WO2003015593A2

WO2003015593A2 - Juice extraction

Info

Publication number: WO2003015593A2
Application number: PCT/GB2002/003832
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sebastian Conran
Original assignee: Bliss (Flights Of Fancy) Limited
Priority date: 2001-08-20
Filing date: 2002-08-20
Publication date: 2003-02-27
Also published as: GB0120231D0; GB0219423D0; WO2003015593A3; GB2379863A

Abstract

To provide easier maintainability and an improved pressure applying action a manual juice extractor has a seating (25) for receiving an item or fruit or vegetables to be juiced and a press head (1) urged against the seating by a rectilinearly reciprocating slide arrangement, the head being linked to one end of an arcuately movable L-shaped handle (8).

Description

JUICE EXTRACTION

This invention relates to a manually operable juice extractor or "juicer" for extracting juice and/or creating pulp from suitable fruit and vegetables, for example, citrus fruits mangos, melons and papaya.

Various manual citrus fruit juicers are known from the prior art, for example those shown in United States Design Patents Nos. 420863, 328552 and 304141 and in WO 99/56599, US 5970859, US 2624271 and US 2591162.

It is one object of this invention to provide an easily maintainable juice extractor which has an improved action thereby extracting a large proportion of the available juice or pulp from an item of food.

There is provided, by a first aspect of the invention, apparatus for extracting juice from a juice-containing foodstuff, the apparatus comprising a seating shaped to receive the foodstuff and a housing containing, above the shaped seating, a press-head urgeable, in use, against a foodstuff located on the seating whereby juice is extracted from the foodstuff, the press-head having a shape generally complementary to that of the seating and being mounted at one end of a slide which reciprocates along a generally rectilinear path towards and away from the seating, the press head being connected by a link to the free end of the shorter arm of a generally L-shaped handle, the bend of the handle being pivotally mounted on a member projecting towards the bend from an inner wall of the housing, the handle being movable through an arc across the axis of the path of the slide to cause the slide to move the press-head towards or away from the seating.

^' The L-shaped handle may be arranged to pivot through an angle of less than 180° to effect the total travel of the slide, and preferably travels in a slot defined in the housing.

In a preferred embodiment, the point at which the L-shaped handle is pivotally connected to the member lies directly in line with the point of travel of the centre of the press-head.

The handle may include a pair of parallel L-shaped levers, each of which may be pivotally connected to the member and whose shorter legs may be connected to a pair of generally parallel links.

Preferably the slide comprises a cylindrical body arranged to reciprocate within a cylindrical socket in the housing.

In another aspect the invention provides apparatus for extracting juice, the apparatus including a housing containing juice extraction means, including a handle for actuating the juice extracting means, the handle travelling in an enclosed slot in a wall of the housing.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood it will now be explained by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of one apparatus according to the invention; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 is a perspective view through a portion of the apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4A is a vertical section through the apparatus of Figure 1 with the press-head in a retracted position;

Figure 4B is a vertical section through the apparatus of Figure 1 at a mid point of a pressing operation;

Figure 4C is a vertical section through the apparatus of Figure 1 with a press-head in an extended position;

Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of another apparatus of the invention;

Figure 6 is an exploded partial view of the top mechanism of Figure 5, and,

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the assembly of Figure 6 take on lines VI-VII.

The same reference numerals will be used where possible to describe the different embodiments with an add primer for the Figure 5 embodiment.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4, there is shown one juice extractor 1 comprising a housing 2 having a body portion 3 and a base portion 4 on the underside of which are mounted feet 5. The housing 2 may be formed in two vertical halves, joined by fastening bolts 14.

Mounted on the base portion 4 is a removable receptacle 6 having a lid portion 23 and a body or cup portion 24. The lid portion 23 has a seating 25 and a peripheral lip 26. The shaped seating 25 is provided with apertures (not shown) through which juice extracted from a juice-containing foodstuff can run and collect in the cup portion 24.

The body portion 3 of the housing 2 has an enclosed slot 7, which extends across the top or head thereof, from front to back, and from which projects a handle 8. The bolts 14, or at least the external surfaces of the apertures in which they are located, provide end stops of the slot 7.

As shown in the base of the handle 8 is a fork section 32 having a pair of parallel legs 33, both of which are pivotally connected to a shaped support plate 10 at pivot point 12. The remote side of the support plate 10 is mounted, by bolts or rivets 11 , on the internal surface of the housing 2.

Each leg 33 has an integral foot 31 which is pivotally connected at its free end to one end of an link 17 which is cranked such that the links are spaced further apart at their other ends. At those other ends, the links 17 are pivotally connected at pivot point 18 to a block 19 connected to the upper surface of a dome-shaped pressing surface 16.

The pressing surface 16 is mounted in the lower end of a generally cylindrical slide 15 which has a vertical slot 9 to receive the projecting portion of the plate 10.

