Patent Application
20080257128
The present device relates to a food slicer, a.k.a., a mandolin. Particularly, the present device relates to slicer having an adjustable cutting depth.
Mandolins, or food slicers as they are commonly called, are well-known in the art. Adjustability of the cutting depth is a feature many manufactures have experimented with in order to provide a more useful product. The adjustable cutting feature should provide simple manufacture and operation, easy clean-up and maintenance, reproducible cutting depths, a sturdy cutting mechanism, and quick and easy adjustment between cutting depths.
Prior art devices have typically used one of three different mechanisms for adjusting the cutting surface: cam-type adjusters, cutting inserts, and screw adjusters. Each of these three mechanisms provide certain advantages and disadvantages. None achieve all of the desired advantages of an adjustable cutting feature described above.
The cam-type adjusters are comprised of a mechanism which raises and lowers either the pre-cut surface of the slicer or the cutting blade itself. Most cam-type mechanisms include a knob or slider which engages a cam device to change the cutting depth of the slicer. While almost infinitely adjustable between two end points, these types of adjustment mechanisms can be relatively complex, hard to keep clean, and difficult to accurately reproduce a previous cutting depth without an indexing feature. Inadequate support of the pre-cut surface is also a disadvantage of the cam-type adjusters. The pre-cut surface might only be supported at a few points, and on occasions just a single point.
Devices which utilize cutting inserts to change cutting depths provide limited cutting depths, maybe two or three varied inserts. On the other hand, cutting depths are easily reproducible. Complexity of manufacture and ease and speed of adjustment are disadvantages of these types of devices. The inserts must be capable of being interchanged with minimal tolerances to provide a stable cutting area, and locking features may hinder the ability to quickly unplug and plug in inserts.
Screw-type adjusters are perhaps the least complex of the three adjustment types. However, the reproducibility of cutting depths, absent a separate indexing feature, is low and adjustments may require inverting the slicer to allow access to the adjusting screws. Similar to the cam-type adjusters, the screw mechanisms provide limited support to the pre-cut surface and are prone to deteriorating efficiency over time due to inadequate cleaning.
The present food slicer provides an adjustable cutting depth that solves each of these problems associated with the prior art, while avoiding many of the common disadvantages of such devices. The disclosed device affords other structural, manufacture and operating efficiencies not seen in prior art devices, as well.
Generally speaking, a food slicer is disclosed comprising a frame having a track thereon, an adjustable pre-cut surface attached to the frame, a post-cut surface attached to the frame following the pre-cut surface, a blade disposed on the frame between the two surfaces, and a sliding mechanism movably secured within the track of the frame and engaged to support the adjustable pre-cut surface across the entire width of the surface, wherein sliding movement of the mechanism within the track raises and lowers the pre-cut surface relative to the blade.
In an embodiment of the present food slicer the track comprises a plurality of detents for indexed movement of the sliding mechanism and the pre-cut surface is translucent or even transparent to permit accurate placement of a catch bowl for the sliced food items.
In another embodiment of the present food slicer, the device comprises a frame, a translucent, adjustable pre-cut surface attached to the frame, a post-cut surface attached to the frame following the pre-cut surface, a blade disposed on the frame between the two surfaces, and a support mechanism movably secured to the frame and engaged to support the pre-cut surface across the entire width of the surface, wherein movement of the mechanism raises and lowers the pre-cut surface relative to the blade.
In still another embodiment of the present food slicer, the device is configured for creating Julienne slices and comprises a frame having a track thereon, an adjustable pre-cut surface attached to the frame, a post-cut surface attached to the frame following the pre-cut surface, a plurality of first blades disposed on the pre-cut surface, a second blade disposed on the frame between the two surfaces perpendicular to the plurality of first blades, and a sliding mechanism movably secured within the track of the frame and engaged to support the adjustable pre-cut surface across the entire width of the surface, wherein sliding movement of the mechanism within the track raises and lowers the pre-cut surface relative to the first blade.
These and other aspects of the invention may be understood more readily from the following description and the appended drawings.
