The present invention relates to an attachment for a kitchen appliance or machine such as a food processor, hand held immersion blender, hand held mixer, blender and meat grinder food preparation machines, and in particular to a mandolin attachment, for example for automated vegetable preparation.

Current methods of automating the cutting and slicing of vegetables for example in a kitchen appliance such as a food processor use a rotatory cutting disc mounted under a feed tube for the food to be cut. The disc moves in rotation around a central driven shaft, which results in a curved or circular cutting action. This sweeping cutting action can be inefficient and inaccurate, as it can cause the food being cut to move about in the feed tube, and also because it tends to use the impact force of the cutting surface on the disc to puncture the food, rather than making use of features of the cutting surface or blade. This action also reduces the life of the cutting surface, and the design of the cutting disc usually does not allow for resharpening or replacement of the cutting surface.

In addition, the rotary cutting method only uses half of the area swept by the blade to process the ingredients, which affects the required size of the appliance and also limits the size of ingredients that can be successfully processed by the appliance. The rotary cutting method also requires a high speed of rotation of the cutting disc to ensure a successful cutting action because of the amount of force which is required to process the ingredients. The quality of the cutting action is also compromised by the high speed action employed by the rotatory cutting disc.

The invention aims to address the restrictions of using the rotatory cutting method.

According to the present invention, there is provided an attachment for a kitchen appliance, the attachment comprising; a food processing tool configured to be driven with a reciprocating motion, and a drive mechanism configured to drive the tool, wherein the drive mechanism is arranged to be connectable to a rotary drive outlet of the appliance. Thus a tool requiring a reciprocating movement such as a cutting blade or mandoline can be provided as an attachment for connection to a rotary drive outlet of a kitchen machine such as a stand mixer. Where the food processing tool comprises a cutting blade configured to provide a cutting action, this allows the machine to be used for cutting food in a more effective manner than previous rotary cutters as discussed above.

The attachment may be arranged to be connectable to at least one of: a planetary drive outlet, or other rotary downwardly facing drive outlet, a high speed rotary drive outlet, and a low speed rotary drive outlet of a kitchen appliance. Such drive outlets are commonly provided on machines such as a stand mixers, for example on an upper surface or side surface of the head unit, for driving other attachments such as food processors, blenders, mincers or spiralizers.

The attachment preferably comprises a housing, the tool being mounted in the housing. Conveniently, the housing may comprise a container and a removable lid, and optionally a receptacle for processed food. The housing preferably comprises a feed conduit for guiding food towards the tool, and preferably comprises an outlet conduit for processed food. These may be aligned on either side of the cutting blade, and may extend substantially perpendicularly to the direction of reciprocating motion. The housing may be configured to be attachable to the kitchen machine for supporting the attachment on the machine. The blade may comprise a blade plate mounted for reciprocating motion, preferably having at least one cutting edge which may be oblique with respect to the direction of reciprocating motion. For example, the blade plate may have at least one v-shaped cutting edge.

The housing may have a securing member to secure the blade, the securing member being configured to be unlocked and locked such that the blade plate can be removed and reattached. This allows for servicing or replacement of the blade plate. The invention also provides a kitchen machine having an attachment as defined above, and a rotary drive outlet arranged to be connectable to the attachment. For example, the kitchen machine may be a stand mixer. The rotary drive outlet can be the high speed outlet, low speed outlet or planetary hub of the mixer. For example, the rotary outlet may be provided on an upper surface, or a side surface, or a lower surface of the machine, which may be the head unit of the machine. The rotary drive outlets may also be configured to drive other attachments such as food processors, blenders, mincers, pasta makers, and mixing tools.

The invention allows the employment of the electric mandolin with a reciprocating blade to cut vegetables and other ingredients and has the advantage of being able to achieve a better cutting action.

The attachment may comprise a (powered) mandolin attachment to a kitchen machine, food processor, held immersion blender, hand held mixer, blender and meat grinder food preparation machine. The cutting blade can move in a central back and forth action, which can enable the unit to be used at a lower speed, so as to provide superior cut ingredients results, and has the advantage that julienned vegetables will also not be curved as is often the case with the rotary action cutting blade.

