Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02608777 2007-11-19
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TITLE: COMPACT APPARATUS FOR MARINATING AND TENDERIZING MEAT
INVENTORS: ARRA DAVID YEGHIAYAN AND STEVEN R. TAKAYAMA
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Serial
No.
60/682,649, filed on May 19, 2005 the disclosure of which is incorporated in
its entirety
hereinto by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to food processing methods and apparatus, and
more
particularly to an apparatus for tumbling pieces of meat or other food in the
presence of
a marinade in an enclosed, sealed container under a vacuum.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Vacuum marination is an existing principle which allows quicker marination
than soaking
food items in marinade at atmospheric pressure. It is easy to understand that
subjecting meat to a vacuum results in expansion of the fibers of the meat
which assists
in breaking down and opening the fibers to the penetration of the marinate
into the
interior of the meat while concurrently causing tenderization of the meat.
Penetration of
the marinade enhances the flavor of the meat. Tumbling while under vacuum,
also a
known technique for treating food, reduces the amount of marinade required
since all
surfaces are exposed to the marinade without requiring full submersion.
Existing
vacuum-tumbling, marinating appliances tend to be unwieldy to handle and
difficult to
clean and store in the ordinary kitchen environment. The principle object of
the
invention is therefore to provide a compact kitchen appliance for quickly
marinating and
tenderizing meat that is easily stored, quickly assembled for operation, and
easily
cleaned after use.
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BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference
to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the
subsequent,
detailed description, in which:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the various major components of the
apparatus of the invention in an unassembled, non operational position;
FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the invention with the
major
components in the operational position;
FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view of the assembled apparatus of the invention
in
the operational position showing details of the interior of the container with
the lid
removed and a sectional view of combination drive-support unit;
FIGURE 4 is a perspective of the drive-support unit in the closed or ready for
storage position and showing the open space in the bottom of the unit for
storage of the
electrical cord;
FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the container with the lid removed and showing
the interior with turning ribs and tenderizer in place on the interior wall of
the container;
FIGURE 6 is a exploded perspective view of the apparatus of the invention
showing how all of the working components of the apparatus are nested into the
container for easy storage; and
FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of the container with the components nested within
the container.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus of the invention may be best understood by reference to Figs. 1-
7. The
apparatus has three major functional components: the container or drum 10; the
drive
unit 30 comprising a motor drive subunit 31 and a support subunit 34 pivotally
attached
thereto; and a hand pump unit 50.
The container 10 is in the general form of a rotatable drum 20 having a closed
end 6
and an open end 7, selectively closed by a lid 20. The lid 20 has an inner
cylinder 21
with an outer diameter which fits snugly into the open end of the container 10
and a
slightly larger outer facing cylinder 22 which has a diameter larger than the
diameter of
the open end 7 of the container. The lid has a suitable gasket, not shown,
located at
the intersection of the inner and outer cylinders of the lid to insure a air
tight fit when the
lid 20 is in place over the open end 7. The top surface of the lid 20 has a
one-way valve
structure 16 of standard construction which permits air to be drawn from the
container to
thereby generate a vacuum inside the container when the lid is in place, as
will be
explained in more detail hereafter. The one-way valve structure 16 includes a
vacuum
release button 15 for opening the interior of the container to the atmosphere,
to thereby
equalize the pressure, when manually operated by the user of the apparatus.
The
container has a circular rib or protrusion 12 spaced from the open end of the
container
and extending outwardly away from the container. The container is preferably
made of
a durable transparent plastic material
As best seen in Figs. 3 and 5, the interior of the container 10 includes an
inner wall 11
having tumbling paddles 42 that extend from the inner wall toward the interior
of the
container. The paddles 42 need only extend a small distance in the direction
of the
interior of the container generally, as shown in Fig. 3. The closed end 6 of
the container
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has a small diameter opening 47 that is sealed by a bumper-like resilient
material 48.
The inner wall 12 of the container is formed with angled protrusions 44 along
its inner
length to hold in place on the inner wall of the container a meat tenderizer
insert 46.
The separate tenderizer 46 has sharp pyramidal formations that extend toward
the meat
or other food in the container and operate to tenderize the meat during
operation of the
apparatus. By virtue of its being removable from the unit, the tenderizer may
be easily
cleaned after operation of the unit.
