Background Art The following references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art in Australia.

Typically, prior peg removing tools rely on leverage principles. They can be difficult to use, particularly in bard ground, and may be ineffective to extract the peg without considerable effort. Accordingly, conventional hammering (shock load) techniques have been employed in devices to break up the frictional forces binding a peg in the ground.

In US 4,454, 792 (Burris) a bar stake puller using the sliding hammer principle is disclosed. The bar stake puder is a hand tool comprising a claw foot 1 having a standing bar 2 and a sliding bar 3 with a handle 10, wherein the standing bar and the sliding bar are adjacently engaged to each other whereby to slide relative to one another along parallel, non-coaxial axis. Because the standing and sliding bars are not coaxial, torque about the longitudinal axes of the standing bar 2 and the sliding bar 3 occurs during use (see column 2, lines 30 to 33). Moreover, because the sliding bar 2 makes up less than half of the total mass of the pulling tool, and being lightweight, it is ineffective in its application of the sliding hammer principle. Bums describes the likelihood of personal injury particularly to hands, fingers or flesh when using tools that involve the sliding hammer principle. Bums claims to remove this risk by reducing the mass of the moving part and providing for one-handed operation. Used properly, Bums'tool may not cause in. However, the meeting of the two surfaces that create the impact function of this tool occur external to the body of the tool and are thus easily accessible to the operator's hands/body.

In US 4,261, 424 (Gonterman et al) there is described a peg driver and extractor adapted for a peculiarly designed peg head (see Fig. 4). The Gonterman tool includes a reciprocating member 16 coaxially mounted on a tubular member 11. The reciprocating member 16 is presumably grasped by the operator and used as a sliding hammer when the tool 10 is engaged to a specifically designed peg. The momentum, and ultimately the shock load, is particularly restricted by the relatively low mass of the reciprocating

member 16 as a proportion of the total mass of the tool. The use of the Gonterman tool is limited by the peg driving method which also makes use of slide hammer principles.

This tool would probably require a second person to hold the tent peg steady during the first stages of the driving in process since the tool itself requires two hands to operate.

Moreover, the strike plates 19 against which tubular member 16 impacts are exposed whereby the user may jam her fingers between member 16 and plate 19.

There is a need for a tool which overcomes the shortcomings of the above described prior art or at least provides a useful alternative thereto.

Statement of Invention Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided a tool for manipulation of a peg in a substrate, said tool including: (a) a body defining an internal passage of non-circular cross-section ; (b) a hammer member oriented substantially normal to said body and located at a hammer end of said body ; (c) a strike member, wherein the strike face of said strike member is located in said internal passage at or near a strike cad of said body remote from said hammer end.

The passage may be operable to receive a peg engaging member including a captured portion, an elongate member and peg engaging means, wherein : A. said captured portion is: i. of a particular cross-section whereby said captured portion is unable to axially rotate in said passage ; ii. operative to reciprocally travel in said passage; and iii. operative to strike said strike member in a low energy loss collision ; and B. said captured portion is attached to said elongate member operative to extend from said body through an aperture in said strike member, said elongate member terminating at an free end with said peg engaging means.

In another aspect, the invention provides a tool for manipulation of a peg in a substrate, said tool including: (a) a handle including: (i) a body defining an internal space ; and (ii) a strike member wherein the strike face of said strike member is located in said internal space ; and (b) a peg engaging member including : (i) peg engaging means at an engagement end ; (ii) a captured portion trapped and reciprocally movable within said space and operative to strike said strike face; and (iii) an elongate member extending from said peg engaging means to said captured portion,

whemn said stuc member is located towards or at the end of said body closest to said peg engaging means and includes an aperture through which said elongate member is operative to extend.

