GB2478710A

GB2478710A - Ice scraper

Info

Publication number: GB2478710A
Application number: GB1004241A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David John Humphrey
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-03-15
Filing date: 2010-03-15
Publication date: 2011-09-21
Also published as: GB201004241D0

Abstract

An ice scraper (11) is provided having grip portion (2) and a flexible scraper portion (3) in the form of a flared skirt with a chamfered scraping edge (6) at an end remote from the grip portion (2). The grip portion (2) comprises an end section (4) and a side wall (5) extending from the perimeter of the end section (4). A series of finger hold indentations (7) are provided in the exterior of the side wall (5). In use when a user holds the grip portion (2) in their hand (10) with their fingers lying in the finger hold indentations (7) a user can press the scraping edge (6) against a surface (15) by pressing against the end section using their palm. The trailing edge (22) of the scraper portion (3) is angled to provide clearance so that when the scraper portion (3) is placed under pressure and flares outward the trailing edge (22) can be brought closer to the surface (15) without causing the scraping edge (6) to be lifted from the surface being scraped.

Description

ICE SCRAPER

The present invention relates to ice scrapers. More specifically embodiments of the present invention concern ice scrapers for removing ice and frost from car windscreens.

Conventional ice scrapers for clearing ice and frost from car windscreens typically comprise a handle and a flat scraping blade set at right angles to the handle so that together the blade and the handle form a T shape with the scraping blade being the bar at the top oftheT.

Conventional ice scraper designs suffer from a number of drawbacks. Most windscreens are formed from curved planes of glass which have a convex profile when viewed from the outside. This means that the entire length of the blade will only be in contact with the surface of a windscreen if the blade is orientated at an angle where the curvature of the windscreen is close to zero. In practice this means that a conventional ice scraper can only be used efficiently by being pushed or dragged horizontally across the surface of a windscreen as if the ice scraper is pushed or dragged vertically only a limited portion of the scraper will be in contact with the windscreen.

The limitations of conventional ice scrapers force a user to change their grip frequently in order to reach the whole of the surface being scraped. Additionally, the shape of a conventional ice scraper is such that frost is often deflected over the top and round the sides of the scraper onto the user's hand, arm and clothes. Further, a user is required to apply force to the scraper at an oblique angle which is awkward for the user and places strain on the centre of the scraper which may cause the scraper to break.

In view of the limitations of the conventional ice scraper design a number of alternative designs have been proposed. One example of an alternative design is that disclosed in US 5,806,134 entitled Scrape-a-round Windshield Ice Scraper'. This document discloses a hollow cone shaped, hand held windshield ice scraper. In use a user grips the exterior of the cone and drags the cone across the surface of the windscreen. When doing so the edge of the base of the cone acts as a blade to remove ice from surface being cleared.

The design of US 5,806,134 addresses some of the problems in the conventional scraper design in that by providing a cutting edge around the circumference of the base of the cone, a user can remove ice from a windscreen by dragging the scraper across the surface of a windscreen in any direction. This can be achieved without a user having to change their grip.

However, the design of US 5,806,134 still suffers from a number of draw backs. In use a users hand rests on the cone shaped surface adjacent the ridge at the edge of the base circumference. This means that as ice is removed from a windscreen the ice is pushed up on to a user's hand. Additionally the cone shaped surface limits the extent to which a user can put downward pressure towards the surface of the windscreen which is necessary to remove particularly thick ice from a windscreen.

An alternative ice scraper which addresses or alleviates at least some of these problems is therefore required.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided an ice scraper comprising: a grip portion; and a scraper portion comprising a hollow flared skirt extending from the perimeter of one end of the grip portion to a scraping edge remote from the grip portion, the scraping edge being formed by the intersection of a leading edge on the exterior of the skirt and a trailing edge on the interior of the skirt wherein the scraper portion comprises a flexible material operable to be deformed when a portion of the scraping edge is in contact with a surface and a user presses the end of the grip portion remote from the scraper portion; the relative orientation of the trailing edge of the skirt relative to the leading edge of the skirt being such that it provides clearance so that when the scraper portion is deformed the trailing edge of the skirt can be rotated through an predetermined angle about the scraping edge before the scraping edge is caused to be separated from the surface.

