Knife and safety cap

Claim 1

In a cutting device having a rod-like handle of substantially uniform diameter for most of its length, and a cutting blade slightly wider than the diameter of the handle secured to one end of said handle by a chuck which includes a knurled sleeve having an outer diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the handle, the improvement consisting of a safety cap adapted to be firmly held either over the cutting blade or to the other end of the handle, said safety cap comprising: an elongated tubular housing having a circular cross-section for about one-half its length of a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of said handle and a rectangular cross-section for the remainder of its length, said housing being open at its circular cross-section end and closed at the other end, the width dimension of said rectangular cross-section portion being substantially equal to the diameter of said circular cross-section portion and slightly larger than the width of the cutting blade, said circular cross-section portion having a plurality of narrow circumferentially spaced inwardly directed longitudinally extending bosses formed on the inner wall thereof, the innermost surfaces of which define a circle having a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of said handle, at least one of which bosses extends radially inward from an elongated flexible tongue formed in and constituting part of the wall of said circular cross-section portion, said inwardly directed longitudinally extending bosses firmly engaging said knurled sleeve and said rectangular cross-section portion receiving and covering said cutting blade when the safety cap is placed over the cutting blade, and said inwardly extending bosses firmly engaging said other end of the handle when said other end of the handle is inserted in the open end of said circular cross-section portion.