Composite tool handle and method of making same.

摘要

A high strength composite tool handle (10) includes one or more load-bearing jackets surrounding a lightweight filler core (26) or a relatively strong reinforcing core (28). The facing surfaces between the core and the jackets are corrugated to increase the flexural strength of the tool handle while minimizing the weight of materials. The composite tool handle is manufactured in a pultrusion manufacturing process wherein a core having a corrugated external surface is fed into a pultrusion die tube. Resin coated fibers (32) are channeled into the space between the core and the die tube where the fibers are compressed and heated to form a cured product. The resin coated fibers (32) around the core form a fiber-resin jacket having an inner surface which conforms to the corrugated external surface of the core, to key-lock the jacket (30) to the core. A continuous mold insert belt (52) may be inserted into the pultrusion die tube (40) simultaneously with the resin coated fibers (32) to provide a corrugation on the external surface of the cured fiber-resin jacket (30). A secondary jacket is then molded onto the fiber-resin jacket over the external corrugations thereof such that an inner surface of the secondary jacket conforms to the corrugated external surface of the fiber-resin jacket to key-lock the secondary jacket to the fiber-resin jacket. The secondary jacket may include both a reinforcing tip (20) molded onto the fiber-resin jacket (30) to strengthen the handle at its attachment to a tool head, and a grip molded onto the fiber-resin jacket adjacent to the reinforcing tip (20).