AU2015100799A4 - Safety Skewer - Google Patents

Abstract

Safety skewer The present invention relates to the field of food preparation, and more specifically to cooking implements that pierce food items including skewers. In one form the present invention provides a skewer including a weakened region that allows the pointed end of the skewer to be removed. Figure 2. 40 30 50 20 Fig. 1 90 80 100 70 Fig. 2

Description

EDITORIAL NOTE 2015100799 There are nine pages of description only.

Safety skewer FIELD OF INVENTION 5 The present invention relates to the field of food preparation, and more specifically to methods of food preparation including cooking using implements that pierce food items. In one form, the present invention relates to cooking implements including skewers. 10 It will be convenient to hereinafter describe the invention in relation to food preparation, however it should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to that use only. BACKGROUND ART 15 It is to be appreciated that any discussion of documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the present invention. Further, the discussion throughout this specification comes about due to the realisation of the inventor and/or the identification of certain related art problems by the inventor. Moreover, any discussion of material such as 20 documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the invention in terms of the inventor's knowledge and experience and, accordingly, any such discussion should not be taken as an admission that any of the material forms part of the prior art base or the common general knowledge in the relevant art in Australia, or elsewhere, on or before the priority 25 date of the disclosure and claims herein. Modern day food preparation techniques make use of a wide range of physical apparatus to assist in the preparation and manipulation of food items, these are generally termed implements. Skewers are one form of implement that pierces food items and skewers find application in both domestic and commercial 30 cooking. In general, a skewer firstly pierces a food item, then travels through the food item, remaining inside, thus making it possible for the user to manipulate the food item (or items) whilst avoiding direct contact with the food item.

Enabling manipulation of food items, whilst isolating the user from the food items is the main benefit of using a skewer. A skewer offers the further advantage of isolating the user from heat that may be used in the cooking process. BBQ cooking for example utilises an 5 exposed heat source, so the separation from the source of heat offered to the person doing the cooking by use of a skewer is advantageous. Skewers also allow multiple food items to be grouped together for cooking and this is a popular food preparation technique. Once the relative position of food items has been controlled by threading on a skewer, the food items can be 10 efficiently manipulated all at once. Many differing forms of skewers are in use. The majority include a rigid, elongated shaft and a sharp point on at least one end. The rigid elongated shape of the skewer allows food items to remain threaded on. The sharp point is necessary to pierce the food item(s). The shaft may remain in the food item(s) 15 during cooking so it is often manufactured in a material that is resistant to heat. A wide variety of materials and combinations of materials may be used in skewer manufacture. Such materials as known to those skilled in the relevant art may include natural materials including timber and cane, and synthetic materials such as polymers and metals. Use with heavy food items necessitates use of 20 stronger materials and/or larger cross-sectional area designs. A non-symmetrical sectional outline shape may be used in order to prevent the food item or items from rotating on the skewer. Customary skewer designs suffer from the drawback that they may be unsafe. The hard material and sharp point of the skewer results in a safety risk; it 25 can stab the user. There is a particularly high risk for users who are children, because children are prone to eating directly from the skewer, and this risks stabbing the child's eyes and face. A user may break off the point of the skewer, however this requires a moderate degree of strength and dexterity and often results in a messy and 30 inconsistent result. Alternatively, the point may be cut off using a pair of scissors, or similar tool, such as a pair of pliers however this requires both ownership of the tool and having it available for use at the required time. Cutting through a skewer with scissors carries with it a degree of risk, due to the thickness and hardness of the skewer material. Using a tool to remove the tip of a skewer will often result in the pointed tip of the skewer being flung off which poses a further hazard. Skewers having removable points are known. Patent CN201585879U 5 describes a skewer comprising a shaft and a separate plastic pointed cap element that telescopes over one end of the skewer shaft. This approach may suffer from the drawback of greatly increased cost, reduced convenience and a lack of reliability since the skewer shaft disclosed is itself un-pointed, which means that if the separate point is misplaced the skewer is rendered useless as it 10 cannot alone pierce the food item. SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an object of the embodiments described herein to overcome or alleviate at least one of the above noted drawbacks of related art systems or to at 15 least provide a useful alternative to related art systems. In a first aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided apparatus for food preparation comprising a skewer including; a rigid elongate shaft, said shaft including a first end region and a second end region, said first end region being adapted for piercing food items, said shaft further including a 20 weakened region. In another aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided apparatus for food preparation comprising a skewer including; a rigid elongate shaft, said shaft including at least one pointed end, said shaft adapted to be frangible, wherein said shaft frangibility allows the at least one pointed end to be 25 disconnected from said shaft. In yet a further aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided a method of manufacturing a skewer; said skewer comprising a shaft, said shaft including at least one pointed end, said shaft further including at least one weakened portion. 30 In yet a further aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided a method for improving the manipulation of food items, having the first step of piercing a food item with a skewer according to claim 1, and a second step of breaking off the first end region of the skewer.