In a preferred form, the peg extraction tool has a dual function in that it is also capable of being used as a driving tool or mallet. Accordingly, in another aspect of the invention, there is provided a peg driving and extraction tool including : (a) a peg engaging member including: (i) peg engaging means at an engagement end of the tool; (ii) a captured portion; and (iii) an elongate member extending from the peg engaging means to the captured portion ; (b) a handle member including : (i) a body defining a space within which the captured portion is trapped and is reciprocally translatable ; (ii) a hammer head at a top end of the. tool opposed to the engagement end; and (iii) a strike member at a lower end of the body for retaining the captured portion within the body, wherein the tool is adapted to be used as a hammer by holding the body and striking the peg or as an extraction tool by engaging the peg with the peg engaging means and holding the hammer head whereby to apply a shock load to the peg by pulling the hammer away from the peg so that the captured portion strikes the strike member.

The peg may be any one of a range of standard peg types suitable for anchoring items such as ropes, guide ropes, wires, tension wires and the like to the ground.

Preferably, the peg for which the tool is useable includes a projection or recess with which the peg engaging means may cooperate to achieve a positive engagement.

However, the peg engaging means may include clamp means to frictionally engage the peg where the peg has no surface or engagement features with which to positively engage. The peg may include a simple bent rod hook which is common to most tent pegs in current use and which is adapted to sit proud of, or visible above, the ground.

The peg engaging member preferably includes a simple hook arrangement adapted to engage a corresponding hook on the peg. The engagement means may also 'include retaining means to ensure that the peg engaging means does not jump out of engagement with the peg in use. For example, the retaining means may comprise a simple spring clip welded or otherwise fastened to the peg engaging means. The peg engaging means may include a hook having an internal angle or an eyelet whereby the peg is retainable within the internal angle by the operation of the retaining means. The retaining means may include resilient means which deforms to receive or release the peg, but which retums to its original shape to retain the peg in engagement with the peg

engaging means. For example, the retaining means may comprise a resilient moulded plastic or rubber member defining a channel adapted to receive a head of a peg in Eictional engagerilellt therewith.

The peg engaging and elongate members may be configured to be light in. weight compared to the handle member by providing the elongate member in the form of a shaft or rod. The shaft may be a thin rod made of strong, but relative light material, such. as aluminium or steel. It will be that any solid metal shaft should be sufficiently strong (in terms of tensile and torsional strength), rigid and capable of resisting metal fatigue as a result of use over a long period. Moreover, provided hollow tubing is sufficiently strong it should be suitable for most applications of the invention.

The captured portion may be trapped and reciprocally movable within the body.

The captured portion may be at the terminal end of the shaft. opposed to the peg engaging means. The shaft is preferably of constant cross section throughout its length and the captured portion includes at least one lateral portion which extends outside the footprint of the cross section of the shaft. The lateral portion may consist of a head which is significantly larger than the cross sectional footpnnt of the shaft. Preferably, the captured portion is a washer, cylinder or collar fixed to the captured portion of the shaft. However, it will be appreciated that the captured portion may be located intermediate the length of the shaft and still operate effectively. The shaft may include a pair of spaced collars-one intermediate the length of the shaft and another at its free or terminal end. The captured portion may be a metal collar welded onto the terminal end of the shaft or a bolt or a nut threadably screwed onto the end of the correspondingly threaded terminal end of the shaft The captured portion is preferably non-circular in cross-section. The internal space is preferably of a cross-sectional shape corresponding or complementary to that of the captured portion. Accordingly, the captured is preferably prevented from axial rotation about the longitudinal axis of the elongate member. This assists the user in manipulating the tool to lever the peg, i finely embedded, out of the ground.

The shaft may include any one of a number of different cross sections, such as irregular (like a puzzle piece), circular, oval, square, rectangular, diamond, star-shaped (three or more points), polygonal (such as hexagonal or octagonal) _ Preferably, however, the shaft has a simple. circular cross section for ease of manufacture.

The space defined by the body through which the captured portion travels may be of constant cross section, although not necessarily, provided that it is sufficient to

allow unrestricted travel of the captured end within the defined space. Accordingly, the body may be open sided and include at least three longitudinally extending surface contact features which effectively provide tracks or barriers to retain the captured portion within the body. Such an open structure would be helpful where ingress of debris, sand and the like into the body is inevitable and it is desirable to provide easy access to the internal spaces of the body for cleaning purposes. However, preferably the body is entirely enclosed to prevent personal injury during use of the tool that could eventuate if access (e. g. digital access) is provided to the mechanism located within the body. Moreover, the space is preferably vented to prevent a dampitlg cffect as air is compressed by the captured portion. Accordingly, the body preferably has one or more air vents proximal to the respective ends of the body.

