WO1996001148A1

WO1996001148A1 - Knife for a food slicing apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1996001148A1
Application number: PCT/US1995/007875
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael S. Jacko
Original assignee: Urschel Laboratories Inc
Current assignee: Urschel Laboratories Inc
Priority date: 1994-07-06
Filing date: 1995-07-06
Publication date: 1996-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1997-01-06
Also published as: AU2997895A

Abstract

A knife (10) for a food slicing apparatus in which a knife blade (12) is integral with a knife blade holder (14) such that the integral knife blade and holder may be easily attached to and removed from a cutting shoe (26) on the slicing apparatus. The knife blade holder (14) may be molded from a plastic material. A handle (16) extends outwardly from the knife blade holder (14) beyond the end of the knife blade (12c), which is integrally formed with the knife blade holder (14) by molding the blade (12) into the plastic knife blade holder (14). An elongated groove (20) is defined by the holder (14) extending between opposite sides (14a, 14b) of the holder (14), which groove (20) engages an attaching member (30). The groove and attaching member comprising male and female dovetail members to facilitate the mounting of the knife (10) on the cutting shoe (26) by merely sliding the knife (10) onto the cutting shoe (26).

Description

Knife for a Food Slicing Apparatus

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a knife for a food slicing apparatus, more particularly such a knife having an integral knife holder and knife blade which may be inserted into a centrifugal food slicing apparatus without requiring the use of any tools.

Centrifugal-type devices for slicing food products are well known in the art. Typically, such devices comprise a stationary annular cutting head having a slicing knife attached to a cutting shoe, with a plurality of such cutting shoes arranged in an annular array around a rotatable impeller. The rotatable impeller has blades thereon to direct a food product placed on the rotating impeller outwardly against the cutting blades as the impeller rotates. The slicing device may also comprise a motor which rotates the impeller, a feed hopper to feed the food product into the impeller as it rotates and some means to collect the sliced food product. In the known slicing devices, the knife blade is attached to the cutting shoe by a separate clamping member which, in turn, is attached to the cutting shoe by bolts or screws. The known cutting blades are disposable and must be replaced at certain intervals to maintain the cutting efficiency of the slicing device and the quality of the sliced food product. In the past, such replacement has entailed the removal of the clamping member from the cutting shoe by loosening the bolts or screws, removing the old cutting blade, attaching a new cutting blade and reattaching the clamping member. The known blade replacement procedure has been found to be excessively time consuming and reduces production efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A knife for a food slicing apparatus is disclosed in which a knife blade is integral with a knife blade holder such that both the blade and the holder may be easily attached to and removed from a cutting shoe on the slicing apparatus. The knife holder may be molded from a plastic material and has a handle extending from one of its opposite ends. The handle extends outwardly from the knife holder beyond the end of the knife blade, which is integrally formed with the knife blade holder by molding the blade into the plastic knife blade holder. An elongated groove is defined by the knife blade holder extending between opposite sides of the holder, which groove engages an attaching member located on the cutting shoe. The groove and the attaching member may comprise female and male dovetail members to facilitate the mounting of the knife on the cutting shoe by merely sliding the knife onto the cutting shoe such that the attaching member engages the groove defined by the knife blade holder. An upper mounting ring of the cutting head on which the cutting shoe is mounted defines openings adjacent to a front edge portion of each cutting shoe in order to facilitate the attachment and removal of the knife with the cutting shoe.

In order to attach the knife to the cutting shoe, it is merely necessary to slide the knife downwardly over the attaching member on the cutting shoe through the opening defined by the upper mounting ring. When the knife is in its cutting position, the handle on the knife blade holder extends slightly above the upper mounting ring in order to facilitate grasping so as to easily remove the knife from the cutting shoe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a knife according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line ll-ll in Figure 1 .

Figure 3 is an edge view of the knife illustrated in Figure 1 .

