Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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A VEGETABLE CUTTI~G DEVICE
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVEMTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for
cutting or slicing vegetables such as carrots, radishes,
cabbages, and the like, the device being operated
manually.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional cutting device normally com-
prises a cup-shaped housing, a cutter disk provided at
an opening portion of the housing and rotatable about
the axis of the housing, a cover mounted on the opening
portion, and a manually operated handle connected to the
cutter disk and supported by the cover. A vegetable to
be cut is supplied to an upper face of the cutter disk,
lS and is cut in such a manner that the cut pieces remain
in the housing. The cover, the cutter disk, and the
housing can be disassembled, to enable the cut pieces
of vesetable to be removed and for washing the housing
and the cutter disk.
Thus/ the cutting device must be able to be
easily assembled for cutting a vegetable, and easily
disassembled for removing the cut pieces of vegetable
from the housing, and for washing the housing and other
parts of the device.
SUl~MARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a
vegetable cutting device that is easily assembled and
disassembled.
According to the present invention, there is
provided a vegetable cutting device comprising a cup-
shaped lower housing, an inverted cup-shaped upper
housing, a connecting means, a cutter disk, a drive
means, and a fixing apparatus.
The lower housing has an upper peripheral portion,
while the upper housing has a lower pheripheral portion
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which is engagable with the upper peripheral portion of
the lower housing. The upper housing has an inlet for
inserting a vegetable to be cut.
The connecting means detachably interconnects the
lower peripheral portion of the upper housing and the
upper peripheral portion of the lower housing.
The cutter disk is detachably arranged in the
lower housing and rotatable about the axis of the lower
housing. The upper face of the cutter disk faces the
inlet for inserting the vegetable, and the lower face
of the cutter disk defines a storage chamber in an
interior of the lower housing beneath the cutter disk.
The cutter disk has a bore extending along the axis of
the lower housing, and has at least one cutter blade.
The drive means has a manually operated drive shaft
which is rotatably supported by the upper housing. The
shaft has a lower engaging portion which is non-rotatably
and detachably fitted into the bore of the cutter disk.
The fixing apparatus is attached to a bottom face
of the lower housing, and fixes the lower housing onto a
base plate.
The present invention may be more fully understood
from the description of preferred embodiments of the
invention set forth below, together with the accompanying
drawings~
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings;
Fig. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the
present invention;
Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view of Fig. l;
Fig. 4 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the
present invention in a partially disassembled state;
Fig. 5 is a plan view of a cutter disk;
Fig. ~ is a sectional view along line VI-VI of
Fig. 5;
Fig~ 7 is a plan view of a pushdown member;
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Fig. 8 is a side view oE Fig. 7;
Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing the fixing
apparatus in a non-operative state;
~ ig. 10 is a sectional view showing the fixing
apparatus in an operative state wherein it fixes the
lower housing onto a base plate;
Fig. 11 is a side view showing the upper housing
separated from the lower housing;
Fig. 12 is a front view of a connecting apparatus;
Fig. 13 is a front view of an L-shaped slot;
Fig. 14 is a sectional view showing the connecting
apparatus interconnecting the upper housing and the
lower housing;
Fig. 15 is a sectional view showing a pawl of
the connecting apparatus dislodged from the L-shaped
slot; and
Fig. 16 is a perspective view of the connecting
apparatus when disassembled.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
~igures 1 to 16 show a cutting device according to
an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to
Figs. 1 and 2, a cutting device is generally indicated
by reference numeral 1. A cup-shaped lower housing 2
for storing cut pieces of vegetable is mounted on a
fixing apparatus 3 which fixes the lower housing 2 onto
a base plate by a sucker member 4 manually operated by
a lever 5. An inverted cup-shape upper housing 6 is
placed on the lower housing 2 and covers an opening
thereof. The upper housing 6 is detachably intercon-
nected to the lower housing 2 by a pair of connectingapparatuses 7. A cutter disk 8 fitted with cutter
blades 9 is arranged in the lower housing 2. The cutter
disk 8 is rotatable about the central axis of the lower
housing, and is rotated by a handle 10 attached outside
of the upper housing 6. An inlet 11 is formed in the
upper housing 6 for supplying the vegetable to be cut
to the cutter disk 8.
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Fig. 3 shows a sectional vle~ of -the cut-ting
device 1, and Fig. 4 shows the same in a disassembled
state. The lower housing 2 has an upper peripheral
portion 20 which defines the opening, and has a tubular
guide 21 which surrounds the axis of the housinq. A
lower peripheral portion 22 of the upper housing 6
is engagable with the inside of the upper peripheral
portion 20, and the lower peripheral portion 22 is fixed
to the upper peripheral portion 20 by the connecting
aPparatus 7.