For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the subject matter sought to be protected, there are illustrated in the accompanying drawings embodiments thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, the subject matter sought to be protected, its construction and operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.
While this invention is susceptible of embodiments in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the invention to embodiments illustrated.
Referring to
As shown in
The side members 21 of the frame 20 extend above and below the pre-cut surface 12 and post-cutting surface 16, while the end members 22 are preferably only below the surfaces. This configuration provides a channel-like top-side of the slicer 10 facilitating the slicing motion of the user.
A track 26 is shown in
A finger switch 32 is preferably attached to one end of the sliding mechanism 30 and is accessible along an outer surface of a side member 21. The finger switch 32 provides the user with a simple device by which to manipulate the sliding mechanism 30 within the track 26 without having to reach the underside of slicer 10. The switch 32 preferably includes a textured surface to facilitate tactile recognition and slip resistance to the user.
Returning to
The pre-cut surface 12 has a tetragonal shape, preferably a trapezoidal shape, with a hinged first end 36 and a free second end 38, and upper and lower surfaces, 39a and 39b, respectively. The first end 36 is secured to the frame 20 by hinge elements 40. Alternatively, a hinge pin (not shown) or similar device may be used to secure the first end 36 to the frame 20. The free second end 38 is positioned adjacent the blade section 14, meeting along a line angled relative to the side members 21 of frame 20. The angle of the meeting line facilitates slicing by allowing the food item (not shown) to effectively be moved in a direction of travel along blade 15 (i.e., slicing as opposed to chopping).
The upper surface 39a of the pre-cut surface 12 may be ribbed or otherwise textured to facilitate tracking of food items in a straight-line toward the blade section 14. The lower surface 39b comprises a plurality of ramp sections 42 in tiered-arrangements. In the present embodiment, the ramp sections 42 increase in height as they get closer to the blade section 14. While a single set of ramp sections 42 are shown in
The pre-cut surface 12 is preferably made from a rigid or semi-rigid thermoplastic material. However, alternative materials may be suitable for certain application. In one embodiment of the present slicer 10 shown in
Referring now to the blade section 14 shown in
The post-cutting surface 16 is shown in
With reference to
In use, the slicer 10 is positioned by the user with the handle 23 in one hand and the opposite end is either engaged with the rim of a container or rested on a relatively flat surface. If the pre-cut surface 12 or post-cutting surface 16 is translucent, the container intended to catch the sliced food items can be easily positioned beneath the blade section 14. The slicer 10 can be held comfortably at roughly a 45° angle (to a horizontal surface).
Before slicing, the thickness of the desired sliced food items should be determined, through “trial and error” if necessary, and the sliding mechanism 30 can be set accordingly. By moving the sliding mechanism 30 toward the handle 23, the slice thickness increases. This is because, in the present embodiment, the ramp sections 42 of the pre-cut surface decrease in height toward the handle, as shown in
Conversely, movement of the sliding mechanism 30 away from the handle 23 will raise the pre-cut surface 12 relative to the blade 15 due to the higher ramp sections 42. As a safety feature, the pre-cut surface 12 may be above the blade at its highest point, thereby eliminating the potential for accidental cutting during non-use.
Once the desired cutting thickness is set, the food item may be placed into the food holder 50, if used. By pushing the prongs of the holder 50 into the food item, the shield 52 is pushed to a retracted position. The food item can then be placed onto the pre-cut surface 12 and, in a reciprocating motion, moved toward the post-cutting surface 16 and back again until the amount of sliced food items are achieved or until the food item is too small to continue slicing. The textured form of the pre-cut surface 12 and post-cutting surface 16 help guide and track the cutting and return motion. As the food item is sliced, the spring or other biasing member advances the shield 52 and in turn the food item forward on the prongs. Naturally, with the proper hand protection, a user may choose to disregard the use of the holder 50 for some uses. An abundance of caution should be exercised in such cases.
The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only and not as a limitation. While particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the broader aspects of applicants' contribution. The actual scope of the protection sought is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspective based on the prior art.