Figure 4 is a side view of the knife illustrated in Figures 1 and 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a slicing apparatus cutting head utilizing the knife according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a cutting shoe of the cutting head illustrated in Figure 5 before attachment of the knife blade. Figure 7 is a perspective view of the cutting shoe of Figure 6 with the knife blade according to the present invention partially attached thereto.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the knife according to the present invention.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the knife according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The knife according to the present invention is illustrated generally at 10 in Figure 1 and comprises a knife blade 1 2 formed integrally with knife blade holder 14 such that these elements form an integrated, unitary structure. The knife blade

1 2 has a cutting edge 1 2a and opposite ends 1 2b and 1 2c. Knife holder 14 has opposite ends 14a and 14b with handle 1 6 extending from one of the opposite ends, in this particular instance, end 14b. Handle 1 6 may also be integrally formed with the knife blade holder 14 and both may be formed of plastic material. During the formation of the plastic knife blade holder and handle, for instance such as by molding, the knife blade 12 is molded therein such that the knife blade holder, the knife blade and the handle become an integral, unitary structure.

Handle 1 6 has opposite faces 1 6a and 1 6b from which extend raised ribs 1 8. Raised ribs 1 8 facilitate the manual gripping of the handle 1 6 in order to slide the knife onto, and slide the knife off of a cutting shoe, as will be described in more detail hereinafter. Knife blade holder 14 also defines elongated slot 20 which extends between ends 14a and 14b. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, elongated slot 20 may comprise a mortise in the shape of a female dovetail which is configured to receive a tenon, in the shape of a male dovetail, attached to the cutting shoe. Elongated slot 20 is defined by surface 14c and inwardly angled side surfaces 14d and 14e.

The elongated slot 20 extends substantially parallel to the cutting edge 12a of the knife blade 1 2.

Figure 5 illustrates a cutting head utilizing the knife according to the present invention for use with a known food slicing apparatus, such as that described in U.S. Patents 3,139,1 27 and 3,139,1 28. The slicing head comprises a lower mounting ring 22, an upper mounting ring 24, each mounting ring having a generally annular configuration, with a plurality of cutting shoes 26 interposed between the upper and lower mounting rings. Each cutting shoe 26 has a forward edge portion 26a to which is attached the knife 10. As can be seen in Figure 5, the upper mounting ring 24 defines a plurality of elongated holes 28 located adjacent to the forward edges 26a of each cutting shoe 26 through which the handle 1 6 of each of the knives extend. The distal ends of the handles 16 extend above the upper plane of the upper mounting ring 24 so as to enable them to be grasped by an operator to facilitate attachment and removal of the knife blades from the cutting shoes 26 without the necessity of removing the shoes 26 from their attachments to the upper and lower mounting rings 22 and 24. Figure 5 illustrates the relative positions between the handles 1 6 and the upper mounting ring 24 when the knives 10 are in their cutting positions. Figure 6 illustrates an individual cutting shoe 26 which has attaching member 30 mounted on the forward edge portion 26a. Attaching member 30 may comprise a male dovetail member having a cross-sectional configuration to slidably engage elongated slot 20 formed in the knife holder 14. As illustrated in Figure 7, the knife blade holder 14 may be slid downwardly onto the attaching member 30 to place the knife 10 in its cutting position. When the knife blade 12 has become too dull to accurately slice the food product, the knife 10 may be easily replaced by merely grasping the handle 1 6 and pulling the knife upwardly through elongated hole 28. A new knife may be readily installed without the necessity to remove or loosen any bolts or screws and without the necessity of removing the cutting shoe

26 from the mounting ring 22 or the mounting ring 24. Thus, as can be seen, the knife according to the present invention facilitates the attachment to and the removal from a cutting shoe without the necessity of using any tools.

