GB2502381A - Pepper mill and adjustment mechanism - Google Patents

Pepper mill and adjustment mechanism Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2502381A
GB2502381A GB1217274.8A GB201217274A GB2502381A GB 2502381 A GB2502381 A GB 2502381A GB 201217274 A GB201217274 A GB 201217274A GB 2502381 A GB2502381 A GB 2502381A
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GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
seat
adjusting
grinding
coupling shaft
grinding seat
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB1217274.8A
Other versions
GB2502381B (en
GB201217274D0 (en
Inventor
Ming-Feng Wu
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Yienn Lih Enterprise Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Yienn Lih Enterprise Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Yienn Lih Enterprise Co Ltd filed Critical Yienn Lih Enterprise Co Ltd
Publication of GB201217274D0 publication Critical patent/GB201217274D0/en
Publication of GB2502381A publication Critical patent/GB2502381A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2502381B publication Critical patent/GB2502381B/en
Active legal-status Critical Current
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical

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Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47JKITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
    • A47J42/00Coffee mills; Spice mills
    • A47J42/02Coffee mills; Spice mills having grinding cones
    • A47J42/04Coffee mills; Spice mills having grinding cones hand driven
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A47FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
    • A47JKITCHEN EQUIPMENT; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; APPARATUS FOR MAKING BEVERAGES
    • A47J42/00Coffee mills; Spice mills
    • A47J42/02Coffee mills; Spice mills having grinding cones
    • A47J42/08Adjusting mechanisms

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Crushing And Grinding (AREA)
  • Food-Manufacturing Devices (AREA)

Abstract

A pepper mill includes a rotatable coupling shaft 21, an inner grinding seat 23 coupled co-rotatably to and movable relative to the coupling shaft 21, and an outer grinding seat 24 cooperating with the inner grinding seat 23 to define a grinding space 20. The pepper mill further includes a rotatable base unit 5 capable of driving movement of an adjusting seat 4 to move the inner grinding seat 23 along the coupling shaft 21 relative to the outer grinding seat 24, thereby adjusting the size of the grinding space 20. Compression spring 3 is sleeved on the coupling shaft 21 between abutment member 22 and the inner grinding seat 23 and exerts a downward resilient force for stabilizing and cushioning the movement of the inner grinding seat.

