This invention was not federally sponsored.
This invention relates to a general field of knife storage devices, and more specifically, to a horizontal knife holder that retains knives through use of a horizontal wire brush.
The horizontal knife holder is a tray-like structure with two sides, and end, a bottom, a scalloped front, and a top that covers the back portion of the tray and serves as a knife guard. Under the top is a horizontally-aligned, wire brush, which allows a user to slide knives in between the numerous wire bristles.
Storage of knives has long created problems in the kitchen. There are knife blocks made for storage of knives outside of a kitchen drawer, but there are usually vertically aligned or at least partially vertically aligned. There are also knife storage trays that fit into kitchen drawers, but these usually let the knives move around freely, leading to a quick dulling of the knife edges.
Thus, there has existed a long-felt need for a good way to store knives horizontally. The current invention provides just such a solution by having a horizontal knife holder that is basically a tray that can be used in a kitchen drawer or outside. The holder has two sides, a back, a bottom, a scalloped front, and a top portion that covers the back of the tray. Under the top portion is a wire brush with a large number of stiff bristles, into which knives can be removably inserted. The bristles are preferably made from a rigid plastic, but other materials, including metal, are contemplated. The tray has a soft bottom to protect users' knuckles and provides for minimal scarring of the product, while the scalloped front allows for easy access to the knives.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. The features listed herein and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
It should be understood the while the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in some detail herein, the present disclosure is made by way of example only and that variations and changes thereto are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, and a reasonable equivalency thereof, which claims I regard as my invention.
One preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with references made to the drawings below. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed upon clearly illustrating the components of the present invention. Moreover, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts through the several views in the drawings. Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention are not limited in their application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The embodiments of the invention are capable of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The horizontal knife holder has two sides 1, a back 2, a bottom 7, a front 4 and a top 3. The front 4 has a scalloped portion 5. Underneath the top 3 is the holder 6, which is a series of plastic wire brush spines into which knifes are inserted. The holder 6 keeps the knives in place and prevents them from touching the bottom of the holder. It is commonplace for knives to be dumped in a drawer, where they can rattle and knock around every time the door is opened or closed. This leads to rapid dulling of the knives, which is why it is desirable to retain individual knives where they cannot dull adjacent knives.
The wire brush spines can be created from either plastic or metal, and can be inserted in a variety of ways. One embodiment calls for circular wire spines to be individually inserted into holes drilled in the back of the holder, and secured with a small drop of glue on the end of each. Another embodiment has the bristles glued into a plastic tray that is then glued or snapped into the back of the box, and is removable for cleaning. A diameter of approximately 2 mm is preferred, although a range of 1-4 mm is contemplated for holders designed for different sizes of knives. The wire brush spines can also have a square, triangular, rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal cross-sectional profile.
It should be understood that while the preferred embodiments of the invention are described in some detail herein, the present disclosure is made by way of example only and that variations and changes thereto are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, and a reasonable equivalency thereof, which claims I regard as my invention.
All of the material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in official governmental records but, otherwise, all other copyright rights whatsoever are reserved.
This utility patent application claims priority back to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/334,269, with a filing date of Apr. 25, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated by reference into this utility patent application.
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63334269 | Apr 2022 | US |