WO2001039935A1

WO2001039935A1 - Cheese slicer

Info

Publication number: WO2001039935A1
Application number: PCT/SE2000/002425
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ingela Jakobsson
Original assignee: Formsprutarna J-A Johansson Co. Ab
Priority date: 1999-12-02
Filing date: 2000-12-04
Publication date: 2001-06-07
Also published as: SE9904376L; SE518580C2; SE9904376D0; AU1912301A

Abstract

The invention relates to a cheese slicer, especially for the slicing of fat cheese, comprising a handle (1) and an elongate slot (3) extending across the longitudinal direction of handle (1), a cutting edge (4) extending along at least one of the longitudinal sides of said slot (3) at which there is a blade (2) having a bottom surface and a top surface for guiding the cheese slicer and for receiving cut off cheese slices. At least one side of the blade (2) has a structure comprising a great amount of irregularities (5, 6) of an order of magnitude substantially inferior to the thickness of the blade (2) and covering the major portion of the surface of blade (2).

Description

Cheese slicer

The present invention relates to a cheese slicer, especially intended for the slicing of fat cheese, comprising a handle and an elongate slot extending across the longitudinal direction of the handle, a cutting edge extending along at least one of the longitudinal sides of said slot at which there is a blade having a bottom surface and a top surface for guiding the cheese slicer and for receiving cheese slices which have been cut off.

It has since long involved problems to slice fat cheese by a planing operation. When use is made of a conventional implement, approximately of the type as m broad terms is described above, most fat cheeses tend to form lumps and the slices will either brake in pieces or assume a pronounced wave-form. The lump- forming tendency is sometimes that strong that the cheese lumps will get stuck in the slot making a continued planing imposssible until the cheese lumps have been removed from the slot.

For those reasons cheese slicers of other types have been designed m an effort to solve the problem. One example of such a cheese slicer is the wire plane comprising at least one wire extending along a rod at a certain distance therefrom. The wire is usually a metal wire, e.g. a thin piano wire. This cheese slicer type has several shortcomings. It is rather difficult to control its cutting movement and it is difficult to cut off really thin slices. Despite of the fact that this slicer is intended for use with fat cheese it still quickly gets smeary and it is also rather difficult to clean it. Other drawbacks are that, after some time of use, the wire must be tightened and must often break.

Another alternative is to omit the blade located at the slot for the purpose of receiving planed cheese slices. The disadvantages of this cheese slicer type is that it s difficult to control it so that the slices get warped. In addition thereto cheese easily gets stuck in the slot .

A drawback which is common to both of the prior art cheese slicers described above is that the cheese slice cannot be served with the aid of the slicer since, in contrast to what applies at conventional slicers, there is no blade to support the removed slice.

The object of the present invention is to provide a cheese slicer suitable for fat cheese. The cheese shall not form lumps during the planing operation which shall yield thin slices of even thickness. Moreover, it must be easy to clean the slicer and no particular maintenance shall be required.

The object to be reached by the invention is attained if a cheese slicer of the type mentioned above exhibits the following features. At least one side of the blade shall have a structure comprising a great amount of irregularities, the sizes of which are of an order of magnitude substantially inferior to the thickness of the blade and which cover the main portion of the surface of the blade .

The invention will now be described more in detail, reference being made to the attached drawing.

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the blade of a cheese slicer according to the invention, and a portion of its handle.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a small portion of the blade surface drawn to a magnified scale.

In Fig. 1 there are shown the main parts of a cheese slicer according to the invention. As is the case at many prior art cheese slicers, the one shown in Fig. 1 has a handle 1 for manoeuvring the implemant. At the one end of the handle 1 there is mounted a blade 2 which, according to the preferred embodiment, has been manufactured in a high-quality plastic material, but other materials can also be used. The blade 2 is substantially broader than the handle 1 and its longitudinal dimension is of the same order of magnitude as its lateral extent. The external outline illustrated in Fig. 1 is only one of the several exempies of possible configurations for the blade 2.

In blade 2 there is a slot 3 which extends substantially at right angles to the longitudinal direction of handle 1, i.e. across the intended planing direction. Along the one longitudinal side of slot 3 there is a cutting edge 4 which has been bent slightly down to engage the cheese. The cutting edge 4 is located at that side of slot 3 which is adjacent to the main portion of blade 2.