As best seen in Figs. 1-4, the apparatus also includes a combination drive-
support unit
30. The unit 30 is designed to provide a stable support and drive for the
container
during operation of the apparatus. The drive-support unit 30 has a drive
subunit 31
which houses an electric motor, not shown, which drives a resilient impeller
wheel 41
about an axis 43, the wheel 41 operating in turn to rotate the container 10 by
frictional
contact with the aforementioned rib 12 on the exterior thereof. The motor is
selected to
be capable of driving a loaded container at the desired speed of rotation that
is
approximately 2-3 rpm. The motor is tumed on and off by standard momentary
recessed contact switches 43 to run for a preselected time of approximately 7
to 10
minutes and tum off. A simple timer control may be incorporated into a printed
circuit
control 45 supported within the housing of the subunit 31. Suitable on-off
indicators are
located on a standard display 35 on the subunit housing 31. Rubber feet 39 are
provided on the drive-support unit to stabilize the apparatus on a kitchen
counter or
other flat surface.
The drive-support unit 30 also includes a support subunit 34 which is
pivotally attached
to the subunit 31 by means of standard pivot pin mating connections 37 on the
housings
of both subunits. The subunits have generally partial cylindrical shaped
surfaces 36
and 38 to provide support to the container during operation, as will be
explained
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hereinafter in detail. An aligned opening 32 running along surfaces 36 and 38
of the
subunits 31 and 34 serves to permit the rib 12 of the container to extend
through these
surfaces into contact with the drive wheel 41 to thereby drive the container
during
operation. Rollers 33 are provided on appropriate places on the surfaces 36
and 38 to
support the rotation of the container and reduce friction during operation.
The housing
of the unit 30 is shaped as shown in the drawings and may be made from any of
a
variety of suitable durable plastic materials.
The unit 30 is designed to be in a first position or closed position when the
subunits 31
and 34 are folded inwardly toward each other, as shown in Fig. 4, typically
during the
storage or non-use periods of the apparatus. The unit is in a second or opened
position, as seen in Fig. 1, typically during operation of the apparatus when
the subunits
31 and 34 are folded away from or spread apart from each other. It should be
noted
that the housing for the subunit 34 includes a storage space 53 for storing
the electrical
cord for the apparatus when the unit is not being operated and when it is
stored in the
container as seen in Figs. 6 and 7.
A manually operated pump is provided to Greate a minimum of about 25 of Hg
vacuum
in an empty container with approximately 12 to 15 pumps. The pump 50 is an off-
the-
shelf, commercially available component supplied under the name VacuVinTM. As
an
alternative, a motor driven pump may be provided instead. The pump is used by
bringing the end thereof farthest from the grip 51 into contact with the valve
seat
assembly 14 at the top wall of the container lid to make a sealing contact
with it. Then
the pump is operated by operating the grip 51 in an an up and down fashion to
produce
the required vacuum in the container.
In operation, assuming the apparatus has been stored as shown and described
with
respect to Fig. 6, the lid and other parts are first removed from the
container. The drive-
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support unit 30 is then opened by pivoting the support subunit 34 away from
the drive
unit 31 after removing and unwinding the electrical cord from its storage area
in the
container. The unit is plugged into a suitable electrical outlet and placed on
a kitchen
table or counter or other suitable stable flat surface. The food and/or meat
is inserted
into the opening 7 in the container 10 along with the marinade. The opening 7
is closed
by tightly registering the lid in the opening with the gasket on the lid
properly seated to
the top of the container. The hand pump is then inserted into its place at the
valve seat
16 at the top of the container and operated to create a suitable vacuum in the
container.
The container is then placed on the opened drive-support unit 30 as shown in
Fig. 2 and
3 with the rib 12 properly inserted against the motor drive wheel 41. The
motor control
switch is turned on to start the motor for its fixed time run. After
completion of the timed
food treatment, the container is removed from the drive 30 and the food
contents in the
container are removed for subsequent cooking.
An important feature of the apparatus of the invention is that all of the
components may
be stored inside the container 10 when not in use, the parts being shaped and
sized to
accomplish this function, as can be seen in the exploded perspective view of
Fig. 6
wherein the component parts are shown slightly displaced from the open end of
the
container. After insertion into the container 10, a top plan view of the parts
can be seen
in Fig. 7. It is noted that the parts fit into the container because they habe
been shaped
with that objective in mind.
While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed in
detail, it
is to be understood that various modifications may be adopted without
departing from
the spirit of the invention or scope of the following claims.
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