Description

PEPPER MILL
The invention relates toa grinder, more particularly to a pepper mill.
A pepper miii generally includes a pair of male and female grinding seats that cooperatively define a grinding space therebetween, and that are rotatable relative to each other to grind peppercorns in the grinding space. By adjusting the size of the grinding space, sizes of the particles of the ground pepper can be changed.
British Patent No. GB2472424 discloses a conventional pepper ciii that includes an inner grinding seat, an annular outer grinding seat surrounding and cooperating with the inner grinding seat to define a grinding spacc therebetween, and a casing surrounding the outer grinding seat. The peppermill further includes anadjusting seat disposed under and supporting the outer grinding seat, and a base unit disposed under the adjusting seat and being able to drive the adjusting seat and the outer grinding seat to move uowardly or downwardly and thereby adjusting the size of the grinding space. To facilitate grinding peppercorns in the grinding space, there are a plurality of angularly spaced-apart coil springs biasing the outer grinding seat toward the inner crinding seat, However, once the cuter grinding seat tilts due to fatigue of any one of the springs, friction between the outer grinding seat and the casing would increase considerably, thereby retarding movement of the adjusting seat and the outer grinding seat relative to the inner grinding seat.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a pepper mill that is able to ensure smooth adjustment of a grinding space thereof.
Accordingly, a pepper mill of the present invention includes: a receiving unit defining a receiving space for teceiving peppercorn therein; a grinding unit including a rotatable coupling shaft that extends along an axis into the receiving space, an inner grinding seat that is coupled co-rotatably to and that is movable along the axis relative to the couplingshaft, andanout:ergrindingseatthatsurrounds the inner grinding seat and that cooperates with the inner grinding seat to define a grinding space therebetween, the grinding space being in spatial communication with the receiving space; a resilient member disposed over and connected to the inner grinding seat; an adjusting seat disposed under the inner grinding seat and having a support wall that supports the inner grinding seat thereon, and an adjusting wall that surrounds the support wall and that has an adjusting surface facing downwardly, the adjusting surface having at]east one inclined surface portion that extends spirally and that has a lower part and a higher part disposed at a height position higher than that of the lower part; and a base unit disposed under and coupled rotatabiy to S the receiving unit, and having at least one urging block that abuts slidably against the inclined surface portion; wherein the base unit is rotatabie in a first rotationaj direction relative to the adjusting seat so as to drive the urging block to slide on the inclined surface portion toward the lower part, thereby urging the adjusting seat and the inner grinding seat to move upwardly along the axis relative to the outer grinding seat against a downward resilient force of the resilient IS member and shrinking the grinding space; and wherein the base unit is further rotatable in a second rotational direction opposite to the first rotational direction relative to the adjusting seat so as to drive the urging block to slide on the inclined surface portion toward the higher part, such that the adjusting seat and the inner grinding seat are biased by the downward resilient force of the resilient member to move downwardly along the axis relative to the outer grinding seat, thereby eniarginc the grinding space.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference Lo the accompanying drawings, of which: Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of a pepper mill according to t:ne invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment; Fig. 3 is a partly sectional view illustrating relation between an adjusting seat and a base unit of the preferred embodiment before the adjusting seat is lifted by the base unit; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectionai view of the preferred embodiment before the adjusting seat is lifted by the base unit; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating the adjusting seat being lifted by the base unit; and IS Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating the adjusting seat being lifted by the base unit so that a grinding space is shrunk.
As shown in Figs. I to 4, a preferred embodiment of a peppermill according to the present invention includes a receiving unit 1, a grinding unit 2, a resilient member 3, an adjusting seat 4, and a base unit 5.
The receiving unit 1 includes a container body 11 surrounding a central axis (I) (see Fig. 1), a cover body 12 disposed rotatably on the container body 11, a nut member 13 disposed on the cover body 12, and a guide seat 14 connected to a bottom portion of the container body 11 opposite to the cover body 12 along the axis (I) The container body 11 and the cover body 12 cooperatively define a receiving space 10 for receiving peppercornstherein. Theguideseatl4hasaring-shaped base wall 141 disposed under and abutting against the container body 11, an annular wall 142 protruding upwardly from an inner periphery of the base wall 141 and extending into the container body 11, and a restricting wail 143 disposed above and spaced apart from the annular wall 142. The restricting wall 143 is formed with a shaft hole 146 therethrough. The guide seat 14 further has a plurality of angularly spaced-apart ribs 144 interconnecting the annular wail 142 and the re-s tricting wall 143, and a surrounding guide wall 145 extending downwardly from the base wall 141, and formed with a pair of diametrically spaced-apart upright guide grooves 147 that extend from a bottom of the surrounding guide wall 145. The guide seat 14 may be secured fixedly to the container body 11 by screws (not shown) , or be adhered or welded to the container body 11.
The grinding unit 2 includes a rotatable coupling shaft 21 extending into the receiving space 10, an abutment member 22 surrounding and connected fixedly to a lower portion of the coupling shaft 21, an inner grinding seat 23 coupled co-rotatably to the lower portion of the coupling shaft 21, and an outer grinding seat 24 sleeved fixedly in the guide seat 14, surrounding the inner grinding seat 23, and cooperating with the inner grinding seat 23 to define a grinding space 20 that is in spatial communicationwith the receiving space 20.
