DE2631515A1 - FOOD CUTTER - Google Patents

Description

EIKENBERG & BRÜMMERSTEDT PATENT LAWYERS IN HANOVER

Popeil Brothers, Inc. 246/86

Food cutter

The invention relates to a food cutter,

in which a support table for the material to be cut is in a frame and a horizontal cutting knife is arranged at a distance above it, the material to be cut sliding on the support table is fed to the cutting knife and wherein the distance between the support table and the cutting knife to change the cutting width can be changed.

Food cutters of this type are used to produce disc-shaped cuts and can be supplemented with Arrangement of a set of further, perpendicular to the plane of the cutting knife and in the guiding direction of the material to be cut Cutting knives also for the production of strip-shaped

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for French fries or straw potatoes, for example will. Examples of known food cutters of this type are found in US Pat. No. 2,991,814 and JA-PS 778,001 described.

All known food cutters of this type still have a number of disadvantages. First, you need them consistently special additional parts that have to be attached to the device in order to cut widths or different ones To generate types of cuts. This is cumbersome and the additional parts can also be lost. Furthermore you can Many of the well-known food cutters also only process relatively small items and not so large ones Food to be cut such as potatoes or cucumbers, which are often requested in slices in a household. Moreover is Many of the known food cutters also do not ensure that the fingers are in contact with the cutting knife are protected, or it can not be processed with them to the end of the material to be cut, so that relatively large end pieces of the material to be cut are lost as waste. Finally, a number of the well-known food cutters, because they are not equipped with holding devices for large or long items to be cut, especially when cutting thin slices do not guarantee the uniformity of the slice thickness, which leads to an unsightly appearance of the product to be sliced or results in an uneven cooking time when cooking.

With the invention, a food cutter of the type mentioned is now to be created, which Avoids disadvantages of the known food cutter.

This aim is achieved according to the invention in that the cutting knife is attached to a knife holder, which in

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two different heights on the side walls of the frame it can be fastened that at the end of the support table below the cutting knife and essentially parallel to it Rotary body is arranged, which extends with at least two at different distances from the rotary body axis and on one side aligned with the surface of the support table Work surfaces is equipped, and that the support table is releasably attached to the side walls of the frame and at the same time is designed as a locking element for the rotating body. The rotating body is also expedient with at least one further such work surface is provided, which is also provided with a set of towering, in the direction of the guide of the material to be cut and an evenly spaced further cutting knife is occupied. Preferably there are two such further work surfaces are provided with protruding cutting knives, the distances between the cutting knives in both Sets of cutting knives are different.

With the food cutter according to the invention, its expedient configuration and further development in the subclaims is defined, it is possible by adjusting the rotating body in combination with a corresponding height adjustment of the cutting knife to produce a variety of different cuts, namely four different thicknesses of slices and in addition, if work surfaces with protruding cutting blades are provided, also strip-shaped cuts for french fries, straw potatoes and the like.

The cutting device is still in place to increase safety and to utilize the material to be cut as fully as possible associated with a slide, which is provided on its underside with protruding pins that engage in the material to be cut and which is so broad that at the end of a

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Cutting process slides on top of the side walls of the frame without the pins making contact with the cutting knife come. This provides optimal finger protection, safe guidance of the food and, at the same time, the greatest possible utilization of the food to be cut ensured.

Overall, the food cutter according to the invention is a simple, safe and easy to manufacture device that allows the production of very uniform cuts with a high working speed, and that allows the cutting width to be changed and the type of cut does not require any loose additional parts, but can be easily changed over in a few simple steps leaves.

The invention is explained in more detail below in exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings. Here represent

Fig. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention Food cutter in perspective view;

FIG. 2 shows the front view of the cutter from the right side of the representation of FIG. the end;

3 shows, on an enlarged scale, a sectional view in the plane 3-3 of FIG. 1;

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4 on the scale of FIG. 3 shows the top view of the device according to FIG. 1 with the device removed Slide and partially broken representation;

Fig. 5 + 6 two details from Fig. 3 to explain the setting of different Section thicknesses by rotating the rotating body;

Fig. 7 shows the bottom view of the slide used in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a top view of an alternative embodiment a slide;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view on the plane 9-9 of FIG. 8; and

10 shows the slide according to FIG. 8 in a view from below.