The blade can be replaceable and can be repairable, and can be angled or V shaped, such that the ingredients are cut by dragging them along the angled blade. This improves the cutting action and the finished ingredients.

The invention described here may be used in any appliance, such as a kitchen appliance, and/or as a stand-alone device. This includes any domestic foodprocessing and/or preparation appliance, including both top-driven appliances (e.g., stand-mixers) and bottom-driven appliances (e.g., food processors). It may be implemented in heated and/or cooled appliances. The invention may also be implemented in both hand-held (e.g., hand blenders) and table-top (e.g., blenders) appliances. It may be used in an appliance that is built-in to a work-top or work surface, or in a stand-alone device. The invention can also be provided as a standalone device, whether motor-driven or manually powered.

Whilst the invention has been described in the field of domestic food processing and preparation appliances, it can also be implemented in any field of use where efficient, effective and convenient preparation and/or processing of material is desired, either on an industrial scale and/or in small amounts. The field of use includes the preparation and/or processing of: chemicals; pharmaceuticals; paints; building materials; clothing materials; agricultural and/or veterinary feeds and/or treatments, including fertilisers, grain and other agricultural and/or veterinary products; oils; fuels; dyes; cosmetics; plastics; tars; finishes; waxes; varnishes; beverages; medical and/or biological research materials; solders; alloys; effluent; and/or other substances. Any reference to “food”, “beverage” (or similar language) herein may be replaced by such working mediums.

As used herein, the term “processing” preferably connotes any action relating to or contributing towards transforming products into foodstuff, or transforming foodstuff into a different form of foodstuff, including - as examples - applying mechanical work (e.g. for cutting, beating, blending, whisking, dicing, spiralising, grinding, extruding, shaping, kneading etc.) and applying heat or cold. “Food” and “foodstuff’ as used herein can include beverages and frozen material and material used in creating them (e.g., coffee beans).

As used herein, the term "attachment" (and similar terms such as “attachable”), as used in relation to an attachment between a first object and a second object, preferably connotes that the first object is attached to the second object and can be detached (and preferably re-attached, detached again, and so on, repetitively), and/or that the first object may be removed from the second object without damaging the first object or the second object; more preferably the term connotes that the first object may be re-attached to the second object without damaging the first object or the second object, and/or that the first object may be removed from (and optionally also re-attached to) the second object by hand and/or without the use of tools (e.g. screwdrivers, spanners, etc.). Mechanisms such as a snap-fit, a bayonet attachment, and a hand-rotatable locking nut may be used in this regard.

The invention extends to methods, system and apparatus substantially as herein described and/or as illustrated with reference to the accompanying figures.

The invention extends to any novel aspects or features described and/or illustrated herein.

Any feature in one aspect of the invention may be applied to other aspects of the invention, in any appropriate combination. In particular, method aspects may be applied to apparatus aspects, and vice versa. Furthermore, any, some and/or all features in one aspect can be applied to any, some and/or all features in any other aspect, in any appropriate combination. It should also be appreciated that particular combinations of the various features described and defined in any aspects of the invention can be implemented and/or supplied and/or used independently.

As used herein, means plus function features may be expressed alternatively in terms of their corresponding structure, such as a suitably programmed processor and associated memory, for example.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of an attachment;

Figure 2 is a side view of the attachment of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a side view of an attachment mounted to a rear of a kitchen machine;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the attachment of figure 3;

Figure 5 is a side view of an attachment mounted to the rear of a kitchen machine;

Figure 6 is a perspective view from underneath of an attachment mounted to a planetary drive outlet of a kitchen machine;

Figure 7 is a perspective view from above of an attachment mounted to a planetary drive outlet of a kitchen machine; Figure 8 is side view of an attachment mounted to a side outlet on the front of a kitchen machine; and

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the attachment of Figure 8.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, an attachment 2 for a food processor comprises a housing 4 mounting a tool comprising a blade plate 6 for reciprocating or back and forth movement in the housing, as indicated by the arrow 8. The blade plate 6 has cutting edge 10, which is preferably oblique, and in this example is V-shaped.

