Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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FOOD MASHER
The present invention relates to a food masher or
pulpifier.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
More particularly, although not exclusively, the
invention relates to a handheld device which can be used
to mash vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkins, sweet
potatoes and butternuts.
it is known to provide handheld vegetable mashers
comprising a cup-shaped receptacle having a perforated
floor and a lever-activated plunger for pushing the soft
vegetables against the floor to force extrusion of pulped
vegetable material through the perforations.
Such devices are limited to having perforations of a
fixed size which may not be suitable for a wide range of
vegetables, and are difficult to clean thoroughly.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome or
substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages and/or
more generally to provide an improved food masher.
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SUM14ARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, there is provided a food
masher comprising:
a support frame having an opening;
a hopper having a perforated floor, received
detachably by the support frame within the opening;
a handle extending from the support frame;
a lever extending pivotally from the support frame;
and
a plunger attached to the lever and extending into
the hopper.
Preferably, the support frame comprises a slot at the
opening and the hopper has an external tab received by the
slot.
More preferably, the slot is L-shaped so as to cooperate
with the tab in bayonet fashion as the hopper is inserted
into the support frame.
It is preferred that the food masher further comprises a
locking mechanism upon the support frame which prevents
rotation of the hopper within the opening.
Preferably, the locking mechanism comprises a sliding
latch and a spring biasing the latch into the opening for
engagement with the hopper, and an activation button
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extending from the latch through an opening of the handle.
In a specific construction, the hopper comprises a wall to
which the floor is threadedly attached.
Preferably, the wall comprises external thread, and
further comprising a retaining ring having internal thread
engaging the external thread.
More preferably, the retaining ring comprises an internal
flange that bears upon the perforated floor to retain the
perforated floor against the wall.
It is preferred that the plunger is attached pivotally to
the lever.
in a specific construction that the food masher further
comprises a leg extending from the support frame
diametrically opposite the handle, so that both the leg
and handle can be placed upon an opening of the cooking
hopper to support the masher thereon.
Preferably, the leg comprises a lip and a spring-loaded
tongue bearing toward the lip so that the tongue and lip
clamp to the cooking hopper alongside its opening.
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According to an aspect of the present invention, there is
provided a food masher comprising:
a support frame having an opening;
a hopper having a perforated floor, the hopper being
detachably mountable within the opening in the support
frame;
a handle extending from the support frame;
a lever extending from the support frame and pivoting
with respect to the support frame;
a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the
hopper; and
a locking mechanism mounted within the support frame
for preventing rotation of the hopper when the hopper is
received within the opening of the support frame, the
locking mechanism including
a sliding latch,
a spring biasing the latch toward the opening for
engagement with the hopper, and
an activation button extending from the latch and
through an opening in the handle for releasing the latch.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there
is provided a food masher comprising:
a support frame having an opening and including within
the support frame an U-shaped slot;
a hopper having a perforated floor, the hopper being
detachably mountable within the opening in the support
frame, and having an external projecting tab received in
and cooperating with the slot for bayonet connection of the
hopper to the support frame;
a handle extending from the support frame;
a lever extending from the support frame and pivoting
with respect to the support frame;
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a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the
hopper; and
a locking mechanism for preventing rotation of the
hopper within the opening when the hopper is received
within the opening and mounted to the support frame, the
locking mechanism including
a latch sliding within the handle,
a spring biasing the latch toward the opening, wherein
the latch includes a projection for engaging the external
projecting tab to prevent rotation of the hopper when the
hopper is mounted to the support frame, and
a button extending from the latch and through an
opening in the handle, for sliding the latch away from the
opening, against the bias of the spring, for releasing the
latch and permitting rotation of the hopper within the
opening.