Further aspects of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ice scraper in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the ice scraper of Figure 1 in use; Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram of the scraping edge of the ice scraper of Figure 1 removing ice from a surface; Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram for explaining the deformation of the scraper portion of the ice scraper of Figure 1 when the scraper portion is placed under pressure; Figure 5 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram of the ice scraper of Figure 1; and Figure 6 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram showing two ice scrapers of Figure 1 stacked together.

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ice scraper I in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The ice scraper I comprises a grip portion 2 and a scraper portion 3.

The grip portion 2 is substantially cylindrical in shape, enclosed at one end by a domed end section 4 from which extends a gently flaring side wall 5. In this embodiment the side wall has a radius of 3.5cm adjacent the end section 4 and extends for 6 cm outwards at an angle of 4° relative to an axis of symmetry passing through the centre of the end section 4.

The scraper portion 3 of the ice scraper I extends in the form of a flared skirt from the end of the side wall 5 of the grip portion 2 remote from the end section 4. In this embodiment the scraper portion 3 extends for a length of 3cm at an angle of 15° relative to the axis of symmetry passing through the centre of the end section 4. The scraper portion 3 terminates with a scraping edge 6 at the open end of the ice scraper I remote from the end section 4. This scraping edge 6 extends along the entire circumference of the end of the ice scraper 1 remote from the end section 4.

In this embodiment, the grip portion 2 and the scraper portion 3 are formed from a single piece of injection moulded thermo-plastic with the end section 4 and side wall 5 having a thickness of 2.9mm and the scraper portion 3 having a thickness of 2.5mm. Together, the grip portion 2 and the scraper portion 3 enclose a cavity open at the end adjacent the scraping edge 6.

In this embodiment, eight finger hold indentations 7 are provided in the exterior of the side waIl 5 of the grip portion 2. These finger hold indentations 7 are provided in the side waIl 5 equally spaced about the circumference the grip portion 2 and extend from the edge of the domed end section 4 to approximately 1 cm from the end of the side waIl 5 adjacent the scraper portion 3. Each of the finger hold indentations 7 comprises a channel suitable for receiving a user's finger being 1.5cm wide and extending for a length of 5cm parallel to the axis of symmetry passing through the centre of the end section 4.

In addition to providing a series of finger holds about the circumference of the grip portion 2, the finger hold indentations 7 also act to corrugate the side wall 5. This corrugation, together with the relative thickness of the side wall 5 and the end section 4 compared with the thickness of the scraper portion 3 results in the grip portion 2 having greater rigidity than the scraper portion 3 of the ice scraper 1.

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the ice scraper 1 of Figure 1 in use. In use, a user grips the grip portion 2 in their hand 10 with their fingers running along the finger hold indentations 7 in the side wall 5 of the grip portion 2. In this orientation the palm of the user's hand 10 is brought into contact with the end section 4 (not visible in Figure 2).

This enables a user to press the ice scraper I towards the surface 15 which is to be cleared of frost or ice by pressing their palm onto the surface of the end section 4. As in this embodiment, the ice scraper I is substantially symmetrical in shape, when pressure is applied to the ice scraper I by a user pressing down on the end section 4, this pressure is then distributed evenly throughout the ice scraper 1. The even distribution of pressure also reduces the likelihood of breakage.

In the illustrated orientation, the ice scraper 1 can then be moved across the surface 15 in any direction, without the user having to change their grip. This can achieved whilst a user continues to press on the end section 4 to keep the scraping edge 6 in contact with the surface being cleared.

Further, when held in the manner illustrated in Figure 2 the relative positions of the scraper portion 3 and the grip portion 2 cause a user to orientate their hand and arm away from the surface being cleared. Thus when the scraper I is used to remove frost and ice from a surface, a user is protected from having the frost and ice from falling onto their hand, arm or clothes.

