Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a manual accessory for dicing vegetables, fruit and other foodstuff.

BACKGROUND ART

The general public commonly cuts vegetables and fruit in order to make salads and other dishes. For the sake of fluency of the explanation and description of the accessory, subject of the present invention, the word "vegetables" will refer hereunder to vegetables, fruit, and other foodstuff such as hard cheeses, sausages, etc. and the word "salad" will refer hereunder to any dish in which cut vegetables are used. In many cases, vegetables are chopped into small cubes, particularly when making a vegetable salad. Users usually dice vegetables using a kitchen knife and a chopping board and the entire process is rather inconvenient to the extent that it may even cause people to prepare less salad and, as a result, to consume less vegetables than desired. Several electrical apparatuses are available on the market that automatically dice vegetables for salads or other dishes, but such accessories have many disadvantages: they are relatively expensive, heavy, large and take up considerable storage space, cumbersome to use, and are made up of multiple parts that must be washed after each use. In other words, such apparatuses are not really worthy alternatives to dicing vegetables manually with a knife. On the other hand, the accessory, subject of the present invention, offers a good and effective solution to the aforementioned problems. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings attached to the present application are not intended to limit the scope of the invention and the possible ways of its application. The drawings are intended only to illustrate the invention and constitute only one of many possible ways of its application.

FIG. 1 depicts the accessory (1) which comprises a bottom surface (2), a circumferential side (3), and knives (4) (5) (6).

FIG. 2 depicts the accessory (1) whereby knives (4) (5) are not aligned.

FIG. 3 presents a cross section of the accessory and the knives (4) (5) (6).

FIG. 4 depicts the accessory with recesses (7) and removable plates (8).

FIG. 5 describes the base container (11).

FIGS 6 and 7 describe the leading cover (12) with the circumferential wall

(121) and the hole (121).

FIGS 8 and 9 describe the blade disc (13).

FIG. 10 describes the base container (11) with the blade disc (12).

FIG. 11 describes the accessory (10).

THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a manual accessory (1) for dicing vegetables such that the user places the vegetable on the accessory and moves the vegetable around on the surface of the accessory, which constitutes the base of the accessory, through the knives in a way that yields vegetable cubes as desired. The accessory (1), subject of the present invention, comprises a round bottom surface (2) with a circumferential side (3), a north-south knife (4), an east-west knife (5), and a horizontal knife (6), as depicted in Drawings Nos. 1 and 2.

The bottom surface (2), which is shaped like a round, flat plate, can be made of a variety of materials such as plastic, glass, metal, etc. and can be of various sizes. Since the invention refers to an accessory for cutting vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, root vegetables, etc., the diameter of the bottom surface (2) should be about 10-20 cm. Nevertheless, the invention and application cover and refer to smaller or larger diameters as well.

The circumferential side (3): The bottom surface (2) has a vertical circumferential side (3) surrounding its entire perimeter. It is recommended that the bottom surface (2) and circumferential side (3) be manufactured as one integral part. It is also recommended that the circumferential side (3) be between 2 cm and 5 cm high.

The knives (4) (5) (6): As mentioned, the accessory (1) is designed to dice the vegetables and so it is equipped with three knives: two knives (4) (5) designed to make vertical cuts in the bottom part of the vegetable to a height of about 1 cm, and one horizontal knife (6) that slices the vegetable at a height of about 1 cm from the bottom of the vegetable after it has already cut lengthwise and crosswise, thus forming vegetable cubes. The knives (4) (5) (6) can be straight or positioned in angle, for allowing easier cut. In order to explain and describe the structure of the accessory (1) and the knives (4) (5) (6), we refer to Drawings Nos. 1 and 2 and in order to clarify the different directions of the knives we use the terms north-south and east-west instead of lengthwise and crosswise.

One of the innovative elements of the present invention is that the angle between the north-east knives (4) to the east-west knives (5) is 90 degrees and by that it is possible to achieve vegetable cubes. Another innovative element of the present invention is that the angular distance between these two sets of knives (4) and (5) is only 90 degrees, means that during the cutting of the vegetable it moves only quarter round. And because of this short distance, relatively, the vegetable is not smashed. This also achieved due to the fact that the horizontal knife (6) is located close to one of these two sets of knives (5) or (6). It is also preferably that these sets of knives (4), (5) and (6) will be located on the round bottom (2) wherein the cutting is being done while the user push forward the vegetable.

Drawing No. 1 depicts the accessory with a north-south knife (4), an east- west knife (5), and a horizontal knife (6). In order to clarify the terminology that refers to the knife directions we liken the bottom surface (2) to a clock whereby 12 o'clock is north, 6 o'clock is south, 3 o'clock is east and 9 o'clock is west. The south-north knife (4) is attached to the bottom surface (2) along an imaginary line that runs (in the north-south direction) from the point on the circumferential rim (3) that corresponds to 12 o'clock towards the center of the bottom surface (2) and the east-west knife (5) is attached to the bottom surface (2) along an imaginary line that runs (in the east- west direction) from the point on the circumferential rim (3) that corresponds to 9 o'clock towards the center of the bottom surface (2). Each of these knives (4) (5) is made up of several blade, preferably 4-6 (please note that the blade of the north-south knife are positioned in the east-west direction, and vice versa). Each of the said blades is about 1 cm high. The spaces between the blades should be identical, 8 mm for instance, so as to obtain cubes of uniform size. The word "cubes" as used in the present application does not necessarily mean cubes with identical sides, and the invention may be implemented in a variety of other dimensions as well. The horizontal knife (6) is attached to the circumferential side (3) of the accessory and is directed, in general, towards the center of the bottom surface (2). It is emphasized that the knives (4) (5) (6) may be attached to the bottom surface (2) and to the circumferential rim (3), respectively, at locations that differ from those described above and in Drawing No. 1. Drawing No, 2 depicts the accessory whereby the blade staggered rather than being positioned in a straight line.