Opposite the slot 9 there is a cut-out portion 21 in the cylindrical slide 15 to accommodate the feet 31 and arms 17 when they project during reciprocation of the slide 15, as will be described below and as shown in Figure 4B. As can be seen from Figure 4A, the base portion 4 of the housing 2 has a recess 22 to receive the receptacle 6. The recess 22 ensures that the receptacle 6 is not at liberty to wobble or fall out of alignment during a pressing operation.

The central shaped portion 25 of the lid 23 has a central raised nipple-like peak 27. The lip 26 has an annular recess 28 formed therein to locate the upper edge of the cup portion 24. The recess 28 is formed between a pair of substantially parallel annuli 29, 30, which extend from the bottom of the lip 26. The inner annulus 29 extends down the inner surface of the cup portion 24 to a greater degree than the outer annulus 30 extends down the outer surface of the cup portion 24. As can be seen, the lid portion 23 is integrally formed and the combination and configuration of annuli 29, 30, helps to mitigate deformation of the shaped seating 25 during a pressing operation.

When the handle 8 is moved from its rearmost position in Figure 4A to its other extreme position, as shown in Figure 4C, the feet 31 of the handle 8 rotate about the axis provided by pivot point 12 to cause the links 17 to urge the slide 15 downwardly, moving the concave pressing surface 16 towards the shaped seating 25 of the receptacle 6. Moving the handle in the opposite direction, i.e. from the position shown in Figure 4C to that shown in Figure 4A, raises the slide 15.

The links 17, as shown in Figure 4A, are situated substantially vertically with the slide in its' withdrawn position. At this point, the feet 31 , and the ends of the links 17 pivotally connected thereto, extend into the free space 13 above the slide 15 in the housing 2. As the handle 8 is moved forwards, the ends of the links 17 pivotally connected to the feet 31 are rotated about an arc whose radial component is defined by the length of the feet 31. At or about a midpoint of handle 8 travel, as shown in Figure 4B, the feet 31 and links 17 extend through the cut-out portion 21 in the slide 15. As the handle 8 is further pulled forward, the slide 15 is forced downwards due to continued rotation of the pivotally connected links 17, until the links 17 are generally vertically disposed, as in Figure 4C.

The slide 15 is arranged to reciprocate within a vertical slot 9 formed in the housing 2. This mounting ensures that the slide 15 always acts in a straight line located above the receptacle 6, thereby ensuring registration of the surface 16 with the seating 25 in the extended position of the slide 15 (Figure 4C).

The parts can be dimensioned to ensure that extra pressure is exerted when the handle reaches the forward limit of the slot 7.

The annular lip 24 of the receptacle 6, which surrounds the seating 25, is arranged such that as the pressing surface 16 comes toward the lowermost portion of its travel (Figure 4C) it is located within the confines of the lip 24.

In operation, a piece of food, say an orange half is placed flesh-down on the convex seating 25 of the receptacle 6, until the nipple-like peak 27 protrudes into the flesh at or about the centre of the orange-half. The handle 8 is moved from the position shown in Figure 4A to that shown in Figure 4C, thereby bringing the pressing surface 16 in to close proximity with the complementarily shaped seating 25 and crushing or pressing the orange-half therebetween. The crushing or pressing releases the juice from the orange half to flow through the apertures in the seating 25 and into the receptacle 6, where it is collected. The lip 24 prevents spillage of the so-liberated juice. The final distance of travel causes the greatest level of pressure to be applied to the foodstuff. Once the crushing operation has been completed the handle 8 is moved back to the starting position and the exhausted orange-half is removed from the seating 25. It can be clearly seen from the above-description, that the juice extractor 1 operates in a manner which ensures that the pressing surface 16 operates in a direct line above the seating 25. The configuration and location of the pivoting parts 8, 31 , 17 ensures that the force used to move the handle 8 is translated into direct action onto the food located on the seating 25.

Because the handle 8 travels in the enclosed slot 7 there is no risk that the users fingers will be trapped between moving parts.

The extractor 1 is easy to maintain and keep clean as the only two parts which are exposed to the juice or other food are the two surfaces 16, 25 and the receptacle 6 which is obviously removable from the recess 22. The seating 25 may comprise a nonstick and/or wipe clean surface to aid cleaning. The housing is secure to prevent mischievous fingers from being given access to the internal mechanism which has moving parts which could harm a user. However, if necessary, the bolts 14 may be removed to provide access for an engineer. Thereafter the slide 15 may be disengaged from the rest of the working parts by removing the pin which represents pivot point 18. This will allow the slide 15 to be removed simply from the housing 2.