The knives of the present invention may also include a knife blade having a V-shaped cutting edge, or an undulating cutting edge to produce either V-cut or crinkle cut food products. Figure 8 illustrates the knife according to the present invention incorporating a knife blade having a V-shaped cutting edge to produce a V-cut food product. The knife blade 12' has a cutting edge 12a' comprising a series of interconnected V-shapes. As in the previously described embodiment, the knife blade 1 2' is integrally molded with the knife blade holder 14" which defines elongated slot 20' extending between ends 14a' and 14b'. Handle 1 6' extends from one end of the knife blade holder 14' and has raised ribs 18' extending therefrom. Knife 10" is illustrated in Figure 9 and differs from the previously described embodiments in that knife blade 1 2" has an undulating configuration defining an undulating cutting edge 1 2a" extending between opposite ends 1 2b" and 12c".

Again, knife blade holder 14" is integrally molded with knife blade 1 2" so as to form an integral, unitary structure. Handle 1 6", having raised ribs 18" extends from one end of the knife blade holder 14". Elongated slot 20" is defined by the knife blade 14" and extends between opposite ends 14a" and 14b".

The foregoing description of the invention is presented for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as in any way limiting this invention, the scope of which is defined solely by the appended claims.

Claims

Claims:

1 . A knife for slicing a food product characterized by: a) a knife blade having a cutting edge and opposite ends; b) a knife blade holder fixedly mounted to the knife blade, the knife blade holder having opposite ends; and, c) a handle extending from one of the opposite ends of the knife blade holder outwardly beyond one of the opposite ends of the knife blade.

2. The knife of claim 1 further characterized by an elongated slot defined by the knife blade holder.

3. The knife of claim 2 characterized by the elongated slot extending between the opposite ends of the knife blade holder.

4. The knife of claim 2 characterized by the elongated slot extending substantially parallel to the cutting edge of the knife blade.

5. The knife of claim 2 characterized by the elongated slot comprising a mortise configured to receive a tenon therein.

6. The knife of claim 1 characterized by the knife blade holder comprising a plastic material.

7. The knife of claim 6 characterized by the knife blade holder being molded around a portion of the knife blade such that the holder and blade form an integral unit.

8. The knife of claim 1 further characterized by having at least one raised rib extending from the handle.

9. The knife of claim 8 wherein the handle defines opposite faces and characterized by at least one raised rib extending from each of the opposite faces.

10. A knife assembly for slicing a food product characterized by: a) a cutting shoe configured to be attached to a slicing machine, the cutting shoe having a forward edge portion; b) a knife comprising: i) a knife blade having a cutting edge and opposite ends; ii) a knife blade holder fixedly mounted to the knife blade, the knife blade holder having opposite ends; and, iii) a handle extending from one of the opposite ends of the knife blade holder outwardly beyond one of the opposite ends of the knife blade; and, c) attaching means for removably attaching the knife to the forward edge portion of the cutting shoe.

1 1 . The knife assembly of claim 10 wherein the attaching means is characterized by: a) an elongated slot defined by the knife blade holder; and. b) an attaching member located on the cutting shoe and configured to engage the elongated slot so as to removably attach the knife blade holder to the cutting shoe.

12. The knife assembly of claim 1 1 characterized by the elongated slot comprising a female dovetail and the attaching member comprising a male dovetail member configured to slidably engage the female dovetail.

13. The knife assembly of claim 1 1 characterized by the elongated slot extending between the opposite ends of the knife blade holder.

14. The knife assembly of claim 1 1 characterized by the elongated slot extending substantially parallel to the cutting edge of the knife blade.

1 5. The knife assembly of claim 10 characterized by the cutting shoe having an upper edge and the handle extending away from the knife blade holder beyond the upper edge of the cutting shoe when the knife is in a cutting position.

16. The knife assembly of claim 1 5 characterized by the knife blade holder being molded around a portion of the knife blade such that the holder and blade form an integral unit.

17. The knife assembly of claim 10 further characterized by at least one raised rib extending from the handle.

1 8. The knife assembly of claim 1 8 wherein the handle defines opposite faces and characterized by at least one raised rib extending from each of the opposite faces.