1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of food slicers. More particularly, the invention pertains to a watermelon slicer.
2. Description of Related Art
Slicers of vegetables and fruit have been used in the past to ease the removal of the edible portion of the vegetable or fruit for consumption by a user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545, entitled, “Pineapple Cutter” by Hirano discloses a pineapple cutter with a cylindrical body having a cutting edge at the surface end of the lower portion, a pair of handles connected to the outer surface of the cylindrical body, a pressing sheet mounted on the inner portion of the cylindrical body slidable in the vertical direction and a pushing member secured to the upper portion of the cylindrical body connected with the pressing sheet. A second pressing sheet with a smaller diameter than the pressing sheet is located within the pressing sheet to core the pineapple. When used to cut the pineapple, the rind is removed at the same time the core of the pineapple is removed. The exposed cutting edges of U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545 cause user safety risk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545 could even be seen as an ejector assembly to deal with the obvious difficulty of removing pineapple from the cutter device of Hirano's U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,912.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,422, entitled “Fruit and Vegetable Cutter” by Taylor discloses a handle with detachable cutting head. The detachable cutting head is attached to the handle and a funnel type cylindrical portion with through threads. This cutter dices the entire vegetable or fruit including the outside skin. This cutter could not be used for a watermelon for example, because to push the cutter inside of the watermelon flesh, the screw thread connection would be too thick and additionally the holder around the funnel portion of the cutter would also not be able to be pushed through the watermelon flesh. Furthermore, the cutter can only accommodate items which fit entirely within the cutting circle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,912, entitled “Pineapple Cutter” by Hirano discloses a pineapple cutter with handles attached to a cylinder which has a cutter portion. The cylinder of the pineapple cutter is adapted to punch the outer peel and the interior of the pineapple to separate the peel from the interior of the pineapple. The pineapple cutter cuts into the outer peel of the pineapple in order to separate it from the interior of the pineapple. Furthermore, based on the design and the need to “punch” the pineapple cutter through the pineapple in order to slice it, softer flesh, such as the interior of a watermelon would be significantly damaged in the process of removing the flesh from the cutter assembly as described in this patent.
Therefore, there is a need for a watermelon slicer that can remove the fleshy interior or meat of the watermelon without cutting into the rind.
The watermelon slicer of the present invention allows a seedless watermelon to be quickly and efficiently sliced into pieces, for example ‘log’ shaped pieces or other shaped pieces with minimal time and effort. The device will cut watermelon meat into slices with a single motion, with no outside supports or guides, or other moving parts. The device slices the meat of the melon and does not slice or cut into the rind. After pushing the cutter through the meat or fleshy interior of the watermelon, a portion of the meat of the watermelon is cut into pieces by the fixed blades in the slicer device. This device requires no outside alignment, guides or supports. It only slices the fleshy interior or meat of the watermelon.
The slicer device has a cutter piece with an outer surface and an inner surface, cutter blades or wires fastened to the inner surface of the cutter piece, arranged to form a pattern with openings, the openings defined by the cutters and the inner surface of the cutter piece for receiving and slicing the fleshy part of the watermelon from the piece, at least one push bar connected to the cutter piece and/or the cutting blades, and an optional cross handle connected to the at least one push bar for easy handling of the device.
Optionally, a separate push plate, external to the slider device, may be aligned with the cutter piece and includes grooves that can receive the cutter blades to ease clearing the inner meat portion of the watermelon from the cutter blades, if necessary.
The slicer device may also be incorporated into a larger mechanical device in order to permit faster and/or easier use for production type application. Furthermore, the slicer device may be incorporated into a machine for semi- or automatic operation.
The cutter blades may be made out of stainless steel or other strong, easily cleanable material and may be secured in a multitude of alignment patterns.
The slicer device of the present invention can slice the inner, meatier part of the watermelon without the slicer device cutting into the rind. It should be noted that the melon slicer is not a long continuous cylinder, as this would cause the watermelon to be trapped in the cutting device. Instead, only narrow blades or wires are used to slice the melon still within the rind. The design of the supporting bars of the slicer device allows the slicer to ‘reach’ into the meat of the watermelon being cut, with the issues associated with continuous long slicing knives or shapes, which would trap the meat and make removal of the meat from the slicer device difficult.
To use the slicer device of the present invention, the top and bottom crown of the melon are sliced off, resulting in a flat top portion and a flat bottom portion. The watermelon is placed upright to rest on the flat top portion or the flat bottom portion. A user then aligns the cutting piece with the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon. Pushing down on the supporting bar(s) or the handle forces the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon through the cutter piece. If the slicer device has blades or wires within the cutter piece, the openings between the blades or wires, defined the shape of the cut watermelon. The shaped pieces are dependent upon the pattern of wires or blades attached to the inner surface of the cutter piece. It should be noted that the device cannot be rotated once inside of the watermelon, since the cutter blades would otherwise destroy or mush the watermelon meat.
