US20150258697A1

US20150258697A1 - Multifunctional efficient protective tool

Info

Publication number: US20150258697A1
Application number: US14/436,832
Authority: US
Inventors: Jianlun Tong
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-10-18
Filing date: 2012-10-18
Publication date: 2015-09-17
Also published as: CN103180108A; EP2910349A4; EP2910349B1; US11305444B2; CN103180108B; JP2015533349A; EP2910349A1; US20190118399A1; AU2012392359A1; JP6039092B2; AU2012392359A9; CA2888602A1; WO2014059646A1

Abstract

The present invention is a new-type kitchen cutting tool suitable to be used in households, canteens, restaurants etc. It is an entirely-new multi-edge protective tool consisting of several blade units and the supporting tool holder for holding the blade unit, used for cutting the food material into slices, shreds and dices. The blade unit and the tool holder may be securely connected through the fitting between the “convex” and “reverse concave” slide rails as well as the “nut-type” or the “bolt-type” structure, and the blade unit may be changed so that the food material may be cut into slices, shreds and dices with different sizes and thicknesses. The tool edge, the thin thread functioning as the tool edge and the chopping board may be protected through the combination of the protective plate and the elastic blade or the thin thread, greatly extending their service life. The present invention is featured as easy operation, convenient, safe, high efficiency, raw material-, energy- and time-saved, wide application range and good quality of processed products.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention involves a tool consisting of a blade unit with several blades and a supporting tool holder for holding the blade unit. After the blade unit is assembled with the tool holder, they may be used to cut food material, mainly applied in the cooking area, and sometimes, also applied in other areas where cutting is required.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGIES

People usually need to cut vegetables into slices, shreds and dices when making food. Traditional kitchen cutting tools are laborious and it is hard to control the finesse during processing. Sometimes our hand may be accidentally cut, or the vegetables are sticky to the tool. In case of spicy vegetables, we have to endure their sting to eyes, which makes us very uncomfortable. Sometimes, different processing patterns are required, and sometimes the food material should be cut on different planes. The rub bed on the market may squeeze the vegetables during processing, resulting in the compromised taste of them. Electric cutting tools need electricity, and hard to maintain, so they are not suitable to be used in households or small canteens. In general, some energy is consumed by the material being cut, some is consumed by the tool edge and the chopping board, and so the latter two are badly worn, badly reducing their service life. In the structure of the utility patent with Application No. 200920255826.7, several tools are combined together in parallel, and there is one handle on either side, so both hands are required to operate. In the utility patent with Application No. 200920001966.1, several tools are combined in parallel in the same container. In these two patents, the distance between the blades is fixed, and the blade unit cannot be changed, so the processed material only has a single size. In the utility patent with Application No. 201020293206.5, several tools are combined together in parallel, and the distance between the blades can be adjusted, but its structure is so complex, and the adjustment distance is hard to control. Besides, the tool is inconvenient to maintain. And there is only one handle and which is set on the outer side, not easy to operate.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

To solve these problems, the new-type tool is developed. It consists of several blade units with a protective plate and the supporting holder for the blade units. The tool may be operated by one hand, and no electricity is required, greatly improving the processing speed, accuracy, quality and sanitation, and ensuring the user's safety and comfort. The protective plate plays a role in protecting the tool edge. When the tool is being used, part of the useful energy is consumed by the material being cut, and another part of the energy is consumed on the tool edge, the elastic part of the tool edge, the chopping board and the protective plate. The tool edge and the protective plate share the useless and harmful loss of energy, thus greatly extending the service life of the tool edge and the chopping board. Cutting is the function of the tool edge, and it nearly has nothing to do with the tool body, so a thin thread made with a special elastic material may be used to substitute for the tool edge. To simplify the description, it is declared hereby: the tool edge referred to in the present invention include the elastic and inelastic tool edges or the elastic and inelastic thin threads instead of the tool edge. Specifically, the present invention is a new-type safe tool that can cut the food material into slices, shreds or dices by 1 to 3 times of cutting. For each individual blade unit: 1. If the distances between individual blades are equal to each other, the food material being cut will be equally divided; 2. If the distances between individual blades are not equal to each other, the food material being cut will be not equally divided; 3. All the blades may be of the same size or different sizes. 4. Except for a few blades which function for stabilizing, the other blades may be substituted by the elastic thin threads playing the same role as the tool edge. The thin thread substituting for the tool edge is made of a special material. Besides, the width of the tool edge or the circumscribed circle diameter of the cross-section of the thin thread is less than 3 mm. Each of the blade units may be set with its own blade spacing, so as to obtain the cut food material with different sizes and thicknesses by changing the blade unit. The height of the protective plate shall be within 30 mm and it should also be larger than that of the blade unit. The use of the protective plate as well as the elastic blade or the elastic thin thread instead of the tool edge, can greatly extend the service life of the tool edge or the thin elastic thread and the chopping board.