The coupling shaft 21 has an upper portion extending into and coupled co-rotatably to the cover body 12, and a top end extending through the cover body 12 and secured fixedly to the nut member 13. The lower portion of the coupling shaft 21 extends through the shaft hole 146 of the restricting wall 143 and the inner grinding seat 23. It is noted that the coupling shaft 21 is not co-rotatable with respect to the guiding seat 14, and the restricting wall 143 is disposed over and abuts against the abutment member 22 for limiting upward movement of the coupling shaft 21.
The inner grinding seat 23 is dispcsed under the abutment member 22 and is movable along the central axis (I) relative to the coupling shaft 21 to change the size of the grinding space 20. Both of an outer surrounding surface of the inner grinding seat 23 and an inner surrounding surface of the outer grinding seat 24 are formed with grinding teeth and cooperate with each other to define the grinding space 20. By rotating the cover body 12 relative to the container body 11, peppercorns advanced from the receiving space 10 into the grinding space 20 can be ground.
The resilient member 3 is a compression spring, and is sleeved on the coupling shaft 21 between the abutment member 22 and the inner grinding seat 23. The resilient member 3 exerts a downward resilient force for stabiiizing and cushioning the movement of the inner grinding seat 23 along the axis (1) The adjusting seat 4 is disposed under the inner grinding seat 23, and is movable along the central axis (I) for driving vertical movement of the inner grinding seat 23. An upper portion of the adjusting seat 4 is surroundedbythesurroundingguidewalil45oftheguide seat 14. In this embodiment, the adjusting seat 4 has a support wall 41 that supports the inner grinding seat 23 thereon, an adjusting wall 42 that surrounds the support wail 41, a surrounding wall 43 disposed between IS the adjusting wall 42 and the support wail 41, and a pair of diametrically spaced-apart guide blocks 44 projecting outwardly from an outer surface of the adjusting wall 42 and engaging slidablyand respectively the guide grooves 147 in the guide seat 14. The numbers of the guide block 44 and the guide grooves 147 may be one in other embodiments.
The support wall 41 is formed with a recess 411 for retaining an end portion of the coupling shaft 21 when the adjusting seat 4 and the inner grinding seat 23 move upwardly relative to the coupling shaft 21. The adjusting wall 42 has a flat upper surface 421 and an adjusting surface 422 opposite to the upper surface 421 and facing downwardly. In this embodiment, the adjusting surface 422 has a pair of inclined surface portions 423 (only one is visible) angularly spaced apart from each other.
Each of the inclined surface portions 423 is spirally inclined and has a lower part 426, a higher part 425 disposed at a height position higher than that of the lower part 426, and a plurality of positioning grooves 427 formed between the lower and higher parts 426, 425.
The lower part 426 of each of the inclined surface portions 423 is disposed adjacent to the higher part 425 of the other one of the inclined surface portions 423. The adjusting surface 422 further has a pair of upright limiting surface portions 424 connected respectively to the higher parts 425 of the inclined surface portions 423, and a pair of upright stop surface portions 428 (see Fig. 3, only one is shown) connected respectively to the lower parts 426 of the inclined surface portions 423.
The base unit S is disposed under and coupled rotatably to the receiving unit 1, and surrounds the guide seat 14 and the adjusting seat 4. The base unit includes an outer base member 51 and an inner base member 52 coupled co-rotatabiy to the outer base member 51. in this embodiment, the inner base member 52 has a first surrounding wall 521, a second surrounding wail 522 that surrounds the first surrounding wall 521 and that is coupied fixedly to the outer base member 51, and a pair of urging blocks 524 that project upwardly from the first surrounding wall 521. Each urging block 524 abuts slidably against a respective one of the inclined surface portions 423 and engages removably a selected one of the positioning grooves 427 of the respective one of the inclined surface portions 423 for positioning the base unit S relative to the adjusting seat 4.
Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the base unit 5 is rotated in a rotational direction (as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3) relative to the adjusting seat 4, so that each of the urging blocks 524 is driven to slide on the respective one of the inclined surface portions 423 from the higher part 425 toward the lower part 426, thereby urging the adjusting seat 4 and the inner grinding seat 23 to move upwardly along the central axis (I) relative to the outer grinding seat 24 against the downward resilient force of the resilient rnember3 and shrinking the grinding space 20 (see Figs. Sand 6). At this time, the end portion of the coupling shaft 21 is retained in the recess 411 of the support wall 41 of the adjusting seat 4.
On the other hand, the base unit 5 is rotatable in an opposite rotational direction so as to drive the urging blocks 524 to slide on the corresponding incflned surface portions 423 toward the higher parts 425, such that the adjusting seat 4 and the inner grinding seat 23 are biased by the downward resilient force of the resilient member 3 to move downwardly along the central axis (I) relative to the oute-r grinding seat 24, thereby enlarging the grinding space 20.
The positioning grooves 427 of the inclined surface portions 423 facilitate positioning the base unit 5 relative to the adjusting seat 4 and maintaining the grinding space 20 at a selected size. However, if the downward resilient force of the resilient member 3 and weight of the adjusting seat 4 are relatively large and are sufficient to result in relatively large friction between the inner base member 52 of the base unit 5 and the adjusting wall 42 of the adjusting seat 4, the adjusting seat 4 can be well positioned relative to the base unit 5, so that the positioning grooves 427 may be omitted.
By the configuration of the limiting surface portions 424 and the stop surface portions 428, the base unit is limited to be rotatable relative to the adjusting seat 4 by nearly 180 degrees, thereby preventing the base unit S from being over-rotated.
Different from the conventional pepper mill illustrated in the prior art, in this invention, the grinding space 20 is adjusted by moving the inner grindingseat23alongthecouplingshaft2l. Sincethere is a high depth-width ratio of a shaft hole in the inner grinding seat 23 through which the coupling shaft 21 extends, the inner grinding seat 23 would not easily tilt relative Lo the coucling shaft 21, and therefore the inner grinding seat 23 can move smoothly and s tably relative to the outer grinding seat 24.