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In Fig. 1, the food cutter 10 is shown in its operating state. He is on one Kitchen table 1, and it is operated by the hand 2 of an operator whose fingers 3 grasp a slide 30 and move it in front of and move back, each time one potato 5 is moved against the knife 24 of the cutter. A disk 6 separated from the potato and falls on the kitchen table 1. How will be explained in more detail below, slices of four different thicknesses can be cut from the potato by the knife 24 is brought into different positions with respect to an indexable rotating body 20. Of course you can instead of potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, cheese, radishes and other foods are also sliced with the cutter according to the invention be cut or into larger or smaller strips. "

The food cutter 10 consists of a base 11 and a main body 12. The main body 12 includes two side walls 41 _f which form guide rails 42 at their upper end. The knife 24 is attached to the end of a knife holder 14 and has an angle of approximately 45 ° with respect to the side walls 41 and the guide rails 42. Opposite the knife 24 and the knife holder 14 is a support table 15 for the food to be cut, which at the same time serves to lock the respective position of the rotating body 20 and is therefore also referred to below as the "locking element". The knife holder 14 can optionally be inserted into the grooves 21 or 22 of the side walls 41 so that the cutting edge of the knife 24 can be arranged in two different planes with respect to the rotating body 20 and the locking element 15. The knife holder 14 is detachably held by a pawl 16. From Fig. 2 it can be seen that the same pawl 18 is provided in order to detachably fix the locking element 15 so that, if necessary, the rotary body 20 can be advanced by the adjusting knob 26.

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can. On one of the side walls 41 of the food cutter 10, a connecting piece 28 is provided on which the adjusting knob 26 for the rotating body 20 rests, which will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG Fig. 4 will be described.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the slide 30 with its handle 31 is located above the potato 5. It is provided with pins 40 on its underside which engage and hold the potato in place. · The lower part of the slide 30 is so dimensioned that it protrudes over the two lateral guide rails 42 when the potato 5 to its minimum Thick has been cut up. As soon as this occurs, the guide 39 comes into engagement with the lateral guide rails 42 on the lower part of the edge 36 of the slide 30. In Fig. it can be seen that a finger guard 35 is provided in the lower part 32, and that a handle part 34 is provided below the handle 31. The underside 38 of the slide 30 is concave, to accommodate the curved shape of most foods. In Figs. 8 to 10 there is another Embodiment shown in which the underside of the slide (4 there) is flat.

The internal structure of the cutter 10 can also be seen from FIG. The base 11 includes a foot 44, the underside of which rests on the kitchen table 1, a stop 19 resting against the edge of the kitchen table. Between the foot 44 and the main body 12 of the food cutter 10 is a connecting part 45 arranged. It should be noted that a one-piece body can also be used, but this results in a considerable amount Increase in manufacturing cost, for the invention it is irrelevant whether the base consists of a single part or not.

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The side walls 41 are connected to one another at their rear end by a transverse connector 46, which is an upstanding strut 48, so that the cross connector 46 is L-shaped in cross section. At the rear of the cross connector 46 is a recess 49 provided to be inserted into a recess 50 of the To be able to engage the locking element 15 and move it out of its locked position with the rotating body 20. At the front end of the locking element 15 there is an undercut 51 and, underneath, another one offset to the rear Undercut 52. The undercut 52 is used to accommodate the knife 70 for French fries or the knife 75 for straw potatoes, when they are in the inoperative position rotated by 90 ° with respect to FIG. 3. The undercut 51 forms one Projection which is in engagement with a recess 54 in the rotating body 20 and thereby secures it against rotation.

At the front end of the food cutter 10, according to FIG. 3, a deflecting strut 55 connects the two side walls 41. The rear end of the deflecting strut 55 is followed by a section 58 oriented perpendicular thereto, so that an L-shaped section Body is formed. This body makes it possible to engage with the fingers in a recess 60 in the knife holder 14, if the knife holder is to be inserted into one of the two recesses 21 and 22, respectively. On the underside of the locking element 15, a deflection element 25 is provided behind the knife 24, which deflects the cut disc 6 downwards, so that this on be stacked on a plate arranged in the recess 2 & can.

The pawls 16 and 18 are shown in FIG. 4 in their interaction with the knife holder 14 and the locking element 15 shown. It can be seen that, for example, for releasing the locking element to advance the rotary body 20 only the protruding part of the pawl 18 has to be pressed,

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whereby the projection 63 comes out of the catch 62. The user then grips with his fingers into the recess 50 on the underside of the locking element 15 and removes it. Since a shoulder 61 is formed by ε ine recess 52 in the rear end thereof, sliding the projection 63 in the recess 59 when the user releases the latch 18, and when the shoulder 61 engages the projection 63 into engagement, is the side facing away corner 69 of the locking element 15 is already free from the end of the guide 72 opposite the pawl 18, so that the locking element can be removed. In the opposite way, the locking element 14 is pushed back into the guides 72. The front end of the shoulder 61 comes into engagement with the flat 67 of the projection 63, whereby the pawl 18 is pivoted so that the locking element 15 can be inserted while the pawl is in its normal position in which it is held by a spring 74 and slides in the recess 59 until it engages the locking actuator 64, whereupon the pawl is rotated again against the force of the spring 74 and then engages the detent 62.