The east-west knife (5) is positioned such that when the vegetable is moved in a clockwise direction over the surface, from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock, in such a way that it is always in contact with the circumferential side (3) and is always facing the same direction, the blade of the east-west knife (5) cut the bottom 1 cm of the vegetable in a north-south direction (or any other height according to the height of the blade) and in intervals of about 8 mm (according to the spaces between the blade). The user then continues to move the vegetable over the surface from 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock, i.e. past 12 o'clock and through the east-west blade of the north- south knife (4), and provided the vegetable is moved so that it is always in contact with the circumferential side (3) and facing the same direction as before, the blade of the north-south knife (4) now cut the bottom 1 cm of the vegetable in the east -west direction (or any other height according to the height of the blade) and in intervals of about 8 mm (according to the spaces between the blade). Thus, the bottom 1 cm of the vegetable now has lengthwise and crosswise cuts, about 1 cm apart. The user now continues to move the vegetable until it is cut by the horizontal knife (6), which slices off the bottom 1 cm of the vegetable (or any other height according to the height at which the blade is attached), yielding cubes of the vegetable. It is obvious that the dimensions of the cubes depend on the height of the blade of the two knives (4) (5) and the spaces between the blade on each knife, and the height at which the horizontal knife (6) is attached to the circumferential side (3). Drawing No. 3 depicts a cross section of the accessory (1) with its knives.

The blade that make up the knives (4) (5) may be identical in structure to blade used in other known accessories for cutting vegetables and are usually made of stainless steel. The dimensions of the blade are: 1 cm high, 1 mm thick, and 5 mm wide, although the invention may be implemented in a variety of dimensions. The horizontal knife (6) can be 8 cm long, 2 cm wide, and 1 mm thick. As described above, the accessory (1) is very simple to use. The user holds the vegetable, places it on the bottom surface (2) of the accessory (1) at about 6 o'clock, presses down lightly and moves the vegetable in a circular motion, along the circumferential side (3) to about 1 o'clock. On the way the vegetable is cut at 9 o'clock by the east-west knife (5) in the north-south direction, at 12 o'clock by the south-north knife (4) in the east- west direction, and at 1 o'clock the horizontal knife cuts it horizontally, completing the task and yielding cubes. This sequence is repeated several times until the entire vegetable is diced or until the desired quantity of cubes is obtained. The user may protect his or her fingers by using a convex holder to hold the vegetable as it is moved around the bottom surface (2). The convex holder has several small teeth that are pressed into the vegetable so as to grip it.

The sets of blade that make of the two knives (4) (5) can be attached to flat, narrow and thin rectangular removable plates (8) that can be inserted into a matching recesses (7) in the bottom surface (2). Among other things, such removable plates (8) enable the user to replace the blade when they become dull, or use different sets of higher or lower blade, or blade with different spaces between them, all according to the kind of vegetable and the user's wishes. The removable plate (8) can be made of plastic or any other suitable material. Drawing No. 4 depicts the bottom surface (2) with the circumferential side (3) and recesses (7) that into which removable plates (8) with knives are inserted. Several versions of the accessory (1) may be manufactured of versions, including an accessory (1), which has only a north-south knife (4) and a horizontal knife (6), that cuts the vegetable into sticks, and an accessory (1), which has only a horizontal knife (6), that cuts the vegetable into slices.

Using the accessory (1), subject of the present invention, enables the user to easily, conveniently and relatively quickly cut a large number of vegetables to make a salad. The accessory is simple to use, it is small, light and contains a small number of parts. It is simple and convenient to rinse, clean and store, can be used almost anywhere, and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. The fact that using the accessory (1) requires a repetitive circular motion makes the accessory (1) convenient and effective to use, as opposed to other existing and known accessories in which the motion is a back-and-forth motion, which is a less comfortable motion to perform.

The second embodiment of the present invention relates to accessory (10) comprises a base container (11), a leading cover (12) and a blade disc (13) as described in FIGS 5 - 11.

The base container (11), as described in FIG. 5, is designed as a container with upper opening. The leading cover (12), as described in FIGS 6 and 7 is designed as a round plate with circumferential wall (121) and a hole (122). The blade disc (13), as described in FIGS 8 and 9, is designed as a plate on which the set of knives (4), (5) and (6) are located. In addition, the blade disc (13) includes a horizontal slot (131) next to the horizontal knife (6) through which the vegetable cubes fall into the base container (11). The assembly of the accessory (10) and using: Put the blade disc (13) on the base container (11) as described in FIG. 10, then put the leading cover (12) on the blade disc (13) and the base container (11) as described in FIG. 11, and the accessory (10) is ready for using. The user should insert the vegetable into the hole (122) and move it forward and by that the said vegetable is being cut to cubes that fall into the base container (11).

For eliminating residues during the usage of the accessory (10) the horizontal knife (6) should be in the same high of the vertical knives (4) and (5) and also the leading cover (12) should be close and almost touch the upper edge of the knives (4) (5) and (6).

It is possible to design the blade disc (13) with a circumferential wall (not shown in the FIGS) for enabling the usage of the accessory (10) without leading cover (12).