Claims (9)

  1. Claims: 1. A pepper mill characterized by: a receiving unit defining a receiving space for receiving peppercorn therein; a grinding unit including a rotatable coupling shaft that extends along an axis into said receiving space, an inner grinding seat that is coupled co-rotatably to and that is movable along the axis relative to said coupling shaft, and an outer grinding seat that surrounds said inner grinding seat and that cooperates with said inner grinding seat to define a grinding space therebetween, said grinding space being in spatial communication with said receiving space; a resilient member disposed over and connected to said inner grinding seat; an adjusting seat disposed under said inner grinding seat and having a support wall that supports said inner grinding seat thereon, and an adjusting wail that surrounds said support wall and that has an adjusting surface facing downwardly, said adjusting surface having at least one inclined surface portion that extends spirally and that has a lowerpart and a higherpart disposed at a heightposition higher than that of said lower part; and a base unit disposed under and coupled rotatably to said receivingunit, andhaving at least one urgingblook that abuts slidably against said inclined surface portion; wherein said base unft is rotatable in a rotational direction relative to said adjusting seat so as to drive said urging block to s2.ide on said inclined surface portion toward said lower part, thereby urging said adjusting seat and said inner grinding seat to move upwardly along the axis relative to said outer grinding seat against adownwardresilient force of said resilient member and shrinking said grinding space; and wherein said base unit is further rotatable in an opposite rotational direction relative to said adjusting seat so as to drive said urging block to slide on said inclined sunfaceportion toward said higherpart, such that said adjusting seat and said inner grinding seat are biased by the downward resilient force of said resilient member to move downwardly along the axis relative to said outer grinding seat, thereby enlarging said grinding space.
  2. 2. The pepper mill as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said receiving unit includes a guide seat having a surrounding guide wall that surrounds a portion of said adjusting seat, andthat has anupright guide groove extending from a bottom thereof, said adjusting seat further having a guide block that projects outwardly 1 4 therefrom and that engages slidably said guide groove.
  3. 3. The pepper mill as claimed in claim 2, further characterized in that: said grinding unit further includes an abutment member that surrounds and that is connected fixedly to said coupling shaft; said guide seat further has a restricting wall disposed above said surrounding guide wall, formed with a shaft hole for extension of said conpling shaft, and disposed over said abutment member for limiting upward movement of saidabutmentmemherand saidcoupling shaft; and said resilient member is sleeved on said coupling shaft between said abutment member and said Inner grinding seat.
  4. 4. The pepper mill as claimed in claim 3, further characterized in that said receiving unit further includes a container body, and a cover body disposed rotatably on said container body, coupled co-rotatably to said coupling shaft, and cooperating with said container body to define said receiving space.
  5. 5. The pepper mill as claimed in claim 4, further characterized in that said guide seat further has a base wall disposed under and abutting against said container body, anannuiarwallprotrudingupwardlyfromsaidbase wall and extending into said container body, and a a lura Ii ty of angularly spaced-apart ribs 1 5 interconnecting said annular wajiand said restricting wail.
  6. 6. The pepper miii as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said inclined surface portion of said adjusting surface of said adjusting seat further has two positioning grooves formedhetween said lower and higher parts thereof, said urging block of said base unit engaging removably a selected one of said positioning grooves for positioning said base unit relative to said adjusting seat.
  7. 7. The pepper miii as claimed in claim i, characterized in that: said adjusting surface of said adjusting seat has a pair of said inclined surface portions angularly spaced apart fromeach other, each of whichhas twopositioning grooves formed between said lower and higher parts thereof, saidiowerpart of each of saidinclined surface portions being disposed adjacent to said higher part of the other one of said inclined surface portions; and said base unit includes a pai r of said urging blocks, each of which engages removably a selected one of said positioning grooves of a respective one of said inclined surface portions for positioning saidbaseunit relative to said adjusting seat.
  8. 8. The pepper mill as claimed on claim 1, characterized in that said support wall of said adjusting seat is formed with a recess for retaining an end portion of said coupling shaft when said adjusting seat arid said inner grinding seat are urned upward: by said urging block.
  9. 9. The pepper mill substantaly as heremoefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 no 6 of the accompanying drawings. I0
GB1217274.8A 2012-05-22 2012-09-27 Pepper mill Active GB2502381B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
TW101209654U TWM447191U (en) 2012-05-22 2012-05-22 Pepper grinder

