Envelope opener

Claim 1

An envelope opener comprising a relatively flat body having opposite side surfaces approximately parallel to each other, said body having along one edge a narrow groove sufficiently wide, in a direction perpendicular to said side surfaces, to receive an edge of an envelope to be opened, said groove having a bottom which is of V-shape in cross section at least near a front end and a rear end of said groove, with the apex of the groove lying substantially in a central plane parallel to and substantially midway between said opposite side surfaces of said body, the Vshape of said groove serving to center the edge of an envelope midway in the width of said groove as the opener body is slid longitudinally along the edge of the envelope while being pressed against such edge, and a guiding and cutting member mounted in said body at an intermediate point between said front end and said rear end of said groove and projecting from said body obliquely forwardly into said groove, said member having a cutting portion with a forwardly faced sharp cutting edge lying substantially in said central plane and extending obliquely from the bottom of said groove outwardly and forwardly toward said front end of said groove, said sharp cutting edge lying entirely within said groove and being incapable of contact with any object not located within said groove, said guiding and cutting member including a guiding portion extending forwardly from the forward end of said cutting edge to a front end projecting materially beyond said front end of said groove, both said cutting portion and said guiding portion of said member being relatively thin in said direction perpendicular to said side surfaces and lying substantially in said central plane, said front end of said guiding portion projecting beyond said front end of said groove sufficiently far to provide a readily visible nose for insertion between a body wall and a sealing flap at a corner of an Envelope to be opened.