Description

TILE CUTTER

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a tile cutter, and more particularly, to a tile cutter capable of more precisely cutting various thicknesses of tiles.

[2]

Background Art

[3] As is well known, ceramic tiles which have conventionally standardized sizes are used as finish materials for walls, floors, bathrooms, and so on, in houses and apartments, etc.

[4] Therefore, the tiles need to be cut using a tile cutter during a process of attaching the tiles.

[5] At this time, in the tile cutter, a movable frame freely reciprocates along a pair of guide rails having a rod shape with a tile being disposed on a base. An operation lever is pivotally installed at the movable frame.

[6] In addition, the operation lever includes a blade for scoring a preliminary cutting line on a tile and a pressing plate for pressing both sides of the tile to cut the tile, with the blade and the pressing plate being connected to each other using a separate link member.

[7] Specifically, when the conventional tile cutter reciprocates the operation lever along the guide rail to press the operation lever forward, the blade installed at the operation lever scores a preliminary cutting line on the tile disposed on a support plate, and simultaneously the press plate presses both sides of the tile to cut the tile.

[8] However, since the conventional tile cutter has the operation lever pivotally installed at a center of a movable frame reciprocating along a guide rail by a hinge shaft, and the blade and the pressing plate are disposed under the operation lever, the blade and the pressing plate are hidden by the movable frame, making it difficult for an operator to check an operation for scoring a preliminary cutting line of a tile.

[9] In addition, in the conventional tile cutter, in order to pivotally install the operation lever at the movable frame, a plurality of bar-shaped guide rails should be parallely disposed to reciprocate the movable frame. In this case, manufacturing cost of the tile cutter increases excessively.

[10] In order to solve this problem, a single guide rail having a rectangular cross-section is proposed. However, when the single rectangular guide rail is provided, the operation lever may be shaken during reciprocation of the pivoted operation lever, thereby deteriorating operation of scoring a preliminary cutting line onto a tile.

[11] That is, since there is no means for uniformly maintaining a coupling force of the guide rail with the movable frame in the conventional tile cutter, the preliminary cutting line deteriorates due to shaking of the movable frame.

[12]

Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[13] In order to solve the foregoing and/or other problems, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a tile cutter capable of directly checking a cutting position during a tile cutting operation, preventing a movable frame on a guide rail from being shaken, more precisely scoring a preliminary cutting line using a blade, and cutting the tile using a pressing plate.

[14]

Technical Solution

[15] One aspect of the present invention provides a tile cutter including: a base having a gauge plate, support parts formed at the base, a guide rail supported by the support parts at its both ends, and a movable frame installed on the guide rail to reciprocate, characterized in that the movable frame is divided into a first frame disposed on the guide rail and a second frame disposed under the guide rail, the first and second frames being fastened to each other by fastening members; a rotary shaft passes through the second frame; and an operation lever having a blade and a pressing plate is coupled to one end of the rotary shaft.

[16]

Advantageous Effects

[17] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent shaking of a movable frame reciprocating along a guide rail, and readily check operation of a blade and a pressing plate installed at a lower part of an operation lever. As a result, operation of forming a preliminary cutting line on a tile and operation of cutting the tile using the preliminary cutting line can be more precisely performed.

[18]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[19] These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[20] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

[21] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment

of the present invention;

[22] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2;

[23] FIG. 4 is a front view of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing a tile cutting operation; and

[24] FIG. 5 is a side view of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing a tile cutting operation.

[25] * Description of Major Reference Numerals *

[26] 1 : Base 2: Support part

[27] 3: Guide rail 10: Movable frame

[28] 11: First frame 12: Second frame

[29] 13: Fastening member 20: Rotary shaft

[30] 21: Bearing 30: Operation lever

[31] 31: Blade 32: Pressing plate

[32] 40: Adjustment pin

[33]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[34] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[35] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross- sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a front view showing a tile cutting operation of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing a tile cutting operation of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[36] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a base 1, support parts 2, a guide rail 3, a movable frame 10, a rotary shaft 20, an operation lever 30, and an adjustment pin 40.

