The present invention relates to a puncher, and more particularly to a hole puncher that saves a user's effort when the user employs the hole puncher to punch holes through paper sheets.

A conventional hole puncher comprises has a base, a handle, an articulated assembly and multiple cutters. The articulated assembly is connected pivotally to the base and the handle. The cutters are connected to the articulated assembly and are mounted slidably in the base. When the handle is pushed down, the cutters are driven down to cut paper sheets that extend into the base.

Such a puncher, which discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1, is known from DE 2 017 749 A1.

US patents No. 5,163,350 entitled at "paper sheets punching apparatus" has a complicated structure therefore the cost of the punching apparatus is high.

Another US patent No. 6,032,566 entitled at "lever operated punch with strengthened flap and punch head adjustment arrangement" has an improved effort-saving design allowing a user to easily operate the punch without much strenuous effort. However, the effort-saving effect is limited.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a hole puncher to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

The hole puncher of the present invention comprises the features of claim 1.

The main objective of the invention is to provide a hole puncher that saves a user's effort when the user employs the hole puncher to punch holes through paper sheets.

A hole puncher comprises a base, multiple cutter brackets, multiple cutters, multiple springs, a linkage, an activating member and a handle. The base has two ends. The cutter brackets are mounted on the base. The cutters (7) are mounted slidably through the cutter brackets. The linkage connects pivotally to one end of the base. The activating member connects pivotally to the linkage. The handle connects pivotally to the other end of the base and selectively pivots the linkage down. With the linkage and the activating member, the hole punch is effort-saving.

Other objectives, advantages and preferred features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a hole puncher in accordance with the present invention;
• Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the hole puncher in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 is a side view in partial section of the hole puncher in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 is an operational side view in partial section of the multiple hole puncher in Fig. 3 with the handle pushed down;
• Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a hole puncher in accordance with the present invention;
• Fig. 6 is a side view of a third embodiment of a hole puncher in accordance with the present invention; and
• Fig. 7 is a cross sectional perspective view of a fourth embodiment of a hole puncher in accordance with the present invention.

With reference to Figs. 1, 5, 6 and 7, a hole puncher in accordance with the present invention comprises a base (10, 10B), multiple cutter brackets (9), multiple cutters (7), multiple springs (8), a linkage, an activating member (3) and a handle (1, 1C). The hole puncher may further comprise a lock device.

With further reference to Figs. 2 and 3, the base (10, 10B) has a front end, a rear end, a bottom surface, a top surface, multiple through holes (14), a linkage bracket (12, 12B) and a handle bracket (11, 11B) and may further have a bottom cover (15).

The through holes (14) are defined through the base (10, 10B) in a row.

The linkage bracket (12,12B) is attached to the front end of the base (10, 10B) and may have two wings. Each wing has a pivot hole (120). In a first embodiment of the hole puncher, the linkage bracket (12) is U-shaped, is mounted on the bottom surface of the base (10) with the wings extending up through the base (10) out of the top surface. In a second embodiment of the hole puncher, the linkage bracket (12B) is formed integrally on the front end of the base (10B).

The handle bracket (11, 11 B) is attached to the rear end of the base (10, 10B) and may have two wings. Each wing of the handle bracket (11, 11B) has a pivot hole (110). In the first embodiment, the handle bracket (11) is U-shaped, is mounted on the bottom surface of the base (10) with the wings extending up through the base (10) out of the top surface. In the second embodiment, the handle bracket (11B) is formed integrally on the rear end of the base (10B).

The bottom cover (15) is mounted on the bottom surface of the base (10, 10B) and serves as a scrape container to collect scrapes cut from paper sheets.

The cutter brackets (9) are hollow, are mounted on the base (10, 10B), correspond respectively to the through holes (14) and may receive a paper sheet. Each cutter bracket (9) may have a frame (90), a seat (91), a gap and has a guide hole (92).

The frame (90) is hollow and has an inner top surface and an inner bottom surface.

The seat (91) is formed on the frame (90) and is mounted on the base (10, 10B).

The gap is defined between the frame (90) and the seat (91) and may receive the paper sheet.

The guide hole (92) is defined through the cutter bracket (9), is aligned with a corresponding through hole (14) in the base (10,10B) and may be defined through the frame (90) and the seat (91) and communicate with the gap.

The cutters (7) correspond respectively to the cutter brackets (9), are slidably mounted respectively through the guide holes (92) and each cutter (7) has a top end, a bottom end, a blade and a clasp (75). The blade is formed on the bottom end. The clasp (75) is mounted radially on the cutter (7), selectively abuts a corresponding cutter bracket (9) and may selectively abut the inner top surface of the frame (90) of the corresponding cutter bracket (9).

