Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02528297 2005-11-28
BUTTER SLICER AND SPREADER
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to culinary utensils and more particularly to a hand
implement for
slicing and spreading butter or other food spreads such as margarine, soft
cheese, or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Devices for addressing the problem of how to spread cold and/or cubed butter
onto a
surface such as fresh or toasted bread, or the like, without tearing the
surface, are known in the
art. For instance, Japanese Patent Application JP2004121773A2 to Yasuhiro, H.
(hereinafter
"Yasuhiro") provides a butter knife comprising a spatula part with an upturned
end and a cutting
part for thinly shaving a ribbon of butter and spreading the shaved butter
onto bread or the like.
Yasuhiro shows the cutting part located in an opening at an opposing end of
the spatula
part relative to the point of attachment of the handle. The cutting part and
opening are parallel to
each other and are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the butter knife.
Adjacent to the
cutting part and opening, distal to the handle, is a blade bed part that is
inclined from the flat
surface of the spatula part and which has an inwardly curved part at its
tapered end. By pushing
the spreader across a block of butter such that the blade bed part is parallel
with the horizontal
plane of the butter, the cutting part thinly slices a ribbon of butter. The
butter collects on the
upper surface of the spatula part, and is then placed onto a slice of bread or
the like. The lower
surface of the spatula part can then be used to spread the butter onto the
bread.
In use, the motion to shave, place, and spread the butter is awkward. It is
desirable to
have a slicer/spreader for butter and other food spreads that allows for
greater ease of use, and
wherein the spreader may be further adapted to facilitate spreading the food
spread. These and
other desirable characteristics will become apparent from a review of the
following disclosure
and description below.
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DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
There is provided a hand implement for slicing and spreading butter or other
food spreads
such as margarine, soft cheese, or the like. The implement comprises a handle
and a
substantially planar spreader part extending longitudinally from the handle.
The spreader part
defines a longitudinal opening and has a longitudinal cutting element
projecting into and
downwardly of the opening. The longitudinal cutting element is adapted to
direct the food
spread to a spreading surface of the spreader part.
In one aspect, the spreader part is made of stainless steel.
In another aspect, the spreader part comprises a supporting framework and a
silicone
coating.
In another aspect, the supporting framework of the spreader part is made of
stainless
steel.
In yet another aspect, there is also provided a method for spreading a food
spread.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be readily understood, preferred embodiments
of the
invention will be described by way of examples, with reference to the
accompanying drawings
wherein:
FIG. 1 is an isometric top view of an implement for slicing and spreading
butter in
accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is an isometric bottom view of the implement of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3A is bottom view of the implement shown in FIG. 1;
FIG 3B is a side view of the implement shown in FIG 3A;
FIG 3C is a top view of the implement shown in FIG 3A;
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FIG. 4 is an isometric cross section of the slicer/spreader part of the
implement taken
along line 4-4 of FIG. 3C;
FIG. 5A shows one embodiment of the implement of the present invention showing
the
slicer/spreader part without any silicone molding;
FIG.5B shows the silicone molding of one embodiment of the present invention
without
the slicer/spreader part and handle; and
FIG. 6A is a top view of the slicer/spreader implement of the present
invention; and
FIG. 6B is a view of the slicer/spreader implement of the present invention in
use slicing
butter in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG 6A.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention relates to a hand implement for slicing and spreading
butter, or
other food spreads. While the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1-6 are
described with reference
to slicing and spreading butter, it will be understood by those skilled in the
art that the invention
may also be used with other food spreads such as margarine, soft cheese, or
the like.