The cutter disk 8 is detachably arranged at the
opening of the lower housing 2, and a lower face thereof
defines a storage chamber 23 in an interior of the lower
housing 2. The cutter disk 8 is rotably supported by a
pin 24 mounted on a projection 25 formed on an upper
plate of a casing 26 of the fixing apparatus 3. That
is, the cutter disk 8 has a downward extending spindle 27
in which a bore 28 and a hole 29 are formed, while the
projection 25 extends toward the hole 29 and the pin 24
rotatably engages with the hole 29. Thus, the pin 25
extends along the axis of the lower housing 2, and is
inserted into the hole 29, which has a diameter smaller
than that of the bore 28. The cutter disk 8 is detacha-
ble from the pin 24. A washer 30 is inserted between
the spindle 27 and the projection 25, to reduce friction
therebetween. The tubular guide 21 surrounds the
spindle 27 and the projection 25.
The cutter disk 8 is driven by the handle 10 to
rotate about the axis of the lower housing 2. For this
purpose, a first drive shaft 31 is rotatably supported
by a box 32 formed in the upper housing S. The drive
shaft 31 has a lower engaging portion 33 which is
non-rotatably and detachably fitted into the bore 28
of the cutter disk 8. That is, the lower engaging
portion 33 has a polygonal cross-section (e.g., a square
cross~section), and the bore 28 has the correspondent
cross-sectlon (see Fig. 5). Therefore, when the drive
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shaft 31 is rotated by the handle 10, at least one flat
surface of the lower engaging portion 33 engages with a
flat surface of the bore 28, so that the shaft 31 rotates
the cutter disk 8. Note, the lower engaging portion 33
has a tapered end portion 34 which converges downward so
that the lower engaying portion 33 is easily inserted
into the bore 28.
The handle 10 is rotatably attached to a side wall
of the upper housing 6. A second drive shaft 35 con-
nected to the handle 10 is provided with a second bevelgear 36 which is housed in the box 3~ and engages with a
first bevel gear 37 fixed onto the first drive shaft 31.
Thus, a drive means is constructed from the first and
second drive shafts 31, 35, the first and second bevel
gears 37, 36, and the handle 10.
A pair of slots 40 are formed in the cutter disk 8,
these slots extend in a substantially radial direction,
as shown in Fig. 5. Each cutter blade 9 is arranged in
the slots 40, respectively, and is fixed to a lower face
of the disk 8 by a retainer plate 41 and a screw 42,
as shown in Fig. 6. A cutting edge 49 of the cutter
blade 9 projects from the upper surface of the cutter
disk 8 in such a manner that the edge 49 will cut or
slice a vegetable. The retainer plate 41 is supported
25 by a rim 43 formed on the lower face of the disk 8. The
cutter disk 8 has annular ribs 44, 45 which protrude
from the lower face thereof. These ribs 4d, 45 are
concentric with and provide rigidity to the disk 8.
The upper housing 6 has a downward extending tubular
30 wall 46 terminating in the vicinity of an upper face of
the disk 8. The tubular wall 46 defines the inlet 11,
which the upper face of the disk 8 faces. The inlet 11
is formed at a half part of the upper housing 6, but is
not formed at the box. Thus, the inlet 11 is opened
along the rotational direction of the disk 8.
A pushdown member 47 may be provided for pressing a
vegetable inserted in the inlet 11 onto the upper face
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of the cutter disk 8. The pushdown member 47 is formed
into a shape that conforms to the shape of the inlet 11,
and has a head portion 48 for manual handling, as shown
in Figs. 7 and 8.
The fixing apparatus 3 comprises the casing 26, the
sucker member 4, and the manual lever 5, as previously
mentioned, and is attached to a bottom face of the lower
housing 2 by inserting claws 60 formed on a bottom
surface of the lower housing 2 into holes (not shown)
opened in the casing 26.
The sucker member 4 is made of an elastic material
such as a rubber, and is formed into an inverted disk-
shape. The sucker member 4 has a concave central
portion 50 and a ring-shaped peripheral flat portion 51,
a lower surface of which will make a sealed contact with
a base plate. An upper surface of the flat portion 51
is supported by the casing 26 so that the lower surface
of the flat portion 51 makes a sealed contact with the
base plate. The sucker member 4 is formed with an
upward extending first annular rib 52 in contact with
the casing 26, and an upward extending second annular
rib 53 radially and outwardly spaced from the first
annular rib 52.
