present invention, the ergonomic improvement is achieved because the cutting edge 50a of the blade of the knife is inclined downwardly and forwardly from the handle at an angle a of inclination with the longitudinal axis L of

the hand-grip part, the angle of inclination being in the range of 15° to 40°. In a preferred embodiment the angle a of inclination is within the range of 20° to 35°. If the cutting edge 50a of the blade of the knife is not straight, the angle a is measured within the section of the cutting edge that is the most natural section to use when carving, normally 2 to 6 cm from the front end 40 of the hand-grip part, the angle preferably being measured within the central half of that section. That is illustrated in Figure 1, wherein said section is designated by B and the central half of is designated by C.

According to the invention as illustrated in Figure 1 the blade 50 is attached to the hand-grip part 30 of the handle through an intermediate part 60. The intermediate part has a front edge, directed in the same direction as the cutting edge 50a, and connected to the cutting edge 50a and a rear edge 60b, directed in the same direction as the back edge 50b and connected to the back edge 50b. Furthermore, the intermediate part 60 is shaped to provide between the hand-grip part and the proximal end of the cutting edge 50a of the blade of the knife an incision-safety distance A in the longitudinal direction of the hand-grip part 30. This distance suitable is at least 2 cm and preferably longer. According to the invention, the front and rear edges of the intermediate part are blunt to avoid incision wounds if the user's hand should slip forward off the hand-grip part into contact with these edges.

According to the invention, an area S in which the front edge of the intermediate part 60 connects to the cutting edge 50a of the blade 50 is in the vicinity of the longitudinal axis L of the hand-grip part 30. The area S may thus be on or slightly above or below the longitudinal axis L.

Figure 4 shows the knife 10 when it is held in the user's clenched hand with the hand in the position that is natural when carving with the knife. The user's hand is stretched out to form an extension of the user's forearm. A line 70 passing centrally through the user's forearm and wrist is then positioned near the location where the middle finger and the ring finger of the user touch each other. The handle of the knife is positioned in the hand such that its longitudinal axis L is generally perpendicular to the line 70 (for the sake of clarity, the angle is marked at a line 70' that is parallel with the line 70). A line 90 perpendicular to line 70, on which the tip

of the blade of the knife is positioned, passes through or near the forwardly directed knuckles.

The angle (90-a) of inclination of the cutting edge 50a with the longitudinal axis L of the blade of the knife-the angle a being within the range of 15° to 40°, preferably 20° to 35°-is such that the cutting edge includes an angle with the longitudinal axis L that the user of a conventional"straight"woodcarving knife instinctively sets by turning his hand relative to the forearm a corresponding angle, see Figures 3a to 3f, especially Figure 3f. Thus, the user need angle his hand in order to be able to work with the cutting edge set at an advantageous angle, on the contrary, he can keep the hand extended forwardly in the way shown in Figure 4.

In accordance with Figure 1, the hand-grip part 30 of the handle 20 is configured in a way that the finger face 30a of the hand-grip part has adjacent to its front end a first depression 100 for accommodating the user's index finger.

Advantageously, the finger face 30a of the hand-grip part 30 has a second depression 110 for accommodating the user's middle finger and possibly also one or more depressions for the other fingers. The second depression 110 is behind the first depression 100 and preferably has a greater radius than the first depression 100. In one embodiment only the finger face 30a of the hand-grip part is provided with depressions, but a larger portion of the hand-grip part 30 may have depressions, or the entire hand-grip part 30 may have depressions all around.

The design of the hand-grip part 30 makes the user's hand allowed to instinctively open away from the cutting edge as is illustrated in Figure 2 by arrows 120 and 130 if the hand slips on the handle 20 toward the cutting edge of the blade. That minimizes the risk for incision wounds. In addition, the design of the knife does not invite to use the knife as a screwdriver, drill or chopper or the like with the attendant risk of incision wounds. Incision wounds are further provided against by means of the blunt intermediate part 60 that the user's hand has to pass before it reaches the sharp cutting edge, if the hand despite should yet slip forward off the hand-grip part of the handle towards the cutting edge.

In the illustrated embodiment the handle 20 may for example extend over a greater or smaller portion of the intermediate part 60 while the hand-grip part only extends to the front part of the first depression 100.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, a part 140 comprising the blade of the knife and the intermediate part continues into and through the handle 20. The part 140 may also continue through only a part of the handle or end at the front end of the handle.

The present invention is not limited to the above described preferred embodiment.

Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above-described embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.