Additionally, the position of the finger hold indentations 7 relative to the scraping edge 6 means that when a user's fingers are contained in these indentations, they are separated from the scraping edge 6 by the extent of the scraper portion 3 and the gap between the end of the finger hold indentations 7 and the end of the side wall 5. Again this protects a user's hand from being exposed to debris removed from a surface 15 as when debris is removed it will fall adjacent to the scraping edge 6.

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram of the scraping edge 6 of the ice scraper I of Figure 1 removing ice 20 from a surface 15. As can be seen in Figure 3 in this embodiment, the scraping edge 6 of the scraper portion 3 comprises a chamfered edge having a leading edge 21 being the exterior of the scraping portion 4 of the ice scraper I and a trailing edge 22. This provides a cutting edge to break into the surface of any ice or frost covering a surface. The chamfering is such to create a point having an acute interior angle e between the leading edge 21 at the exterior of the ice scraper I and a trailing edge 22 on the interior of the ice scraper 1. In this embodiment the chamfering is such to create a point having an interior angle of 65°. Additionally, the chamfering of the scraping edge 6 is also such that when resting on a surface 15, the trailing edge 22 is orientated at an angle 13 relative to the surface 15 with 13 in this embodiment being 10°.

The shaping of the scraping edge 6 is then such that when the ice scraper I is pushed upon a surface 15, the chamfered edge cuts into the ice 20. The flare of scraper portion 3 then acts to detach the ice 20 from the surface 15 pushing the ice away from the surface 15 as the ice scraper I is pushed or dragged across the surface 15.

Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram illustrating the manner in which the scraper portion 3 of the ice scraper I of Figure 1 deforms when placed under pressure.

As noted above, the relative thickness of the scraper portion 3 compared with the side wall 5 and the end section 4 of the grip portion 2 and the absence of corrugation in the scraper portion 3 means that the scraper portion 3 of the ice scraper 1 is relatively more pliable than the grip portion 2. This means that whilst the grip portion 2 remains rigid, the scraper portion 3 is arranged to flex and deform when placed under pressure. More specifically, when pressure is applied by a user pressing on the end section 4 of the grip portion 4 towards a surface 15, as indicated by arrow A in Figure 4, the scraper portion 3 is caused to be deformed flaring outwards in the direction of arrow B in Figure 4.

The deformation of the scraper portion 3 in this way is advantageous in that when a user presses the ice scraper onto a convex surface such as a windscreen, the scraper portion 3 is deformed to a greater extent where the surface protrudes relative to the portions which do not protrude. This means that when pressure is applied, the scraping edge 6 becomes moulded to the surface to be cleared and the entirety of the scraping edge 6 can be made to contact the surface 15. Thus as the entirety of the scraping edge 6 is in contact with the surface 15, a user can then remove ice or frost from the surface 15 by dragging the ice scraper I in any direction across the surface.

As shown in Figure 4, the chamfering of the scraping edge 6 of the scraper portion 3 further assists with this as the chamfering provides clearance which enables the scraper portion 3 to be deformed with the trailing edge 22 being pivoted through an angle of up to 13 before the deformation is such to lift the scraping edge 6 from the surface 15 being scraped. In this embodiment this enables the skirt scraping edge to be deformed so as to be flared up to an angle of 1150 with the chamfered point remaining in contact with the surface 15.

As shown in the cross-sectional diagram Figure 5, a preferred embodiment of the invention is the ice scraper I comprising a grip portion 2 and a scraper portion 3 formed from a single piece of injection moulded plastic. However, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the grip portion 2 and the scraper portion 3 could be made from separate pieces and/or of different materials. It will also be appreciated, however, that manufacturing an ice scraper I from a single mould simplifies the manufacturing process and therefore reduces costs.