Other aspects and preferred forms are disclosed in the specification and/or defined in the appended claims, forming a part of the description of the invention. In essence, embodiments of the present invention stem from the realisation, by the inventor, that a controlled weakening of the shaft of a skewer 5 would allow a user to easily, safely and neatly remove the pointed part of a skewer thus rendering it incapable of causing injury. Further scope of applicability of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while 10 indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the disclosure herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description. 15 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further disclosure, objects, advantages and aspects of preferred and other embodiments of the present application may be better understood by those skilled in the relevant art by reference to the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of 20 illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the disclosure herein, and in which: Figure 1 illustrates a side view and an end view of an embodiment according to the present invention. 25 Figure 2 illustrates a side view and an end view of an alternative embodiment according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION In an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figure 1, a skewer 30 shown generally as 10 includes a shaft 20 having a weakened region 30. The shaft 20 is a rigid, elongate member including at least one pointed end 40. In a typical use case, the pointed end 40 of the shaft 20 may be placed upon a food item followed by the application of axial compressive forces on the shaft 20 by the user's hand. These forces cause the shaft to pass through the food item, enabling it to be manipulated easily. The weakened region 30 serves to reduce the strength of the shaft 20 in relation to lateral forces whilst retaining the strength of the shaft in relation to axial 5 forces. Lateral forces are those forces that act in a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 20 of the skewer. They are forces that, when applied, would tend to bend the skewer shaft. Axial forces are those forces that act along the longitudinal axis of the shaft. These are forces that, when applied, 10 would act to compress the skewer shaft. Preferably the weakened region 30 of the shaft 20 is located between the centre of the shaft and the pointed end 40 of the shaft; thus increasing the length of the remaining part of the shaft after the pointed end 40 has been broken off, and correspondingly increasing the ability of the shaft 20 to retain multiple food 15 items. The weakening of the shaft's weakened region 30 may be achieved by various means known to those skilled in the relevant art including but not limited to material selection and configurations of shape. Material specification, particularly where polymers are formed with co 20 extrusion or co-moulding injection moulding manufacturing techniques, enables the shaft 20 to effectively include regions of materials having for example lower shear strength and this results in a localised weakening. Alternatively, maintaining a single, consistent material for the shaft 20 and modifying the configuration of shape as a means of weakening a skewer shaft 25 and is encompassed by the present invention. Preferably, skewer shapes are employed that offer reduced strength to lateral plane forces whilst retaining strength in the axial plane. The result is a skewer shaft that is frangible, i.e. readily or easily broken, about the weakened region. These characteristics make it possible for the user to easily snap off the 30 point, whilst at the same time not significantly reducing the axial strength of the shaft as is required for penetrating the food item. Weakening of the shaft is thus effectively achieved by configuration of shape, in other words, by shaft geometry.