Slicer/spreader 100 comprises a handle 102 and a spreader part 104, wherein
the latter is
substantially planar as shown in FIGS. 1-6. The spreader part 104 extends
longitudinally from
the handle 102 and defines an elongated longitudinal opening 106, wherein the
long sides 112
and 114 of the opening are oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal
axis of the
slicer/spreader 100. Projecting from long side 114 into the longitudinal
opening 106 and toward
an undersurface 111 of the spreader part 104 is a longitudinal cutting element
108. The
longitudinal cutting element 108 has a cutting edge 109 that extends parallel
with the long sides
112 and 114 of the longitudinal opening 106. The longitudinal cutting element
108 is inclined
towards the cutting or slicing direction A, as is shown in FIGS. 3 and 5.
The longitudinal cutting element 108, and handle 102 are manufactured from
rigid
materials, such as metal or plastics. In a preferred embodiment, longitudinal
cutting element
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108, and handle 102 are manufactured from stainless steel, which is
advantageously food
friendly.
In the embodiment illustrated, and as shown clearly in FIGS. 5A-5B, the
spreader part
104 of the slicer/spreader 100 comprises a rigid supporting framework 116 that
is surrounded by
a silicone coating 110. In a preferred embodiment the rigid supporting
framework 116 is argon
welded to the handle 102. However, it will be understood that the two pieces
may be joined
together by other means known in the art or may be manufactured as one piece.
The supporting framework 116 defines holes 117 through which the silicone
extends. In a
preferred embodiment, the supporting framework 116 is manufactured from
stainless steel. The
silicone coating 110 provides greater flexibility to the spreader part 104
than if the spreader part
104 were manufactured solely from a stiffer material such as metal or hard
plastic, thereby
facilitating spreading the sliced butter. Furthermore, the silicone coating I
10 extends beyond the
immediate boundaries of the supporting framework 116 on the side of the
spreader part 104 from
which the longitudinal cutting element 108 projects. As can be clearly seen in
Figure 3B, the side
profile of the silicone coating 110 and the handle 102 is substantially flat.
This embodiment
provides for still greater flexibility in the spreader part 104.
With reference to FIG. 5B, but being equally applicable to the embodiment
shown in
FIGS. 1-4, the cutting edge 109 of the longitudinal cutting element 108 lies
at a distance from the
substantially planar undersurface 111 of the spreader part 104 corresponding
to the desired butter
slice thickness. Provided between the cutting edge 109 and the long side 112
is a slot 113,
shown clearly in FIG 6A, through which the butter slice 118, shown in FIG. 6B,
passes and
glides onto the upper surface of the cutting edge and subsequently the upper
surface 122 of the
spreader part 104.
Thus, when the slicer/spreader 100 is in operation, as illustrated in FIG. 6B,
the handle
102 is utilized to draw the implement across a block of butter, indicated at
numera140, such that
the spreader part 104 is roughly in parallel with the surface of the butter,
in the direction A as
indicated in FIG. 6A. The longitudinal cutting element 108 slices the butter
via its cutting edge
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109, and the butter is thinly sliced and deposited onto the upper surface 122
of the spreader part
104. The spreader part 104 is then used to spread the collected butter slice
118 onto fresh or
toasted bread, or the like, not shown. As the slicing action, of the
slicer/spreader 100 deposits
the sliced butter directly onto the surface 122 to be used for spreading the
butter, this provides
for ease of use of the implement.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-6, in a preferred embodiment of the invention the
butter
slicer/spreader is advantageously knife-shaped. Thus, in this embodiment, the
spreading surface
and spreading action of the butter slicer/spreader are similar to those of a
conventional butter
knife, further providing for ease of use of the hand implement.
The butter slicer/spreader of the present application also easily fits in
cutlery drawers and
other storage spaces, providing for ease of storage of the hand implement.
While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative
embodiments and
examples, the description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense.
Thus, various
modifications of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of
the invention,
will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to this
description. It is therefore
contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or
embodiments.
Further, all of the claims are hereby incorporated by reference into the
description of the
preferred embodiments.
All publications, patents and patent applications referred to herein are
incorporated by
reference in their entirety to the same extent as if each individual
publication, patent or patent
application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by
reference in its
entirety.
