CA1118325A - Processor and cutter disc - Google Patents

Abstract

PROCESSOR AND CUTTER DISC
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
In a food processor with a power base and a lid-covered bowl, a feed chute through the lid empties onto a cutting disc rotated by a shaft ectending into and terminating in the bowl. To this general combi-nation an improvement in the disc structure is pro-vided comprising a peripheral flange around the disc edge extending upwardly adjacent the bowl inner sur-face, with a single substantially rectangular locking bevel-edged opening through the disc and flange on one side only of the disc's center, the opening ter-minating short of and adjacent the disc center. A
narrow slot is provided centrally of the opening to extend across the disc center and a depending hub on the disc at its center crosses the slot to receive the shaft. A removable beveled-edge cutter blade insert has a tab matching the slot and the insert is radially slidable into the opening and the slot to contact the hub. A stepped sleeve on the tab verti-cally locates the insert on the shaft and the insert has a scoop behind the cutter which is beveled to funnel cut food down into the bowl. The entire de-vice is plastic with a metallic cutter blade and the arrangement is such that the disc is totally carried by the insert which is supported by the hub/tab con-tact and is vertically restrained by the locked edges while being radially restrained by the shaft. The disc is further fixedly spaced from the underside of the lid by the stepped sleeve for clearance from the lid providing a single disc with multiple capabili-ties by using different shaped inserts.

Description

P~OCESSOR AND CUTTER DISC

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field o~ the Invention The invention relates to a food processor having a power base with a lid-covered bowl thereon and a feed chute through the lid to a cutting diQc rotated by a shaft extendlng ~nto the bowl. To thi~ general arrangement an improved di~c constructlon i8 provided whereby various insert~ may be u~ed in the di~c to provide multiple cutting capabilities with the lnsert and di~c cooperating to provide fixed re~tralnt in : all necessary direction~ and provide an es~entlally two-pieae d~sc for many variou~ cutting functions.

2. Description of the Prior Art 15It i~ known to u~e food proces~ors, a device fitting in the ~peed range between blenders and mixer6, as a multi-purpose kitchen apparatu~ that uses generally multiple interchangeable rotary tool~
such as blade~, knive3, cutting and ra~ping d$scs, and various attachments for blending, mixlng, gratingr grinding, chopping, ~l$cing, whipping, and other operatlons in a short time. Such proce~sQrS

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- ~ - 6D-5340 have become a commonly used kitchen app}ian~e. They usually comprise a power base wlth a lld-covered bowl supportlng portion and a vert$cally driven shaft extending into the bowl that c~rries the cutters in the base of the bowl or various form~ of slicing discs that operate immedistely below the lid and re-ceive food from a feed chute through the lid. The lid is generally ~nterlocked with the motor circuit to inacttvate the proces~or when the lid i~ removed 10 and the ~harp cutting means or disc~ are expo~e~.
Such 'ood processors are geneeally well known and various forms of discs with knive~, rasps, interchangeable cutter~, have been known in one form or another. Typlcally, a food slicer e~ploying an interchangeable cutter is shown in patent 3,085,607 upon which the in~tant Invention provides an improve-ment.
An ob~ect of the invention i8 to provide a food proce~sor of the general known type with an improved di~c that may take any one of a number of ln~erts to provide multiple cutting capabili~ies.

Another object i8 to provide ~uch a processor which uses a simple one-part disc and one-part insert by whlch many cuttlng operatlons are obtainable by the use o~ the proper insert ln the two-piece dl~c structure.

SUMM~RY OF T~E INVENTION

Briefly de~cribed, the invention i8 directed to a food proce~sor having a power base and lid-covered bowl thareon with a feed chute through the lid to a cutting disc rotated by a shaft extendlng into and termina~ing in the bowl. ~o ~his known comb~nation, .

, ~ - 6D-5340 an improvement i5 provided in tne cutting disc that compriseq a peripheral flange on the di~c extending upwardly adjacent the bowl inner ~urface with the disc having a single substantially rectang~lar bevel-S edged opening through the disc and flange with the opening being on only one side of the disc center and enaing short of and adjacent the center. Connecting the opening with the center is a narrow slot centrally of the opening that extend~ across the di~c center. The disc is provided with a dependlng hub at it~ center a portion of which cros~e~ the 810t to receive the driven shaft. A removable bevel-edged cutter insert of sub~tantially square ~ection and having a tab matcAing the slot i8 radially ~lidable into the opening and into the slot to contact the hub to help ~upport the di~c while a stepped sleeve on the tab vertically locates the ~n~ert on the shaft.
The insert has an extended aperture cutting edge rai~ed above the di~ sueface and a ~coop around ~he cutter both arrang~d to deflect the cut food down into the bowl with the raised p~rtion having a rim al80 continuouq wlth ~nd extending above the upw~rdly directed flan~e to form a guide into the cutting aperture. The enti~e arrangement i8 disposed ~o that the disc i5 totally carried by the insert which ln turn i~ 3upported by the hub and tab contact t~ l~vel the disc while the disc i~ vertically re~trained by the bevel~d edge~ and rad~ally restralned by it mounting on the shaft. The distance between tbe disc and lid ~ fixed by the stepp~d sleeve so that the dlsc provides multiple cuttlng c~pabilities with the dtferent insert~. ~hus, the maln ob~ect of the in-vention is to provide a food proce~or with a multi-ple cutting capabllity disc that u~e6 different ln-36 ~erts with different ~haped cutters.

