SE1900129A1

SE1900129A1 - An improved tool for measuring/portioning spaghetti or the like

Info

Publication number: SE1900129A1
Application number: SE1900129A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Filippo Sangiorgio
Original assignee: Filippo Sangiorgio
Priority date: 2019-08-06
Filing date: 2019-08-06
Publication date: 2021-02-07
Also published as: SE544678C2

Abstract

An improved tool for the noniterative measurement/portioning of the weight of raw spaghetti or the like required to produce the desired amount of cooked product, consisting of a strip of rigid material shaped to form a handle which terminates in a portion that branches into one or more, wide hook-like teeth with which one can grab, hold and lift elongated dried pasta. Each aperture between said hook-like teeth is provided to allow convenient placement for the raw pasta and sized to give a predetermined number of serving portions.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (original version)AN IMPROVED TOOL FOR MEASURING/PORTIONING SPAGHETTI OR THE LIKE GENERAL DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to an improved tool for the indirect measurement/portioning ofthe weight of raw Spaghetti or the like (e.g., according to the Italian tradition, but notrestricted to, vermicelli, bavette, linguine and bucatini) required to produce the desiredamount of cooked product.

It has been widely accepted by nutritionists that a single serving portion of pasta for an adultlies in the range of 80-100 g (approximatively 2.8 to 3.5 oz) of raw product, independently ofthe type of pasta, being its ratio of swelling due to cooking almost constant per unit of volume.However, a general problem when preparing spaghetti-like pasta is that it is hard to determineits raw weight. This is because the use ofa typical kitchen weight scale is not appropriate sinceits plate/bowl is not suitable for containing long and thin cylindrical shaped food such asspaghetti. Therefore, there is a risk of either insufficient or excessive amount of cooked pasta,both of which are of course undesirable.

Several consumer-oriented solutions have been proposed so far for addressing this problem:(a) measuring devices whereby a quantity of uncooked spaghetti can be estimated bycomparison with markers of known size (see, for example, US4120094A, FR2733405A1,SE8903157L and JP3161691U); (b) non-stretchable, flexible measuring lines that are loopedaround a bundle of spaghetti to determine its circumference and, consequently, its volumeand weight (see US4214369A and US4333241A); and (c) portioning rings/holes through whichspaghetti are passed (see, for example, US3874085A, US5992035A and JP2002233464A).However, these measuring operations are somewhat tedious and time-consuming in families'domestic kitchen practices.

All the above-mentioned inventions present, in fact, some disadvantages: 1. The bundle of spaghetti must be removed from its package prior to be measured; or 2. The entire measuring/portioning process is iterative (that is, first a trial bundle ofspaghetti is measured and then, if it is less than a predefined value, more pasta isadded, otherwise, some pasta is removed, after that, the bundle is re-measured andso on until the desired quantity of product is reached), or 3. Both conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied.

The instant invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing a tool that allows themeasurement/portioning of the weight of spaghetti-like pasta to be done in a simple andnoniterative way, without the need to remove the product from its package. It consists of astrip of rigid material (wood, metal, plastic or other) with a thickness of the order of somemillimetres (depending on the type of material), shaped to form a handle which terminates ina portion that branches into a certain amount of wide hook-like teeth with which one cangrab, hold and lift elongated dried pasta. Each hook-like aperture is provided to allow convenient placement for the raw pasta and sized to give a predetermined number of servingportions (e.g., one-half, one, two, three).

This kitchen utensil can be constructed in a variety of embodiments without, of course,departing from the spirit of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A pair of embodiments are illustrated which disclose some variations in the form of theclaimed invention.

Brief description of the drawings/figures:Fig. A is a perspective view of the present invention in a first embodiment.Figs. B and C show the use ofthe invention.

Fig. D is a perspective view of the present invention illustrating an alternativeembodiment.

With reference to Fig. A, the present invention is embodied in the form of a wide-tooth comb-like tool provided with a shaft (1) of which the comb-like portion (2) is made by three teeth(3). The lengths of the teeth are not all identical so that the resulting apertures/slots betweenthem are also of different sizes. Each aperture/slot has a slightly tapered shape narrowingtowards the free end, with rounded corners, and is designed to easily accommodate and holda predetermined amount of raw spaghetti-like pasta (enough to produce the desired servingportion of cooked product). The apertures/slots axis is oriented at an angle relative to theshaft axis, devised to allow an easy and ergonomic use of the tool. lndicia/markings (4) aredisposed in correspondence of each aperture/slot; they can be symbols, letters, numbers orany combination thereof indicating either the given serving portion (i.e., one, two, three, etc.)or a numerical quantity consistent with, for example, the spaghetti weight or calories, or both.

The advantage ofthis tool is that it is easy to measure/portion spaghetti or the like by grabbingthe desired amount of raw pasta directly from its package (see Fig. B), i.e., by entirely fillingthe proper aperture/slot with the simple help of the thumb of the user. Once the desiredamount of spaghetti-like pasta is grabbed and held in place by the thumb pressure, it ispossible to lift it up from its package (see Fig. C) and put into the pot with boiling water.

Despite Fig. B shows a conventional plastic package (5), this tool is of practical applicationeven with packages of other materials (such as paper, cardboard, metal, etc.) and differentshapes. ln another embodiment, Fig. D illustrates a measuring/portioning tool set according to thepresent invention. Such set consists of five hook-like utensils which fold neatly into a compactconfiguration for practical storage. Sizes from smallest to largest: one-half, one, two, threeand four serving portions of cooked product.

Claims

(original version)

1. A tool for the indirect measurement and or portioning of the weight of raw Spaghetti orthe like required to produce the desired amount of cooked product, comprising: a. a handle which terminates in a portion with one or more, relatively wide teeth thatare curved or indented as hooks, whose lengths are not all identical so that theresulting apertures or slots between them are also of different sizes; each said aperture or slot which is shaped and dimensioned to easily accommodateand hold a predetermined amount of raw spaghetti-like pasta resulting in thedesired serving portion of cooked product (e.g., one-half, one, two, three); andindicia or markings which are disposed in correspondence of each said aperture orslot.

2. A set of measuring and or portioning tools according to claim 1.

3. A simple and noniterative method of selecting a predetermined serving portion of rawspaghetti or the like, without the need to remove the product from its package, comprisingthe following steps: a. a tool according to claim 1 is used to grab one free end of spaghetti with the properhook-like tooth (depending on the desired portion of cooked product); the aperture or slot of interest, formed by said hook-like tooth, is entirely filledwith spaghetti sticks with the help ofthe thumb ofthe user; and once the desired amount of spaghetti is grabbed and held in place by the thumbpressure, it is easily lifted from the package and put into the pot with boiling water.