The body may include an opening through which the elongate member sliding reciprocates which provides an effective seal against the ingress of grit etc. The opening preferably defines an aperture corresponding to the cross sectional shape of the shaft and may have a low friction surface. The opening may be defined by a opening member in the form of a plug, end cap or fixed collar fixedly mounted or moulded into the end of the body. The opening member may be made of TeflonT"4 Wolytetrafluoroethylene)., This impact end of the body preferably includes a strike surface. The strike surface may comprise a hard surface made of metal or hard plastic adapted to absorb the least amount of impact energy possible to ensure that a maximum shock load is translated to the peg.

The engagement end of the body may include a metal strike member, such as a plate, adapted to strike the captured portion in a highly elastic collision.

The peg engaging member may be partially or fully stored within the body when not in use. The peg engaging member may be retained in the body by a simple interference moulding, clip or catch which can be applied to the peg engaging means to hold the peg engaging member in the storage position in the body. The peg engaging member may be urged into the storage portion in the body by the operation of a light spring. The light spring may be adequate to return the peg engaging member to the storage position, but weak enough to have negligible affect on the impact collision between the captured portion and the strike member.

Alternatively, the peg engaging member may be removable from the body. This has the advantage of enabling the handle member to be used as a mallet without the peg engaging member interfering-e. g. where the peg engaging member is significantly longer than the body. Also, the peg engaging member is subject to high impact,

15torsional and other forces (compression, bending) and it is desirable that it be removable for easy servicing or replacement. The peg engaging member may be removable from the body by providing the body with a removable panel or a closure. The closure may be slidably or hingedly mounted to the body. Preferably the closure forms part of a side wall of the body. Preferably the closure completes one side of the strike member whereby the opening is defined, in part, by the closure.

The handle member may be moulded or cast as an integrally formed member or may be made up of separately formed components welded, threadably engaged or otherwise fixed together. The handle may include a metal moulded or cast frame onto which a plastic cover is injection moulded. According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making a tool including a handle having : (a) a body defining a bore including a pair of spaced strike members each having a strike face located within said bore ; and (b) a hanmierhead oriented substantially normal to said body at a top end thereof, the steps of said method including: ( !) forming said hammer head and body from metal and welding or casting these together, and (2) injection moulding an outer moulded plastic cover over said body.

The handle member may include a handle at a top end of the tool opposite the peg engagement end. The handle may include any suitable design adapted to receive a wide range of hand sizes and shapes, left and right, and may be oriented coaxially relative to the longitudinal axis of the body, transversely thereto or normal thereto.

Preferably, the handle is oriented traverse or normal to the longitudinal. axis of the body : The handle may include finger mouldings or castings to improve the comfort of the handle for the user. The handle may be mounted by fixed, non-resilient brackets to the body. Preferably, the brackets are welded rigidly to the body or are otherwise fixedly fastened, e. g. by screws, bolts or studs, to minimise loss of energy through the bracket or other means of attachment of the handle to the body. Alternatively, the handle may be mounted directly through or onto the body to minimise the loss of energy between the handle and the body during impact of the handlXmer.

The handle is preferably made of a solid heavy mass of material, such as heavy rubber or metal, preferably steel, whereby the handle may be used as a mallet.

Accordingly, the peg engaging member may be either removable or partially or fully retractable within the body and securable in position, such that the user may grasp the body and use the handle as a mallet to drive in pegs. Accordingly, this preferred

arrangement provides the dual function of a conventional mallet or hammer and a peg extracting function using the sliding hammer principle.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of extracting a peg embedded in the ground using a peg extraction tool having : (a) a peg engaging member ; and (b) a hammer portion having a body operably connected to the peg engaging member, the peg engaging member including a captured portion slidably trapped in the body, wherein the hammer portion is at least 60% of the total mass of the tool, the method including the steps of : (1) engaging the peg with the peg engaging means; (2) moving the hammer portion towards the peg; and (3) rapidly pulling the hammer portion away from the peg, whereby the captured portion strikes at the end of the body and the shock load of that impact is translated to the peg to partially or fully extract the peg.

