Patent Application
20230292952
The present invention relates to an electrical appliance, especially to a food processor.
Owing to wide spread of covid-19, people are choosing online shopping instead of going to a variety of stores. This has tremendous impact on logistics and supply chain and transportation cost is increasing. The transportation cost is directly proportional to the volume of goods. Thus the key point of research and development of products available now is reduction of packing volume in order to reduce transportation cost.
Refer to Taiwanese Pat. Pub. No. I357809B “coffee machine with height adjustable tray” and Chinese Pat. Pub. No. CN205994297U “a kind of smart coffee machine”, the height of the tray on which coffee cups are put is adjustable so that users can make and take a cup of coffee conveniently. However, only the tray of the coffee machine is adjustable and the total height of the whole coffee machine is still the same. The transportation cost remains high because the volume of the whole coffee machine is not reduced.
Some people in the business have developed coffee machines with adjustable heights. Refer to Chinese Pat. Pub. No. CN103622557B “drip coffee maker” and Chinese Pat. Pub. No. CN110236393A “folding coffee machine”, theses coffee machines include a funnel assembly and a base connected by a water tank. The volume of the coffee machine is reduced by the water tank folded toward and stored in the base. However, an area allowing folding and extending is located at the water tank so that leak-tightness reinforcement member is required to prevent damages caused by water leakage. Thereby not only the folding and extending structure is more complicated, the production cost is also increased. Thus there is room for improvement and there is a need to provide a novel design for height adjustment of the machine.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a food processor which is having simple structure and compact design with a reduced volume while not in use for reduction of transportation cost and storage space.
In order to achieve the above object, a food processor according to the present invention mainly includes a food processing unit disposed between two support units of a machine body and connected to the support units by a lifting unit. The food processing unit is moved down into the machine body while the food processor is not in use. Thus a volume of the food processor is dramatically decreased and both packing and transportation costs are further saved efficiently. The lifting unit is provided with a guiding slot formed on the support unit while the food processing unit includes a guiding block inserted through the guiding slot correspondingly. The lifting unit further includes an operation bar locked and connected with the guiding block. Thereby the food processing unit is moved and positioned vertically by such simple and easy design and the production cost of the food processor is further reduced.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Refer to
The machine body 1 consists of a base 11 provided with a recessed container positioning portion 111, two support units 12 connected to a lift side and a right side of the base 11 correspondingly and each of the support units 12 is having a cavity 121, and two side covers 13 each of which is used for covering the cavity 121 of the respective support units 12.
The food processing unit 2 is mounted between the two support units 12 of the machine body 1 and located above the base 11 of the machine body 1. The food processing unit 2 can be a food grinder, a coffee maker, a blender for crushing fruit to make juice, or a shaved ice machine. The food grinder is used for grinding coffee beans, soybeans, and nuts (such as walnuts).
Also refer to
While in use, a container such as a cup or a bowl is set and positioned on the container positioning portion 111 of the base 11 of the machine body 1 and then food materials which need to be processed is placed into the food processing unit 2 for being processed. After completion of the food processing, the food materials processed are dropped into the container under the food processing unit 2 accurately.
When users intend to save storage space, or manufacturers need to reduce packing volume, they can hold the food processing unit 2 with one hand and use the other hand to press the driving portion 353 which is located at the operation bar 35 of the lifting unit 3 and exposed outside the through hole 32 of one of the support units 12 for pushing the operation bar 35 to move one stroke horizontally. As shown in
Thereby the volume of the present food processor is significantly reduced. The packing and transportation costs are further saved efficiently. The lifting unit 3 is provided with the guiding slot 31 formed on the support unit 12 of the machine body 1 and the guiding block 33 formed on the food processing unit 2 for being inserted through the guiding slot 31 of the support unit 12. By the simple design of the tenon 351 of the operation bar 35 locked and connected with the locking slot 332 of the guiding blocks 33 on the food processing unit 2, the food processing unit 2 is able to be adjusted and positioned vertically. Thereby the production cost of the present food processor is significantly reduced.
In summary, the present food processor has the following advantages.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, and representative devices shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalent.