[37] The base 1 includes a gauge plate Ia disposed on one side thereof, and the support parts 2 installed in the front and the rear of the base in a longitudinal direction thereof, and the guide rail 3 having a rectangular cross-section is fixed to the support parts 2 at its both ends to guide reciprocation of the movable frame 10.

[38] The movable frame 10 is installed on the guide rail 3 to be reciprocated, and includes a first frame 11 and a second frame 12, which are coupled to each other.

[39] The first frame 11 is disposed on the guide rail 3, and the second frame 12 is disposed under the guide rail 3. The first and second frames 11 and 12 are coupled to each other by fastening members 13 to prevent shaking of the frames 11 and 12 when

the frames 11 and 12 are reciprocated along the guide rail 3.

[40] The rotary shaft 20 passes though the second frame 12 from one side thereof to the other side. The operation lever 30 having a blade 31 and a pressing plate 32 is coupled to one end of the rotary shaft 20. A plurality of bearings 21 are installed on the rotary shaft 20 to readily pivot the operation lever 30, and a fixing body (not shown) such as a nut is installed at the other end to prevent separation thereof.

[41] The adjustment pin 40 is coupled to one end of the operation lever 30 to adjust its height to thereby define a pivot range of the operation lever 30.

[42] Operation of the tile cutter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

[43] First, an operator puts a tile to be cut on the base 1, and positions and fixes the tile onto the base 1 using the gauge plate Ia.

[44] Next, when the position of the tile is fixed, the operator grips the operation lever 30 to move the movable frame 10 to one side of the tile using the guide rail 3, thereby positioning the blade 31 formed at the operation lever 30 on a certain part of an upper surface of the tile.

[45] In addition, when the position of the blade 31 is fixed, the operator presses the operation lever 30 downward and reciprocates the operation lever 30 along the guide rail 3, thereby scoring a preliminary cutting line on the tile disposed on an upper surface of the base 1.

[46] At this time, the movable frame 10 is divided into the first and second frames 11 and

12, the first frame 11 is disposed on the guide rail 3 and the second frame 12 is disposed under the guide rail 3, and the fastening members 13 are fastened to couple the first and second frames 11 and 12 with the guide rail 3 interposed therebetween, thereby preventing the movable frame from being shaken by using the fastening members 13 when the movable frame 10 reciprocates.

[47] That is, when the fastening members 13 are fastened, the first and second frames 11 and 12 are securely coupled to each other with the guide rail 3 interposed therebetween, thereby preventing shaking of the movable frame 10 when the movable frame 10 reciprocates along the guide rail 3.

[48] In addition, the rotary shaft 20 laterally passes through the second frame 12, and the plurality of bearings 21 and the operation lever 30 are coupled to one end of the rotary shaft 20. Therefore, when the blade 31 formed under the operation lever 30 scores a preliminary cutting line onto a tile, the operator can directly check a process of forming the preliminary cutting line.

[49] As a result, the operator can directly check the preliminary cutting line formed on the tile using the blade 31 reciprocating without any shaking, thereby more precisely forming the preliminary cutting line on the tile using the blade 31.

[50] Next, when the preliminary cutting line is formed on the tile, the operation lever 30 is pressed downward, the movable frame 10 is reciprocated along the guide rail 3, and the pressing plate 32 installed at a lower part of the operation lever 30 presses the tile downward to cut the tile along the preliminary cutting line, thereby enabling the operator to directly check the cutting operation.

[51] Here, since a pivot range of the operation lever 30 is defined by the adjustment pin

40 coupled to one end of the operation lever 30 to operate the blade 31 and the pressing plate installed at the lower part of the operation lever 30, a depth of the preliminary cutting line of the blade and a press power of the pressing plate 32 are determined depending on an adjustment gap of the adjustment pin 40 to readily perform a cutting operation of the tile having different thicknesses.

[52] While some exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.