CN113163988A

CN113163988A - Kitchen utensil

Info

Publication number: CN113163988A
Application number: CN201980077895.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: G·L·西尔维斯特里尼
Original assignee: Delongee Braun Home Co ltd
Current assignee: Delongee Braun Home Co ltd; Delonghi Braun Household GmbH
Priority date: 2018-11-28
Filing date: 2019-09-16
Publication date: 2021-07-23
Also published as: WO2020108816A1; EP3886661A1; DE102018220448A1; DE102018220448B4

Abstract

The invention relates to a kitchen appliance for processing food, comprising: a container for holding food to be processed, wherein the wall of the container defines an interior space; a tool arranged in the container for processing the food in the inner space and drivable by a motor (20) arranged outside the container, wherein the inner space is at least partly substantially spherical or ellipsoidal.

Description

Kitchen utensil

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a kitchen appliance for processing food.

Background

Hand-held kitchen appliances such as, for example, hand blenders or hand blenders are used to comminute, mix or blend a variety of different foods.

Such appliances are typically delivered in a stick blender or other implement and a container adapted thereto. An example of such a device is shown in WO2014/033607a 1. Here, the container is a substantially cylindrical container, the top of which is open. A tool is then inserted into the container from the top in order to process the food inside the container. The tool is manually controlled.

It has been noted that such hand-held hand blenders have disadvantages, particularly when they are intended to mix or blend liquid or pasty foodstuffs.

The cylindrical shape of the container thus prevents good tumbling of the food around the working parts of the tool. This is because the height of the cylinder is much greater than its diameter, so that the food must travel a longer distance to reach the working parts. In addition, for safety reasons, the working part is mostly surrounded by a bell-shaped hood, which protects the user from injury. Its diameter is usually only a little smaller than the container, so it is also a hindrance to the food rolling over. It is important to obtain a good tumbling around the working member so that all the ingredients of the food are generally in contact with the working member to obtain a uniform and quick result. The relatively sharp lower edge of the cylindrical container also forms an undercut in which the food product can become stuck, which then can no longer be transported to the working part. These undercuts are also difficult to clean.

In addition, the typical diameter of the working parts of a hand mixer is small to limit the torque and vibration required. But this results in a container also having a smaller diameter to ensure that no food is missed and therefore is not processed at all times. The volume of the container is therefore extremely limited, typically in the range of 600 to 800 ml. If a larger volume is required, the container used must either be very tall, which is impractical from a use point of view and may also lead to instability of the respective container, or the diameter must be increased, which makes it more difficult to hit all the food with small working parts.

Furthermore, in the open state of the container, in particular when the working member used for mixing is moved upwards and thus to the surface of the food to be processed, splashing of the food to be processed cannot be avoided or is difficult to avoid.

In one alternative (see WO2013/181692a1), the food is processed in a closed container. In the container, a processing tool is arranged, and the container is closed by a lid. Because of the relatively large diameter of the tool, the workable volume is also increased, typically up to 1500 ml. In order to drive larger tools, a gearing mechanism needs to be provided in the cover to reduce the rotational speed and the required torque for the working part. The processing speed, in particular in the central region of the tool, is therefore lower than that of the above-mentioned manual mixers. Thus, these appliances are generally suitable for coarsely comminuting or chopping hard foods, but are not suitable for mashing liquid or gruel foods, which requires higher processing speeds. But usually this can only be done by small and fast rotating working parts.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or at least mitigate the above disadvantages.

The invention is defined by claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

The subject of the invention is a kitchen appliance for processing food according to claim 1. It may thus be a device for stirring or mixing food, but may also be a device for chopping food.

The kitchen appliance has a container capable of holding food to be processed in an inner space thereof. According to the invention, the interior of the container has a substantially spherical or ellipsoidal shape, wherein the spherical or ellipsoidal shape does not necessarily extend over all the interfaces of the interior. In this connection, it is only necessary that the inner space is partially intended to be spherical or ellipsoidal, even though it is preferred that the inner space is completely substantially spherical or ellipsoidal. Such "substantially" spherical or ellipsoidal shape of the interior space means that the outer shape of the interior space can be recognized as spherical or ellipsoidal. In particular, the inner space delimited by the container wall is free of any inwardly extending recesses of these walls. The inner space is also convex in shape and the possible openings of the container are all located on a convex portion or bulge of the outer surface. In the container, ribs are usually provided, which extend mostly from the bottom side to the maximum filling level. These ribs are used to improve tumbling and circulation of the food in the container.