The casing 26 has a downwarcl extending enclosure 54
at a peripheral portion, and a downward extending annular
wall 55 inside of the enclosure 54. A lower end portion
of the annular wall 55 is in contact with the upper face
of the flat portion 51 of the sucker member 4, and an
outer surface of the annular wall 55 is engaged with the
inside of the first annular rib 52.
The manual lever 5 penetrates the annular wall 55,
and a knob 56 of the lever 5 projects from the enclosure,
whereby the lever 5 is rotably supported by the casing
26. The manual lever 5 has a crank portion 57 connected
to a joint member 58 fixed to the c~ntral portion of the
sucker member 4. As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the joint
member 58 has a disk plate 61 fixed to the central
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portion of the sucker memb-er 4 and a projection 62
extending upward on the disk plate 61, and a hole 63 is
formed in the projection 62. The crank portion 57 of
the lever 5 is inserted in the hole 63 of the joint
member 58. The lever 5 actuates the central portion
up and down as follows.
Fig. 9 shows a state in which the central portion
of the sucker member 4 is lowered, that is, the fixing
apparatus 3 is not operative. In this state, the crank
portion 57 is located in a lower position so that the
joint member 58, i.e., the central portion of the sucker
member 4 is lowered. Consequently, a space 64, defined
by the sucker member ~ and the base plate, has a rela-
tively small volume. To the contrary, if the lever 5 is
rotated about 180, the crank portion 57 is moved upward
so that the central portion of the sucker member 4 is
raised, as shown in Fig. 10. Accordingly, the volume
of the space 64 is enlarged so that a vacuum is formed
in the space 64, and the flat portion 51 of the sucker
20 member 4 makes a sealed contact with the base plate,
whereby the fixing apparatus 3 sticks to the base plate.
In this operation, since the first annular rib 52
engages with the outer surface of the wall 55, the flat
portion 51 does not move inwards, and, since the flat
portion 51 has a relatively wide breadth and is formed
with the second annular rib 53, the rigidity of the
flat portion 51 is increased and the flat portion 51 is
placed in firm contact with the base plate, and will not
separate from the base plate. The fixing apparatus 3 is
released from the base plate by rotating the lever 5 to
a position shown in Fig. 9.
As mentioned above, the cutting device comprises
the upper housing 6, the cutter disk 8, the lower
housing 2, and the fixing apparatus 3, and these com-
35 ponents can be disassembled as shown in Fig. 4. Theupper housing 6 is removed from the lower housing 2
and the cutter disk 8 by releasing the connecting
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apparatuses 7 (see Fig. 1, described in detail herein-
after) and drawing the engaaing portion 33 from the
bore 28 of the cutter disk 8. The cutter disk 8 is
removed by lifting it off of the pin 24. The lower
housing 2 is detached from the fixing apparatus 3 by
drawing the claws 60 from the holes formed in the
casing 26. In this disassembling operation, the fixing
apparatus 3 may remain in sealed contact with the base
plate.
Since the cutter disk 8 can be detached from the
lower housing 2, and the lower housing 2 can be removed
from the fixing apparatus 3, any cut pieces of vegetable
stored in the lower housing 2 are easily removed, and it
is easy to wash the lower housing 2 after use.
The cutting device can be quickly re-assembled by
mounting the lower housing 2 on the fixing apparatus 3,
arranging the cutter disk 8 in the lower housing 2, and
engaging the upper housing with the lower housing 2.
The cutter disk 8 is easily changed for another
kind of cutter disk according to the purpose for which
the device will be used. The spindle 27 is rotatably
supported by the projection 25 and the pin 24, and the
bore 28 is engaged with the lower engaging portion 33
of the drive shaft 31. That is, the cutter disk 8 is
~5 supported at two points, ensuring a stable rotation of
the cutter disk 8 when cutting a vegetable.
Note, the lower housing 2, the upper housing 6,
the disk 8, the casing 26, the pin 24, the bevel gears
36, 37, the lower engaging portion 33 of the shaft, the
handle 10, and the pushdown member 47 are all made of
plastic.
Figure 11 to 16 show the construction and operation
of the connecting apparatus 7. Referring to Fig. 11,
after mounting the lower housing 2 on the fixing appa-
ratus 3, and arranging the cutter disk (not shown) inthe lower housing 2, the lower peripheral portion 70 of
the upper housing 6 is fitted into the upper peripheral
portion 71 of the lower housing 2. Flrst the projection
72 formed on the lower peripheral portion 70 engage
with L-shaped slots 73 formed on the upper peripheral
portion 71, by moving the upper housing 6 downward along
the axis thereofO The L-shaped slot 73 has a substan-
tially vertical portion 74 and a substantially horizontal
portion 75, and the projection 72 enters the vertical
portion first. The upper housing 6 is then slightly
rotated about the axis thereof, in relation to the lower
housing 2, so that the connecting apparatuses 7 lock
both the housings 2 and 6, as described later.
