This application claims priority to Chinese Application No. 201320775274.9, “Food Processor with shredding and/or slicing functions”, filed on Nov. 28, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to kitchen utensils, and more particularly to a food processor with shredding and/or slicing functions.
A food processor with shredding and/or slicing functions usually includes: a driving engine, a main body, a lid, a cutterhead component and a transmission axle; wherein, the main body is disposed above the driving engine, the lid is disposed above the main body, and a feeding channel is provided on the lid; the transmission axle is disposed along the rotation axis of the main body. The cutterhead component is disposed on the upper end of the transmission axle, and the cutterhead component has a cutter body extending in the radial direction. When cutting food, the driving engine drives the cutterhead component to rotate through the transmission axle, the food enters the cutterhead component in the main body through the feeding channel of the lid, and the cutter body of the cutterhead component cuts the foods into slices or shreds.
The cutterhead component in the prior art has following defects: users have different requirements for foods like different shapes and thickness and so on. However, due to the fixed level of the cutter body edge and the fixed level of the cutterhead component, only one thickness of the cut-out food can be obtained, which can not satisfy demands of users; otherwise, the user has to prepare multiple cutterhead components, of which the cost is too high. Of course there are very few products having structures for adjusting cutting thickness, however, before adjusting cutting thickness, the user has to open the lid of the products herein and take off the cutterhead of the products, which is inconvenient in use.
In view of the defects existing in the prior art, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a food processor with shredding and/or slicing functions, which allows a user to adjust the cutting thickness without opening the lid.
A food processor with shredding and/or slicing functions, comprising a driving device and a main component; the main component includes a main body, a lid, a transmission axle, a cutterhead component and a height adjusting mechanism; wherein, the lid is disposed on an opening at a top of the main body, and a feeding channel is provided on the lid, the transmission axle is disposed inside the main body, the cutterhead component is disposed on the transmission axle, the transmission axle is driven by the transmission axle to rotate around a rotation axis, and a cutter body is provided on the cutterhead component; and
In some embodiments, the height adjusting mechanism comprises a limiting part, an elastic part, a lead screw transmission mechanism and the operation part; the limiting part is disposed on the lid at where the rotation axis locates, the limiting part is configured to position the movable cutterhead; the elastic part is configured to apply elastic force between the movable cutterhead and the limiting part; the operation part is rotatably disposed on the lid, and the operation part is connected to the limiting part through the lead screw transmission mechanism, so as to drive the limiting part to move in direction of the rotation axis.
In some embodiments, a structure channel extending in direction of the rotation axis is provided on the lid, both of the limiting part and the lead screw transmission mechanism are disposed inside the structure channel, and the operation part is located outside of the structure channel.
In some embodiments, the lead screw transmission mechanism comprises a screw with external thread at a lower end of the screw, and a threaded hole provided on an upper end of the limiting part, the lower end of the screw is screwed inside the threaded hole on the upper end of the limiting part, an upper end of the screw is extended out of the structure channel and connected to the operation part.
In some embodiments, a first guide track is provided on an outer surface of the limiting part, and a second guide slot engaging with the first guide track is provided on an inner surface of the structure channel; or, a first guide slot is provided on an outer surface of the limiting part, and a second guide track engaging with the first guide slot is provided on an inner surface of the structure channel.
In some embodiments, a bulge is provided on the upper end of the screw, the operation part comprises an annular body and a handle disposed on an outer surface of the annular body, a groove configured to match with the bulge is provided on an inner surface of the annular body, and the bulge is located in the groove.
In some embodiments, a connecting component is provided at the location of the rotation axis of the movable cutterhead, a limiting axle is provided on an upper end of the connecting component, the limiting part has a limiting hole on its lower end face for matching with the limiting axle, the limiting axle is inserted into the limiting hole, and a mating connector, configured to match with the connecting component, is provided at the location of the rotation axis of the fixed cutterhead.
In some embodiments, the upper part of the connecting component is stepped, and the mating connector has a stepped through-hole on its centre for matching with the connecting component, the connecting component is disposed through the mating connector, and a lower end of the mating connector is fixedly connected to an upper end of the transmission axle.
In some embodiments, the elastic part is a spring, the connecting component has a spring mounting hole on its lower end, the transmission axle has a concave hole on its upper end face, and a spring installation column is provided on a bottom face of the concave hole; both of the lower end of the connecting component and the lower end of the mating connector are accommodated in the concave hole, the spring installation column is inserted into the spring mounting hole, the spring is disposed on the spring installation column, a lower end of the spring is propped against the bottom face of the concave hole, and an upper end of the spring is propped against a bottom face of the spring mounting hole.
In some embodiments, a surrounding convex edge extending upwards and downwards in direction of the rotation axis is provided on an outer edge of the fixed cutterhead, and the surrounding convex edge surrounds the movable cutterhead.
As compared to the prior art, with regard to the food processor with shredding and/or slicing functions provided in the present disclosure, by means of adopting the technical scheme mentioned above, the cutterhead component is divided into the movable cutterhead and the fixed cutterhead, the movable cutterhead can move up and down within a certain distance while the fixed cutterhead is motionless in the up and down direction, thus the height from the cutting edge of the cutter body to the fixed cutterhead (namely the height of the cutting channel) can be changed, thereby changing the thickness of the cut-out food and satisfying different requirements of the users. Moreover, since the operation part of the height adjusting mechanism is disposed on the lid, the user can adjust the height of the cutting channel without taking out the cutterhead component, which is easier to operate for achieving different thicknesses of cut-out foods.
