CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 61 /937,132 filed on February 7, 2014, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1 . Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a device for the preparation of food stuffs. More particularly, it relates to a device for the grinding, shredding, or cutting of food materials, the economic dispensing of cut food products and assistive features helpful to the general task of food preparation.

2. Discussion of related art

The field of food preparation includes many methods to cut and separate food stuffs into smaller pieces for either consuming directly or to enable some other food preparation method. One of the exemplary food items in this category of food preparation is garlic. Garlic is often required to be cut into small pieces to extract its flavor and, because this task is made difficult by its thick and tough composition, many kitchen devices have been designed to accomplish this task. Other food items that are commonly cut or shred into pieces would include nuts, herbs, and

vegetables.

Along with the shredding of garlic, an often required complementary task is separating any skin from the garlic clove. Garlic is usually sold in the form of garlic heads that contain many small cloves of garlic bound together and each clove of garlic is covered by a thick exterior skin. Separating the garlic head into cloves and then removing the skin from each clove can be a difficult task. Some devices solve this problem for garlic by rolling the cloves in a silicone tube that grips and rips the skin off of the clove. Other devices smash the head and cloves of garlic with a blunt surface to break the skin off. Both of these solutions are stand-alone devices that do not serve functions other than removing the skin from garlic cloves. Once the separation of garlic has been accomplished, there are often leftover cloves that need storage and refrigeration. The process of cutting food stuffs into small pieces for other cooking processes can be messy and cause the user to dirty work surfaces and tools. There are shredding devices that have complex blade systems that successfully cut the garlic and other food stuffs into pieces but cause the food product to be caught up in between sharp cutting surfaces which prevent safe removal by hand. Other devices cause food products to be stuck in crevices, unable to be removed for use in cooking and making cleaning more difficult afterwards.

Related shredding devices typically use a single set of blades or teeth to accomplish their task for all possible food stuffs. The use of a single set of blades necessarily limits the flexibility of the device to shred other food items. Herbs require thinner, sharper blades and nuts require thicker, stronger blades in order to be effectively cut into pieces.

The most common means of preparing garlic for cooking is with a garlic press. Because the typical garlic press device extrudes the garlic clove through a meshed surface, the process separates and crushes the garlic clove in a single step. This dual action puts a very large strain on the user's hands while operating the device and can be very uncomfortable or impossible for some users if they do not have enough hand strength. These tools also prevent a high percentage yield of the garlic for cooking because there always remains a portion of garlic trapped inside the mesh surface and in the surrounding crevices of the device.

SUMMARY

According to an implementation, the food shredder includes a body having a lower food cup and an upper rotating part. A cover encloses the top of the upper rotating part and provides a textured surface used to press or mask food products. A blade assembly includes a blade holder and a plurality of blades rotatably mounted within the blade holder. A connection mechanism is provided to connect the blade holder to the underside of the upper rotating part such that rotation of the upper part causes the blades to rotate. At least one slot in the food cup maintains the blade holder in a stationary static fixed position within the food cup during operation. The blades rotate freely within the fixed blade holder.

These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present principles will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present principles may be better understood in accordance with the following exemplary figures, in which: FIG. 1 is a view of the device for preparing food stuffs according to an implementation of the present principles;

FIG. 2 is a view of the device of FIG. 1 showing the lid/cover removed;

FIG. 3 is a view of the device for preparing food stuffs partially disassembled according to an implementation of the present principles;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are examples of different blade assemblies that can be used in the device for preparing food stuffs, according to an implementation of the present principles;

FIG. 5 is a view of a geared blade assembly that can be used in the device for preparing food stuffs, according to an implementation of the present principles;

FIGS. 6A and 6B show the rotation operation of the device for preparing food stuffs, according to an implementation of the present principles;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the device for preparing food stuffs, according to an implementation of the present principles; and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 7 taken along line

A-A, according to the implementation of the present principles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description illustrates the present principles. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the present principles and are included within its spirit and scope. All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the present principles and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.

Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the present principles, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.

The embodiments of the present invention are directed towards the useful and economical means of shredding garlic and other foodstuffs. The features of this device include a set of cutting blades that can shred food stuffs and, when rotated to alignment with the blade assembly, can be scraped clean by the removal of the shredding receptacle. The scraping function of the food receptacle both maximizes the yield of shredded food and assists in the cleaning of the shredding blades.

Another feature of the shredding blades is their ability to be easily changed out for other versions of blades that are specialized for certain foods like, for example, nuts or herbs.

A further specialization is possible by mechanically assisting the blades through a geared system. In one implementation, the blades rotate in synchrony with rotation of the upper body (i.e., 1 :1 ratio). In another implementation, a geared system can alter the speed of the blades relative to the user's twisting motion of the upper body by, for example, increasing it for fragile foods like herbs or decreasing it for very hard foods like nuts, or decreasing it for more difficult foods to cut, thereby creating more torque on the blades. This increase or decrease would be based on the corresponding gearing ratio.

Another feature of the device is a textured top (food engaging) surface which allows the device to be used as a blunt force tool to smash a garlic head into cloves and to smash garlic cloves to remove their skin. A final feature of the device is an interior storage compartment. The storage compartment allows any unused garlic cloves from the garlic head to be stored for later use inside the device which can prepare them for cooking. The storage compartment can also be used for many other food items that may be left over and conveniently placed inside for future use. This storage feature saves space and makes the preparation of garlic and other food more convenient.

According to another aspect of the food shredder of the present invention, it performs as noted above while being manually operated by the user, and therefore does not require any motors or other battery or power requirements.