Also, because the entire mechanism is enclosed within the housing 2 the overall appearance thereof can be maintained. The housing 2 and/or receptacle 6 may be finished in chrome, stainless steel or other robust finishes, such as plastics materials, which are readily cleanable and which will not erode in the presence of acids, such as those present in citrus fruits. The handle 8 may be provided with a cushioned grip. The receptacle 6 may have a substantially rectangular cross-section, such as square, rather than the circular one shown. In the embodiment of Figures 5 to 9, the housing of extractor 100 comprises a lower body part 101 and two body shell parts 102 which fit together to form the upper part 103 of the extractor body. The vertical wall 104 of the lower part 101 is hollow and has an opening 105 at the top. Each part 102 has a portion 106 shaped so that together, the positions 106 match the top of the wall 104. In addition, below each portion 106, there is a portion 107. Together, the portions 107 fit into the opening 105 to retain the two parts 102 together. Each portion 107 has a vertical threaded hole 108 into which there is engaged a bolt (not shown) entered from below the body part 101 and into the hollow wall 104 through an internal portion (not shown) which has a hole for the bolt. This clamps the portions 107 into place within the opening 105 and securely fixes the parts 102 to the body 101.

The pressure dome 16 has a top spigot 19 and the lower end of the drum has a complementary bottom wall 20. A shaped block 21 is present on top of the bottom wall 20, within the drum, and has a cross slot 39 to receive on each side a pin 40 the outer end of which is received in a hole 22 in the foot of each fork leg 17. The spigot 19 is received in a socket 42 in the block 21. A plate 43 is held by screws 44 received in screw holes 45 in the block (see Figure 7). The drum 46 has opposite vertically extending relieved portions 47 on its outer wall, and these are engaged with matching projecting portions 48 in an outer plastics material sleeve 49 at the lower end of the drum 46. The sleeve 49 is held in the upper body part 103 between a lower inwardly extending rim 110 of the upper body part 103 and flanges 111 and 112 also provided in the part 103. To facilitate engagement with the flange 112 at the front of the body part 103, the sleeve 49 has a thickened portion 120. At the front of upper body part 103, i.e. formed as matching portions in parts 102, there is a slot 300 with a hole or holes (not shown) for receiving a screw or screws that engage and fix sleeve 29 at thickened portion 120. In order to fit the sleeve 49, the two parts 102 of the upper body part 103 are separated so that the sleeve can be engaged between the rim 110 and flanges 111. The drum 46 is a good sliding fit within the sleeve 49 but particularly so between the portions 47 and 48 of the drum and sleeve respectively - most of the location of the drum and sleeve is done by these portions 47 and 48. In this way, the moving parts are held in vertical alignment. This embodiment works in the same way as the previous one.

Figures 10 to 12 show a modified version of the embodiment of Figures 5 to 9. Here, the fork-ended lever 107 of Figure 5 is replaced by a non-forked lever 200 although the lever remains cranked as before. The single support bracket 10 is replaced by two side-by-side brackets 201 with a spacer 301, the brackets 201 being engaged each side of the lever 200 and pivotably connected thereto by pivot pins 202. The end of the upwardly (Figure 10) cranked portion of lever 200 is pivotably connected by pivot pin 203 to each of two suspension brackets 17 as before.

In this modification, the drum 46 is cylindrical, i.e. the integral bottom wall 20 is not present. Instead, the pressure dome 205 comprises an integral plastics material moulding 206 with a wall 207 defining a conical lower surface and a two upwardly extending trunnions 207. Between the trunnions, at the apex of wall 207, there is an upwardly facing seating portion 208. To fix the drum and dome to the brackets 17, there is a rod 209 which engages through holes in the trunnions 207 and through the holes at the lower ends of the bracket 17. The rod 209 is fixed by locking screws 210 which engage holes 211 in the sides of the drum 46 and engage axial holes in the rod 209. The rod 209 lays on the seating portion 208 to give additional support to the pressure dome.

Claims

1. Apparatus for extracting juice from a juice-containing foodstuff, the apparatus comprising a seating shaped to receive the foodstuff and a housing containing, in use, above the shaped seating, a press-head urgeable against a foodstuff located on the seating whereby juice is extracted from the foodstuff, the press- head having a shape generally complementary to that of the seating and being mounted at one end of a slide which reciprocates along a generally rectilinear path towards and away from the seating, the press head being connected by a link to the free end of the shorter arm of a generally L-shaped handle, the bend of the handle being pivotally mounted on a member projecting towards the bend from an inner wall of the housing, the handle being movable through an arc across the axis of the path of the slide to cause the slide to move the press-head towards or away from the seating.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1 , wherein the L-shaped handle is arranged to pivot through an angle of less than 180° to effect the total travel of the slide.

3. Apparatus according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein a portion of the handle travels in a slot defined in the housing.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 3, wherein the housing has a solid exterior apart from the slot.

5. Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, wherein the point at which the L- shaped handle is pivotally connected to the member lies directly in line with the point of travel of the centre of the press-head.

6. Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, wherein the handle includes a pair of parallel L-shaped levers, each of which is pivotally connected to the member and whose shorter legs are connected to a pair of generally parallel links.

7. Apparatus according to any preceding Claim, wherein the slide comprises a cylindrical body arranged to reciprocate within a cylindrical socket in the housing.

8. Apparatus for extracting juice, the apparatus including a housing containing juice extraction means, including a handle for actuating the juice extracting means, the handle travelling in an enclosed slot in a wall of the housing.