The handle member or hammer portion, as the case may be, constitutes the majority of the mass of the tool. Preferably, the handle member or hammer portion constitutes at least 70% of the total mass of the tool. Still more preferably, the handle member or hammer portion constitutes at least 80% of the total mass of the tool. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the handle member or hammer portion constitutes at least 90% of the total mass of the tool.

Brief description of the drawings The invention'may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of one or more preferred embodiments, in which ; Figure 1 is a front view of a tool according to a first embodiment ; Figure 2 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a front view of a tool according to a second embodiment ; Figure 4 is a sectional view of the embodiment shown in Figure 3 ; Figure 5 is a front perspective view of a handle forming a mallet according to a third embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is a side view from the left hand side of the third embodiment; Figure 7 is a front view of the third embodiment ; Figure 8 is a side view from the right hand side of the third embodiment ; Figure 9 is a front perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the invention; Figure 10 is a side view from the left hand side of the fourth embodiment ; Figure 11 is a front view of the fourth embodiment ; Figure 12 is a side view from the right hand side of the fourth embodiment;

Figure 13 is a feat sectional view of the foui embodiment ; Figure 14 is a side view from the left hand side of the fourth embodiment ; Figure IS is a front view of the fourth embodiment; and Figure 16 is a side sectional view of the fourth embodiment.

Detailed description of the drawings Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 3, there is shown a peg driving and extraction tool 1 including a hammer head/bandle 10, a-body/handle 20 and an operating rod 30.

Like components are referred to using like reference numerals.

The hammer head 10 may be made of a variety of materials provided that they are suitable for use as a mallet or hammer. For example, the hammer head 10 may be made of hard rubber or plastic, such as is commonly used in rubber mallets, but is preferably made of metal, such as steel. A substantial proportion of the mass of the tool I is in the hammer head 10. The hammer head 10 may be between 0 : 5 and 2. 5 kg and preferably about 1. 5 kg.

The hammer head 10 is attached to the handle 20 by a bracket 11 comprising a base 12 mounted normal to a top end of the handle 20 and a pair of upstanding ann$ 13 extending normal to the base 12 and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle 20 to provide mounting means for the hammer head 10. The arms 13 include bores (not shown) through which the hammer head 10 extends. The base 12 is preferably welded to the top end of the handle 20. The bracket 11 may be integrally formed by casting in one piece or the base 12 and arms 13 may be welded together. Similarly, the hammer head. 10 may be welded or brazed to the alms 13. In another arrangement the hammer head 10, bracket ll and handle 20 are all integrally formed from moulded plastic, the plastic being of a particularly heavy, hard and strong nature. The plastic in such an embodiment is preferably polypropylene containing suitable additives to obtain the aforementioned preferred characteristics.

The handle/body 20 is an elongate cylinder and is preferably made from metal, still more preferably steel, and most preferably from forged steel. The top end of the handle 20 may include an end plate welded therein and the base 12 may be bolted or welded onto the end cap or the terminal ends of the wall of the cylinder of the handle 20, as the case may be.

The operating rod 30 includes peg engaging means such as a hook 31. The hook 31 may be simply formed by bending the operating rod 30. Preferably hook 31 would be forge formed and shaped for maximum toughness-Preferably hook 31 would also be shaped to facilitate engaging with the tent peg which may be embedded in the ground.

For that reason, the end of hook 31 may taper to a point. The hook 31 may include retaining means 32 anchored at one end 33 to the operating rod 30, its free end 34 capable of resilient deflection whereby to receive or release the tent peg within the space 35 defined by the hook 31 and retaining means 32.

In another embodiment, the operating rod 30 is in the form of high tension flexible cable (not shown). However, a rigid operating rod 30 is preferred as any stretching in that part of the system of the tool 1 would diminish the ultimate shock load applied by the tool 1.