Figure 6 is also a cross-sectional diagram and shows how multiple instances of an ice scraper I may be stacked together by enclosing the end section 4a of an ice scraper I a within a cavity enclosed by an ice scraper lb. Stacking multiple ice scrapers together in this way allows them to be stored or displayed in a space-efficient manner, which is particularly beneficial to retailers.

Although in the above embodiment a rotationally symmetrical ice scraper I has been described, it will be appreciated that departures from a substantially cylindrical shape could be possible. Thus for example a scraper might be provided with an elliptical or polygonal cross section. It will however be appreciated that providing an ice scraper I which is rotationally symmetrical enables the scraper 1 to be used in any orientation and facilitates use in either the left or the right hand.

Further it will be appreciated that although having a scraping edge 6 which extends along the entire perimeter of a grip portion enables a scraper to be used in any orientation, in other embodiments the scraping edge 6 could be provided along only part of the perimeter of the scraper portion 3.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. An ice scraper comprising: a grip portion; and a scraper portion comprising a hollow flared skirt extending from the perimeter of one end of the grip portion to a scraping edge remote from the grip portion, the scraping edge being formed by the intersection of a leading edge on the exterior of the skirt and a trailing edge on the interior of the skirt wherein the scraper portion comprises a flexible material operable to be deformed when a portion of the scraping edge is in contact with a surface and a user presses the end of the grip portion remote from the scraper portion; the relative orientation of the trailing edge of the skirt relative to the leading edge of the skirt being such that it provides clearance so that when the scraper portion is deformed the trailing edge of the skirt can be rotated through an predetermined angle about the scraping edge before the scraping edge is caused to be separated from the surface.
2. An ice scraper in accordance with claim I wherein the leading edge and trailing edge of skirt intersect at an angle of approximately 65°.
3. An ice scraper in accordance with claim 1 or 2 wherein the relative orientation of the trailing edge of the skirt relative to the leading edge of the skirt is such that when the scraper portion is deformed the trailing edge of the skirt can be rotated through 10° about the scraping edge before the scraping edge is caused to be separated from the surface.
4. An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion has a lateral extent and the scraper portion is operable to be deformed when a portion of the scraping edge is in contact with a convex surface and a user presses the end of the grip portion remote from the scraper portion wherein the deformation is such to cause the scraping portion to flare outwards in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the lateral extent of the grip portion, such deformation being such to cause more of the scraping edge to be brought into contact with the surface.
5. An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion comprises an end section and a side wall extending from the perimeter of the end section wherein the scraper portion is provided at the end of the grip portion remote from the end section.
6. An ice scraper in accordance with claim 5 wherein the grip portion is configured for gripping by a user with their fingers extending along the lateral extent of the grip portion, wherein the extent of the scraper portion is such to separate the grip portion from the scraping edge in the direction of the lateral extent of the grip portion.
7. An ice scraper in accordance with claim 6 wherein a plurality of finger hold indentions configured to receive a users fingers are provided on the exterior of the side wall of the grip portion, wherein the finger hold indentation comprise channels which extend along the lateral extent of the side wall.
8. An ice scraper in accordance with claim 6 or 7 wherein the end section comprises a surface operable to be pressed upon by a user's palm in the direction of the lateral extent of the grip portion when the grip portion gripped by a user with their fingers extending along the lateral extent of the grip portion.
9. An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion is substantially cylindrical in shape.
10. An ice scraper in accordance with claim 9 wherein the grip portion has a diameter of approximately 7 cm.
11. An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion has a lateral extent of approximately 6cm
12. An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion is more rigid than the scraper portion.
13.An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the grip portion and the scraper portion are integrally formed from a single material.
14.An ice scraper in accordance with claim 13 wherein the grip portion and the scraper portion are integrally formed from a thermo-plastic material by injection moulding.
15.An ice scraper in accordance with any preceding claim wherein the ice scraper encloses a cavity open at the end adjacent to the scraping edge, said cavity suitable for enclosing at least a portion of a second instance of the ice scraper.