A tool for processing food is located in the interior space of the kitchen appliance. The tool may be driven by a motor arranged outside the container for processing the food.

The substantially spherical or ellipsoidal shape of the container results in a better tumbling of the food around the tool, especially when handling less viscous liquids or porridge. As will be explained in more detail later on in particular, due to the rounded sides of the container, the liquid can be tumbled vertically along the side walls, whereby the food can easily be tumbled many times. There is also a potential for horizontal tumbling about the equatorial plane.

The spherical or ellipsoidal shape also results in less restriction on the volume involved with the food to be processed, especially compared to cylindrical containers. An increase in height in a cylindrical container with the same bottom surface results in only a linear increase in volume, while the same increase in height results in a cubic increase in volume in a spherical container. In this regard, a significant increase in volume may be achieved without a significant increase in height.

In addition, due to the spherical design, the food is more easily returned to the tool in the lower part of the container due to the created flow. The maximum distance that the food must travel to reach the tool is less than in a cylindrical container of similar volume. Thus, the food particles are more frequently in contact with the working parts during the same processing time. This is beneficial to the quality of the processed food because the processing time is reduced. Thus, the food is heated less by friction in the process material and the mechanical parts and its mass loss is less.

Furthermore, the tool diameter is also kept small, which is advantageous and does not create dead spaces. This would be the case if the diameter of the cylindrical vessel were increased to achieve a similar volume.

Ribs may also be provided on the inside of the container as desired to improve the tumbling flow of the food product.

It is particularly preferred that the substantially spherical or ellipsoidal container wall extends in a rotationally symmetrical manner about an axis. This rotational symmetry preferably exists about the axis about which the tool is rotatable. Furthermore, the walls of the substantially spherical or ellipsoidal shape also extend in such a way that they enclose the tool in the radial direction of the axis of rotation.

According to the invention, the kitchen appliance has a first opening in the container, through which first opening the tool extends. The tool has a working member disposed within the container and has a motor by which the tool can be driven. The motor is preferably arranged outside the container. Through this opening, food can be fed into the container, and tools can also be inserted into the container through the opening. When the motor is arranged outside the container, the motor may be better protected against moisture penetration and thus damage.

It is particularly preferred that the container has a second opening to enable the addition of further ingredients when processing the food. This makes food processing easier, as such food products can be added in use without having to remove the tool.

Preferably the kitchen appliance has a seal through which the tool extends and is supported by the seal. The seal closes the first opening of the container when the tool is inserted into the container. Such a seal prevents food from splashing out during processing while allowing the tool to be secured within the container. Thus, an originally handheld tool can also be functionally converted into a tool supported by a container of a kitchen appliance. Thus, the kitchen appliance can be used more flexibly.

In this connection, it is preferred to integrate the seal into the tool. Such a seal can be cleaned more easily, since it can be removed from the (substantially closed) container.

Or the seal may be integrated into the container and interact with the tool in the manner described above.

To preserve the processed food, the first opening may be closed with a continuous first plug (i.e., a plug without through-holes).

Preferably, a second plug is also provided in the second opening to prevent splashing out of the opening and to close the opening for storage in the presence of the second opening.

Preferably, the container wall defining the interior space has flat sides. The flat side is advantageously arranged at the bottom side of the container. By providing such flat sides, i.e. sides extending substantially in one plane, the container can be easily stored. If the flat side is arranged on the bottom side of the container, it can be used, for example, to place the container on a table. The flat side may also be located at the top side of the container.

The container is preferably completely ellipsoidal or spherical, with spherical being particularly preferred here. This emphasizes the above-mentioned beneficial effect of tumbling the food to be processed.

In the case of a completely spherical or ellipsoidal container, it is preferred to provide a holder for the kitchen utensils. By means of such a stand, such kitchen utensils can be placed securely without falling over or otherwise falling down from the worktop or table. The holder can be designed as a separate component or can also be integrated into the container.

The container preferably has more than two sections which can be separated from each other without tools and which together define an interior space. Such a container can be cleaned more easily, since one can separate the sections and subsequently clean them separately. In addition, such containers are easy to store, since they can be stacked in a space-saving manner.