TECHNICAL SOLUTION

Definition of items: Sharp Face: refers to the cutting surface formed by all the tool edges or thin threads, with the meaning of sharp cutting surface. n: refers to any number less than 5, and may be a decimal. ‘Bolt’ and ‘Nut’: used for a visual description, they are only easily-accessible smooth cylinder and barrel without real threads. As the chopping board may be not an absolutely-flat plane, the following protection methods should be applied: 1. If the food material needs to be cut off, there should be a distance of n (mm) between the sharp face length and the protective plate. The elasticity of the sharp face shall be large enough so that the sharp face may be shielded by the protective plate. 2. If the food material needs to be basically cut off, the sharp face and the lower end of the protective plate should be in the same plane. The elasticity of the sharp face is only required to be within n (mm) 3. If the food material needs to be cut as tangled, the sharp face shall be n (mm) shorter than the lower end of the protective plate. The sharp face may be not elastic, or with the elasticity of several millimeters. Specific Description: A new-type tool is composed of tool handles (1), tool holder (2) and blade units (3). The tool handles (1) and the tool holder (2) are installed on the blade unit (3). The blade unit (3) is composed of the protective plate (7) and some blades. The sharp face formed by the tool edges (4) should be fit well with the protective plate. The obtuse side formed by the blade back should be more than 1 mm shorter than the protective plate; when desired, each blade (4) shall have the elastic deformation capacity of more than n (mm) or above lest the protective plate (7) loses its function to protect the tool edge (4); each blade itself has several small holes (10); On the outer side of the protective plate, there is a “nut” (6) to be inserted. The side face of the lower part of the tool holder is ±-shaped (“±” is a Chinese character) or t-shaped)). The upper transverse short line in the ±-shaped structure stands for the reverse concave-shape sliding chute (8) and the lower transverse short line in such structure stands for the “bolt” (9) used for inserting, and the vertical short line in the same structure stands for the tool holder (2). The new-type tool mentioned above is featured as: the convex-shape part (5) on the upper part of the protective plate (7) for the mentioned blade unit is slid into the reverse concave-shape sliding chute (8) on the lower part of the tool holder, and the “bolt” (9) of the tool holder is inserted into the “nut” (6) of the blade unit.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS

1. Simple structure; thin, short and small blades; and processing material, energy and time saved; 2. Vegetables will not be stuck onto the blade, easy to operate, safe and comfortable, suitable for households, canteens, etc.; 3. Suitable for easily and quickly cutting special vegetables with sting to eyes like onions and peppers; 4. The blade unit may be changed as desired, easy to disassemble and clean; 5. It can make the food material into slices or shreds by cutting for the first time; or into dices by cutting for the second or third time. No further chopping is needed, which retains the vegetable nutrients to the greatest degree, greatly improving the work efficiency; 6. The combination of the protective plate and the elastic tool edge or the thin thread, greatly extends the service life of the tool edge or the thin thread and the chopping board, featured as energy-saving and environmental protection; 7. Any person with one arm disabled can use it: the tool may be completely operated by one hand, without needing the support of the other hand; 8. Once the blade unit cannot work smoothly, it may be replaced with a new one, and the tool holder may be continuously used in the recycling form; 9. Because of the development of the present invention, the vegetable processing can also become a kind of art: you can quickly and easily perform various kinds of fancy processing and create many art patterns.

Brief description of attached figures: all the figures are schematic, and the indicators or proportions are not certainly accurate.

FIG. 1 is the front view of the entire tool:

FIG. 2 is the front view of the blade unit;

FIG. 3 is the top view of the dicing blade unit;

FIG. 4 is the top view of the shredding blade unit; and

FIG. 5 shows the reverse concave-shape sliding chute (8) on the left side of the lower part of the tool holder and the “bolt” (9) used for inserting. Front view: the figure on the right side of the lower end of the tool holder is ax symmetric to that on the left side;

FIG. 6 is the side view of the reverse concave-shape sliding chute (8) on the left side of the lower part of the tool holder and the “bolt” (9) used for inserting.

Notes for the numbers in the figures: 1-Tool handle, 2-Tool holder, 3-Blade unit, 4-Tool edge or thin thread, 5-“Convex” part of the protective plate, 6-“Nut-type” inserting barrel, 7-Protective plate, 8-Reverse concave-shape sliding chute, 9-“Bolt-type” inserting barrel, 10-Small holes in the blade

THE BEST MODE TO APPLY THE PRESENT INVENTION

Many people like stuffed foods like dumplings, steamed buns etc., but they are tired of so much work in stuffing preparation, and now the problem is solved with this tool: Only a few times of cuttings is required in the same work which previously needed tens of minutes of labor. If the complete-cutoff shredding blade unit is used, a tool edge face with the cross section of 2 m²is formed by four adjacent edges with the spacing of 2 mm; cutting for the first time can make the food material into shreds with the cross-section of 2 m², and after cutting for the second time, the shreds will become dices with the cross-section of 2 m³. No further cutting or chopping is required, and the nutrients of the vegetables will be retained to the greatest degree as well.

