U.S. patent application number 12/658631 was filed with the patent office on 2010-09-30 for zester having scraper assembly.
Invention is credited to Louis Chalfant, Richard S. Smith.
Application Number | 20100242745 12/658631 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42111028 |
Filed Date | 2010-09-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100242745 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Smith; Richard S. ; et
al. |
September 30, 2010 |
Zester having scraper assembly
Abstract
A zester having an elongated body with a handle portion at one
end and a cutting portion form by a plurality of raised cutting
elements at the other end portion. A lower member is moveably
mounted on said body beneath said plurality of cutting elements to
form a collection chamber. A flexible squeegee is affixed to said
lower member to scrape zest material from beneath the cutting
elements as the lower member is extended outward from the housing
after use of the zester.
Inventors: |
Smith; Richard S.; (Hot
Springs, AR) ; Chalfant; Louis; (Hot Springs,
AR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
EDWARD D. GILHOOLY
28 E. JACKSON BLVD., SUITE 423
CHICAGO
IL
60604
US
|
Family ID: |
42111028 |
Appl. No.: |
12/658631 |
Filed: |
February 9, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61202245 |
Feb 9, 2009 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
99/567 ;
30/169 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47J 43/25 20130101;
A47J 17/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
99/567 ;
30/169 |
International
Class: |
A47J 17/02 20060101
A47J017/02; B26B 3/00 20060101 B26B003/00 |
Claims
1. A food cutting tool comprising a body having an upper plate, at
least a portion of said upper surface including a plurality of
raised cutting elements, a lower member being mounted on said body
for manual sliding movement beneath said plurality of raised
cutting elements and forming a chamber for received cut food items,
and a scraper affixed to said lower member and having a surface
contacting the bottom of said upper plate to scrape cut items from
said bottom for collection.
2. The food cutting tool of claim 1 wherein said plurality of
raised cutting elements extend on said upper plate from adjacent an
end of said body to an intermediate portion of said body.
3. The food cutting tool of claim 2 wherein said scraper is
moveable from said intermediate portion of said body to adjacent
said one end of said body during movement of said lower member.
4. The food cutting tool of claim 3 wherein said lower member has a
generally U-shaped cross section.
5. The food cutting tool of claim 4 wherein scraper is formed from
a flexible material.
6. The food cutting tool of claim 5 wherein said scraper is a
squeegee.
7. The food cutting tool of claim 4 wherein said body forms a
handle adjacent said plurality of raised cutting elements.
8. The food cutting tool of claim 7 wherein said tool is
zester.
9. The food cutting tool of claim 1 wherein said scraper has a
v-shaped cross section forming an apex to contact said lower
surface.
10. The food cutting tool of claim 1 wherein said plurality of
cutting elements are arranged in lateral rows on said body.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This application claims priority to provisional application
Ser. No. 61/202,245 filed Feb. 9, 2009.
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates to food preparation tools, and more
particularly, to an implement for removing zest from citrus rinds
and having a scraper for removing zest.
[0004] 2. Summary of the Prior Art
[0005] The rinds of citrus fruits add flavors to many food recipes.
Zest is the colored part of the rind of a lemon, lime, orange, and
the like which produces flavorful oils, without the bitter white
pith of the fruit. Knives and graters have been used to obtain zest
from fruit, but their use often produces an unattractive zest
product including the presence of bitter pith. Implements known as
zesters are the preferred tool for producing zest. Zesters are
capable of making thin, attractive strips of zest without the
presence of pith. One major drawback inherent in known zesters is
the absence of an effective zest removal technique to extract and
collect the zest produced by the zester. Generally, prior art
zesters require manual removal by the user or use of a separate
implement to extract the zest produced. Such a removal technique
for zesters is inconvenient, relatively ineffective, and messy. For
these reasons, it is desirable in the prior art to provide an
improved zester having a convenient to use and effective zest
removal capability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is therefore an objective of the invention to provide an
improved zester having a zest removal system. The invention herein
includes a top plate having a cutting surface formed by multiple
raised cutting elements over respective openings to extract strips
of the rind without pith to form zest as the food item is moved
along the cutting surface. The invention includes a convenient
manual manipulation of the implement as needed during the
extraction of zest from the fruit. A lower slidable chamber
includes a squeegee for contacting the underside of the holes of
the top cutting surface for effective removal and collection of the
zest product from the zester. The slidable chamber is simply
extended outward from the zester to scrape the product by contact
with squeegee.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of the zester of the
invention;
[0008] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the zester of FIG. 1;
[0009] FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the zester of FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the zester of FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 5 is a right end elevation view, viewing FIG. 3, of the
zester of FIG. 1;
[0012] FIG. 6 is a left end elevation view, viewing FIG. 3, of the
zester of FIG. 1;
[0013] FIG. 7 is a side partial perspective view, with parts
removed, of the zest removal assembly, of the zester of FIG. 1;
and
[0014] FIG. 8 is a bottom partial perspective view, with parts
removed, of the zest removal assembly, of the zester of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0015] Referring now to FIGS. 1-8, there is illustrated the zester
of the invention, generally designated by reference numeral 2. The
zester 2 has an upper elongated body 4 formed with an integral
handle 6 at one end. The body 4 includes spaced sidewalls 4a and
opposite end walls 4b, 4c. As seen in FIG. 3, the body 4 has a
moderate bowed configuration from the side view. A metal plate 8 is
affixed to the top of body 4 and extends a substantial portion of
the length of the body 4. As seen in FIG. 5, the top surface 8a of
the plate 8 acts as the top work surface of the handle 6 at one
end. A series of frictional strips 10 are affixed to top surface 8a
and act as a thumb grip during the use of zester 2. The bottom
surface 8b of the handle 6 is formed with a generally flat central
portion 9a and curved edge portions 9b and is also frictionized by
a rubber or plastic material for a better grip (FIGS. 3, 4 and 5).