It is also preferred that the kitchen appliance has a handle provided on the container. By means of such a handle, the kitchen appliance can be easily transported or grasped in use. Alternatively, a separate feeding mechanism in the form of a hard or flexible tube may be provided to feed food into the interior space when the appliance is in use.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a kitchen appliance according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 schematically shows a tumbling of food in the kitchen appliance according to fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows another configuration of the kitchen appliance of fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows another configuration of the kitchen appliance of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 shows a seal to be used in the kitchen appliance of fig. 1.

Fig. 6 shows a kitchen appliance according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a kitchen appliance according to a third embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a view of a kitchen appliance according to a first embodiment of the invention. The spherical container 12 is placed on the stand 26. The container 12 has a first opening 16 and a second opening 22 which are provided on an outer bulge of the container 12 having a cylindrical cross section and allow food and other objects to be fed into the inner space of the container 12. At the first opening 16, which is provided at the highest point of the container 12, a seal 24B is provided, which is integrated into the tool 14 and abuts against the inner circumferential surface of the first opening 16.

The tool 14, and here the mixing device, extends through the seal 24B. The tool 14 has a rod 36 at the lower end of which a working element 18 for mixing the liquid in the kitchen appliance is provided. At the upper end of the tool 14 is provided a motor 20 which, upon request by a user, may drive a mixing device 18 via a shaft (not shown) within the stem 36 to mix the liquid within the container.

The support 26 is ring-shaped, in the present case three feet are provided on the support, and the spherical container 12 can thereby be placed securely on a flat table. By providing the seal 24B, food is prevented from spilling out of the first opening 16. By holding tool 14 with seal 24B, the burden on the user is reduced because it is not necessary to hold tool 14 by hand. This is particularly advantageous in applications where large quantities of food must be mixed or generally processed or where processing over a long period of time is required for use.

It is particularly preferred that the seal 24B is made of an elastic material which results in a high degree of tightness. In principle, however, the seal 24B may also be spherical, which will allow the tool 14 to be rotated within the container 12, which results in greater flexibility in food processing.

When the embodiment shown in fig. 1 is in use, food can be added through the second opening 22 during use. In particular, because the tool 14 is retained by the seal 24B, the user has both hands free, which makes food addition easier. It should also be noted that even though the second opening 22 is open as shown, less food is spilled from the opening because most of the food spills encounter the side wall of the container 12 and particularly because the cross-sectional area of the second opening 22 is mostly smaller than the surface area of the food to be processed.

Fig. 2 schematically shows how the sphericity of the container 12 affects the tumbling of the food 13. The horizontally extending arrows arranged around the bar 36 indicate that the food 13 is flipped horizontally, while the arrows extending substantially perpendicular thereto indicate that the food is flipped vertically. It can be seen that the spherical shape (and although to a lesser extent ellipsoidal shape) improves the tumbling of the food, and allows tumbling in two directions, since the shape of the container 12 is adapted to the ideal movement of the food 13, whereas in a conventional cylindrical container, the vertical direction only behaves weakly.

Fig. 3 shows an exploded view of the component parts of fig. 1, wherein a first plug 24A and a second plug 34 are provided. Such a second plug 34 serves to prevent food from splashing out of the second opening 22. The first plug 24A is used to close the container in order to preserve food. It can also be seen that a rubber ring 32 is placed on the support 26, which rubber ring is intended to prevent the container 12 from sliding off the support 26. In other words, it is intended to prevent the spherical container 12 from rotating relative to the bracket 26 and thus, for example, prevent the first opening 16 or the second opening 22 from pivoting downward so that the food may leak light. In this regard, any ring that strongly rubs against the material of the container 12 may be used as the ring 32. A suitable material is for example rubber.

If in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 both the first opening 16 and the second opening 22 are closed by non-porous plugs, the container 12 with such closed openings can be removed from the stand 20 and shaken by hand.

Fig. 4 shows the upper part of the arrangement of fig. 1 in a partial sectional detail view, wherein a second plug 34 is provided in the second opening 22. It can be seen here how the rod 36 of the tool 18 extends through the seal 24B and how the motor 20 is placed on the top side of the seal 24B, as also shown in fig. 1. The tool 14 is supported by this placement so that a user of the kitchen appliance does not need to hold the tool 14.

Fig. 5 shows a detail of the seal 24B with the rod 36 passing therethrough. It can be seen that seal 24B is substantially cylindrical. As already mentioned before, the sealing member is preferably made of an elastic material.

Fig. 6 shows a second embodiment of the invention. The container 12 here consists of three components, namely a first component 30, a second component 28 and a lid 31. The first component part 30 has a cup 40 into which the second component part 28 can be inserted and locked together, for example by a bayonet joint. The first component 30 and the second component 28 are separated from one another along the equatorial plane a.