One example of shaft geometry included within the scope of the present invention is a notch 50, as depicted in Figure 1. The significance of a notch to the torsion (bending) strength of materials is well understood, and it is noted that many materials exhibit a heightened degree of "notch sensitivity". In the field of 5 metallurgy, for example notch sensitivity is defined as "a measure of the reduction in strength of a metal caused by the presence of a notch (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, 2003). Further, a hole, or a number of, or a combination of any number of holes may also result in a localised weakening of a skewer shaft. Multiple holes having 10 axies that are perpendicular to the shaft longitudinal axis are preferred. Holes with diameters of 1/3 shaft diameter and having hole axies oriented at 90 degrees are further preferred embodiments of the present invention. Figure 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention wherein a skewer shown generally as 60 includes a shaft 70 having a weakened 15 region 80. The shaft 70 is a rigid, elongate member including at least one pointed end 90. A preferred geometric configuration of shape of a skewer shaft 70 according to the present invention resulting in a weakened region 80 may be characterised as a groove 100. A groove is a relatively narrow channel, having 20 depth and a dimension of elongation or length. A groove 100, as herein described and illustrated in Figure 2, may preferably extend upon the exterior surface of the skewer shaft 70 and in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft, in other words, corresponding the circumference of the sectional outline of the skewer shaft. 25 A circumferential groove may take the form of an annular cut, such cut being applied to the skewer shaft by a bladed process, and having a depth being one or more times the width of the groove. A cut depth equivalent to 1/4 of the shaft overall thickness is preferred. A "v" shaped profile, where the sides of the groove are angled, and other groove profiles are included within the scope of the 30 localised weakening envisaged by the present invention. The present invention encompasses materials known to those skilled in the relevant art including naturally occurring materials such as bamboo and timber. Use of synthetic materials such as polymers, and metals are also understood to be included within the scope of the present invention. A preferred material for construction of a skewer according to the present invention is bamboo. Specific advantages flow from the use of a circumferential groove as a means of weakening a bamboo skewer shaft. This form of shape configuration 5 severs the external fibres of the shaft, which, as well as reducing the bending strength of the shaft, reduces splintering and stripping of the fibres which would otherwise occur if a bamboo skewer shaft were broken without a groove. The addition of a circumferential groove in a bamboo shaft results in a break that is consistently positioned, neat and pleasing to the eye, and avoids the risk of 10 bamboo splinters or fibres injuring the user either through direct contact or by entering the associated food. A circumferential groove has the further significant advantage that it may be inexpensively integrated to the production processes currently employed in the manufacture of common bamboo skewers. In general a common bamboo skewer 15 shaft is formed, docked to length, then one end is sharpened to a point. The sharpening process entails a relative rotation between the skewer shaft and an angled cutting tool, about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, in a process not dissimilar to sharpening a pencil. Modification of the cutting tool in order to create the circumferential groove is straightforward and has minimal cost implications to 20 the skewer production. Regardless of the specific position or geometric shape employed, or the material of the skewer shaft, inclusion of a controlled weakening of the shaft obviates the need for additional tools (scissors, pliers) and the process of tip removal is low risk since the tip and the shaft are gripped simultaneously, thus 25 avoiding the tip flying off into the air. The hazard of a hard, sharpened object being flung towards the user or into food is therefore avoided under the present invention. Further, the present invention avoids any risk, to the person attempting to cut through the skewer, posed by the scissors or pliers themselves which may 30 easily slip or twist open (since the skewer may be thick and strong and not easily severed). The controlled weakening of the shaft itself offers a convenient solution, not requiring ownership of, or access to, cutting tools.

Under the present invention, the sharpened end of the skewer is integrated to the skewer shaft. This avoids the drawback of increased cost that is a consequence of the alternative approach of having a non-pointed shaft and an associated separate pointed cap component. Where the separate pointed cap 5 component is an injection moulded plastic item, the cost of tooling required by this solution may be high. The pointed cap component may also be misplaced. A skewer as herein disclosed offers a more reliable solution that the removable point alternative because if the separate point of the alternative design is misplaced the un-pointed skewer shaft is rendered useless as it cannot pierce the 10 food item. Integration of the point and the skewer shaft as per the current disclosure allows food items to be removed from the skewer without risk that the point becomes dislodged from the shaft and enters the food items themselves. While this invention has been described in connection with specific 15 embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is capable of further modification(s). This application is intended to cover any variations uses or adaptations of the invention following in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be 20 applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth. As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of the essential characteristics of the invention, it should be understood that the above described embodiments are not to limit the present invention unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly 25 within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative only and not restrictive. Various modifications and equivalent arrangements are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention and appended claims. 30 Therefore, the specific embodiments are to be understood to be illustrative of the many ways in which the principles of the present invention may be practiced. In the following claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover structures as performing the defined function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. For example, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface to secure wooden parts together, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a 5 screw are equivalent structures. "Comprises/comprising" and "includes/including" when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof. Thus, unless the 10 context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', 'includes', 'including' and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense, that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

Claims (11)

1. A skewer including; a rigid elongate shaft, said shaft including a first end region and a second end region, said first end region being adapted for piercing food items, 10 said shaft further including a weakened region.

2. The skewer of claim 1 wherein, said weakened region is proximate said first end region. 15

3. The skewer of claim 2 wherein, said weakened region offers weakening effect as a result of its shape.

4. The skewer of claim 3 wherein, said shape is a circumferential groove. 20

5. The skewer of claim 4 wherein, said shaft is constructed from bamboo.

6. A skewer including; 25 a rigid elongate shaft, said shaft including at least one pointed end, said shaft adapted to be frangible, wherein said shaft frangibility allows the at least one pointed end to be disconnected from said shaft. 30

7. A method of manufacturing a skewer; said skewer comprising a shaft, said shaft including at least one pointed end, said shaft further including at least one weakened portion.

8. A method of manufacturing a skewer, according to claim 7 wherein, 5 said weakened portion is located proximal the pointed end.

9. A method of manufacturing a skewer, according to claim 8 wherein, said weakened portion is provided by the shape of the shaft. 10

10. A method of manufacturing a skewer according to claim 9 wherein, said weakened portion is provided by the shape of the shaft and, said shape is a groove. 15 10. The skewer of claim 9 wherein, said shaft is constructed from bamboo.

11. A method for improving the manipulation of food items, 20 having the first step of piercing a food item with a skewer according to claim 1, and a second step of breaking off the first end region of the skewer.