As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the top surface 11 of the plate 8 forms a
moderately convex work surface 11a having an generally identical
array 12 of cutting elements 14 arranged in lateral rows 16a and
16b (FIGS. 1 and 2) extending from adjacent one end of body 4 to an
intermediate portion of the body 4 adjacent the handle portion 6.
As seen in FIGS. 3 and 8 rows 16a have more cutting elements 14
than rows 16b. The edges 22 of the cutting elements 14 are
integrally cut out of upper plate 8 through surface 11a to form
holes 20 FIGS. 7 and 8) beneath the cutting elements for receiving
the zest as the rind of the fruit is cut. The upper sloped cutting
edges 22 of the cutting elements 14 are raised above the work
surface 11a at a precise distance to insure that only strips of
rind are cut and not pith of the fruit. As seen in FIG. 3, the
cross section of the cutting elements is generally rectangular in
shape. It is within the scope of the invention to employ other
shapes of the cutting element than as shown, such as, for example,
domed, triangular or other suitably shaped raised cutting elements.
In use of the zester 2, it should be apparent that the fruit is
manually moved along work surface 11a in contact with cutting
elements 14 to extract zest.
[0016] Referring to FIGS. 5, 7 and 8, a lower member 30 having
generally U-shaped cross sectional shape is slideably mounted on
housing 4 beneath the surface 11a of the metal plate 8 on which the
cutting elements 14 are present. In its retracted position as seen
in the bottom view of FIG. 4, the lower member 30 forms a chamber
30a beneath upper work surface 11a and holes 20. In FIG. 4, it
should be noted the lower housing 30 is shown as being transparent
allowing a view of the chamber 30a and plate 8, but other
non-transparent materials may be used in the fabrication of the
lower housing 30. The side wall 4a of the housing 4 forms a grove
34 (FIGS. 1 and 3) along the length of the work surface 11a of
plate 8 to slidably receive side portions 36 of the lower member 30
and allow the inner end 38 (FIGS. 7 and 8) of the lower housing 30
to move below the work surface 11a from the withdrawn position of
the member 30 as shown in FIG. 4 to a fully extended position from
the body 4 (not shown) whereby inner end 38 is situated adjacent to
the end portion 42 of work surface 11a. The lower housing 30 can
then be removed for collection of the zest.
[0017] Manual movement of the lower member 30 is facilitated by the
presence of lower depression 50. A scraper 52 in the form of a
flexible squeegee 52, fabricated from a rubber or plastic material
is internally mounted in chamber 30a on lower member 30 adjacent
end 38 and is situated in back of the array of holes 20 in the
closed, withdrawn position of the lower member 30 in FIG. 3. As
illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 the scraper 52 has a generally
V-shaped cross section terminating with a flat apex edge 54. The
scraper 52 is formed with triangular shaped end walls (not shown)
for reinforcement. Alternatively, the scraper 52 may be formed as a
solid configuration having a triangular cross section or other
shape providing an upper scraping edge. The apex edge 54 contacts
the bottom surface of plate 8 adjacent holes 20 and as the lower
housing 30 is extended outward from housing 4 the apex edge 52
contacts the lower surface and scrapes off zest for collection in
the lower member 30.
* * * * *