The same mechanism is used with the pawl 16, which can also be seen from FIG. There the paragraph 65 is provided on the longer edge of the knife holder 14, which is on the corresponding Paragraph 78 ends, which in turn is determined by the thickness of the knife 24. Paragraph 65 and a also work here Latch 66 together with a spring, not shown, which is designed identically to that in connection with the pawl 18 illustrated spring. When the knife holder 14 by loosening the pawl 16 is pulled out by engaging the fingers in the recess 60, it disengages from the grooves 21 and 22. When reinserted of the knife holder either in the upper groove 21 or in the lower groove 22 is the pawl in the same way as the

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The pawl 18 is actuated in the manner previously described.

Furthermore, FIG. 3 shows that one side of the rotating body 20 large knife 70 for french fries carries, which 'are connected to each other by connecting members 71 so that they at Production of the rotating body 20 assume a predetermined position. In the same way are on the opposite side of the rotating body 20 numerous parallel straw potato knives 75 are provided, which are connected to one another by connecting elements 76. The invention is independent of the specific means of making knives 70 and 75 and of their mounting. It can instead, U-shaped pairs of knives 70, 75 can also be used. It is important, however, that the knives 70, 75 are parallel to the Longitudinal axis of the knife holder 14 and the locking element are arranged.

The rotary body 20 is shown in detail in FIG. 4, and it can be seen from this figure that the button 26 cooperates with the connecting piece 28. An axle 80 is provided with a D-shaped cross section at its rear end 81 and thus inserted into the rotating body 20, is thus secured against rotation. At its opposite end, the axis 80 is with a 'square head 82 is provided. A cap 84 is used to cover the button 26 and the axis 80, so that food can not enter there. A spring 85 rests on the square Head 82 of the axis 80. In operation, the button 26 is moved out of its position adjacent to the socket 28, and after the The locking element 15 has been moved out of its locking position with the rotating body 20, the knob 26 is rotated. The lower part of the button 26 has a plug-shaped rectangle 86 with a socket-shaped rectangle 88 in the socket 28 cooperates. At the rear end of the rotating body 20, a connecting piece 90 is also provided, which is in a recess 89 of the

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Side wall 41 is mounted. Thus, with the button 26 its square end 86 of the rotating body 20 are rotated in steps of 90 °, the rotating body 20 at both of its Ends by inclined surfaces 91 and 92 is held.

Another embodiment of a slide 4 is shown in FIGS. The same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7 are used for the same parts. It can be seen that the handle 31 and the base 32 consist of two separate elements. The handle portion 34 has numerous ribs 95 and the finger guard 35 forms the upper portion of the base 32. The rim 36 surrounds the entire unit and protects the fingers in use. The pins 40 shown in FIG. 10 are arranged in a different way here, namely they run in the longitudinal direction from one end to the other end of the slide, the arrangement being rhombic in the middle in order to achieve better adaptation to different foods. The underside 38 is flat and, as in the case of the slide 30, can be provided with a guide 39. The main difference in the slide 4 is the flat underside and the long row of pins 40.

The use of the food cutter is shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 5 and 6. When the position of the rotating body 20 is changed is to be, the whole device is best placed upright so that that it is on the table with the knife holder facing down. Then the pawl 18 is operated by the user, and the Fingers are placed in the recess 50 of the locking element 15 so that it can be withdrawn. After that by pulling out the knob 26 of the rotating body rotated by 90, 180 or 270 ° in order to set either different section thicknesses or to bring the knives 70, 75 for french fries or straw potatoes into their operating position. Then the

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Locking element 15 brought back into its operating position and locked. If, on the other hand, an adjustment of the knife holder is to take place, the device is reversed so upright that the knife holder 14 points upwards. The knife holder 14 is then removed by pressing the pawl 16, placing the fingers in the recess 60 reach into it. Then the knife holder 14 is inserted into the desired other groove 21 or 22 and locked again.

5 shows that both an inclined surface 23 and a flat surface 27 are located on the rotating body 20. the Inclined surface 23 has in a practical embodiment, a Angle of about 8 °. As a result, the thickness between the two opposite surfaces 23 and 27 can be changed by approximately 1.4 mm will. Therefore, during the rotation, the recess 54 comes into engagement with the undercut 51 of the locking element 15, what is shown in Figs. It should be noted that the disk 6 in Fig. 5 is thinner than the disk 6 in Fig. 6. Furthermore it should also be emphasized that the knives 70 and 75 from the undercut 52 are included.