Wherein, the elements are denoted as follows:
100 - - - Main body; 200 - - - Lid; 210 - - - Feeding channel;
220 - - - Height adjusting mechanism; 221 - - - structure channel;
221A - - - Guide track; 222 - - - Screw; 222A - - - External thread;
222B - - - Bulge; 223 - - - Limiting part; 223A - - - Internal thread;
223B - - - Guide slot; 223C - - - Limiting hole; 224 - - - Operation part;
300 - - - Pushing bar; 400 - - - Cutterhead component; 410 - - - Cutter body;
411 - - - Cutting edge; 412 - - - Cutting channel; 420 - - - Fixed cutterhead;
421 - - - Mating connector; 421A - - - Stepped through-hole;
423 - - - Surrounding convex edge; 430 - - - Movable cutterhead;
431 - - - Connecting component; 432 - - - Limiting axle; 440 - - - Spring;
500 - - - Transmission axle; 510 - - - Concave hole; 520 - - - Mating hole;
530 - - - Screw mounting hole; 540 - - - Upper end face of the transmission axle.
In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure to be understood more clearly, the present disclosure will be described in further details with the accompanying drawings and the following embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely examples to illustrate the disclosure, not to limit the present disclosure.
In one embodiment as shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, a connecting component 431 is provided at the location of the rotation axis of the movable cutterhead 430, a limiting axle 432 is provided on an upper end of the connecting component 431, and a mating connector 421 configured to match with the connecting component 431 is provided at the location of the rotation axis of the fixed cutterhead. Furthermore, the upper part of the connecting component 431 is stepped, and the mating connector 421 has a stepped through-hole 421A at its centre for matching with the connecting component 431, and the connecting component 431 can be movably disposed through the mating connector 421 in direction of the rotation axis, and the lower end of the mating connector 421 is fixedly connected with the upper end of the transmission axle 500.
In some embodiments, a surrounding convex edge 423 extending upwards and downwards in direction of the rotation axis is provided on the outer edge of the fixed cutterhead 420, and the surrounding convex edge 423 surrounds the movable cutterhead 430. The surrounding convex edge 423 of the fixed cutterhead 420 functions to strengthen the fixed cutterhead 420; meanwhile, because the movable cutterhead 430 is movable up and down, when cutting food, the movable cutterhead 430 will waggle and tilt, affecting the cutting effect, in this case, the surrounding convex edge 423 helps to reduce the amplitude of the waggle of the outer edge of the movable cutterhead 430, because the fit clearance between the inner wall of the surrounding convex edge 423 of the fixed cutterhead 420 and the outer edge of the movable cutterhead 430 is smaller.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The elastic part is configured to apply elastic force between the movable cutterhead 430 and the limiting part 223. In some embodiments, the elastic part is a spring 400, and the connecting component 431 has a spring mounting hole on its lower end, a spring installation column is provided on the bottom face of the concave hole 510, and the spring installation column is inserted into the spring mounting hole, and the spring 400 is disposed on the spring installation column. The lower end of the spring is propped against the bottom face of the concave hole 510, and the upper end of the spring is propped against the bottom face of the spring mounting hole. Since the transmission axle 500 is fixedly connected to the fixed cutterhead 420, the movable cutterhead 430, under the elastic force, forces the limiting outward flange of the movable cutterhead to move into the limiting inward flange of the fixed cutterhead, so as to ensure the distance between the movable cutterhead 430 and the fixed cutterhead 420 always being the maximum value when the movable cutterhead 420 is not adjusted.
The lead screw transmission mechanism is configured to transmit the rotation of the operation part 224 into the rectilinear motion. As shown in
The operation part 224 is rotatably disposed on the lid for convenient in use. In some embodiments, a bulge 222B is provided on the upper end of the screw 222 extending out of the structure channel 221, the operation part 224 includes an annular body and a handle disposed on the outer surface of the annular body, and a groove configured to engage with the bulge 222B is provided on the inner surface of the annular body, and the bulge 222B is located inside the groove.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In some embodiments, as shown in
In conclusion, the food processor of the preset disclosure works as follows:
When the user needs to control the thickness of the cut-out food, the user can adjust the operation part 224 on the height adjusting mechanism 220. The operation part 224 is fixedly connected to the screw 222, therefore, the screw 222 is driven to rotate, and since the limiting part 223 has the guide slot 223B matching with the guide track 221A of the structure channel 221, the limiting part 223 only can move up and down. Meanwhile, after the operation part 224 is connected to the screw 222, its move in up and down directions is limited by the upper end face of the structure channel 221 of the height adjusting mechanism 220, so that the operation part 224 and the screw 222 can not move up and down; as a result, when the screw 222 is rotated, under the effect of the thread, the limiting part 223 can be moved up and down. In the meantime, since the movable cutterhead 430 is subjected to the elastic force generated by the spring disposed inside the connecting component 431 of the movable cutterhead 430, the limiting axle 432 of the cutterhead 430 is limited inside the limiting hole 223C of the limiting part 223. Therefore, when the axle sleeve moves up and down, the movable cutterhead 430 will move up and down along with the motion of the axle sleeve, so as to generate different relative heights between the cutter body 410 of the fixed cutterhead 420 and the movable cutterhead 430, thereby achieving different thicknesses of cut-out foods.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art that what described above are preferred embodiments of the present invention. Various modifications and replacements may be made therein without departing from the theory of the present disclosure, and should also be seen in the scope of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201320775274.9 | Nov 2013 | CN | national |