| US1237504A | 1917-08-21 | |||
| US1321048A | 1919-11-04 | |||
| US1928995A | 1933-10-03 |
| 1. | A device for holding the handle of a cooking utensil such as a spoon or whisk, comprising: a holder body having two opposite ends, each formed with an open slot, the slot at one end being sloped relative to the slot at the other end, said holder body also being formed with an elongated side slot located between said end slots and extending crosswise of the holder body relative to "the end slots; and the side slot adapted to receive the handle of a utensil and the end slots being adapted to selectively receive the rim of a container with the utensil projecting from the side slot over the container. |
| 2. | A device according to claim 1 in which the holder body is formed with multiple additional side slots of different thicknesses extending parallel to said side slot for receiving a variety of utensil handle sizes. |
| 3. | A device according to claim 1 in which the holder body is formed with multiple additional end slots at each end of different thicknesses extending parallel to respective of said end slots for receiving a variety of container rim thicknesses. |
| 4. | A device for holding the handle of a cooking utensil such as a spoon or whisk, comprising: a holder body having a first set of parallel exposed channels of different widths, each adapted to receive the handle of a utensil; and said holder body having a second set of parallel exposed channels of different widths extending crosswise of the holder body relative to the channels of the first set and each adapted to fit over the rim of a container with the utensil projecting over the container from the first set of channels. |
| 5. | A device for holding the handle of a cooking utensil such as a spoon or whisk, comprising: a holder body having a central set of channels and two end sets of channels, the channels of one of the end sets being sloped relative to the other end set and the channels of both end sets extending crosswise of the holder body relative to the channels of the central set, each channel of the three sets being exposed at its ends and along one side and having a different width than each other channel in the same set; and the channels in the central set located between the end sets and being adapted to selectively receive the handle of a utensil, and the channels in the end sets being adapted to selectively fit over the rim of a container with the utensil projecting over the container from the central set. |
HOLDER FOR KITCHEN UTENSILS
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Technical Field
The present invention relates to a holder for receiving the handle of a kitchen utensil, such as a spoon, whisk, beater, fork, scraper or spatula, and holding it such that the working part of the utensil overhangs a pan, bowl or other container containing comestibles to be stirred, beat or otherwise worked by the utensil.
Disclosure of Invention Commonly in preparing a sauce, batter, gravy, filling or the like, a cook will from time to time work the ingredients with a suitable utensil and not have a con¬ venient place to set the utensil down between operations without dripping or smearing food being prepared onto a kitchen counter or stove top from the utensil. The present invention aims to provide a simple device for holding such utensils so that they will drip into the container holding the comestible to be stirred or otherwise worked by the utensil. In carrying out this objective, the invention also aims to provide such a device which is durable, inexpensive to produce, easy to clean and does not have any working parts.
The holding device of the invention is a one- piece unit which is adapted to fit over the upper rim of a pan, bowl or other kitchen container and provide one or more channels to receive and support a utensil handle such that the working part of the utensil will extend over the container. To receive the container rim, the basic holder has sets of slots of various widths and slopes.
Brief Description of the Drawings
In the accompanying drawings:
Figure 1 is an isometric view of a holder embody¬ ing the present invention shown in operative position mounted on a container and holding a spoon, the container and spoon being shown in phantom;
Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the holder;
Figure 3 is a side elevational view of the holder;
Figure 4 is a back elevational view of the holder;
Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the holder; and Figure 6 is a top plan view of the holder.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Referring to the drawings, the invention comprises a holder block 10 preferably in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped which is formed with three sets of channels, namely, a central set 14 and two parallel end sets 16 and 18 located at opposite ends of the block and extending with their length generally at right angles to the length of the central set.
For purposes of example, each of the three sets has three channels (marked with the suffixes a, b and c) and the three channels in each set are purposely of differ¬ ent widths. The end channels 16 extend at right angles relative to the central channels 14, whereas the other end channels 13 purposely slope relative to the central channels 14.
As shown in Figure 1, the function of the end channels 16 is to fit over the rim of a container C to position the central channels 14 radially of the container. If the container wall is sloped, the holder block 10 is reversed and one of the sloped channels 13 preferably is used to fit the holder body over the rim of the container.
When the holder block is fitted over the con¬ tainer rim, a utensil handle can be positioned within an appropriately thick one of the central channels 14. For example, in Figure 1, a spoon handle H is shown fitted into the center one of the three central channels 14 with the working portion S of the spoon overhanging the container. It will be apparent that the spoon can be readily removed from the holder for use and then replaced after use so as to drip ingredients back into the container which were acquired by the spoon while used to stir the ingredients.
Normally the spoon handle H will not fit snugly within one of the central channels 14, but will tilt slight¬ ly downward within the channel such that a forward end portion of the handle engages the bottom wall of the channel at the inner end thereof (i.e., the end closest to the inside of the container), and a rearward end portion of the handle engages the upper wall of the channel at the outer end thereof. Since an end channel 16 can be selected to receive the container rim such as to position the central channels 14 in a generally horizontal position, a utensii handle loosely fitting within one of the central channels and engaging the bottom and upper walls thereof in the manner above described, will not slide out of the central channel even though titled a few degrees from the horizontal downwardly toward the bottom of the container.
It will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inven- tion. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except by the appended claims.