Referring to the figures, one implementation of the device for preparation of food stuffs 10 is shown in FIG 1 . As used herein, the terms device for preparation of food stuffs and food shredder are interchangeable. The food shredder 10 includes an upper (rotating) body part 12, a lower body part (food cup) 14 and a top lid/cover 5. As shown, the lid or cover 5 is positioned on top of the upper body part 12 and includes a textured food engaging surface 7 which is configured to be used with blunt force to crush food items 15 between the textured top surface 7 and a kitchen surface (not shown). The crushing action removes thick skin or shell surfaces from the food item to make it suitable for further food preparation. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the texture of textured top surface 7 can be configured in many different ways such that it grips the food item during the crushing action so that it is wholly crushed and does not slip out from underneath the device. In one preferred implementation, the textured top surface 7 is concave so that the food item is essentially trapped underneath the device during the crushing action. The textured top surface feature 7 is designed as a complementary feature of the whole device which serves other food preparation purposes. By combining the textured top surface feature 7 with other related features on the same device, user convenience is increased and space is saved. FIG. 2 shows the food shredding device 10 with the lid/cover 5 removed, exposing the storage compartment 25 for extra food items formed by the upper body part 12. The storage compartment is opened by removing the lid/cover 5. For example, it is common for garlic to be sold in heads with more cloves than is necessary for any single recipe. As such, the storage compartment 25 could be used in order to store unused cloves for future use. By storing the cloves of garlic with the same device used to process them for cooking, this increases the

convenience of the device and saves storage space. Obviously, food items other than garlic can also be stored in the device for convenient access.

Referring to FIG 3, there is shown the blade assembly 20, having blades 22 and a blade holder 24. The food cup 14 includes slots 55 configured to receive the blade assembly 20, and once received, the blade assembly operates to close the open sides of the cup 14. Food items that are to be shredded are then inserted into the top opening of the cup 14. The upper rotating body part 12 is placed on top of the food cup 14 and the clip 26 snaps into the underside of part 12, and thereby seals the entire device closed. The user twists the upper rotating body part 12 which turns in synchrony with the blades 22 and shreds the food items contained in the food cup 14. Once the food items have been sufficiently shredded by the blades 22, the upper body part 12 is rotated such that the blades 22 are returned into an alignment position within the blade holder 24. Once aligned, the food cup 14 is horizontally slid off the attached blade assembly which passes through one of the side slots 55 (i.e., can be slid in either horizontal direction) and all shredded food items are thereby cleaned off the blade assembly by the interior edges 65 of the slots 55 within the food cup 14. This unique configuration of blades/blade assembly and scraper function formed by the food cup receptacle 14 increases the yield of shredded food from the device by scraping clean all interior surfaces and depositing all shredded food into the food cup.

In other contemplated embodiments, the lower food cup 14 can include other means for receiving and securing the blade holder within the same. Such means could be, for example, a spring biased pin with corresponding hole, or any other mechanism that can operate to secure the blade holder in a fixed position relative to the food cup.

FIGS. 4A and 4B depict an implementation showing different blade

assemblies 30, 40 that show how the same can be swapped into and out of the food shredder 10 in order to accommodate a wider range of food items and the different ways to shred, cut, and separate them. The standard blade assembly 30 comprises polymeric blades 32 and blade holder 34 (FIG. 4B). As mentioned above, the blade assembly 30 snaps into upper body part with a mating feature 36. A sharp blade assembly 40 uses the same outside geometrical configuration as the normal blade assembly 30 and can be snapped into the upper body part 12 using an identical mating feature 36 as on the normal blade assembly. The sharp blade assembly 40 comprises metal blades 42 and the blade holder 34. The sharpened metal blades more effectively cut food items like herbs or nuts. Other blade assemblies that use different types of blades and materials are possible and could be easily swapped into the device to make it more effective with different foods. FIG. 5 shows another implementation where the blade assembly 50 includes a geared system or mechanism for speeding up or slowing down the shredding blades depending on the gearing ratio. As noted in the above discussed

implementation, because the blades 52 and upper body part 12 twist in synchrony, it may be difficult for some users to shred very tough or very thick foods that resist cutting. As an alternative to synchronous twisting, the geared system 56 attached to the blade assembly 50 allows a given blade assembly to increase or decrease the speed of the blades relative to the twisting of the upper body part 12 with its own respective gearing. For example, it would be advantageous for a sharpened metal blade assembly to spin the blades very fast in order to cut herbs and the geared system would allow this. Another possibility is for a crushing blade system with blunt blades and a geared system that decreases the speed of the blades relative to the twisting of the body. This low speed gear system would create a mechanical assist to the user's twisting motion (i.e., would operate to increase the torque on the food items being crushed) and would make it easier for the user to crush and shred nuts that are very hard. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the gear ratios can altered to achieve any of the above described examples. For example, a 1 :1 ratio would be considered the synchronous operation where for every 1 rotation of the upper rotating part 12, the blades 52 rotate the same 1 rotation. In other

contemplated implementation, asynchronous gearing ratios are implemented. For example, an increase blade speed ratio of 1 :2 or 1 :3, etc. could be implemented where for every one rotation of the upper rotating part 12, the blades 52 would rotate twice (1 :2), three times (1 :3), etc. The opposite gearing ratios could be implemented as well for the slower, more torque induced rotation of the blades. For example, 2:1 , 3:1 , etc., where two rotations of the upper rotating part 12 results in one rotation of the blades 52.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present principles is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present principles. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present principles as set forth in the appended claims.