After the slicer device has been pushed through the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon, there may be times in which the meat of the watermelon may be slightly lodged within the slicer device. To easily remove the meat of the watermelon lodged within the slicer device, the blades or cutter piece of the slicer device are aligned with the grooves of the push plate and as the slicer device is pushed down onto the plate, such that the cutters are received by the grooves of the push plate. The downward movement of the slicer device relative to the push plate causes the raised portions to push the fleshy part of the melon out of the openings between the blades and the cutter piece. The raised portions defining the grooves push the meat of the watermelon out of the openings between the cutters and the cutter piece easily and efficiently, without having a user place their fingers near the cutting edges of the slicer device. The optional push plate may or may not be used depending on the construction of the slicer device and the density characteristics of the particular melon being sliced.
a and 7b show views a scraper in an embodiment of the present invention.
a shows a schematic of a watermelon before the top and bottom crown is removed and the resulting watermelon after the top and bottom crowns have been removed.
b shows a bottom view of the watermelon after the bottom crown has been removed.
c shows a schematic of aligning the slicer device with the watermelon.
d shows a schematic of the slicer device moving through the meat of the watermelon.
e shows a schematic of the bottom of the slicer device after being pushed through the meat of the watermelon.
f shows a schematic of the watermelon after the slicer device has been used on the meat of the watermelon, and the slicer has been removed.
The series of cutter blades 22 are placed relative to each other within the inner surface 20 of the cutter piece to define openings 24 between the individual cutter blades 22. The cutter blades 22 are connected to each other and the inner surface of the cutter piece 16. The pattern of openings 24 and cutter blades 22 is not limited to the patterns shown. Examples of alternate patterns are shown in
In one embodiment, at least one of the cutter blades 22 is attached to support bar(s) 14 that extend axially from the cutter piece 16. In another embodiment, the support bar(s) 14 are attached to the inner surface 20 of the cutter piece 16 and at least one of the cutter blades 22. The support bar(s) 14 have a thickness that is the same or less than the thickness of the cutter blades 22 or the cutter piece 16 itself. At least one cross handle 12 may attach to the support bars 14 to provide an increased surface area in which to push the slicer device 10 through the meat of the watermelon and ease the overall use of the slicer device. An example of the slicer device 102 with one support bar 14 attached to a cross handle 12 is shown in
In another embodiment, the cutter piece 16 does not have any cutter blades attached to the inner surface 20 and only the edge 17 of the cutter piece 16 itself cuts the meat of the watermelon as shown in
In an alternate embodiment, an additional, larger cutter piece in diameter or width than cutter piece 16 may be removably attached to the cutter piece 16 for removing meat 7 of larger diameter watermelons. The larger cutter piece may include additional cutter blades.
The grooves 32 and the raised portions 34 of the push plate 30 may be arranged in patterns other than the pattern shown in the drawings within the scope of the invention.
a-8f shows steps of using the slicer device 10 to remove the fleshy interior or meat 7 of the watermelon 2 from the rind or outer portion 8 of the watermelon 2. In a first step, a user removes a top and bottom crown 3, 4, of the watermelon 2, resulting in a flat top portion 5, and a flat bottom portion 6 as shown in
The watermelon 2 is placed upright to rest on the flat top portion 5 or the flat bottom portion 6 as shown in
A similar method may be used to remove the fleshy interior or meat 7 of the watermelon 2 from the rind or outer portion 8 of the watermelon using the slicer devices 102, 104 of alternative embodiments shown in
Should the user desire to consume the fleshy interior 7 of the watermelon 2 at another time, alternatively, the user removes a top crown 3 of the watermelon 2, resulting in a flat top portion 5 and the user aligns the cutting piece 16 of the slicer device 10, 102, 104 with the fleshy part or meat 7 of the watermelon 2 and pushes, using the supporting bar(s) 14, 114 or the handle(s) 12, 112 to push the fleshy part or meat 7 of the watermelon 2 through the openings 24 between the cutter blades 22 or wires, or the opening defined by the inner surface 20 of the cutter piece 16 itself, cutting the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 from the rind 8. It should be noted that the pushing of the slicer device through the meat 7 of the watermelon is a straight, linear action without simultaneous rotation of the slicer device 10. Then, the user would pull back and remove the slicer 10, 102, 104 from the watermelon 2 only. When the user is ready to consume the watermelon 2, the user removes the bottom crown 4 of the watermelon 2, releasing the sliced interior flesh 7.
a, 7b and 9 show a scraper 50 of a first embodiment that may be used after the slicer device 10, 102, 104 has been pushed through the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 and the pieces removed from the slicer device 10, 102, 104, for example from the watermelon 2 shown in
To remove the remaining fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 after the slicer device 10, 102, 104 has been used, a user aligns an edge 53 of the bent scraping portion 52 with the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 and pulls the scraper 50, such that the edge 53 cuts through the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 from the rind 8 as shown in
To remove the remaining fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 after the slicer device 10, 102, 104 has been used, a user aligns the edge 67 of the scraper head 64 with the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 and pulls the scraper 60, such that the edge 67 cuts through the fleshy part 7 of the watermelon 2 from the rind 8 in a manner similar to
After the slicer device 10 has been pushed through the fleshy part or meat 7 of the watermelon 2, the meat 7 of the watermelon 2 may be lodged within the slicer device 10. To easily remove the meat 7 of the watermelon lodged within the slicer device 10, the blades 22 or cutter piece 16 of the slicer device 10 are aligned with the grooves 32 of the push plate 30 and as the slicer device is pushed down onto the plate 30, such that the cutters 22 are received by the grooves 32 of the push plate. The downward movement of the slicer device 10 relative to the push plate causes the raised portions 34 to push the fleshy part of the melon out of the openings 24 between the blades 22 and the cutter piece 16. The raised portions 34 defining the grooves 32 push the meat 7 of the watermelon out of the openings 24 between the cutters 22 and the cutter piece 16 without having a user place their fingers near the cutting edges of the slicer device.
The scraper 50 and the slicer device 10 are preferably made of stainless steel, although other materials may also be used. The push plate is preferably made of plastic, stainless steel, or other non-porous metals.
Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention herein described are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.