According to a further aspect of the present invention,
there is provided a food masher comprising:
a support frame having an opening;
a hopper having a perforated floor, the hopper being
detachably mountable within the opening in the support
frame;
a handle extending from a first side of the support
frame;
a leg extending from a second side of the support
frame, diametrically opposite the first side of the support
frame, so that the food masher can be placed upon a wall of
a vessel to support the food masher;
a lever extending from the leg and pivoting with
respect to the leg;
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a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the
hopper;
a lip at a distal end of the leg, transverse to the
leg;
a tongue slidably mounted within the leg between the
lip and the support frame and including a first portion
generally transverse to the leg and a second portion
generally parallel to the leg; and
a spring is positioned within the leg for biasing the
tongue toward the lip so that the first portion of the
tongue and lip can clamp the wall of the vessel supporting
the food masher.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
{
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The invention will now be more particularly described, by
way of example only, with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a handheld food masher
in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 is a parts-exploded perspective view of the food
masher of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a parts-exploded perspective view of a hopper
of the masher of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the
hopper of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a
support frame and a hopper wall of the masher of Figure
1, in an unlocked configuration;
Figure 6 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the
support frame and the hopper wall of Figure 5, in a
looked configuration;
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the masher of Figure 1
in an open configuration;
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Figure 8 is a cross-sectional, parts-exploded perspective
view of the support frame and the hopper of the masher of
Figure 7, showing its locking mechanism;
Figure 9 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the
support frame and the hopper of Figure 8, showing its
locking mechanism;
Figure 10 is a perspective view of the support frame and
the hopper wall detached of Figure 5, showing bayonet
connection features;
Figure 11 is a perspective view similar to Figure 10,
showing the hopper wall attached to the support frame of
Figure 5; and
Figure 12 is a perspective view similar to Figure 11,
showing a subsequent step in the sequence of bayonet into
connection between the support frame and the hopper wall
of Figure S.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to the drawings, there is shown a vegetable
masher 10 which would typically comprise metal and/or
moulded plastics parts. The masher 10 includes a support
frame 11 having a handle 12 extending therefrom. Attached
pivotally to the support frame 11 is a lever 13 to which
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a plunger 14 is pivotally attached.
The support frame 11 comprises a circular opening 9 into
which a hopper 26 is received. The hopper 26 has a
cylindrical hopper wall 56, from which a pair of
diametrically opposed tabs 16 extend. The opposed tabs 16
are received by L-shaped slots 15 inside the opening 9 at
the frame 11.
The hopper 26 has external thread 36 at the bottom of its
wall 56 to which there is engaged a retaining ring 17
having internal thread 38 and an annular flange 18 that
retains a perforated floor 19 against the bottom of the
wall 56.
Opposite the handle 12,, there is provided a support leg
29, which together with the handle 12 serves to support
the masher 10 upon an upper rim of a cooking hopper or
bowl for example. The leg 29 comprises a lip 20 at its
distal end. Within the leg 29, there is provided a tongue
21 that is forced toward the lip 20 by a spring 25. The
tongue 21 and lip 20 act as the clamp by which the leg 29
can be attached securely to the upper rim of the cooking
hopper or bowl.
As can be seen from the figures, the L-shaped nature of
the slots 15 allows for bayonet-type inter-engagement of
the hopper 26 with the support frame 11.
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A locking mechanism 46 is employed to prevent the hopper
26 from being inadvertently rotated and thereby removed
from the support frame 11. The locking mechanism 46
comprises a sliding latch 22 that is mounted within the
handle 12 to slide diametrically. The latch 22 is spring-
biased by a coil spring 24 toward the hopper 26. The
latch 22 is retained in position by a retaining plate 28
that is screw-fixed to the handle 12. A pushbutton 23
extends upwardly from the latch 22 through an aperture
27. The aperture 27 is sized to enable sliding movement
of the pushbutton 23 -together with the latch 22 in a
direction away from the hopper 26 for unlocking purposes.
in the locked position, the latch 22 prevents movement of
the tab 16 as shown in Figure 6.
In use, the perforated floor 19 is attached to the bottom
of the hopper 26 using the retaining ring 17 and soft
vegetable (or other food) material is inserted into the
hopper 26. The hopper 26 is then bayonet-fixed within the
support frame 11 so that the plunger 14 can be inserted
into the hopper 26 and depressed upon activation of lever
13 toward handle 12. During bayonet-fixing, the latch 22
clicks past the tab 16. The masher 10 can be clamped upon
the cooking hopper or bowl by simply pressing the tongue
21 against its upper rim so that the lip 20 clicks over
the upper rim after which the spring 25 presses the
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tongue 21 toward the lip 20 to clamp the masher 10 in
place.
After use, the pushbutton 23 is pulled back by thumb-
force away from the hopper 26 so that the latch 22 clears
the path for tab 16 to enable rotation of the hopper 26
for lifting out of the support frame 11.
It should be appreciated that modifications and
alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not
to be considered as beyond the scope of the present
invention. For example, rather than the L-shaped bayonet
slots 15, the hopper 26 might simply slot downwardly into
vertical slots 15 in the locking mechanism 46 might
comprise a latch 22 that extends into a recess upon the
outer surface of being hopper 26.
