Spindle mounted personnel protector

Claim 1

In a drill press assembly having a stationary drill housing member and a rotatable drill head located beneath said drill housing member, the combination comprising: three bracket members equally spaced from one another about the periphery of said housing member and fixedly mounted to said housing member, each of said brackets having an upper portion positioned at said housing member and a lower portion positioned below said housing member; said lowermost portion of each said bracket containing: a passage with an opening thereto facing said drill head, a prong means supported in said passage and moveable along said passage and having a rounded end projecting from said opening in said passage, and spring means positioned in said passage for biasing said prong means outwardly; wherein three reciprocally moveable prong means are directed radially toward said drill head and wherein sufficient upward or downward force on the rounded end of said prong means causes said prong to move into said bracket passage; a hollow rigid cylinder of transparent plastic material, said hollow cylinder having an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of said drill head to surround without touching said rotatable drill head and being of a length greater than the length of said drill head to form an optically transparent physical barrier around said drill head; a continuous groove having a rounded cross-sectional geometry located in the outer surface of said cylinder proximate the upper end thereof, said groove encircling the cylindrical outer periphery of said cylinder; and each of said three prong means having its rounded end engaging said groove to support and maintain in place said plastic cylinder in a position surrounding said rotatable drill head; whereby said plastic cylinder is easily removed by tugging downwardly on said cylinder and is easily reinstalled in place by pushing said cylinder upwardly to force said prongs out of or into said groove, respectively.