A garden hand-weeding tool, which distributes, rather than concentrates, gripping forces in order to effectively grip and remove plants, including their roots, from the soil without crushing or severing them and without clogging the apparatus. The present invention generally comprises; pivotally connected specially contoured jaw and handle assemblies, a non-crushing gripping zone, and an opening for soil and debris to exit the gripping zone upon repetitive use. The jaws, biased to an open state, are positioned into the soil longitudinally about a weed and then closed via the operator's hand grip/force applied to the handles. The jaws when fully closed do not create a complete mating closure along their length thereby eliminating the chance of severing the weed or root. This allows the entire weed including roots to be easily removed from the soil. A jaw is self-cleaning with each new mouthful pushing the last out through the opening.
1. A garden tool comprising:
a plurality of members;
a first member comprising a first lever, a pivot point, and a first jaw having a distal end and a proximal end;
a second member comprising a second lever and a second jaw respectively;
the first jaw comprising; a left side and a right side joined at the distal end, a gripping zone comprising a distributed force gripping zone, a gripping surface having a continuous outer perimeter that defines the gripping zone and, a first inner perimeter that defines a first opening in the gripping zone wherein the first opening is proximally-distally longer than it is wide and has a minimal area that is between 20% and 90% of a maximal area of the gripping zone and through which debris can internally exit the gripping zone and the jaw itself; and
wherein the first and second levers operate the first and second jaw respectively, the first jaw rotates at the pivot point about a first pivot between an open and a closed position relative to the second jaw and the opening and closing defines a plane of motion, the first pivot has a pivot axis, the first jaw has a jaw axis that is perpendicular to and between the pivot axis and the distal end of the first jaw when at the closed position, the first and second jaw are substantially on opposite sides of a shared plane of the jaw axis and the pivot axis when at the closed position, the continuous outer perimeter starts and ends at the pivot plane perpendicular to the shared plane, the inner perimeter is on a plane substantially parallel to the shared plane, and the first member when divided into 20 equally spaced lateral cross sectional slices perpendicular to the shared plane from the distal end to the pivot point has a majority of cross sections that show left and right sides that are not connected laterally in the cross sectional slice.
2. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the first and second opposed jaws have a distance separating their respective gripping surfaces proximally from where the jaws touch at the distal end when in the closed position, and the distance is progressively larger proximally than distally.
3. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one of the jaws has a row of teeth.
4. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one of the jaws has at least one tooth.
5. The garden tool of claim 1 including biasing means for biasing the jaws apart.
6. The garden tool of claim 5 wherein the biasing means is a spring.
7. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one member is configured to prevent a users hand from slipping.
8. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one member is characterized by more than one material.
9. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one member is configured to be elongated and extendible.
10. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least one of the members is adapted to accept an extension whereby the extension extends the reach of the user.
11. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein, at the closed position, more than one of the levers are on the same side of the shared plane and at least one of the levers is at an angle of between 40 and 60 degrees relative to the shared plane.
12. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the minimal area of the first opening is between 30% and 90% of a maximal area of the gripping zone.
13. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein at least some of the gripping surfaces are formed at an outward angle from the plane of motion such that debris is deflected toward the plane of motion during closing motion.
14. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein, at the closed position, more than one of the levers are on the same side of the shared plane and at least one of the levers is at an angle of between 20 and 70 degrees relative to the shared plane.
15. The garden tool of claim 1 is configured to have a weight of less than 500 grams and to be fully operable with only one hand.
16. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the first opening is the largest opening in the first jaw.
17. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the first jaw is further comprising; a pair of laterally spaced longitudinal jaw walls progressively shorter distally than proximally and joined at the distal end, essentially no base between the walls, an open ended passageway perpendicular to the shared plane and between the jaw walls, a first end of the open ended passageway that defines the inner perimeter and the first opening in the gripping zone facing the shared plane and, a second end of the open ended passageway essentially parallel to and facing away from the shared plane.
18. The garden tool of claim 17 wherein the lateral distance between the jaw walls progressively increases from the distal end towards the pivot.
19. The garden tool of claim 17 wherein the jaw walls are not perpendicular to the shared plane.
20. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the minimal area of the first opening is between 40% and 90% of a maximal area of the gripping zone area.
21. The garden tool of claim 1 wherein the minimal area of the first opening is between 50% and 90% of a maximal area of the gripping zone.
22. A garden tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein more than one of the levers are on the same side of the shared plane when at the closed position.