For folding knives, a convenient means for deploying a blade from a position for storage to a position for use is highly desirable. Typically, folding knives are configured for the conveyance of a blade between these positions by means of rotational movement facilitated by a pivot located generally at one of two prominent ends of a handle that is specially configured to accept the blade when pivoted into its prescribed position for storage. This requires the user to manipulate the handle in such a way as to accommodate the blade's movement, which is generally perpendicular to its rotational axis. As a result, a user cannot maintain a full grasp, with fingers encircling the handle of the tool, while the blade is rotated from its position for storage to its position for use.
Examples of folding knives referenced above may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,454,665; 1,743,022; 4,173,068; 4,404,748; 4,451,982; 4,502,221; 4,612,706; 4,719,700; 4,776,094; 4,805,303; 4,811,486; 4,837,932; 4,893,409; 4,974,323; 4,979,301; 5,044,079; 5,060,379; 5,095,624; 5,111,581; 5,293,690; 5,325,588; 5,331,741; 5,425,175; 5,426,855; 5,502,895; 5,515,610; 5,537,750; 5,546,662; 5,596,808; 5,615,484; 5,685,079; 5,689,885; 5,692,304; 5,737,841; 5,755,035; 5,802,722; 5,815,927; 5,822,866; 5,826,340; 5,887,347; 5,964,036; 6,079,106; 6,154,965; 6,338,431; 6,378,214; 6,427,335; 6,438,848; 6,490,797; 6,594,906, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Importantly, the present invention concerns a category of emergency defensive folding knife specifically configured to be grasped by the user, with fingers securely encircling the handle and forming a fist, regardless of whether the blade is in its position for storage or its position for use. That is because this category of defensive folding knife is generally expected to provide utility as an impact or compliance tool while the blade is secure in its position for storage, defining an important auxiliary mode of operation. However, the need to release the handle from the aforementioned grip to accomplish movement of the blade from its position for storage to its position for use, should the need arise, constitutes a well-recognized limitation.
This category of emergency defensive folding knife is known to the art and is generally characterized by a handle with pronounced ring-shaped projection from one of two prominent ends of an elongated handle. While there are numerous variations within this category, the specific variation known generally as the “karambit” is most relevant to the preferred embodiment of the present invention disclosed herein. As a result, the following will detail considerations relevant to the karambit specifically, though this should not be construed to unduly limit the scope of the present invention.
The karambit and related variants, hereinafter referred to as “karambit”, have become increasingly popular among martial arts practitioners as well as military and law enforcement professionals. That is because, in addition to excellent utility as a general-purpose cutting tool, it is also well regarded as an emergency defensive weapon.
Folding karambit design is, here-to-for, conspicuously derivative of traditional folding knife design already well known to the art and referenced above. Specifically, a folding karambit of prior art generally includes a blade configured to rotate to and from a position for storage by means of a pivot that is generally located near one of two prominent ends of a handle. The difference being that a folding karambit of prior art simply includes certain defining characteristics such as a generally curved profile and a pronounced ring located at the end of a handle generally opposite the aforementioned pivot end. The ring is of suitable size to accommodate insertion of an index finger, and may not always form a complete circle or conform to a strictly circular shape. A non-folding karambit of prior art is disclosed in DE201520005079 wherein the typical karambit handle is described.
As previously summarized, the folding karambit may be used with blade extended and exposed for use, or it can be used with the blade secure in its position for storage. Regardless of whether the blade is in its position for storage or in its position for use, the karambit handle is properly grasped in a “reverse” or “ice pick” grip, with index finger positioned securely through the handle's ring and remaining fingers closed around the handle to complete a fist. Held thus, the ring projects from the radial portion of the fist and encompasses the index finger, while the blade projects from the opposite, or ulnar, portion of the fist, should it be deployed.
Held in this fashion and with blade alternatively secure in its position for storage, there remains a portion of the handle protruding from the ulnar portion of the user's closed fist. Along with the exposed portion of the ring encircling the index finger, the protruding portion of the handle from the ulnar portion of the fist is regarded as convenient means for a wide variety of compliance techniques practiced in various marital arts and used by police and military personnel worldwide. The karambit is, therefore, desirable as both an impact/compliance tool and as a bladed tool, suitable for utility and defensive. A folding karambit of prior art is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 7,940,510, Krudo, wherein the inherent benefits as a compliance tool, with blade secured in its position for storage, are clearly described.
Never-the-less, because they are generally derived from common folding knife design, with blade pivoting about a single rotational axis located generally at one prominent end of a handle, prior art folding karambits inherit an inability to instantly convert from non-bladed impact and compliance tool to bladed tool in a moment of need. That is because once brought into action and held properly in the fist as an impact or compliance tool, with blade secure in its position for storage, deploying the blade to its position for use necessitates that the encircling grip forming a fist about the handle be relinquished so as to provide a path for the blade to travel about its rotational axis. Considering that the need to switch from impact and compliance tool to bladed tool is likely to arise in the context of combative crisis, this particular inefficiency is not a trivial consideration.
Without a solution in sight, those skilled in the art have, instead, developed means to provide rapid initial deployment of a blade as it is drawn from a pocket. A presently ubiquitous example of such means is generally described as a hook-shaped projection from a portion of the blade opposite a cutting edge and generally proximal to the blade pivot. This hook is configured to catch upon the edge of a user's pocket as the knife is drawn. Being positioned generally radially outwardly from the pivot, the hook effectively translates the linear motion of the handle, being pulled from a pocket, to rotational movement of the blade, impelling it from its position for storage to its position for use. This concept of blade deployment is central to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,500, Emerson, U.S. Pat. No. 7,036,229, Demko, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,402,662, Douzanis, among others. Unfortunately, these provide benefit only when the blade is to be deployed immediately from the pocket. As a result, a blade deployed in this fashion is precluded from being initially brought to bear as an impact or compliance tool.
Still unaddressed is the need of the user that initially involves the karambit as an impact or compliance tool, with the blade in its position for storage, to suddenly deploy the blade to its position for use easily and without the need to relinquish an established, encircling grip upon the handle, presumably in the context of crisis.