The present disclosure relates generally to a spoon for use by people with impaired coordination, and more specifically to a spoon that is self leveling in two orthogonal directions.
People with impaired coordination of their hands, for example infants, stroke victims and people that suffer from Cerebral Palsy (CP), typically have problems using eating utensils especially spoons. They generally find it hard to move the food from a plate to their mouth without spilling the contents of the spoon on the way. Additionally, they also have a hard time getting the food on the plate into the spoon.
An aspect of an embodiment of the disclosure relates to a spoon with a bowl that remains level in two orthogonal directions so that a user can rotate the handle of the spoon or tilt the handle while the bowl of the spoon remains level.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the spoon includes a handle portion and a utensil portion. The handle portion includes an rod having as top end and a bottom end, wherein the elongated rod is rotatably coupled to the utensil portion at the top end. The handle portion further includes a sleeve rotatably enclosing the rod so that a user can grasp the sleeve while the rod is free to rotate. Optionally, the sleeve is held in place by a screw connected to an end of the rod or the end of the rod includes means to prevent the sleeve form sliding off, for example a clip extending from the rod. Alternatively, the bottom end of the rod includes an extension that prevents the sleeve from falling off.
The utensil portion includes a bowl for transferring food or other content, a weight for balancing the bowl, and a connection interface such as wings to grasp the rod or shoulders that support a shaft to rotatably couple the utensil portion to the rod.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the weight is connected to an end of the bowl and it extends downward below the bowl so that it can be leaned upon when loading food or content into the howl of the spoon. Alternatively, the weight is positioned on a side of the bowl. Optionally, the weight positioned on a side of the bowl is balanced with a second weight attached to the extension at the bottom end of the rod. Optionally, the second weight is positioned on the opposite side to balance the bowl around the axis of rotation of the rod.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a locking mechanism protrudes from the rod and/or from the utensil portion to engage the weight and limit the downward motion of the handle portion. The locking mechanism helps to better position the bowl to load food or content into the bowl of the spoon.
There is thus provided according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a spoon, comprising:
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the weight is attached under the bowl. Alternatively, the weight is attached on one side of the bowl; and further comprising a counter weight extending from near the bottom end or any other position along the elongated rod. Optionally, the weight and the counter weight have the same mass. Alternatively, the weight and the counter weight have a different mass.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the elongated rod includes an arm extending from the top end perpendicularly to the elongated rod for rotatably coupling with the spoon portion. Optionally, the utensil portion includes wings for hanging the utensil portion from the arm. Alternatively, the elongated rod includes a looped head extending from the top end of the elongated rod for rotatably coupling with the spoon portion. Optionally, the utensil portion includes a shaft extending between two shoulders for rotatably coupling with the looped head. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the shaft has a truncated circular cross section for immovably locking itself between the shoulders of the utensil portion. Alternatively, the shaft has a polygonal cross section for immovably locking itself between the shoulders of the utensil portion.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the spoon includes a locking mechanism to limit the rotation of the handle portion relative to the utensil portion. Optionally, the spoon includes a strap attached to the sleeve to couple the sleeve to user's hand. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the elongated rod is covered by an inner sleeve that rotatably accommodates the sleeve of the handle portion. Optionally, the inner sleeve is held in place by teeth that protrude along the length of the elongated rod.
The present disclosure will be understood and better appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings. Identical structures, elements or parts, which appear in more than one figure, are generally labeled with the same or similar number in all the figures in which they appear, wherein:
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a utensil portion 104 for transferring food is coupled to rod 130. Optionally, the utensil portion 104 includes wings 140 to rotatably hang from rod 130, so that the utensil portion 104 can rotate around a Y axis that coincides with arm 132. In some embodiments of the disclosure, the utensil portion 104 and the handle portion 102 are connected by other types of connectors as long as the utensil portion 104 can rotate around the Y axis that coincides with arm 132.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, utensil portion 104 includes a bowl 110 for accepting food and a weight 120 for balancing bowl 110 of utensil portion 104 and any content therein. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, weight 120 extends downward from an end of bowl 110 and is positioned under wings 140 coupling utensil portion 104 to rod 130. Optionally, bowl 110, weight 120 and wings 140 are all part of a cast structure. Alternatively, each part is formed separately and connected together to form utensil portion 104.