Turning to Figure 2, the internal detail of the body/handle 20 and the operating rod 30, and other components of this particular embodiment is more clearly shown. The top end of the operating rod 30 includes a captured portion 21a adapted to slide within the internal space 22 defined by the body 20. The captured portion 21a may be in the form of a sliding collar 21a made of metal and either threadably attached to the end of the operating rod 30 or welded thereon. The sliding collar 2ia is of a shallow cylindrical construction and its diameter corresponds closely to the internal diameter of the body 20 whereby to permit low friction translation of the sliding collar 21a within the body 20, but a sufficiently tight fit to prevent significant lateral movement of the sliding collar 21a relative to the body 20. The body's 20 lower end 23 defines an opening through which the shaft 36 of the operating rod 30 reciprocating moves. The aperture is defined by a fixed collar 24a welded or threadably engaged into the lower end 23. The fixed collar 24a may be made from material having a low friction coefficient, such as Teflon (PTFE) or, alternatively, and preferably, from metal. The fixed collar 24a still more preferably is made from hardened metal, such as forged steel. The fixed collar 24a optionally includes a hardened metal cap 25 which acts as a strike plate adapted to absorb very little energy on impact by the underneath surface 26a of the sliding collar 21 a. It can therefore. be seen that the tool 1 applies conventional hammering (shock load) principles to drive in pegs (such as tent pegs used in camping activities) into the ground and also for removing such pegs from the ground. The device will prove to be of great value to many people including caravan and tent campers who frequently have difficulty removing tent pegs iroia ground which is hard packed and/or of a heavy clay type The tool will help reduce back injury risk The tool may be used to drive pegs into the ground. The device is used as a conventional mallet (or hammer) to strike the upper end of the peg and drive the peg

into the ground in the normal way. To this end the hook portion 31 is releasably retained in association with the lower end 23 by a plastic moulding, a strap, loop, retaining clip or the like (not shown). Accordingly, the tool 1 is similar in appearance to a conventional hammer and may be used accordingly. However, the tool can also be used to easily remove a peg from the ground via the sliding hammer arrangement of the tool 1. The sliding collar 21a, being the upper most end of the operating rod is permanently constrained within the tubular body 20 by the fixed collar 24a.

Referring specifically to Figures 3 and 4, body 20 partially encloses operating rod 30, generally secures operating rod 30 as part of tool 1 and provides for operating rod 30 to move catingly along the common axis of body 20. Fixed collar 24 is located within body 20 to restrict the downward travel of operating rod 30 relative to body 20.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the hammer head 10 is made of forged steel to ensure toughness. The striking face : lOa of the hammer head 10 is heat treated for hardness.

Fixed collar 24 is formed as part of body 20 or strongly and fixed to body 20 by welding or brazing and/or fixed by screws or pins. Operating rod 30 is able to pass up and down through fixed collar 24 with minimal frictional resistance. Fixed collar 24 may be made from material having a low frictional resistance, such as Teflon tM (PTF) or, alternatively and preferably from metal. The fixed collar 24 still more preferably is made from hardened metal, such as forged steel. The fixed collar 24 optionally includes a hardened metal cap 25 on its upper face which acts as a strike plate adapted to absorb very little energy on impact by ihe underneath surface 36 of the sliding collar 37. The fixed collar 24 may be fitted a bush (not shown) providing low frictional resistance to the movement of operating rod 30 through fixed collar 24.

The lower fixed collar 21 is similar in most aspects to the fixed collar 24 except that the lower fixed collar may be of lighter construction and shorter than fixed collar 24.

In an embodiment without a spring arrangement, there may be only one fixed collar of the size and style of fixed collar 24 which may be located where the lower fixed collar 21 is shown in Figure 4.

In the case of a spring arrangement embodiment, the spring compressing lever 38 is able to be moved downward by virtue of a slot 27 in body 20. The slot 27 provides ample clearance to lever 38 to not restrict the up and down movement of lever 38 and thus operating rod 30.