In a practical embodiment, there is a distance of approximately 5 mm between the upper groove 21 and the lower groove 22 to thicknesses with the following dimensions:

1. thinnest disc 1.4 mm

2. thick disk when turning the
Rotating body 2.8 mm

3. thinnest slice when implemented

of the knife holder 6.2 mm

4. thickest slice when implemented
of the knife holder and rotation

of the rotating body 7.5 min

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In addition, the position of the knife 70 for french fries is in the Case (4) and the straw potato knife 75 in case (2) so that when the knife holder 14 is moved out of the grooves 21 for french fries Fries are made in the grooves 22 for straw potatoes square cuts.

- patent claims -

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Claims (14)

Claims 1. Food cutter, in which a support table for the material to be sliced is arranged in a frame and a horizontal cutting knife is arranged at a distance above it, the material to be sliced on the support table being fed to the cutting knife in a sliding manner and the distance between the support table and the cutting knife being changeable to change the cutting width is, characterized in that the cutting knife (24) is attached to a knife holder (14) which can be attached to the side walls (41) of the frame at two different heights, that at the end of the support table (15) below the cutting knife and essentially parallel to this, a rotating body (20) is arranged, which is equipped with at least two working surfaces (23, 27) which run at different distances from the rotating body axis and are aligned on one side with the surface of the support table, and that the support table is detachable on the side walls of the Frame attached and at the same time ch is designed as a locking element for the rotating body. 2. Food cutter according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotating body (20) has at least one third, also on one side with the surface of the support table (15) aligned work surface, which is additionally with a set of protruding, in the guide direction of the material to be cut extending and a uniform distance from one another having further cutting knives (70) is occupied. 609883/0433 2831515 3. Food cutter according to claim 2, characterized in that two such further, each with a set of protruding cutting blades (70, 75) occupied work surfaces on the rotating body (20) are provided, the spacing of the cutting blades from one another is different between the two sets of cutting knives. 4. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that of the two first working surfaces (23, 27) on the rotating body (20) the one (27) as substantially in the plane of the surface of the support table (15) extending surface is formed, while the other (23) is an inclined surface rising from the surface of the support table. 5. Food slicer according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a projection (51) which engages with one of corresponding recesses (54) in the rotating body is arranged on the end of the support table (15) associated with the rotating body (20) stands when the work table is attached to the side walls (41) of the frame in its operating position. 6. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the support table (15) is guided by guides (72) in its longitudinal direction in the side walls (41) of the frame slidably mounted and by a "locking" (62, 63) is held in its operating position in the area of one of these guides. 7. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the rotating body (20) at one end freely rotatable in one of the side walls (41) of the frame 6 09883/0433 is stored and at its other end with one in different Rotary positions lockable adjustment knob (26) is provided. 8. Food slicer according to claim 7, characterized in that the adjusting knob (26) is non-rotatably but longitudinally displaceably mounted on an axis (80) fixedly attached to the rotating body and has a locking projection (86) which, by spring loading of the adjusting knob, has a corresponding recess ( 88) in the side wall assigned to the adjusting knob (41) of the frame engages. 9. Food slicer according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that for the knife holder (14) two pairs of parallel guides (21, 22) are provided in the side walls (41) of the frame, into which the knife holder can optionally be inserted, wherein the guides lying on one side of the knife holder are assigned a locking device (68) which holds the knife holder in the relevant guide in its operating position. Food cutter according to claim 6 and / or 9, characterized in that the locking mechanism for the support table (15) or the knife holder (14) consists of a spring-loaded pawl (18) or (16) which is provided with a projection (63 ) or (68) engages in a catch (62) arranged laterally on the support table or on the knife holder, an elongated recess (59) or *, (65) being arranged behind the catch (62) laterally in the support table or knife holder isty which is longer than the opposite side of the support table or the knife holder " 609883/0433 2631S1S 11. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the side walls (41) of the frame are extended upwards to guide rails (42) and the device is assigned a slide (30, 4) which has a handle (31) on its upper side and a recessed grip ( 35) as finger protection, and which is occupied on its underside with a multitude of pins (40) which penetrate the material to be cut and which are shorter than the distance between the upper edge of the guide rails and the cutting knife (24), the slider being so wide that it rests on the guide rails without the food to be cut. 12. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that a deflection element (25) for the material to be cut is arranged near the cutting knife (24) below the knife holder (14). 13. Food cutter according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the frame of the device is arranged on a base (11) which forms a standing surface for setting up the device and is provided on its front edge with a protruding shoulder (19) which rests against a table edge during operation . 14. Food cutter according to claim 13, characterized in that a rounded recess (29) for setting up a collecting bowl or a collecting plate for the material to be cut is arranged in the base (11). KRE / hk / dm 609883/0433