The Mode to Apply the Present Invention

The following is the simplest scheme as the example, and it will not be used as the limit for the scope of the present invention.
1. Specific implementation scheme: Using the slicing blade unit shown in FIG. 3: Cutting for the first time makes the food material become slices; cutting it for the second time, the slices Shredding blade unit shown in FIG. 4: Cutting for the first time makes the food material become shreds, and cutting for the second time, the shreds will become dices.
2. The blade units may be selected depending on the number of dining people; {circle around (1)} For a family with 3-5 persons, the small-size tool with the cross-section less than 25 cm²shall be used; {circle around (2)} For canteens, the medium-size tool with the cross-section of about 100 cm²shall be used; and {circle around (3)} For more dining people, the large-size tool shall be used.
3. Individual blades may be selected according to personal tastes or their tooth health conditions; some people like soft food, and some people like a little hard food, some people have good teeth and some people have bad teeth. (1) If all the dining people have the same demands: the spacing between the blades shall be designed to be equal with each other (2) If not all dining people have the same demands: the spacing between blades shall be set differently. Part of the food materials apply to a larger spacing and the remaining apply to a smaller spacing.
4. The individual blades may be selected according to the food material to be cut: the meat needs to be completely cut off, so the blade unit with the sharp face longer than the protective plate shall be used; for the fruits and vegetables, the blade unit with the sharp face equal to or shorter than the protective plate should be used.
5. Comparison with the effects of competitive tools: (1) Let's take the case of cutting a potato as the easiest example: 10 times of cutting is generally required to make the potato become slices, 20 times of cutting required to make it become shreds, and 30 times of cutting required to make it become deices; but with this tool, only one time of cutting is required to obtain slices, one or two times of cutting required for shreds and two or three times of cutting required for dices. (2) Even if a rub bed is used, several times of cutting is required to get the desired shapes. In addition, the taste of the vegetables will be compromised since being squeezed during processing.
6. Suitable for cutting the vegetables with sting to eyes like onions and peppers: only 1 to 3 times of cutting is required for this work.
7. If only one edge is used, then this tool is a kind of new kitchen cutting tool with a small blade.
8. The sharp face may be made into various shapes. In principle, this is possible as long as the graph is on a two-dimensional plane. But, the processing with such a sharp face is kind of difficult: 1. Simple geometric shapes: triangle, square, pentagonal magnitude, triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, etc., 3.Various kinds of round shapes and various radians. Complex patterns such as a variety of small animals are also possible to be made.
9. The sharp face may be three-dimensional: It is easy to make various shapes if the edges are not arranged in the same plane. For example, the sharp face may be designed as the star shape, with the middle part as the upward-concave arc shape. In this case, a tomato may be cut into a pentagonal shape but the intermediate and the bottom are still connected with each other, which is easy to place and looks good.
10. The present invention may be designed into several series of large product lines to make the user company turns up its nose at the world for 20 years!

Claims

1. The new-type tool is composed of tool handles (1), took holder (2) and blade units (3), with the tool handles (1) and they took holder (2) installed on the blade unit (3).

2. The features of the new-type tool mentioned in claim 1 include: the mentioned blade unit (3) is composed of the mentioned peripheral protective plate (7) and several blades or thin threads, and it works through the combination of the protective plate (7), the elastic tool edge and the thin thread (4); each of the mentioned blades or thin threads has a certain elastic deformation capability when desired, and the range of such elastic deformation is just required to ensure the protective plate (7), the elastic blade and the thin thread (4) can play the protection role; the mentioned thin thread which is used to work instead of the tool edge is made of special material. Besides, the width of the tool edge or the circumscribed circle diameter of the cross section of the thin thread is less than 3 mm; there are some small holes (10) in each of the mentioned blades, and the obtuse face of the tool back is more than 1 mm lower than the protective plate (7); the upper part of the mentioned protective plate (7) is “convex”, outside which, there is a “nut” (6) that may be inserted, and the height of the protective plate (7) is within 3 cm; the food material may be cut into slices, shreds or dices quickly only through 1 to 3 times of cutting; the sharp face may be in the same plane with the lower part of the protective plate, or the sharp face is up to 5 mm longer than the lower part of the protective plate, or up to 5 mm shorter than the lower part of the protective plate. The sharp face may be made into different two-dimensional or three-dimensional shapes.

3. The features of the new-type tool mentioned in claim 1 include: the side face of the lower part of the mentioned tool holder is ±-shaped (“±” is a Chinese character) or t-shaped)), the upper transverse short line of the ±-shaped structure stands for the reverse concave-shape sliding chute (8), the lower transverse short line in such structure stands for the “bolt” (9) used for inserting, and the vertical short line in the same structure stands for the tool holder.

4. The features of the new-type tool mentioned in claim 1 include: if only one tool edge is used, then the present invention will be a new-type kitchen cutting tool with a very small blade.