The upper section of the operating rod 30 includes a captured portion 37 adapted to slide within the internal space 22 defined by the body 20. The captured. portion 37 may be in the form of a sliding collar 37 made of metal and either formed as part of operating rod 30 or threadably attached to the end of the operating rod 30 or pinned or riveted or welded or brazed thereon. The sliding collar 37 is of shallow cylindrical form and its diameter corresponds closely to the internal diameter of the body 20 whereby to permit low friction translation of the sliding collar 37 within the body 20, but a sufficiently close fit to prevent significant lateral movement of the sliding collar 37 relative to the body 20.

Also part of operating rod 30, or attached to operating rod 30 by similar means to those which attach sliding collar 37 to operating rod 30, is spring compressing lever 38. Figure 4 shows the connection of spring compressing lever 38 with operating rod 30 via the sliding collar 37 however the connection with operating rod 30 can be at any point on the length of operating rod 30 provided that the spring compressing lever 38 is able to move the operating rod 30 downwards and compress the spring 40 when the spring compressing lever 38 is moved downwards. In the embodiment illustrated, the spring compressing lever 38 is able to slide easily in slot 27 formed in body 20 by the appropriate removal of part of the wall of body 20.

Also part of operating rod 30, or attached to operating rod 30 by similar means to those that attach sliding collar 37 and spring compressing lever 38 to operating rod 30, is spring stop 39. Spring stop 39 is generally similar in cylindrical form to sliding collar 37 however spring stop 39 may be of lighter construction than sliding collar 37 and may be shorter in length.

The tool 1 may or may not include a spring arrangement within the body 20.

Any spring arrangement is not essential for the functioning of tool 1. The main purpose of the spring arrangement is to securely contain the operating rod 30 within the body 20 whilst the tool 1 is not in use as a peg extraction tool. The spring arrangement may involve a tension spring or compression spring arrangement.

Any spring used for this purpose in the tool 1 should be of very light operating characteristic such that the effect of the spring does not significantly reduce the impact effect of the tool 1 during the peg extraction function. The spring should be only stiff enough to overcome the sliding frictional resistance that occurs between body 20 and operating rod 30 such that operating rod 20 is returned to a position within body 20 by the unaided action of the spring.

Any spring arrangement may or may not require a means to expose more of the operating rod 30 from the bottom of body 20 prior to using tool 1 as a peg extraction tool. Spring compressing lever 38 is used for this function in the embodiment illustrated at Figure 4. Alternatively the device could be configured so that the operating rod 30 could be moved down relative to body 20 by pushing directly onto an upper extension (not shown) of the operating rod 30 that protruded above the tubular body 20 through a hole in the top of the tubular body 20 (not shown). A further alternative could include a flexible control cable arrangement (not shown) to move the operating rod 30 down relative to body 20.

A spring arrangement is illustrated in the embodiment of tool 1 illustrated at Figure 4. The compression spring 40 is contained within the body 20 and secured between the spring stop 39 and the lower fixed. collar 21. Downward movement of operating rod 30 is opposed by the compression of spring 40 between the lower surface 41 of spring stop 39 fixed to operating rod 30 and the upper surface 43 of lower fixed- collar 21 fixed to body 20. A spring compression lever 38 is provided to manually expose more of the operating rod 30 and thus facilitate the engagement of the tent peg to be extracted (not shown) with hook 31.

As can be seen, the first embodiment is similar to that illustrated at Figure 3, but without a spring arrangement and does not include the spring 40, the spring stop 39 or the lower fixed collar 21 which is replaced by a relocated fixed collar 24. The slot 27 and lever 38 are also not necessary in the first embodiment.

To use the tool 1 to remove a tent peg from the ground, the hook port ion 31 is appropriately engaged with the accessible part of the tent peg via the simple bent rod hook (common to most tett pegs in current use) or via an otherwise formed hook on the tent peg or via an eye in the tent peg or via a loop attached to the tent peg or by any other means that ensures a firm connection between the peg and the operating rod 30.