The springs (8) correspond respectively to and are mounted respectively in the cutter brackets (9), press respectively against the clasps (75) and respectively bias the cutters (7) up from extending completely through the cutter brackets (9). Preferably, each spring (8) is mounted in the frame (90) of a corresponding cutter bracket (9) and presses against the inner bottom surface of the frame (90) and the clasp (75) on the cutter (7) in the corresponding cutter bracket (9).

The linkage connects to the linkage bracket (12, 12B) on the base (10, 10B), has two links (4, 4A, 4B) and may further have a linkage pintle (104), an intermediate pintle (6), a connecting tab and a cover (2, 2C).

The links (4, 4A, 4B) are longitudinal, are arranged at an interval and connect pivotally to the linkage bracket (12, 12B) and each link (4, 4A, 4B) has a connecting end and a driven end opposite to the connecting end. Each link (4, 4A) may further have a longitudinal slot (43). The connecting end connects pivotally to the linkage bracket (12, 12B) and may have a pivot hole (42). In the first and second embodiments and a fourth embodiment, the longitudinal slot (43) of each link (4, 4A) is defined through the driven end.

The linkage pintle (104) extends through the pivot holes (120, 42) in the linkage bracket (12) and the links (4, 4A, 4B).

The intermediate pintle (6) is mounted between the links (4, 4A, 4B) and is located between the connecting ends and the driven ends.

In the first embodiment and third and fourth embodiments of the hole puncher, the links (4, 4B) are separate, as shown in Figs. 2, 6 and 7.

In the second embodiment, the connecting tab connects to and is formed integrally on the links (4A), as shown in Fig. 5. In the first and fourth embodiments, the cover (2, 2C) covers the links (4).

The activating member (3) connects pivotally to and is located between the links (4, 4A, 4B) of the linkage, may connect pivotally to the intermediate pintle (6) of the linkage and has a pressing member and an intermediate connecting member (31, 31B).

The pressing member is flat and abuts the top ends of the cutters (7). When the linkage driven to pivot down, the activating member (3) moves down and the pushing board presses the cutters (7) to moves down to cut through paper sheets.

The intermediate connecting member (31, 31B) is formed on the activating member (3), connects pivotally to the links (4, 4A, 4B) and may connect pivotally to the intermediate pintle (6). In the first, second and fourth embodiments, the intermediate connecting member (31) is a pivot hole through which the intermediate pintle (6) extends. In the third embodiment, the intermediate connecting member (31B) is a semicircular recess with which the intermediate pintle (6) engages rotatably, as shown in Fig. 6.

The handle (1,1C) connects pivotally to the handle bracket (11, 11B) on the base (10,10B) and selectively drives the driven ends of the links (4, 4A, 4B) of the linkage to pivot down to lower the activating member (3) to push the cutters (7) down. The handle (1, 1C) has a connection end, a push end and a driving member (105, 105B) and may further have a handle pintle (103).

The connection end connects pivotally to the handle bracket (11, 11B) and may further have a pivot hole (101).

The handle pintle (103) extends through the pivot holes (101, 110) of the handle (1, 1 C) and the handle bracket (11, 11B).

The push end is opposite to the connection end and may be pushed by a user.

The driving member (105, 105B) is mounted on the handle (1, 1C) near the connection end and connects to and selectively drives the driven ends of the links (4, 4A, 4B) of the linkage to pivot down. In the first, second and fourth embodiments, the driving member (105) extends rotatably and slidably through the longitudinal slots (43) in the links (4, 4A) of the linkage. In the third embodiment, the driving member (105B) slidably and rotatably abuts the driven ends of the links (4B).

With reference to Fig. 7, the lock device in the fourth embodiment is mounted between the cover (2C) of the linkage and the handle (1C) and has a locking hole (23C), a mounting slot (109C) and a slide switch (25C). The locking hole (23C) is defined in the cover (2C) and has an inner surface. The mounting slot (109C) is defined through the handle (1C). The slide switch (25C) is mounted slidably through the mounting slot (109C), selectively locks the handle (1C) on the cover (2C) and has a slide tab (251), a strip (252) and a hook (253). The slide tab (251) is mounted slidably on the handle (1C). The strip (252) is formed on and protrudes perpendicularly from the slide tab (251) and has a distal end extending in the locking hole (23). The hook (253) is formed on the distal end and selectively hooks the inner surface of the locking hole (23) to lock and prevent the handle (1C) from pivoting inadvertently.

When the user pushes the push end of the handle (1, 1C) with a force, a torque arm for the force from the push end to the handle pintle (103) is much larger than an anti-torque arm for a reacting force from the handle pintle (103) to the driving member (105, 105B). The user saves effort when driving the linkage down. Furthermore, another torque arm for a stress from the driving member (105, 105B) to the linkage pintle (104) is twice as long as another anti-torque arm for a reacting stress from the linkage pintle (104) to the intermediate pintle (6). Therefore, the user further saves effort when driving the cutters (7) down.

Accordingly, the hoe puncher is effort-saving and is convenient for people to use.