On the top side of the second component 28 there is an opening which is closed by a cover 31 placed on the second component 28. Thus, the first component 30, the second component 28 and the lid 31 form a substantially spherical container 12. The first component 30 is formed integrally with an annular holder 44 provided on the first component 30. By means of the stand 44, the container 12 can be placed on a table. At the lowermost end of the container 12, the container has a guide pin 42 in the first part 30, on which the tool 14 rests and can be guided by the guide pin during the rotary movement.

The lid 31 has a first opening 16 in the outer ridge and the second member 28 has a second opening 22 in the outer ridge for feeding food and other objects into the container 12. The second opening 22 is closed by a closure 34.

The tool 14 is inserted through the first opening 16. The tool has a motor 20 which rests with a guide cup 21 against the inner wall of the first opening 16 and is thus supported by the first opening 16. The motor 20 has a coupling 48. Coupling 48 may be placed in rotation by motor 20, thus causing tool 14 to rotate.

The tool 14 has a rod 36 with a rod joint 46 at its upper end, which is inserted into a coupling 48 of the motor 20. When the motor 20 is driven, rotation of the coupling 48 is generated, which is then transmitted to the rod joint 46, so that the rod 36 rotates. The rod 36 has a blade-like working member 38 at its lower end for processing the food located in the container 12.

This design of the kitchen appliance serves the same purpose as the embodiment described above and shown in WO2013/181692a1, which employs a closed container for processing food. The spherical shape also enables the advantages described above to be used with this embodiment. By separating the container 12 into the first component 30, the second component 28 and the lid 31, the container can be stored in a space-saving manner while it can be easily cleaned.

Fig. 7 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. Here, a commercially available manual stirrer 36 is inserted into the inner space of the container 12 through the first opening 16. The container 12 is held by a stand 26 on the counter. The hand mixer extends through the first opening 16 with a shaft 36 in which a shaft 54 is located. A blade 52 is provided at the lower end of the shaft 54 and is rotatable within a cap 50 provided on the lower end of the rod 36. The second opening 22 is closed with a closure 34 similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 6. In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the stand 26 is a separate object from the container 12.

The kitchen appliance as shown in figure 7 is similar in use to the prior art hand-held beater of, for example, WO2014/033607a 1. The user will be able to hold the motor unit (not shown) and move it freely within the container.

Claims

1. A kitchen appliance (10) for processing food, the kitchen appliance (10) having:

-a container (12) for containing food to be processed, wherein the walls of the container (12) define an inner space,

-a hand-held tool (14), which hand-held tool (14) is arranged in the container (12) for processing the food in the inner space, and which hand-held tool (14) is drivable by means of a motor (20) arranged outside the container (12),

wherein the interior space is at least partially spherical or ellipsoidal, the kitchen appliance further having a first opening (16) in the container (12) through which the tool (14) extends, wherein the tool (14) has a working member (18), the working member (18) being arranged inside the container (12) and having a motor (20), the tool (14) being drivable by means of the motor (20), the motor (20) preferably being arranged outside the container (12).

2. The kitchen appliance (10) of claim 1, the kitchen appliance (10) further having a second opening (22) in the container (12) to enable the addition of other food and other substances during food processing.

3. The kitchen appliance (10) of claim 1 or 2, the kitchen appliance (10) further having a seal (24B) disposed in the first opening (16), wherein the tool (14) extends through the seal (24B) and is supported by the seal (24B).

4. The kitchen appliance (10) of claim 3, wherein the seal (24B) is integrated into the tool (14).

5. The kitchen appliance (10) of claim 3, wherein the seal (24B) is integrated into the container (12).

6. The kitchen appliance (10) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the wall of the container (12) defining the inner space has a flat side, preferably arranged at a bottom side of the container (12).

7. Kitchen appliance (10) according to any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein the container (12) is completely ellipsoidal or spherical, preferably spherical.

8. The kitchen appliance (10) of any of the preceding claims, the kitchen appliance (10) further having a stand (26) for securely placing the kitchen appliance (10).

9. The kitchen appliance (10) of any of the preceding claims, wherein the container (12) has two or more sections (28,30,31) which are tool-free to be separated from each other and which together define the interior space.

10. The kitchen appliance (10) of any of the preceding claims, the kitchen appliance (10) further having a handle disposed on the container (12).