A pair of connecting apparatuses 7 are mounted on
the upper housing 6 at opposite sides (see Fig. 2),
respectively, and prevent the projections 72 from being
dislodged from the L-shaped slots 73. The connecting
apparatus 7 has a pawl 80 engagable with the vertical
portion 74 of the L-shaped slot 73. The pawl 80 is
located in the upper housing 6, and pro~ects therefrom
through an opening 81 formed in the lower peripheral
portion 70, so that the pawl 80 engages with the vertical
portion 74 of the L-shaped slot 73, as shown in Figs. 12
and 13.
The connecting apparatus 7 comprises an inner
member 82 arranged on an inner wall of the upper
housing 6, an outer member, i.e., a manual lever 83
arranged on an outer wall of the upper housing 6, and
a plate-shaped spring 84 inserted between the upper
housing 6 and the manual lever 83, as shown in Figs. 14
and 15. While the upper housing 6 is formed with a
first hole 85 and a second hole 86 vertically aligned
with and spaced downward from the first hole 85, the
manual lever 83 has a first connecting rod member 87
and a second connecting rod member 88 extending through
the first hole 85 and the second hole 86, respectively.
The first connecting rod member 87 engages with an
opening 89 formed in the inner member 82, and the second
connecting rod member 88 is fixed to a surface of the
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inner member 82 by a screw 90, whereby the manual
lever 83 and the inner member 82 are interconnected to
each other. The inner member 82 and manual lever 83 are
pivotally supported on the upper housing 6 with respect
to the first connecting rod member 87, and are biased
outwardly by the plate spring 84.
The pawl 80 is formed on the inner member 82 as
shown in Fig. 16, and is located beneath the second
connecting rod member 88. The pawl 80 has an inclined
surface 91 directed downward, so that the pawl 80 can
slide on an inner surface of the lower housing 2 when
the upper housing 6 is fitted in the lower housing 2.
The plate spring 84 is bent into an arc-like shape
in a free state, as shown in Fig. 16. The plate spring
84 has, at opposed ends thereof, a first cutaway
portion 92 and a second cutaway portion 93, which are
engagable with the first connecting rod member 87 and
the second connecting rod member 88, respectively. The
spring 84 is mounted between the manual lever 83 and the
upper housing 6 so that a convex surface of the spring 84
is in contact with the manual lever 83.
To assemble the connecting apparatus 7, first the
plate spring 84 is attached to the manual lever 83, and
then the lever 83 with the spring 84 attached is mounted
on the upper housing 6; the first and second rod members
87, 88 being inserted in the firs-t and second holes
85, 86, respectively. Next~ the opening 89 is engaged
with the rod member 87, and an inner periphery of the
opening 89 is fitted in a notch 94 of the rod me~ber 87,
then the inner member 82 is fixed to the second rod
member 88 by the screw 90.
In a non-operative state, the connecting apparatus 7
is biased outward so that a lower end of the manual
lever 83 is situated away from the lower peripheral
portion of the upper housing 6, and the pawl 80 is
projected through the opening 81. The manual lever 83
is longer than the inner member 82, so the pawl 80 is
hidden by the lower end of the lever 83 (see Fig. 12).
When the upper housing 6 ls engaged with the lower
housing 2, first, the projection 72 is fitted to the
vertical portion 74 of the L-shaped slot 73, then the
upper housing 6 is rotated until the pawl 80 engages
with the horizontal portion 74 of the L-shaped slot 73
and the projection 72 enters the hori20ntal portion 75
of the slot 73. In this state, the pawl 72 prevents
the upper housing 6 from rotating relative to the lower
housing 2, so that the projection 72 remains engaged
with the L-shaped slot 73 to prevent the upper housing 6
from being removed from the lower housing 2.
On the other hand, when the upper housing 6 is
disengaged from the lower housing 2, the manual lever 83
is manually pushed toward the upper housing 6, against
the spring 84, as shown in Fig. 15. As a result, the
pawl 80 is released from the L-shaped slot 73, as shown
in Fig. 15, and the upper housing 6 is rotated so that
the projection 72 engages with the vertical portion 74
of the L-shaped slot 73. The upper housing 6 is then
moved upward while the projection 72 is guided by the
vertical portion 74, and the housing 6 is detached from
the lower housing 2. Note, a depression 95 may be
forme~ at a lower portion of the manual lever 83 to
facilitate manual pushing.
While embodiments of the present invention have
been described herein with reference to the attached
drawings, many modifications and changes may be made by
those skilled in this art without departing from the
scope of the invention.
