The present invention relates to manually operated devices for slicing and dicing food stuffs and, in particular, it concerns a manually operated device that dices food items in a single sliding action.
Manual food slicing devices, such at that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,890, have been known for many years. However, manual devices whose end result leaves the food item in a diced state have only recently been introduced.
An example of such a device for dicing food items is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2009/0133587, which is directed toward an improvement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,890. 2009/0133587 relates to a mechanism for retracting cutting blades below the cutting surface of the device during the return movement of the food carriage.
The dicer of US2009/0123623 includes a displaceable cutting surface that reciprocates between upper and lower positions. To achieve diced food items, it is necessary to move the food item across the length of the cutting surface in one direction, rotate the food holder together with the food item 90° and then move the food item across the length of the cutting surface again in the other direction.
There is therefore a need for a simplified manually operated device that produces diced food items in a single sliding action.
The present invention is a manually operated device that dices food items in a single sliding action.
According to the teachings of the present invention there is provided, a manually operated food dicer comprising: (a) a frame structure which is supported above a support surface, the frame structure having a top surface that includes at least a first slicing blade the frame structure including at least one carriage guide configuration; (b) a food item carriage displaceably deployed on the frame structure by way of the carriage guide configuration, the food item carriage including an upper receptacle for receiving food items and a lower dicing blade platform; wherein as the food item carriage traverses a length of the frame structure in a cutting direction, the upper receptacle passes over the slicing blade, after which the carriage guide configuration brings a top surface of the lower dicing blade platform into contact with a bottom dicing surface of the frame structure.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the carriage guide configuration includes corresponding longitudinal slots configured on opposite longitudinal sides of the frame structure and the food item carriage is configured to engage the corresponding longitudinal slots.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the corresponding longitudinal slots are configured as four corresponding longitudinal slots with two the longitudinal slots configured on each of the opposite sides of the frame structure.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the corresponding longitudinal slots are configured to guide the dicing blade platform into the contact with the bottom dicing surface of the frame structure.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the engagement of the food item carriage with the corresponding longitudinal slots includes engagement of at least one connecting element by which the upper receptacle and the lower dicing blade platform are connected.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the dicing blade platform includes blades arranged in a grid configuration.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, bottom dicing surface of the frame structure includes grooves arranged in a grid configuration corresponding to the grid configuration of the dicing blade platform.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, bottom dicing surface of the frame structure includes raised areas between the grooves so as to push food item cubes from the dicing blade platform.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, there is also provided strip cutting blades associated with the slicing blade.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, the dicing blade platform includes blades arranged perpendicular to a length of the frame structure.
There is also provided according to the teachings of the present invention, a method for dicing food items, the method comprising: (a) cutting the food item using at least a slicing blade deployed relative to a top surface of a frame structure; (b) depositing resulting cut food item on a top surface of a dicing blade platform; (c) bring the top surface of the dicing blade platform into contact with a dicing surface configured in a bottom surface of the frame structure, thereby forcing the cut food item through the dicing blade platform.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, steps a, b and c are performed during a single pass as the food item carriage traverses a length of the frame structure in a cutting direction.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, steps a, b and c are performed during a single pass as the food item carriage traverses a length of the frame structure in a first direction and then repeated as the food item carriage traverses a length of the frame structure in a second direction.
According to a further teaching of the present invention, wherein the forcing the cut food item through the dicing blade platform is implemented using raised areas provided in the dicing surface.
The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are schematic in nature and intended to provided detail necessary for one of ordinary skill in the art to understand the basic operation of the invention, wherein:
FIGS. 4 and 4C-4D are schematic top views of variations of a dicing blade platform constructed and operational according to the teachings of the present invention;
The present invention is a manually operated device that dices food items in a single sliding action
The principles and operation of a manually operated device that dices food items according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description.
By way of introduction, the manually operated dicer of the present invention is designed such that the single user action of moving the food item carriage, in which a food item has been placed, across the top surface of the frame structure from one end to the other produces diced food items. It should be noted that all of the grammatical variations of the term “dice” are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way and that the principles of the present invention may be used to cut food items into strips as well as cubes, as will be discussed below.
In some embodiments it is necessary to perform a return stroke in which the food item carriage is returned to its original position in order to perform another dicing action. In other embodiments, two slicing blades are deployed in the frame structure and moving the food item carriage in either direction across the top surface of the frame structure from one end to the other produces diced food items and no return stroke is necessary.
