Handle assemblies of the type involved herein comprise elongated, tubular handle grip sections held at the ends by end caps. Roll-formed, tubular handle grip sections are used almost exclusively, being made from flat metal strip by folding to bring the side edges toward one another into substantial abutment and forming inturned flanges along the abutting edges. For reasons of cost, the thickness of the roll-formed handle grip sections is kept to a minimum.
Minimum thickness handle grip sections perform well enough for the shorter (less than 24" long) handles. However, they may not be strong enough to resist deflection when longer handles are utilized, particularly if the deflecting force on the handle grip section is in a direction transverse to the flanges, because I have discovered that the handle grip section is less resistant to deflection in that direction than in a direction parallel to the flanges.
Thus a thinner wall handle grip section, particularly in the longer handles, can be utilized if the end caps are designed to hold the tubular handle grip section so that it is oriented with its flanges parallel to the deflecting force. The problem is that while in some applications the deflecting force is in one direction, in others it is in a different direction.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a handle assembly in which the end caps are capable of mounting the handle grip section in either of two different rotative positions.
These and other objects will become more apparent as the following description proceeds, especially when considered with the accompanying drawings.