Cordless electric garden trimmer with safety lock means

Claim 2

A cordless electric garden trimmer comprising a housing enclosing and supporting operatively electric storage batteries and an electric motor connectable to said batteries to be driven thereby; rotary cutting means supported by said housing and operably connected to said motor to be driven thereby; a safety cover comprising a pair of semicircular shrouds pivotally supported by said housing for movement between a closed position in which the shrouds abutt each other to form a hollow diskshaped enclosure for said rotary cutting means anD an open position in which the shrouds are separated from each other to expose said rotary cutting means; and a safety storage lock means carried by said housing for releasably locking the shrouds in said closed shroud position to prevent exposing said rotary cutting means when the trimmer is not in use.

Claim 3

A garden trimmer as in claim 1 wherein said safety storage lock means comprise a lock plate having a lock jaw and slidably supported by said housing for movement between a lock position and a release position, and wherein each of said shrouds includes a fixed extension, said shroud extensions being aligned with each other and with said lock jaw to be received by the lock jaw when the shrouds are in the closed shroud position and the lock plate is moved to the lock position to keep the shrouds in said closed shroud position.

Claim 4

A garden trimmer as in claim 2 including a releasable stop means carried by said housing for holding said lock plate against sliding movement from said lock position towards the release position.

Claim 5

A garden trimmer as in claim 3 wherein said stop means comprise a biasing means for urging the lock plate toward the housing, a stop extension on said housing facing the lock plate, said lock plate overriding the stop extension against the urging of the biasing means except in the lock position in which a wall of the lock plate rests against said stop extension to prevent sliding motion of the lock plate away from the lock position of the plate, whereby the safety storage lock means is releasable by manually moving the lock plate both away from said housing against the urging of the biasing means and in sliding movement along said housing from said lock position to said release position.

Claim 6

A garden trimmer, as in claim 1, including spring biased trigger means connected to said shrouds for moving the safety cover shrouds from said closed position to said open position against the action of a bias spring.

Claim 7

A garden trimmer, as in claim 5, including contact means operable by said trigger means to establish electrical contact between said storage batteries and said motor when the safety cover shrouds are in said open position and to prevent electrical contact between said batteries and said motor when the safety cover shrouds are in said closed position.

Claim 8

A garden trimmer as in claim 1 including means for providing an opening in said safety cover for expelling trimmings when the safety shrouds are in their open position, said means comprising a flap hingedly attached to one of said shrouds and having a closed flap position in which the flap forms a part of disc-shaped enclosure for the rotary cutting means and an open flap position in which the flap opens to provide an opening in said enclosure, means for urging the flap toward said closed flap position when the safety shrouds are in their closed position, and cam and cam follower means for moving the flap from the closed to the open flap position as the safety shrouds are moved from the closed to the open safety shroud position.

Claim 9

A cordless electric garden trimmer having a housing enclosing and supporting electric storage batteries and an electric motor connectable to said batteries to be driven thereby; rotary cutting means supported by said housing and operably connected to said motor to be driven thereby; a safety cover comprising a pair of shrouds pivotally supported by said housing for movement between a closed position in which the shrouds abutt each other to form a hollow disk-shaped enclosure for said rotary cutting means and an open position in which the shrouds are separated from each other to expose said rotary cutting means; spring biased trigger means manually operable against the urging of a bias spring to move said safety cover shrouds from said closed position to said open position and allowing said shrouds to remain in said open position only for as long as said trigger means is manually held against the action of said bias spring; and contact means operated by Said trigger means to connect operably said batteries to said motor when said safety cover shrouds are in said open position and to prevent electrical contact between said batteries and said motor when the safety cover shrouds are in said open position.

Claim 10

A cordless electric garden trimmer having a housing enclosing and supporting electric storage batteries and an electric motor connectable to said batteries to be driven thereby; rotary cutting means supported by said housing and operably connected to said motor to be driven thereby; a safety cover comprising a pair of shrouds pivotally supported by said housing for movement between a closed position in which the shrouds abutt each other to form a hollow disk-shaped enclosure for said rotary cutting means and an open position in which the shrouds are separated from each other to expose said rotary cutting means; spring biased trigger means manually operable against the urging of a bias spring to move said safety cover shrouds from said closed position to said open position and allowing said shrouds to remain in said open position only for as long as said trigger means is manually held against the action of said bias spring; and contact means operated by Said trigger means to connect operably said batteries to said motor when said safety cover shrouds are in said open position and to prevent electrical contact between said batteries and said motor when the safety cover shrouds are in said open position.