It may be necessary to expose more of operating rod 30 from within body 20 prior to engaging hook 31 with the. tent peg to be extracted. In the embodiment illustrated at Figure 1, spring compressing lever 38 is moved down relative to body 20 to increasingly expose operating rod 30 and facilitate the connection to the tent peg to be extracted. In other configurations, it may be necessary to release operating rod 30 from any retaining arrangement-s trap, loop, retaining clip that has previously secured operating rod 30 within body 20.

The hammer head/handle 10 is grasped by an operator and moved upwards and away from the peg in a line that roughly follows the line along which the peg was driven into the ground. As the body 20 of the tool 1 is raised, the operating rod 30 will slide tbroujh tlle uppcr fised collar 24 and the lower fixed collar 21 until lower face 36 of the sliding collar 37 makes contact with the upper face of the fixed collar 24 or the strike plate 25. Continued pulling (removing) force applied by the operator via the hammer head 10 will now transmit to the peg.

To apply a hammering force (shock load) to the peg, the operator moves the hammer head 10 a distance towards the peg (the actual distance is not critical-even a very short distance will normally suffice). The operator then jerks the hammer head 10 away from-the peg roughly along the line of the tent peg shaft. The speed of that movement combines with the combined mass of the hammer 10 and body 20 to create substantial momentum which is transmitted to peg as a shock load via the operating rod 30 when the sliding collar 37 contacts the fixed collar 24 or the strike face 25.

A notable feature of the tool 1 is that almost all the mass of the tool 1 contributes to the operating momentum. Only the relatively small mass of the operating rod 30 is not utilised. The hammering action can be repeated, if necessary, to break the ground's grip on the tent peg. In each reciprocating movement, the continuous engagement of the operating rod with the peg is assured by means of the simple capturing clip 32.

Additionally or alternatively, the action of. the spring 40 serves to maintain contact between the operating rod 30 and the tent peg on the down stroke provided that the reciprocating movements are short enough to maintain some compressive force. on the spring 40. Once the ground's grip is overcome, a subsequent steady pull will normally remove the peg from the ground quite easily. Even in soft ground the tool 1 has benefit because it reduces. the amount of bending. required to extract a tent peg from the ground.

The tool 1 may also be used to drive tent pegs into the ground. The tool is grasped by the handle 20 and the device used as a conventional mallet (or hammer) to drive the tent peg (not shown) in the ground in the normal way by striking the upper end of the tent peg with the face of the hammer head 10. Operating rod 30 is redundant during this function and is releasably retained within the body 20 by a strap, loop or retaining clip, etc. (all not shown) located adjacent to. or forming part of the handle 20 or attached to or forming part of a plastic or rubber hand grip (now shown) that may be fitted over the handle 20 for user comfort. In the embodiment illustrated at Figures 3

and 4, the retaining of the operating rod 30 within the body 20 is achieved by the spring arrangement (previously described). it can be seen that the operating rod 30 and body 20 are coaxially aligned and this is desirable to impart maximum force to the peg. Of course, non-coaxial alignment in use may occur where a flexible operating cable (not shown) is used, or where the operating rod 30 and body 20 are aligned for adjacent, parallel, but non-coaxial movement relative to each other. Notwithstanding this, it will be appreciated that the preferred arrangement is to have the operating rod 30 and body 20 coaxially aligned.

Referring to the third embodiment in Figures 5 through to 8, there is shown a mallet 45 comprising a hammer head handle 50, a 2-armed bridge 55 in the manner of a typical spade handle and a body 60. The mallet 45 comprises a central core metal frame structure separately moulded or cast from, for example, steel (preferably stainless) and covered with a pliable plastic material by injection moulding to provide a pleasant, tactile surface. The ends 51 of the hammer head 50 are not covered by the injection moulding process, but are left exposed for use as the impact surfaces for the mallet. The external cigar-shaped surface of the body 60 serves as a handle to be gasped by the user. The rigid metal core frame reduces the vibration of the tool which might otherwise be observed through the bridge 55 whereby the mallet 45 is effective to drive pegs into ground, even bard baked ground, by the user grasping the body 60 and hotting the peg head with one of the impact surfaces 51.

