Patent Application
20130305935
This is the first filing made with the USPTO by the applicant regarding the present disclosure.
Within the field of food preparation, it is known that different forms of cutting surfaces are useful for cutting and abrading various fruits and vegetables at a relatively constant depth. These devices are collectively known as vegetable peelers and described in the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,667,596, 2,252,094, 2,362,896, 2,614,324, 3,009,245, and 6,619,194 the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Generally, but not exclusively vegetable peelers have a cutting head which comprises first surface having a blade with a cutting edge disposed thereon and a second surface disposed at a given spacing from the first configured to mediate the cutting depth of the first surface.
Further, within the field of food preparation, it is often advantageous to use vegetable peelers having cutting heads specifically configured for the hard or soft skinned foods, as well as julienning and pattern cutting such as wave and crinkle cuts.
That said, it is often disadvantageous for a person needing multiple types of cutting heads to have such disposed upon distinct instruments.
Consequently, devices are described herein for providing multiple identical or varied vegetable peeler cutting heads within a single frame.
According to a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a folding device comprises; a peeler body, wherein the peeler body is a substantially rigid body providing operative support for a plurality of cutting heads; a plurality of cutting heads, wherein a cutting head is substantially rigid, elongated member having a first end and a second end with a sharp surface disposed therebetween and at least one of the cutting heads is a vegetable peeler; wherein the cutting heads are pivotably coupled to the peeler body at their respective first ends.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, a peeler has cutting heads that are coupled to the peeler body about the distal end thereof.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the sharp surface of at least one of the heads is selected from one of; a soft-skin vegetable peeler, a soft-fruit vegetable peeler, a hard fruit vegetable peeler, a julienne blade, a crinkle blade, a wave blade, a smooth edged knife, a serrated knife, a granton-edged knife, a melon baller, or an olive pitter.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, there are protrusions extending from the surface of the peeler body sized and shaped to limit and interfere with the movement of a given cutting head thereby defining a stop in its motion.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the gap between a cutting head and the peeler body narrows near respective limits of one's travel relative to the other thereby creating a frictile holding point in the motion of cutting head relative to the remainder of the assembly.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, there is a detent having a thin and pointed leading edge disposed upon the periphery of a cutting head, thereby defining a spade.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, a cutting head has a portion of material removed at a distance from the first end thereof thereby defining an area which may be engaged by the finger of an operator to unfold the device.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of the cutting heads comprises a distinct cutting surface and frame, wherein the frame is a substantially rigid body that provides operative support for the cutting surface.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the frame is open along a portion of the cutting surface, thereby exposing such and allowing for facile cleaning and ejection of cutting waste.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the cutting surface is pivotably suspended within the frame by means of complementary recesses or protrusions.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the cutting head is oriented such that its long axis is offset between 0 and 90 degrees from the axis about which it is pivotably coupled to the peeler body.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the frame is comprised substantially of at least one of the following plastic, resin, silicone, or metal.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the peeler body has a protrusion extending substantially proximally therefrom defining a proximal meeting point for the cutting heads when folded thereagainst.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, a portion of the lateral part of the frame is comprised of a modified surface finish achieved by applying an emboss, detent, or over-molding to provide either purely aesthetic treatment or such that the device may be more securely gripped by a user.
According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, the axises about which the cutting heads are coupled to the peeler body are substantially co-planar.
In the figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the claims of the present document.
a, 4b, and 4c show isometric views of three embodiments of a cutting head.
Various embodiments of the presently disclosed apparatus will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals identify similar or identical elements. In the drawings and in the description that follows, the term “proximal,” will refer to the end of a device or system that is closest to the operator, while the term “distal” will refer to the end of the device or system that is farthest from the operator. Similarly, anatomical terms of reference such as dorsal, lateral, anterior, and sagittal shall have their accepted meanings in the arts. Where features are referred to with subletters in addition to numbers, this shall denote repeated similar although not necessarily identical elements.
Referring now to
Referring now to
With continued reference to
Arcuate surface 1114 is shown as being equidistant from aperture 1111 along its entire path. That said, there are further embodiments of the present disclosure, where portions of surface 1114 are farther from aperture 1111 and sized and shaped to frictily engage corresponding portions of a cutting head thereby defining frictile holding points for the travel of a given cutting head. First stop 1112 and second stop 1113 are two examples of such holding points extending even further, as they are sized and shaped to mechanically interfere and define the limits of the travel of a given cutting head. Although stop 1112 and stop 1113 are shown as being disposed upon surface 1114, there are further embodiments of the present disclosure wherein there are mechanically equivalent stops extending from other portions of protrusions 1110(a-c).
With continued reference to
Referring now to
Beginning with the distal end thereof, cutting heads 1300(a-c) further comprise a head portion 1320 sized and shaped to be pivotably engaged about aperture 1111 by a pin 1200. Head portion 1320 is comprised of two substantially planar protrusions 1322 and 1323 extending distally therefrom and having concentric apertures 1324 and 1325 extending therethrough. There is a surface 1321 disposed upon the proximal-end portion of head 1320 sized and shaped to interfere with stops 1112 and 1113.
Moving proximally, there is a blade 1310 pivotably coupled to cutting heads 1300(a-c) by substantially co-axial apertures 1311 and 1312. Blade 1310 has a anterior cutting face and a posterior face. The posterior face of blade 1310 is substantially enclosed by the body of cutting head 1300(a-c). There is an aperture 1340 disposed upon the central portion of cutting head 1300(a-c) sized and shaped to allow access to a portion of the posterior face of blade 1310 so as to allow facile cleaning and removal of extra material therefrom.
With continued reference to
Referring now the proximal-end portion of cutting heads 1300(a-c), there is a spade portion 1330 disposed thereupon which has a thin, pointed tip 1331 at the periphery of the cutting head and an arcuate bowl 1332 therebehind. Spade portion 1330 is sized and shaped such that a user may use it to remove undesirable portions from a piece of foodstuff, including for instance the eye from a potato. Although the tip 1331 is shown as having a smooth edge, there are further embodiments of the present disclosure wherein all or a portion of tip 1331 has one or more serrations disposed thereupon.
With returning reference to
A method of using a peeler will now be described. Initially, a peeler 1000 is provided in a first, closed condition as shown in
The peeler is now configured in a second configuration as shown in
Although the preceding features have been shown and described as being implemented using molded plastic and silicone, there are further embodiments of the present disclosure and claims that can be implemented using formed and shaped metal including for instance bent metal frames as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,896 patent.
