AU2004100401A4 - Kitchen Board & Attachments - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

INNOVATION

PATENT

KITCHEN BOARD

ATTACHMENTS

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: -1- KITCHEN BOARD ATTACHMENTS This invention relates to improvements in kitchen chopping boards and the convenience of food preparation.

Almost all food preparers suffer the frustration of not having enough room on their kitchen chopping board when cooking with either numerous or large quantities of ingredients. Boards have been manufactured heavier, larger and stronger to ease the frustration, however this in turn has caused new problems for users when relocating the contents of the board into an awkward container, such as a small saucepan. The board becomes too heavy for some elderly people to maneuver and often the ingredients fall wide of their target and out of control as they tumble of the board or are pushed with the assistance of a utensil. Another frequently occurring frustration for food preparers using conventional chopping boards is the inevitable unwanted mixing of ingredients on the board as the ingredients build up around the boards perimeter.

These problems are overcome by the present innovation, which adds convenient attachments to the chopping board so that ingredients can be maneuvered easily within the attachments, thus avoiding the chore of labouring the entire board around the kitchen.

The invention also avoids crowding the board itself with already prepared ingredients as they can be moved from the board into the attachments, which can then be removed and replaced by empty attachments where appropriate.

Maneuvering ingredients into awkward places, such as small saucepans and Tupperware is also made much easier as the attachments significantly raise the level of control of the food preparer to ensure the ingredients do find their intended target.

Additionally, the attachments can be used as storage for left over or remaining ingredients, if required.

In one form of the invention, the rectangular chopping board has appropriate carvings around the two side-top-edges and the far-top edge from the food preparer. These carvings are used by the attachments, of which between 4-6 can be attached directly to the board simultaneously, to slot neatly around the board. These rectangular attachments, made from plastic or another durable material, align themselves so that there is NO gap -2between the board and the opening of the attachment. This ensures that the transfer of ingredients from the board to the attachments can be performed by a simple push from an appropriate kitchen utensil, possibly a kitchen chopping knife.

The attachments themselves have numerous features to enhance their convenience.

Usually, they will have handles where possible to make attachment, detachment and maneuvering easier for the food preparer. The handles are identical to each other and can also be used as the side to be attached to the board. The attachments have a rectangular nature, however a small circular base is another feature to allow the attachments, full or empty, to be stored on top of each other with ease and with little risk of falling over. This storage feature gives the attachments another use if some become idle.

To assist with the understanding of the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying diagrams, which show one example of the invention.

In the drawings: FIG 1 shows one example of the kitchen board according to the invention from a topdown and side perspective.

FIG 2 shows one example of the attachments according to the invention from a top-down and side perspective.

FIG 3 shows one example of the kitchen board and attachments according to the invention from a top-down perspective.

Referring to FIG 1, it can be seen that the board has appropriate carvings around its perimeter for the attachments. Strips of the board are removed from the edges of the board in a smooth and even manner and other than the innovative perimeter the board itself may be a little thicker than conventional chopping boards. This is to ensure a reasonable level of depth of the attachments, thus enhancing their volume and ingredient moving and storage capacity.

Referring to FIG 2, it can be seen that the attachments have handles that also can be used to attach it to the board itself. The attachments may have handles on 3 or 4 of its sides depending on its position on the board and capacity. For example, smaller attachments will generally be lighter and may therefore only have three handles, whereas the bigger, -3bulkier attachments will have four in order to deal with its generally bigger, heavier loads. The sizes of the attachments shown in the diagrams are only indicative of possible sizes and are only one example of the innovation. It is expected that the attachments will have a width of approximately 10cm, a length varying between 10-30cm and will be about 5cm deep.

It is important to respect that the purpose of such a design is to ensure that no ingredients fall between the attachments and the side of the board and that the attachments do not slip away from the side of the board if it is knocked. This feature is very important to the overall innovation.

Referring to FIG 3, it can be seen how the complete innovation would appear once the attachments are placed appropriately around the board. Note that the sides of the board are able to support one bigger or two smaller attachments. Extra or varying sizes of the attachments may also be available autonomously and a number of attachment combinations may be available in the final production. The smaller side attachments only have 3 handles as it is expected that the smaller attachments will have lighter ingredient loads and that a fourth handle is space consuming and unnecessary.

It will be realised that the board and attachment drawings according to this invention are not restricted to any particular sizes, materials or colours and that the method of the attachment clipping itself onto the board may also vary slightly to the given example.

-4-

Claims (4)

1. A kitchen-based device comprising of a chopping board or food preparation board, with reasonable steps made to appropriate edges of the board so that attachments can be clipped onto the board itself.

2. Attachments of varying sizes, shapes, colours and durable materials that clip onto the kitchen-based board described in Claim 1, for the purposes of storing, transporting and organising ingredients prepared on the board.

3. The kitchen-based device of Claim 1 that is of varying colours, sizes, shapes and durable material including wood, steel and plastic.

4. The attachments of Claim 2 are able to vary in size so that any number of attachments can be clipped onto the board simultaneously. A kitchen-based device and attachments substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. NAME: Aaron Petrucci DATE: 29 May, 2003