With reference to Figures 9 to 16, there is shown a peg extraction tool 46, including a peg engaging member 70. The fourth embodiment utilises the mallet 45 of the third embodiment to which the peg engaging member 70 is added. As seen in Figure 13 and 16, the peg engaging member 70 includes a captured portion 71 trapped within a cylindrical bore 61 defined by the body 60. The substantially cylindrical bore is non- circular in cross-section and is therefore not a true cylindrical bore, but is asymmetrical whereby to prevent the axial rotation of the captured portion 71 about the longitudinal axis 72 of the elongate rod 73 of the peg engaging member 70 shown in figure 14.

The peg engaging member further includes a peg engaging means 74 comprising a hook 75 and a retaining means 76 in the form of a deflectable spring steel.

The body 60 further includes a closure 62 shown in Figure 8 and Figure 15 which is hinged to the lower portion of the bridge 55 and inset therein at location 63. At the closure's 62 free end there is provided a tab 64 for easy manipulation by an operator using her fingers. The lower portion of the closure 62 completes the loop of an end cap

65 integrally formed in the bottom end of the body 60. The end cap 65 operates as a strike plate for the captured portion 71. The end cap 65 forms, when the closure 62 is in the closed position, and aperture through which the rod 73 extends. The aperture is of a circular cross-section corresponding to the cross-section of the rod 73 so that the rod 73 is freely capable of sliding through the aperture. The captured portion 71 is too large to pass through the aperture so that, when the closure 62 is closed, the captured portion 71 is trapped in the bore 61 and able to reciprocally linearly travel up and down the bore 61.

To remove a peg embedded in the ground, the user grasps the hammer handle SO and manipulates the hook 75 so that its end 77 is pushed though the hook of the peg so that the hook of the peg passes the retaining means 76 by deflecting same whereby the peg hook comes to rest in the crook 78 of the peg engaging means 74. During this operation it is important that there be minimal axial rotation of the hook 75 to enable the hook 75 to be negotiated into engagement with the peg hook. The user then gently pushes the hammer handle 50 towards the hook 75 so that the captured portion 71 travels through the bore 61 whereby the captured portion 71 comes to rest against the upper end 66 of the bore 61. The user then rapidly jerks the hammer handle 50 away from the hook 75 so that the captured portion 71 quickly travels (relatively) through the bore 61 to impact on the end cap 65 with a significant strike load which translates to the hook 75 and the peg hook where by to dislodge same from the ground. Even in heavily compacted, very hard ground, the peg extraction tool 46 of the four embodiment is typically effective to remove the peg from the ground with no more than two or three jerks of the hammer handle 50.

The preferred form of the invention described-has several notable features including but not limited to: (1) This single tool competently performs both the driving in of tent pegs function and the extracting of tent pegs function. In that respect, it will be readily welcomed by outdoor campers who strive to simplify their leisure.

(2) The tool will be readily received by outdoor campers who often bave difficulty extracting tent pegs. The tool is likely to reduce the incidence of back injury that can occur during. the process of extracting severely bound tent pegs in heavy ground. In the extraction of tent pegs function, this tool is likely to be superior to all other tools designed for that purpose because it so efficiently uses the slider hammer principle. The tool utilises almost all the mass of the tool to create the momentum that determines the efficacy of this type of device.

(3) Importantly, the preferred form of the invention provides a tool which is extremely safe to operate. The hazardous characteristic of slide hammer function is that such devices must rely on a heavy hard object meeting another hard object at speed to create the desired shock load. The dramatic meeting of those hard objects creates an opportunity for personal injury. In the case of the tool which is the subject of this invention, the coming together of the two objects occurs inaccessibly, and thus safely, within the body of the tool.

When used in this specification and claims, the terms"comprises"and "comprising"and variations thereof mean that the specified features, steps or integers are included. The terms are not to be interpreted to exclude the presence of other features, steps or components.

It is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be made to the features of the possible and preferred embodiments) of the invention as herein described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Orientational terms such as top, bottom, upper and lower are to be interpreted as relational and are based on the premise that the tool will usually be considered with the handle 10 uppermost.