~1~8325 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ~E DR~WINGS

FIG. 1 i~ a perspective view, partially in sec-tion, showing the processor arrangements FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a disc with the insert ln position;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view, ~imilar to FIG. 2, ~howlng the insert removed;

FIG 4 i~ a partial exploded top view of F~G. 3 showlng how the insert is installed on the disct FIG. 5 i~ a cross-~ectional view on l$ne S-5 of PIG. 2~

FIG. 6 ~8 a cross-~ectional view on line 6-6 of FIG~ 2;

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectlonal view of the ~5 stepped sleeve portion on the lnsert tab7 and FIG. 8 is a perspectlve Yiew of a different ~orm of cutting ln~ert.

DESCRIPTION OF T~E PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG~ 1 there i8 ~hown a food pro-20 ce~80r lncludlng a basl~ blender-type power base l0 which is preferably Lrshaped having an up~tandlng motor containlng housing unit 12 whlch ha~ a su~table motor such a~ a low c05t series motor driving a power shaft 14 by any 3uitable link between the power unit and ~haft as well known in ~he art. Any power ba8~ 10 will ~ufic~ but the L-shaped is preferred ~ince it ' ~`: `'"'', ~

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presents an overall low proflle desirable in a kit-chen appliance. Disposed on the bowl supporting por-tlon 16 of the base is a removable bowl 18 wlth its separate removable cutter mechanism 20 well known in the art. These cutters perform a chopping opera~ion on foods. Bowl 18 is a relati~ely large bowl havln~
a removable lid 22 with an integral feed chute 24 by which food i9 introduced to the bowl. The bowl i8 loc~ed in position on the base by suitable lug~ 26 by rotating it into position on supportlng portion 16.
Thus, the bowl and cutter 20 are supported on portion 16 with the cutter being driven from motor uni~ 12 in the base 10 generally at a given 3peedO ~o prevent acce~s to the moving cutter mechanism 20 in the bowl, the lid is secured to the bowl 18 by an interlocking mechanism generally lndicated at 28 and releas~bly by knob 30 as detailed in patent 4,111,372 of common assignment.

For multiple food processing steps, it is known to provide one or more cuttin~ discs 32 that may con-tain rasping or grating or ~llcing cutters as ~hown in FIG. 5 and 6 of patent ~,892,365. Such di~c cut-ter~ are used ~eparately from chopping cutters 20 and operate ~u~t below the lid ad~acent feedlng chute 24 for per~orming separate operations into the bowl.
Genarally, addltional dlscs are stored separately and are used separately although lt i8 known to u~e ln-sertable cutters by providing a longi~udinsl cutout comple~ely acros~ the dlsc and insert cutter~ of dif-ferent configuration as shown ~n patent 3,085,607 on which the pres¢nt invention improves by providing an insertable cutter or the disc structure which sim-plifles the disc structure, provides better support in the necessary direction,is inexpensive,being com-pletely plastic except for the cutter blade itself, .' ~

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and accurately locates the individual cutter very close to the underside of the lid to minimize the last bit of food from the chute being carried around on the top of the lid. Thus, the design provides a maximum utility since 5 many different slice thicknesses, shred sizes, etc. are available at a minimum cost and with a minimum of storage space requiring only a small box to store a suitable number of cutter inserts.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown the improved cutting 10 disc that is designed to have a peripheral flange 34 com-pletely around the disc and extending upwardly adjacent the inner surface of bowl 18 so that it nests closely against the bowl. For cutting, there is provided a single opening 36 that is substantially rectangular and has inwardly directed 15 locking beveled edges 38 along each side with the opening 36 completely through the disc and peripheral flange 34 as seen in FIG. 3. The opening is disposed to terminate short of and adjacent the disc center with only a narrow slot 40 centrally of the opening meaning the slot is substantially 20 equidistant from each side of opening 36 and is directed radially inward to extend across the disc center. For support, the disc is provided with an integrally molded depending hub 42 at its center with part of the hub 44 crossing the slot 40 for a purpose to be described and 25 with the hub sized to receive shaft 14 as seen in FIG. 6.
For cutting, cooperating with the disc 32 is a remov-able locking bevel edged cutter insert 46 which is sized to fit opening 36 and has a tab 48 that matches slot 40 to fit therein with the tab radially slidable 30 into the opening end of the slot to contact the hub 42 at crossing portion 44 as the insert is installed from the position of FIG. 3 to FIG. 2 or slid upward as shown in FIG. 4. For locating the vertical posi-tion of disc 32, the insert is provided with a 35 stepped sleeve 50 that may be solid or hollow as shown in FIG. 7, the sleeve being disposed vertically '~