The frame structure of the dicer of the present invention is supported above a support surface by legs which may or may not be foldable. The frame structure has a top surface that includes at least a first slicing blade and at least one carriage guide configuration, preferably grooves or slots configured in the side walls of the frame structure.
The food item carriage is displaceably deployed on the frame structure by way of the carriage guide configuration. The food item carriage includes an upper receptacle for receiving food items and a lower dicing blade platform, such that as the food item carriage traverses the length of the frame structure in a cutting direction, the upper receptacle passes over the slicing blade after which the carriage guide configuration brings the top surface of the lower dicing blade platform into contact with the bottom dicing surface of the frame structure.
Therefore, the method used by the present invention to dice the food items includes the steps of:
1. Slicing the food item using a slicing blade deployed relative to the top surface of the frame structure. It should be noted that is some embodiments of the present invention, the initial “slicing” may render the cut food item into a plurality of strips rather than a single slice.
2. Depositing the resulting slice of the food item on the top surface of the dicing blade platform.
3. Bringing the top surface of the dicing blade platform into contact with the dicing surface configured in the bottom surface of the frame structure, thereby forcing the slice through the dicing blade platform.
Referring now to the drawings,
The frame structure 2 also includes at least one carriage guide configuration, which in this embodiment is configured as two corresponding longitudinal slots 10 (only one shown) on opposite sides of frame structure 2.
Displaceably deployed on frame structure 2, by way of the carriage guide configuration longitudinal slots 10 is the food item carriage 20. It will be appreciated that slots 10 may alternatively be configured as grooves, or substantially any arrangement that provides displaceable connection between the frame structure 2 and the food item carriage 20.
As seen here, the food item carriage 20 includes an upper receptacle 22 for receiving food items F and a lower dicing blade platform 24. The top surface 24t of the lower dicing blade platform is configured with cutting edges as will be discussed below with regard to
The food item carriage 20 is illustrated here at the beginning of the cutting stroke. As the food item carriage traverses a length of the frame structure in a cutting direction, the upper receptacle passes over the slicing blade as illustrated in
At the end of the cutting stroke, as illustrated in
As the top surface 24t of the lower dicing blade platform 24 moves toward bottom dicing surface 40, the cutting edges of the lower dicing blade platform 24 cut through the slice Fs of the food item which produces diced food cubes Fc.
It will be readily understood that in this embodiment of the present invention a return stroke is needed in order to perform the next cutting stroke.
With regard to
At the end of the cutting stroke, as illustrated in
Similarly,
At the end of the cutting stroke, as illustrated in
It will be appreciated that the variations illustrated in
The two corresponding longitudinal slots 10 (only one shown) on opposite sides of frame structure 54 include upwardly sloped regions 10a and 10b and 10a′ and 10b′ configured in both end regions of the longitudinal slots 10.
It will be understood that the operation of the food dicer 50 of this embodiment is substantially the same as described about, with displacement the food item carriage 20 in either direction constituting a cutting stroke and resulting in diced food item cubes Fc and Fc′ being deposited at each end of the frame structure 54. That is to say, the cutting stroke is performed during a single pass in a first direction and then repeated in a second direction.
This embodiment is configured with four corresponding longitudinal slots 210 (only two shown 10a and 10b) with two slots configured on each of the opposite sides of frame structure 204. Each of the longitudinal slots 210 include upwardly sloping regions at the end of the longitudinal slots 210 that correspond to the end of the cutting stoke. Side elements 250 include two slot engagement components (not show) each of which engages a different one of the two longitudinal slots 210.
It will be understood that the operation of the food dicer 200 of this embodiment is substantially the same as described about, with displacement the food item carriage 220 in a direction constituting a cutting stroke sliced food pieces deposited on the top surface of the lower dicing blade platform 224.
At the end of the cutting stroke, the upwardly sloping regions bring the top surface of the lower dicing blade platform 224 into contact with a bottom dicing surface 240 of the frame structure 204 such that the cutting blades of the lower dicing blade platform 224 engage the grooves of the bottom dicing surface 240 such that the “raised” areas 244 are able to push the diced food item cubes from between the cutting blades of the lower dicing blade platform 224.
It will be appreciated that the above descriptions are intended only to serve as examples and that many other embodiments are possible within the spirit and the scope of the present invention.