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB201217274D0 GB201217274D0 (en) 2012-11-14
GB2502381A true GB2502381A (en) 2013-11-27
GB2502381B GB2502381B (en) 2018-03-21

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ID=48194593

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GB1217274.8A Active GB2502381B (en) 2012-05-22 2012-09-27 Pepper mill

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TW (1) TWM447191U (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP3900586A1 (en) * 2020-04-20 2021-10-27 Mi-Ci Cheng Adjustable grinding device for a spice grinder
US20210353102A1 (en) * 2020-05-18 2021-11-18 Tsann Kuen (Zhangzhou) Enterprise Co., Ltd. Coffee bean grinder

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE19741632A1 (en) * 1997-02-13 1998-08-20 Zassenhaus Gmbh & Co Kg Mill for grinding granular material
US5897067A (en) * 1997-04-24 1999-04-27 Genin, Trudeau & Cie Ltee Spice/pepper-mill adjustment mechanism
US20020117566A1 (en) * 2001-02-27 2002-08-29 Shun-I Cheng Pepper mill
US20040124294A1 (en) * 2002-12-27 2004-07-01 Wing Wo Plastic Manufactory Limited Pepper grinder
US20050029376A1 (en) * 2003-08-07 2005-02-10 Heng John Montgomery Manual grinder for peppercorns, salt crystals and other grindable products
US20090084878A1 (en) * 2007-09-27 2009-04-02 Ching Yueh Wang Wu Mill for grinding edible particles

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE19741632A1 (en) * 1997-02-13 1998-08-20 Zassenhaus Gmbh & Co Kg Mill for grinding granular material
US5897067A (en) * 1997-04-24 1999-04-27 Genin, Trudeau & Cie Ltee Spice/pepper-mill adjustment mechanism
US20020117566A1 (en) * 2001-02-27 2002-08-29 Shun-I Cheng Pepper mill
US20040124294A1 (en) * 2002-12-27 2004-07-01 Wing Wo Plastic Manufactory Limited Pepper grinder
US20050029376A1 (en) * 2003-08-07 2005-02-10 Heng John Montgomery Manual grinder for peppercorns, salt crystals and other grindable products
US20090084878A1 (en) * 2007-09-27 2009-04-02 Ching Yueh Wang Wu Mill for grinding edible particles

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP3900586A1 (en) * 2020-04-20 2021-10-27 Mi-Ci Cheng Adjustable grinding device for a spice grinder
US20210353102A1 (en) * 2020-05-18 2021-11-18 Tsann Kuen (Zhangzhou) Enterprise Co., Ltd. Coffee bean grinder

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2502381B (en) 2018-03-21
TWM447191U (en) 2013-02-21
GB201217274D0 (en) 2012-11-14

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