Background of the invention Prior art utensils in this area consist primarily of tongs, forks and spatulas where these devices are used for example to collect items of food from a cooking surface or bowl and deposit the item onto a plate. In particular, problems are well recognised with prior art forks and spatulas in that once they have been used to collect the food item it is invariably difficult to remove or dispense the food item therefrom.

Whilst tongs are successfully used to collect and deposit food items, they are not universally useful for all types of food. In these situations, forks and spatulas are still widely used as they are better suited to certain food items. In the case of small items of food or items that require piercing, forks are generally preferred. In the case of larger and generally flat food items, spatulas are generally preferred. In the particular case of cake slices, a utensil generally referred to as a cake slice is the preferred utensil.

However, whilst tongs afford the advantage of enabling a user to collect and deposit food items with the use of a single hand, prior art forks, spatulas and cake slices often cause significant difficulties in this regard. Once food items have been collected with a fork, it is sometimes very difficult to remove the

food item from the fork. This difficulty is also present in relation to the use of spatulas and cake slices. In circumstances where a user is experiencing difficulty in removing an item of food from one of these devices, the user will generally resort to the use of another device such as a knife in their other hand to effectively remove the item of food.

The convenience of effective operation of a food collecting and dispensing utensil is generally sought especially in environments where users expect to be serving themselves, and hence will generally have a plate or similar container in their other hand during the process of grasping and depositing food items.

The convenience of a utensil that requires only one hand for operation is also appreciated by professional staff who are required to serve food items to guests. Again, in these situations, the server is generally required to serve guests with one hand whilst holding a container or plate of food in the other hand.

One particular situation that causes many users difficulties is the cooking of sausages. During the cooking process, sausages often require piercing to enable internal pressure increase to be released. Whilst tongs are very useful for placing and turning sausages upon a cooking surface, the requirement for piercing the sausages is generally satisfied by use of a fork or a similarly sharp implement. Unfortunately, during the piercing process, it is not uncommon for the sausage to become firmly attached to the piercing means and hence difficult to remove. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the sausage is generally too hot to touch by hand. Users faced with this difficulty generally resort to shaking the piercing means in an attempt to remove the sausage which can result in the sausage being dropped onto the ground.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an alternative utensil from those known in the prior art that combines a food collecting means and a food dispensing means, such that food collected by the utensil may be dispensed from the utensil, the utensil being capable of performing both operations with the use of only a single hand.

Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a food collecting and dispensing utensil including; longitudinally opposed arms interconnected at one end thereof such that their free ends may, in use, be urged together against a resilient bias; a food collecting member at the free end of one arm; a food dispensing member pivotally attached at one end thereof to the free end of the other arm; wherein, the food dispensing member is slidably retained at its other end by the food collecting member, such that the other end of the food dispensing member is capable, in use, of sliding movement along the food collecting member as the free ends of the arms are urged together, to dispense food located on the food collecting member.

It is preferable that the longitudinally opposed arms are formed from a unitary member that is substantially U-shaped, with the arms comprising the limbs of the U-shaped member. With this arrangement, the resilient bias is provided by the resilience of the web interconnecting the arms. It is also preferable that the free ends of the longitudinally opposed arms be substantially aligned.

The food collecting member may be of any type, such as a generally planar member or a member including piercing means, and these members may be of any shape. Indeed, the type and shape of the collecting member may be configured to suit the particular type of food item to be collected and dispensed. Preferably, the arm which includes the food collecting member will

be longer than the other arm such that the collecting member extends away from the free ends of the arms of the utensil.

The food dispensing member is preferably loosely pivotally attached at one end thereof to the free end of the other arm of the utensil. The pivotal attachment may for instance be as simple as a flange bent around a retaining bar on the free end of the other arm. Alternatively, the food dispensing member may be provided with pivotal mobility by means of a line or portion of weakness in the material comprising the food dispensing member or the material comprising the other arm.

In a preferred form, the food dispensing member includes an engaging portion at the end proximate the food collecting member to engage the food item. The engaging portion preferably additionally includes or interacts with a retaining means capable of slidably retaining the engaging portion such that the engaging portion, in use, is capable of engaging the food item to be dispensed. The engaging portion is also preferably also capable of transferring sufficient force to the food item, over a sufficient area of the food item, to remove the food item from the collecting member as the engaging portion of the dispensing member traverses the collecting member. For certain types of food, the engaging portion may be required to scrape against the food collecting member as the item of food may adhere itself to the food collecting member.

The food dispensing member is preferably a substantially elongate plate, having pivotal attachment means at one end (for pivotal attachment to the other arm of the utensil) and having an engaging portion at the other end proximate the retaining means. The engaging portion may be in any suitable form and may be configured to suit the particular type of food item to be dispensed and the configuration of the food collecting member. In addition, the retaining means may be of any suitable form, the configuration of which will

depend upon the particular collecting member. For example, where the food collecting member is a pronged fork device, then the engaging portion of the dispensing member is preferably generally planar with apertures of a similar size and shape of the cross section of the pronged members such that the apertures of the engaging portion are slidably retained by the prongs. In the case of a food collecting member comprising a generally planar member of a triangular shape, the engaging portion is preferably curved to apply uniform pressure across the surface of the food item, and includes a depending portion.

The retaining means may be a groove or slot in the planar member to retain the depending portion, thereby providing the slidable retention of the dispensing member. It should also be understood that the retaining means may act to restrain the arms of the utensil together in opposition to the resilient bias, or may not allow the arms to return to their at rest position as determined by the resilient bias therebetween.

It is also preferable in certain instances where the collecting member comprises a pronged fork device to include a cutting member firmly attached to and generally perpendicular to the plate of the dispensing member.