Optionally, when a user holds sleeve 150 of handle portion 102 weight 120 will keep bowl 110 level facing upward even if the user's hand jerks about causing rotations around the X axis and/or the Y axis. Thus the user can transfer food upward or downward along the Z axis with non-smooth hand motions without the content of bowl 110 spilling out. Optionally, weight 120 is designed to be heavier than the food/content that will be handled by spoon 100.
As illustrated in
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, weight 120 comprises multiple weight units that are attached to balance utensil portion 104. Optionally, each weight unit includes a weight housing 122 filled with a heavy material 124 to weigh it down. For example the heavy material 124 may be a metal rod, sand, a rock or any other material with a large specific gravity.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, spoon 600 includes a bowl 610 for holding food or other content. Optionally, bowl 610 is connected to a body 615 having two shoulders 665 extending from body 615. The shoulders 665 enable rotatably coupling between the utensil portion 604 and the handle portion 602.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a shaft 645 is supported by shoulders 665 to rotatably couple the handle portion 602 with the utensil portion 604. Optionally, shaft 645 has a semicircular cross section or truncated circular cross section to couple to shoulders 665 by immovably locking itself between the shoulders 665 while allowing the handle portion 602 to rotate relative to the shoulders 665. In some embodiments of the disclosure, shaft 645 has a polygonal cross section, for example hexagonal, pentagonal or octagonal. Alternatively, shaft 645 is circular and locked in place by friction or by a screw. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, the shaft 645 is connected on one side to a balancing interface 640 with a weight 620 at an end of the balancing interface 640. Optionally, the other side of shaft 645 is closed with a screw to prevent it from sliding out of shoulders 665. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, weight 620 balances bowl 610 with its content around the Y axis and also balances around the X axis as explained below.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, handle portion 602 includes a central rod 680 having a looped bead 635 to rotatably grasp shall 645. Alternatively, utensil portion 604 may include the looped head and handle portion 602 may include the shaft to rotatably couple them together.
Optionally, central rod 680 is covered with teeth 682 to frictionly interface with an inner cylindrical sleeve 685 that is used to cover central rod 680. Alternatively, inner cylindrical sleeve 685 may serve as a protective cover that rotates around central rod 680 and may interface with other elements that are attached to it as described below. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, an interface 630 is attached to the outer end of central rod 680 (opposite looped head 635). Optionally, interface 630 is coupled to a weight 625 that serves as a balance with weight 620 around the X axis. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, both weights have the same mass. Alternatively, weight 620 and weight 625 have a different mass and balance each other by their position relative to the X axis and/or the Y axis through the central rod 680. In some embodiments of the disclosure, interface 630 extends from other positions along central rod 680, for example the center or top instead of from the bottom/outer end.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, an outer sleeve 650 is inserted over inner sleeve 685. Optionally, a strap 670 is attached to outer sleeve 650. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, a user grasps outer sleeve 650, for example by inserting his or her hand between strap 670 and outer sleeve 650 while grasping outer sleeve 650. Optionally, outer sleeve 650 provides central rod 680 with the freedom to rotate around the X axis. In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, outer sleeve 650 is covered with a soft material such as a sponge or soft plastic to provide a soft feel for the user. Optionally, strap 670 is made from an elastic material to gently exert pressure on the user's hand and to accommodate various hand sizes. The strap 670 prevents the user from dropping the spoon 600. In some embodiments of the disclosure, outer sleeve 650 is attached to inner cylindrical sleeve 685 to rotate together, for example outer sleeve 650 may be made from a soft plastic and inner cylindrical sleeve 685 may be made from metal.
In an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure, looped head 635 and shoulders 665 include a locking mechanism 690 in the form of protrusions from looped head 635 and shoulders 665. Optionally, locking mechanism 690 limits the motion of handle portion 602 relative to utensil portion 604, for example only enabling handle portion 602 to rotate 90 degrees or 180 degrees around shall 645 relative to utensil portion 604,
It should be appreciated that the above described methods and apparatus may be varied in many ways, including omitting or adding steps, changing the order of steps and the type of devices used. It should be appreciated that different features may be combined in different ways. In particular, not all the features shown above in a particular embodiment are necessary in every embodiment of the disclosure. Further combinations of the above features are also considered to be within the scope of some embodiments of the disclosure. It will also be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IL14/51137 | 12/30/2014 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61922886 | Jan 2014 | US |