The blade plate 6 is conveniently a thin rectangular plate, and the housing preferably is shaped and sized closely to accommodate the blade allowing for the back and forth travel. Thus the housing 6 may be a relatively shallow cuboid shape.

The housing 4 may have an aperture on an upper surface 5 communicating with a feed conduit or tube 12 provided on the upper surface for guiding food towards the blade 6 through the aperture, and an outlet conduit or tube 14 communicating with an aperture on a lower surface 7 of the housing for receiving the cut food and guiding it away from the blade 6. The inlet and outlet tubes 12, 14 are thus provided in a region of the housing corresponding to a region swept by the cutting edge of the blade in use, such as adjacent a first end 16 of the housing. The inlet and outlet tubes 12, 14 may be aligned with each other.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, the housing 6 may additionally comprise a container 18 extending over a larger aperture in the lower surface or covering the outlet tube 14. In this case the housing has an extended length at the first end 16 so as to accommodate the container 18, which may for example have the same width as the housing 6. The housing 6 may comprise a main body 7 and a lid 9 which may be removable, for example such that the blade plate 6 may be removable for replacement or maintenance.

The attachment may have a connector 20 on the lower surface towards a second end 22 of the housing. The connector 20 is arranged to engage with a rotary drive outlet 24 provided on an upper surface 26 of a head unit 28 of a kitchen machine 30, towards the rear end 32 of the head unit. The connector 20 comprises a drive mechanism for receiving the rotary drive to a rotating element 21 , and conveying reciprocating drive to the blade 6, for example by means of a gear system 23. Once connected, the attachment 2 may be supported in a substantially horizontal orientation on the kitchen machine 30.

The kitchen machine 30 is of a conventional kind, comprising a support 34 for supporting the head unit 28 above a bowl receiving location or pedestal 36 for supporting a bowl 37. Such a machine commonly has a motor mounted in the support 34, and a downwardly facing drive outlet 40 towards a front end 38 of the head unit 28, which may be a planetary drive outlet.

Although the invention is illustrated and described mounted on the rear of a kitchen machine in this embodiment, it is also intended that the invention could be used to the side of the outlet, or directly feeding into the bowl, or may connect to a slow speed outlet. The attachment can also be operated from the planetary hub of a planetary mixer.

As shown in Figure 6, an attachment 43 may alternatively be connected to the planetary drive outlet 40. In this case, the container 48 may be supported above the pedestal 36. A connector 50 may be driven in rotation by connection to the planetary drive outlet 40, which rotates around a central pin 41 , for example by means of a connecting rod 42. The connector 50 may convey the rotary motion to a drive system for driving the blade 6 as described above.

In an alternative shown in Figure 6, an attachment 44 may comprise a connector 52 on an upper surface 54 thereof which connects directly to the planetary drive hub 56 of the machine 30. A container 58 may extend along the lower surface of the attachment and be supported on the pedestal 36 of the machine 30. As can be seen from Figure 7, the blade plate 6 may have an oblique cutting edge 60. The attachment may have a latch 64 for connecting the main body 7 to the lid 9 such that the lid may be removably secured to the body.

Instead of being placed horizontally, the attachment may also be placed vertically in some embodiments. The attachment could also be placed at an angle, which may assist in keeping the vegetables stable in the feed tube.

As shown in Figures 8 and 9, an attachment 66 may have a connector 68 which is connectable to a front facing rotary drive outlet provided towards the front of the head unit 26 of the machine 30. In this case, the attachment may be supported in a substantially vertical orientation, and the feed tube 70 may be at an oblique angle thereto for ease of use and for stability in guiding food towards the blade plate.

Although not shown here the invention could also be used with any other small domestic appliance or food preparation machine.

It will be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention. Each feature disclosed in the description, and (where appropriate) the claims and drawings may be provided independently or in any appropriate combination. Reference numerals appearing in the claims are by way of illustration only and shall have no limiting effect on the scope of the claims.