When the cheese is to be sliced the main portion of blade 2 is pressed into contact with the surface of the cheese and the slicer is drawn over the cheese to that the cutting edge 4 will cut loose a thin slice. The bottom surface of blade 2 does then slide along the top side of the cheese and the loosened cheese slice will at the same time slide in relation to the top side of blade 2. This corresponds to a desired ideal case, but when a fat cheese is treated the operation tends to deviate if a conventional slicer is used. As has been mentioned above, a fat cheese tends to stick to the slicer resulting in the cheese slicer moving at an irregular speed along the cheese. The movements get jerky when the cheese slicer first sticks to the cheese and, in response to an increased pulling force in the handle, suddenly is disengaged. This results in the slice becoming uneven and tending to roll up. In the same way, the movement of the detached cheese slice above the top surface of the plane gets uneven since the slice does also stick to the plane. The already uneven slice tends to roll up still more and during that process often breaks into lumps. With the intention to prevent such a process efforts have been made to change the friction and the adhesion between the plane and the cheese. If neither the cheese nor the removed slice sticks to the slicer to any greater degree, the relative speed between the slice and the cheese and between the slicer and the slice will stay constant resulting in even, flat-surfaced slices.

Somewhat surprisingly it has been shown that an uneven surface, substantially rougher than the surface of a normal cheese slicer, operates considerably better than that of a normal slicer. Preferably, the rough, uneven surface will extend over the whole surface of blade 2, both on the top and on the bottom side. In other words, such a rough surface does not adhere to the cheese as much as a smooth surface does .

The desired rough surface can be established in several different ways. When the cheese slicer consists of a plastic material the uneven surface can be provided in the way that the moulding tool in which the cheese slicer is manufactured has been given an uneven structure, e.g. by spark machining, which structure is then transferred to at least the blade of the cheese slicer. When other materials are used blasting is a useful method but it is also possible to remove the surface layer by etching or to apply a coating.

Fig. 2 exemplifies a suitable surface structure. It comprises depressions 5 and elevations 6, the height extension of which are small in comparison to the thickness of the blade 2. Preferably, the structure of the surface is rounded, meaning that the depressions 5 and the elevations 6 do not have any sharp edges .

The sizes of the irregularities, meaning the depressions 5 and the elevations 6, do substantially correspond to those of a grinding paper having a grain size 400-1200, i.e. 20-60 μm.It is especially advantageous to use irregularities corresponding to those of a grinding paper with a grain size 800-1000, i.e. 25- 30μm. However, the grains of the grinding paper generally have sharper edges than is the case in the surface structure according to the preferred embodiment .

There are several theories co-operating to higher or lower extent in order to make a cheese slicer according to the invention to operate. Thanks to the uneven surface of blade 2 air gets a possibility to enter between the cheese body or the cheese slice and the blade 2. The air does then act as a lubricant which facilitates the sliding movement. A similar function is performed by fat which may be squeezed out from the cheese during the planing operation when the slicer is pressed against the top side of the cheese. Since the effective contact surface between the cheese and the slicer is reduced when the surface is uneven, the adhesion between the cheese and the slicer will likewise be reduced. The further mechanism contributing to the function of the slicer is probably that the somewhat rough surface detaches very small cheese particles on which the slicer can be said to "roll" on the cheese. Moreover, those particles provides a possibility for more air to penetrate between the cheese and the slicer.

As has been mentioned above, there exist several methods suitable to give the slicer the desired surface structure but also etching as well as coating with some material can be used. In the case of etching care should be taken to check that the profile depth, i.e. the difference between the depressions and the elevations is reasonably great .

When the coating method is used it is important to make sure that the coating material is non-poisonous, strong and easy to clean.

Claims

1. A cheese slicer, especially for the slicing of fat cheese, comprising a handle (1) and an elongated slot (3), extending across the longitudinal direction of the handle (1) , a cutting edge (4) extending along at least one of the longitudinal sides of said slot (3) at which there is a blade (2) having a bottom surface and a top surface for grinding the cheese slicer and for receiving a cut off cheese slice, characterized in that at least the one side of the blade (2) has a structure comprising a great amount of irregularities (5,6) which are of an order of magnitude substantially inferior to the thickness of the blade

(2) and which cover the major portion of the surface of said blade (2) .

2. A cheese slicer as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the top surface and the bottom surface of the blade (2) both exhibit said structure.

3. A cheese slicer as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the structure has been established by treatment of the inner side of the moulding tool used to shape the slicer.

4. A cheese slicer as claimed in claim 1 or 2 , characterized that the structure has been established by blasting or by coating of the blade surface with a fine grain material .

5. A cheese slicer as claimed in claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the structure has been provided by etching.

6. A cheese slicer as claimed in claims 1-5, characterized in that the profile depth of the structure is in the order of magnitude 20-60 μm, preferably 25-30 μm.