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on the end of tab 48 with the sleeve being cut with a step S dimension that can be varied and that vertically locates the insert 46 on shaft 14. The beveled edges of the insert and the matching opening lock the insert in the opening against vertical movement and the fitting of sleeve 50 over the shaft end holds the insert in position against any radial movement outwardly of the disc. It will be apparent that the entire weight of disc 32 is supported and carried by insert 46 in the construction shown since as seen in FIG. 6, except for the sleeve 50 abutting and carried on the end of shaft 14, the disc would drop down on the shaft since it would extend through hub 42.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, the construction of the individual insert can be seen where the insert 46 has a spanning aperture 52 tha~ extends along a raised portion above the disc surface to form a scoop 54 behind the cutting surface 52. The back of the scoop has a second bevel 56 to funnel all cut food down into the bowl below. For guiding the food cut by the rotating disc, the individual insert along its raised scoop portion, has a rim 58 along its peri-pheral edge which is contiguous with and extends above the flange 34 forming a guide into and through the aperture 52 also assisting in funneling the food into the bowl.
While the support of the entire disc and insert is achieved by sleeve 50 resting on the top of shaft 14, additional holding may be obtained by providing a U-shaped collar 60 around the disc at its slot 40 with the U-opening toward the insert and formed with pinched portion 62 to frictionally squeeze the tab and assist in holding the insert in the disc. This also provides a snap-action sound to tell the user the insert is in position.

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The device i8 inexpensive with all of the part~, excepting cutter blade 64, being formed of plastic and the cutter blade i8 preferably metallic secured to the scoop. FIG. 8 illuatrates a different cutter blade u~ed to provide long thln strips and the pro-cessing di~c would normally be supplied with numerous deslred cutter~ of different shapes similar to FIG. 3 and 8. The general arrangement thus provides a two-part disc insert that, with various in~erts, provides a ~ingle disc wlth multiple cutting capabilitle~ and the structure is such tha~ the disc i8 totally car-ried by the insert which in turn i8 supported by the hub/tab con~act; the disc i8 vertically restrained by the locked bevel ed9est and d$fferent insert di3c~
are radially re~trained by the fihaft connection to sleeve S0 with the sleeve providing a constant rela-tionship between the cutting edge and the bottom of the feed chute 24 to always maintain the same dis-tance from the top of the shaft 14 and the bottom of feed chute 24 regardless of the thickness of the slice .

While we have hereinbefore shown a preferred form of the lnvention, obvlous equivalent variation~
are posslble in light o~ the above teaGhing~. It i8 therefore to be under~tood that, within the ~cope of the appended claims, the lnventlon may be practi~ed otherwise than as speclfically de~crlb~d, and the cla~ms are ~ntended to cover such equlvalent variAtlon~.

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Claims (6)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a food processor having a power base and lid-covered bowl with an inner surface, a feed chute through the lid to a cutting disc rotated by a shaft extending into and terminating in the bowl, an improvement in said disc comprising, a peripheral flange thereon extending upwardly adja-cent the bowl inner surface, a single substantially rectangular locking-edged open-ing through the disc and flange on one side only of the disc center and terminating short of and adjacent the center, a narrow slot centrally of the opening and extending across the disc center, a depending hub at the disc center and crossing said slot to receive the shaft therethrough, a removable locking-edged cutter insert having a tab matching said slot and radially slidable into said opening and slot to contact the hub, a stepped sleeve on said tab disposed on and verti-cally locating the insert on the shaft, whereby the disc is totally carried by the insert and vertically and radially restrained by the locked edges and shaft respectively, and fixedly spaced from the lid by said step or single disc multiple capability with different inserts.

2. Apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said insert has an extension therethrough raised above the disc surface and a rim on the peripheral edge of the insert, said rim extending contiguous with and above the upward flange to form a guide to the aperture.

3. Apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein said locking edges are formed by matching bevels on said insert and disc.

4. Apparatus as described in claim 3 wherein said cutter insert has a scoop behind said cutter, and a second bevel at the end of said scoop to funnel cut food down into the bowl.

5. Apparatus as described in claim 4 having a U-shaped collar secured to said disc at said slot, said U opening toward said insert and formed to frictionally squeeze said tab to hold said insert in the disc.

6. Apparatus as described in claim 5 wherein all parts are plastic and the cutter blade is metallic secured to the insert on the scoop.