In one particularly useful embodiment of the invention, the invention includes a piercing means extending from a first arm, a dispensing plate which is slidably engaged about the piercing means, the plate having guides through which the piercing means may pass, the plate also being hingedly attached to a second arm, the first and second arms being unitary, and joined at an end opposite to the piercing means and the dispensing plate, the join between the first arm and the second arm retaining the first and second arms apart at said opposite end such that the dispensing plate resides normally approximate the base of the piercing means, the dispensing plate being guided along the length of the piercing means from proximate the base region to the points of the piercing

means upon urging the first and second arms toward each other, the first and second arms returning to their normal state of separation upon release of the urging, hence withdrawing the dispensing plate along the piercing means from proximate the points to the base.

Preferably, the invention comprises a single piece of material between the first and second arms, the material having resilient properties such that the first and second arms remain apart in their at rest position and return to the at rest position upon the release of urging the arms toward each other.

It will be recognised that the invention may take many forms depending upon the food item that is required to be handled. For example, a flat spatula arrangement would be required for the collection and dispensing of large and relatively flat food items, whereas a triangular shaped section would be more appropriate for cake slices and as has been previously mentioned, and a fork arrangement may be particularly useful for sausages.

It will also be recognised from the foregoing description that the invention provides an alternative food collecting and dispensing device which is particularly suited to certain types of food item and retains the ability of a user to collect and dispense those items of food with the use of only a single hand.

In addition to being relatively simple, the invention also lends itself to being able to be produced relatively inexpensively.

Brief Description of the Drawings The present invention will now be described in relation to various preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it must be appreciated that the following description is not to limit the generality of the above description.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a dispensing utensil ; Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an end view of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the dispensing utensil of Figures 1,2 and 3 with the inclusion of a cutting device; Figure 5 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the dispensing utensil ; Figure 6 is a partial sectional view taken along the lines Vl-Vl ; and Figure 7 is a perspective view of the partial sectional view of Figure 6.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment In the embodiment of Figures 1,2 and 3, a dispensing utensil 10 includes longitudinally opposed arms 12 and 13 interconnected at one end by a web 14. In this particular embodiment, the longitudinally opposed arms 12 and 13 and web 14 are formed from a unitary piece of material 11, the inherent resilience of which comprises the bias that retains the arms 12 and 13 apart in their at rest position. Figures 1,2 and 3 detail the embodiment in its at rest position.

A food collecting member 15 is located at the free and of the arm 12, and a food dispensing member 16 is pivotally attached 17 to the free end of the other arm 13. The pivotal attachment 17 in this embodiment comprises a flange bent around a retaining bar formed in an aperture at the free end of arm 13.

The dispensing member 16 includes apertures 18 which are of a similar size to the cross sectional dimensions of the prongs of the food collecting member 15.

The arrangement of the apertures 18 in the dispensing member 16 forms a

slidable retaining means whereby the dispensing member 16 may slide along the prongs of the collecting member 15.

The engaging portion 20 in this embodiment is generally planar as the types of food item that are most likely to be used with this embodiment are items such as sausages. In addition, due to the nature of the food item to be used with this embodiment, it is not required that the engaging portion scrape against the food collecting member 15 to effectively dispense any food items.

Upon urging together of the longitudinally opposed arms 12 and 13, the dispensing member 16 slides along the food collecting member 15 to dispense any food items located on the food collecting member 15. Upon release of the pressure exerted to arms 12 and 13, the resilient bias of the generally U shaped member 11 causes the dispensing member 16 to slide along the collecting member 15 such as to enable the utensil 10 to return to its at rest position.

As can be noted from Figures 2 and 3, the lengths of the arms 12 and 13 are such that the food collecting member 15 projects from the utensil 10 thereby enabling it to be used more effectively for the purpose of collecting items of food.

Figure 4 details an embodiment that includes a cutting member 22 which is firmly attached to and generally perpendicular to the dispensing member 16 and has the added benefit of enabling the utensil to effect the cutting of items of food. In particular, if the collecting member 15 is used to hold a piece of food on a plate, then upon urging the arms 12 and 13 together, the dispensing member 16 traverses the prongs of the collecting member 15 and acts to cut any food located between the prongs of the collecting member 15. This particular embodiment is seen as being particularly useful for people with

disabilities which affect their ability to perform such operations as cutting their food.

Figure 5 details an alternative embodiment that is particularly useful for collecting and dispensing slices of cake. In this alternative embodiment, the dispensing utensil 24 includes longitudinally opposed arms 25 and 26 interconnected at one end by a web 27. The resilient bias for this embodiment is the same as that for the previous embodiment of Fig 1 and the embodiment is detailed in Fig 5 in its at rest position.

This alternative embodiment includes a collecting member 30 which is generally planar and of a triangular shape and includes a slot 31 which extends for a substantial length of the collecting member 30. A dispensing member 32 is loosely pivotally attached at 33 to the free end of arm 25 and includes an engaging portion 34, which is curved. The curve of the engaging portion 32 particularly suits the dispensing of slices of cake from the collecting member 30.

A depending portion 36 from the dispensing member 34 resides within the slot 31, the depending portion 36 and the slot 31 forming a slidable retaining means. The operation of this embodiment is similar to the previous embodiment of Figure 1 in that upon urging together the arms 25 and 26 against the resilient bias of the unitary piece of material forming the arms 25 and 26 and the web 27, the dispensing member 32 is urged along the collecting member 30 guided by the slot 31 and the depending portion 36 residing within the slot 31.

The invention will be seen to be particularly simple, preferably comprising only two components, but nevertheless results in a very useful utensil. The dispensing member can be combined with various collecting members depending upon the food item to be handled.