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T.O.A.D.
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| T.O.A.D. is an acronym for Toggle Operated Anti Drag. Toggle operated describes the method of locking the blade and Anti Drag describes the result. Toggle Mechanism
The toggle mechanism of the T.O.A.D. is simple in principle but difficult to describe, (see drawings). Besides the blade, there are only two moving parts, a long toggle and a short toggle that are pinned together at a knee joint. The long toggle is also pinned to the blade tang and the short toggle rotates about a fixed axis at the rear of the handle. When the toggle are fully extended in a straight line. The knee joint goes slightly beyond a straight line stopping against the interference between long and short toggle. This locks the blade and prevents the mechanism from feeding backwards. By pushing up on either control pin, the linkage is collapsed and the blade can be closed. A light spring is attached to the toggle in a manner that constantly urges the links into a straight line. This spring has the effect of holding the blade closed when in the closed position and assisting in lock up when approaching the open position. Unlike all other folding knife mechanisms there is no spring-loaded part riding on the blade tang waiting to fall into a notch or hole, therefore no drag or friction is generated. The locking of the blade is accomplished entirely by the geometry of freely moving pivot points. Or in other words Anti-Drag. Thumb Trap Closing the Blade Pocket Clip |
Control
of the opened knife is made more positive by a thumb rest consisting
of four individual thumb wheels, we call this arrangement the "Thumb
Trap" because once the thumb is positioned at a point central
to all four wheels; thumb slippage is prevented in four directions,
instead of the usual two as with simple serrations. The symmetrical
layout of the thumb wheels also makes for easy ambidextrous opening.
One
hand closing is also ambidextrous because the control pins attached
to the long toggle protrude through the handle frames on both sides.
To disengage the lock, it is only necessary to push up on either
control pin, an action that also starts the blade towards closed.
Once the blade passes the halfway point, pressure on the control
pin can be released and the blade will complete its travel toward
closed by spring pressure.
The
pocket clip is the same design as developed earlier for our D.O.G.
lock folder. We call this clip arrangement the "Swing Arm Pocket
Clip" because the clip itself is an arm not a spring. The springing
action of the clip is produced by a urethane elastomer under compression.
Tension of the clip is adjustable by a single screw, which also
allows for ambidextrous mounting.