Patent Application
20180050459
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Crusts for pies, for example, are usually formed by rolling dough to a prescribed thickness, and then trimmed to a prescribed circumference. The circumference may be measured on a pastry mat having measurements or a pastry pan. Once the correct circumference is measured out, excess dough is cut away. However, use of a pastry mat requires the user to cut neatly around the circumference. Further, a pan, which may be used to both scribe and cut the dough, creates a circumference that is larger than the interior circumference of the pan. The top edge of the dough will burn, if not pressed below the pan causing the prescribed thickness to be altered. Alternatively, a round cutter of the correct circumference may be used. However, a user will need round cutters of various circumferences.
An objective of this invention is to provide an apparatus that allows the user to easily measure and circumferentially cut dough, or other food or non-foodstuff having the same or similar qualities as dough.
Other features and advantages of the claimed invention will become apparent in the following detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, the use of similar or the same symbols in different drawings typically indicate similar or identical items, unless context dictates otherwise.
The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.
One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described components (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussion accompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptual clarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated. Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their more general classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended to be representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specific components (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be taken as limiting.
The present application may use formal outline headings for clarity of presentation. However, it is to be understood that the outline headings are for presentation purposes, and that different types of subject matter may be discussed throughout the application (e.g., device(s)/structure(s) may be described under process(es)/operations heading(s) and/or process(es)/operations may be discussed under structure(s)/process(es) headings; and/or descriptions of single topics may span two or more topic headings). Hence, the use of the formal outline headings is not intended to be in any way limiting. Referring to
In one embodiment, the prepping tool (100) is comprised of an arm assembly (10) having a first end (11) and second end (12) where, the first end (11) and the second end (12) lie on a longitudinal axis. The first end (11) of the arm assembly (10) is rotationally attached to a handle base (20). According to an embodiment, the handle base (20) allows the arm assembly to rotate 360°. The second end (12) of the arm assembly (10) is operably attached to a cutting device (30). According to an embodiment, the prepping tool (100) is used to make a circumferential cut. According to an embodiment, a user holds the handle base (20) at a defined location, on a flattened piece of dough, for instance, while rotating the cutting device (30) 360° around the handle base (20), in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
In one embodiment, the prepping tool (100) is comprised of an arm assembly (10) having a first end (11) and a second end (12). The arm assembly (10) is further comprised of an upper surface (13) and a bottom surface. The first end (11) of the arm assembly (10) is rotationally attached to a handle base (20). A cutting device (30) is movingly attached to the second end (12) of the arm assembly (10). The arm assembly (10) is periodically marked (14) on the upper surface (13) in the longitudinal direction. Here, the cutting device (30) may be moved to any of the periodic marks (14). As such, one may create a circumferential cut of a desired length by positioning the handle base (20), moving the cutting device to a desired periodic mark (14) and then rotating the cutting device around the handle base (20) of the prepping tool (100) in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
In an embodiment, the prepping tool (100) is comprised of arm assembly (10) which defines at least one longitudinal slit (16) that is periodically marked (14) along the longitudinal direction of the upper surface (13) of the arm assembly (10). The marks (14) may be regularly positioned along the longitudinal direction to indicate a unit of length, such as, inches. According to one embodiment, the marks (14) may be indicated in centimeters. In still another embodiment, the marks (14) may be indicated in multiple units of length. According to one embodiment, the slit (16) may be indented regularly at its intersection with the upper surface (13) to comprise at least one notch (18) along the longitudinal direction of the arm assembly (10). Here, the number of notches (18) may at least correspond to the number of marks (14) specified on the upper surface (13) of the arm assembly (10). The cutting device (30) may thus be moved along the length of the arm assembly (10) to any of the periodic marks (14) and be held in position By the notches (18). The handle base (20) of the prepping tool (100) is positioned as previously described and the cutting device (30) is rotated 360° around the handle base (20) either clock-wise or counter-clockwise to create a circumferential cut of a desired length.
Referring to
According to an embodiment, the control means (40) is further comprised of an upper grip (42), a lower support (44) and a slide (46).
The cutting device (30) is further comprised of a connector shaft (48) connected to the lower support (44) that removably accepts the cutting means (32) and a locking cap (49) which secures the cutting means (32) on to the lower support (44) and thus to the cutting device (30). In one embodiment, the connector shaft (48) is at least partially hollow and accepts a metal washer (38). The cutting means (32) slides onto the connector shaft (48) and is operably attached to the connector shaft when a magnet (36) mates with the metal washer (38) fastening the cutting means (32) into position. Here the magnet (36) is attached to the locking cap (49). It is established that other means of fastening the cutting means (32) to the cutting device (30) may be contemplated including but not limited to a screw, a pin, a rivet, a snap button or other means known in the art.
According to an embodiment, the handle base (20) is comprised of an upper part (22) a middle part (24) and a base part (26). The upper part (22) is connected to the lower part (24) and the arm assembly (10) is rotationally attached therein-between. In another embodiment, the lower part (24) of the handle base may be removably attached to a base part (26), where the lower part (24) and the base part (26) are comprised of a hollow portion to hold at least one cutting means (32) for storage.
According to an embodiment the cutting means (32) may be a cutting wheel. The cutting wheel may have a straight cutting edge. According to one embodiment, the cutting wheel may have non straight cutting edges such as grooved edges that can produce wavy cuts. The wells of the groove of the cutting wheel may be varied so that the resulting cut may produce wave patterns of various forms and sizes.
